Setting up virtual drums!?

Zinnydin

New member
Hello all! I have recently started teaching myself how to record and am having trouble solving how to add MIDI drums to Reaper. I have searched the internet but am having difficulty finding a straight answer. What's a good free drums VST? And once downloaded how do i go about setting it up in Reaper? I would really like to know how to get to the point where i can add a new track, open up a drum map and add them to the project. Any help would be greatly appreciated, my head hurts from trying to find a simple guide lo. Thanks!
 
How you do it will be dependent on the s/w. With EZDrummer, I just insert it onto the master drum track (selected as MIDI), and have all the EZD outputs set to separate sub-tracks.
 
I can't actually recommend a good free drum VSTi for a beginner.*
But MTPowerDrumKit2 (as jiff suggested) is nagware, so you can try it for free to start.
Audio Assualt charges as little as $5 for their drum VSTs. I highly recommend them.

Once you've downloaded a VSTi drum
1. Install it using the built-in installer
2. Restart Reaper
3. Add a track to the project
4. Open the FX of the track
5. Add your drum program
6. Set up the midi input (I'm not sure how this step works with your system)

* ReaSamplomatic5000 allows you to build your own drum kit for free from whatever samples you have, but it's a steeper learning curve. If you're up to the task, Kenny has your back as always.
 
I pulled down MTPowerDrumKit to fix an issue I had with a recent recording (the mic on the bass drum got moved to the point that it was being hit by the drum head on notes. I used the kicks to trigger the MT bass drum and fed that back to the mix. worked like a charm.)

I'll probably donate and register it just for saving me lots of hassles.

Anyway, I started playing around with it and realized how easy it it so build a midi track using their "grooves". You just make a track and drag the grooves to the track. Route the output to MT, and hit play. Its now on my "do when I have time" list to try to build a song or two. For those of us who have NO drumming skills, its a great tool to have.

Setting up wasn't hard and there are Youtube videos galore showing how to do it.
 
I pulled down MTPowerDrumKit to fix an issue I had with a recent recording (the mic on the bass drum got moved to the point that it was being hit by the drum head on notes. I used the kicks to trigger the MT bass drum and fed that back to the mix. worked like a charm.)

I'll probably donate and register it just for saving me lots of hassles.

Anyway, I started playing around with it and realized how easy it it so build a midi track using their "grooves". You just make a track and drag the grooves to the track. Route the output to MT, and hit play. Its now on my "do when I have time" list to try to build a song or two. For those of us who have NO drumming skills, its a great tool to have.

Setting up wasn't hard and there are Youtube videos galore showing how to do it.

As I said a lot of people use it including me, having the grooves there ready does save a lot of time & they can be edited to suit once in Reaper saves all that trying to get the feel I want from doing it from scratch!. (Strange saying!) :D
 
I finally got round to having a play around with MT power drum kit 2...really impressed by how easy it is to throw a song together...am I right in thinking that the beats can be edited once imported into reaper as a song...eg I could drop some of the tom strikes in a fill?

Thanks
Mark
 
...am I right in thinking that the beats can be edited once imported into reaper as a song...eg I could drop some of the tom strikes in a fill?
Mark

Yes you are right, If you double click on the midi part in Reaper the midi editor comes up & you can do whatever you like with the parts? :thumbs up:
 
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