Hello Everyone,

I was just wondering.... I have an 808/909 drum emulator and it has it's own 16-step sequencer which you can program drum parts on.  I see a lot of drum vst's have these.   
 
I was wondering if it is beneficial to use them over the step sequencer in cakewalk or vice-versa (or does it not matter).
 
Thank You,
Adam

The only "practical" reason i can think of not to use it is if you are used to the workflow and integration of the step sequencer with said VST.  For example, I have nothing bad to say about the Sonar step sequencer off the top of my head, but whenever I use Geist, it's just easier for me to work within that program instead of figuring out drum maps and such

dubdisciple
The only "practical" reason i can think of not to use it is if you are used to the workflow and integration of the step sequencer with said VST.  For example, I have nothing bad to say about the Sonar step sequencer off the top of my head, but whenever I use Geist, it's just easier for me to work within that program instead of figuring out drum maps and such

Yea but isn't it a pain in the ass when you want to add the occasional fill or other drum variation?

Only a tad maybe. I don't use Geist, but I used GURU and you would just trigger a key for the fill pattern. The problem with that workflow is that if you use the pattern trigger note in SONAR you can't start playback wherever you want, you have to back it up to the last triggered key pattern, which gets a little tedious.
 

Using Sonar's step sequencer is generally easier because you can see all the drums/percussion laid out in one window, rather than only one drum's sequence at a time.

You also get better visual feedback of which pattern is playing and shifting patterns around or adding or deleting repeats is easier. Each pattern can also be given a meaningful name. So laying out the song is easier.

You also get as many different patterns as you can program, while hardware/VST built in sequencers often have a fairly low limit to the number of different patterns you can store.

Having said that, I use the built-in 808 style sequencer on my Elektron Machinedrum rather than just using the synth as a module and sequencing in Sonar. The Machinedrum has a feature where you can alter the various synth parameters of individual drums on any step you want, which makes for a very tweakable synth. I also find hardware more tactile somehow, and programming within the built-in limitations of hardware is an interesting creative exercise in itself. Sometimes too many options lead to never getting anything done or, at the opposite extreme, stupidly complex drum parts that take days to do but often add nothing a simpler line wouldn't. For me at any rate.

Drum maps look daunting but are worth persevering with. The first attempt will probably be slow and frustrating, but like most things Sonar (or musically) it gets easier once you've had a bit of practice.

aglewis723

dubdisciple
The only "practical" reason i can think of not to use it is if you are used to the workflow and integration of the step sequencer with said VST.  For example, I have nothing bad to say about the Sonar step sequencer off the top of my head, but whenever I use Geist, it's just easier for me to work within that program instead of figuring out drum maps and such

Yea but isn't it a pain in the ass when you want to add the occasional fill or other drum variation?

I think the answer to that depends on the vst.  In Geist I can use the sounds like one shots or I can trigger patterns.  Making small changes would still depend on which program i felt more comfortable making changes in.  For me, pattern variation is easier in Geist but I have other programs that is not the case like ADM.

I love the step sequencer for drums and I actually have a project template set up for every one of my drum plugins with the instrument inserted, the step sequencer lanes, assigned to each drum pad, each pad routed to its own audio output, and each audio track routed to a Drums bus.  Whenever I start a new project, all I've got to do is choose a template/drum plugin, load up sounds into each pad and start sequencing away.  Making fills/variations is a breeze by using the copy/unlink clip function and editing it as necessary.  And, the step sequencer has a lot of timing, velocity, groove, etc. functions built into it that I don't have in many of my drum plugins.  It's one of those features in Sonar that sets it apart from every other DAW IMO.  I'm surprised that other developers haven't tried to copy it TBH.

cryophonik
I love the step sequencer for drums and I actually have a project template set up for every one of my drum plugins with the instrument inserted, the step sequencer lanes, assigned to each drum pad, each pad routed to its own audio output, and each audio track routed to a Drums bus.  Whenever I start a new project, all I've got to do is choose a template/drum plugin, load up sounds into each pad and start sequencing away.  Making fills/variations is a breeze by using the copy/unlink clip function and editing it as necessary.  And, the step sequencer has a lot of timing, velocity, groove, etc. functions built into it that I don't have in many of my drum plugins.  It's one of those features in Sonar that sets it apart from every other DAW IMO.  I'm surprised that other developers haven't tried to copy it TBH.

I think Sonar's step sequencer is among the top three among those included with DAW.
Fl studio's primary workflow revolves around step sequencer that is tightly integrated with a sampler and imo the best of its type. Reason also includes step sequencer.Logic's primary drum instrument has a built in step sequencer but its not nearly as flexible as Sonar.