Keyboard Drums

I use Band in a Box for that.  I let BIAB generate the MIDI for the drums, then I export the MIDI file, import it into sonar, then use Superior Drummer for the output.

I'll also usually tweak some of the hits as well to keep it from sounding "too robotic" but often it comes up with a pretty good drummer on its own.

Mr. superdan, some like to use the "drummer in a can" software but I have always composed and played my drum tracks on keys.  Check out my percussion tracks on my soundclick tunes "Love Monster", "American Dream" and "World without love".  All are played on an M-audio 88es using the MC4 TTS1 standard kit.  I begin with a basic kick/snare track quantized to 16th notes and after a rough track wiil split the kick and snare to different tracks, edit, cut and paste.  Then adding hat, toms, crashes and rides all on seperate tracks until I get what I want. I usually compose the other instrument tracks as I go so I can enter special hits, rolls etc. as the song matures. Before export to audio I will adjust drum velocities in the event list area for more realism.  It seems like a long process but will become increasingly easier as you learn.  The big payoff is that you end up with a totally unique drum track which fits your song EXACTLY the way YOU want, no robot filling in for your own creative ideas..........I'll be glad to give you more tips if you want..........Ron

Thanks guys for your input!

I think one thing that would help if I was able to split up the different MIDI parts like savageopera suggested. Is there any CAL script or something else that will automatically separate these into different tracks/layers? You mentioned cut & paste...do you mean you just select all bass drum notes and then cut/paste them on a new track?

I really like the work that you all have done. Guitartrek, your drums sound incredibly lifelike...I think I might check out the Nanopad as drumming on keys just leaves something lacking!

superdan54


Thanks guys for your input!

I think one thing that would help if I was able to split up the different MIDI parts like savageopera suggested. Is there any CAL script or something else that will automatically separate these into different tracks/layers? You mentioned cut & paste...do you mean you just select all bass drum notes and then cut/paste them on a new track?

I really like the work that you all have done. Guitartrek, your drums sound incredibly lifelike...I think I might check out the Nanopad as drumming on keys just leaves something lacking!

superdan54 - I wanted to let you know that I don't break out different drum pieces into separate tracks.  I used to try to do this but I stopped doing it.  For me, a natural sounding drum track takes a while to do - listening and revising small things over a long period of time.  If I inserted an "oragnize midi events" step into the process, then my revisions would be more difficult because I would have to worry about organizing events each time I touch the drums.  Sonar's PRV has a lot of great tools to be able to deal with all notes in one track.  That's just me though, everyone has their own way.  I just like to work as effeciently as possible with minimal distractions.  There is a CAL program to split out drum notes.  But since I use a ton of different drum pieces, I could end up with 25 or 30 drum midi tracks.  That's just too much for me to deal with.

SD 54.... if you check out Jamstix  www.rayzoon.com  at one time they had a free, fully functional. but feature limited demo on the site that you could download and play with.

I have found JS to be a Godsend for me. I select the tempo, a drummer with a style and a kit to start with, let it play free style and play along with it. I use it as my timing metronome. If the result is what I want, I then edit it after I am finished tracking the other instruments.

The cool thing is JS will create a fairly decent drum track all by itself.

Go to my sound click page and listen to I Know You're Up To It  and  In A World Without You . Both and quite a few others were done with JS creating the track and then I went in a did some basic editing to make the parts change as needed in the verses and choruses.


Many of the jazz numbers are using Band in a box to build the drum parts.... nice results IMHO but a bit more work is involved on my part to get those drum parts like this: Walking In Springtime or Get Happy   both are BB tracks.

Either program lets you build nice drum tracks with relative ease.....and no tapping on a synth keyboard.

I just wish this guy would give lessons on keyboard drumming: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqM7bN3Kc7I

(FTR I'm a proud owner/user of a Prodikeys keyboard)

"Finger drumming" on a keyboard can sound completely authentic....but there's a few important things required to pull it off easily and not waste time.

Obviously, the more time spent, the better you get. That's a given when learning any technique. And ya, you need good natural timing, because quantizing the whole thing is not the answer if you want it to sound natural.

1) You hopefully have had experience playing drums so you understand the mechanics of drumming in general, approach your hits the way a real drummer would and know some good fill & hi-hat techniques.

2) You are hopefully a decent keyboard player and possess enough dexterity and co-ordination in all fingers to play your "kit" smoothly. 

3) Set up a custom keymap that suits you to optimize playability. Don't just try and use the standard GM setup.

4) Have a lot of different keys (black keys) triggering different hi-hat samples. You need a lot to make it sound real. Once you have the optimum mapping setup, it's easy to pull off.

5) Same idea for snares and cymbals, but you don't need as many different keys assigned - just good sample sets with lots of variations.

Using something like BFD or Superior, it's all very possible, but it's not for everyone.