I'm not a drummer so I'm stuck using software like EZ Drummer or Addictive Drums. MIDI tracks just end and you don't get that dramatic finish you would get with a human drummer. How can I get good sounding endings to my drum tracks so I don't have to use a fade out.

I thought that Addictive Drums had some patterns that were labelled as song endings? Maybe they are in some of the add packs that I have bought.

I'm not a drummer either, so I understand what you are saying. Your going to need to start thinking like a drummer though to program the drums. I watch drummers pretty intensely these days to see how they handle some of the fills, breaks and endings. I am sure that I freak out the Church drummers all the time watching what they are doing.

What I often will do is have in mind how I would like to end the song and then search for a Fill that is close or generally has that feel. Then go into Piano View and start moving the hits around by hand to change the timing or the kit pieces you want to hit. You will probably want to add your own cymbal hits in at the end if you want the song to end on a cymbal or ride. After a while you find that you have personal preferences for styles...like I like to hit the Ride's and Toms a lot.

Not being a drummer, one thing that I will do when I have them programmed to where I think I like them, is to make sure that they look like a progression that a real drummer would follow. I flip over to the view of the drums actually being played and watch the patterns hitting the drums to make sure it follows the natural progression that a drummer would flow through. For instance, a drummer wouldn't hit something on the far right side of the kit and then with the same stick in the next beat, the far left. He would work his way over from side to side.

It's a bit of work, at first, but IMHO, the best way is to learn to program drum parts yourself. Import a favorite song with good drum playing and build a drum part to match what the drummer actually played. Do several songs over time and you'll get a good handle on how to do it.
 
I generally play the drum parts on my keyboard, then edit the Midi tracks manually until the "feel" is right.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

I are with the posters above.  You have to learn how to create drum patterns and fills.  In time, you will get better at it and be able to augment midi loops or patterns to better fit your song.  So just create a track at the end of the song and start painting notes in the piano roll.  Edit them at will until they sound like what you need.  Come back later and change it all over again.  Keep trying!
 
Rimshot
 

Thanks for the replies. I figured that I would need to do that but it was worth a shot to see what others are doing.

Yeah, there should be some stock endings in there....
 
Also, editing the stock endings can prove useful. there is always the most basic kick, snare, crash on the ONE beat of the last measure.... I've used that one alot..... in addition to that, add a triplet on the toms around "and a four"... that also works well.
 
I hate faded endings.... sounds like a lazy producer or song writer to me when I hear that.

Thanks! I'll give that a try tonight.

I reviewed a number of fills in Addictive Drums and found one that I liked.   I added some cymbal crashes, toms, and snares and got a pretty nice ending after a little tweaking.  Thanks for all of the suggestions.  New territory for me,

Our Grooves include endings: https://www.platinumsamples.com/index.php
 
Rail

Thanks. I'll check it out.