drum machine advice needed plz...

[ManFromMars]

Hi
I want to add drums to my compositions... but can't record a drum kit as im not a good enough drummmer and don't have he resources. I am composing dark/melodic metal/rock (in lots of different time signatures) and it would need to sound realistic. I read somewhere as well that it's better to record real symbols to use with programmed drums (I don't think that would be too difficult for me...). Well anyway any advice on what to use would be greatly appreciated. (ps if it's any help I am using windows 98 with cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro but I may change in future to use a 'more professional' sequencer like Sonar or Logic)
Thanks v much in advance,
ManFromMars

[AstroKid]

If you are looking for a hardware drumbox, the Boss DR770 is very good. Some gOOD accoustic kits suitable for rock and metal. However getting drums to sound GREAT is all about compressors and mixing. I don't know if you have a hardware mixer.
http://stage.vitaminic.co.uk/main/vandal_sound_system/

The drum parts on the track Kingsize (above link) use cymbals, snares, and a kick from the DR770. The toms are from an XV5080.

[ManFromMars]

ok thanks I will have a look. I have also been recommended a Zoom 323 and the Roland TD-8 and TD-10... how do these compare in terms of price and performance?

[DaXDRoNe]

Any Drum sounds from roland, in my opinion are the best you can find. The td drum consoles are great, problem is you need pads to trigger them. you know like a electronic set. I use a modified v-club set. You said your not a hot drummer, so you might want to count this out not to mention your gonna run into some expensive equipment. Your best bet would be a Roland Groove box. They have drums sounds up the ass, as well as, other sounds that could be useful. although a nice computer program might be the answer, since most of them use Rolands drum sounds. I am not to familiar with any of these programs. But, i wish the best of luck to you.

[DaXDRoNe]

Check out those groove boxes out at www.rolandgroove.com (http://www.rolandgroove.com)
mc-303
mc-307
mc-505
There might be some other stuff usefull for you there too.

[ManFromMars]

Cool thanks v much for all the info. I'm going to go to my local Digital Village store... hopefully they'll let me try them out..
ManFromMars

[Blind Egg]

I've been messing with the demo version of PCDrummer(pcdrummer.com), and I think I'm gonna buy the full version. 50 bucks, easy to program, and you can use any drum samples with it. I have an old DR550, but it's a bitch to program by comparison. I usually ended up tapping drum parts on my keyboard int a sequencer.
O'course, I only use machines to demo new songs for my band, which has a real live drummer (you can get one of those pretty cheap, but you have to feed 'em).

[krelnarb]

One method that's worked well for me is to deconstruct/construct drum parts from existing MIDI drum tracks (like those Twiddybits disks).

There's a CAL program (Calkwalk Application Language) that will split apart a drum track according to MIDI Note number so that each piece of the kit is on it's own track.

First find some beats that are close to what you had in mind for the track. Don't scrutinize too closely as the possibilities haven't presented themselves yet.

Then split your beats and start mixing and matching kicks, snares and other parts till it clicks, editing as you see fit along the way. It's a way of making pre existing drum beats your own.

OK, it is time consuming but I find it fun as I've been often pleasantly surprised with the results.

As for cymbals I've have luck layering them with a touch of reverb to make them a bit more realistic.

Good luck,
k

[ManFromMars]

Thanks for the advice everyone... I went down to my local Digital Village store the other day and the guy there seemed to think that the Battery software/VST plug-in would be a good choice (you can use your own wav files with it and it can be controlled by midi etc...)...so does this mean I'd be abl to arrange a drum part from individual sounds I recorded off a drum kit like this (I record all the cymbal and drum sounds for each drum/cymbal seperately, save as wavs and use battery to arrange)? He also mentioned it being able to use AKAI files (or something) which he said are basically wav files but can be velocity sensitive... anyone knoe about this?
Hope I'm not being too demanding :-)
Thanks again
ManFromMars

[peripatitis]

Well the best drumachine ,as module and sequencer in one package , is electron's machinedrum.It's quite expensive a 1000$ or so however i assure you it's worth the cost.

[ManFromMars]

Unfortunately I can only dream of having something worth that amount! Im looking at probably no more than £250 ($365 US, apparently) so that narrows it down quite a bit. Battery costs about £100 i think.

[This message has been edited by ManFromMars (edited 06-08-2002).]

[Dan Cross]

The Ensoniq MR76 had the best drums I ever heard on a keyboard or sound module. But...Ensoniq is not more and my MR76 died. http://www.audioforums.com/forums/frown.gif

[riffs]

i would recommend the zoom rythmtrack234
it is an excellent drum machine touch sensitive to really get the feel of real drums and also has bass aswell.

riffs

[tvband]

Originally posted by ManFromMars:
Thanks for the advice everyone... I went down to my local Digital Village store the other day and the guy there seemed to think that the Battery software/VST plug-in would be a good choice (you can use your own wav files with it and it can be controlled by midi etc...)...so does this mean I'd be abl to arrange a drum part from individual sounds I recorded off a drum kit like this (I record all the cymbal and drum sounds for each drum/cymbal seperately, save as wavs and use battery to arrange)? He also mentioned it being able to use AKAI files (or something) which he said are basically wav files but can be velocity sensitive... anyone knoe about this?
Hope I'm not being too demanding :-)
Thanks again
ManFromMars

Battery is brilliant and yes it can do all ur asking. its the only thing i use for drum programming. you'll need to use it in a vst host though (logic, cubase etc). its excellent AND it comes with ****loads of great wav's (but of course u can load your own in aswell).