• SONAR
  • Sessional Drummer loops are deficient (to say it nicely) (p.4)
2014/01/07 11:14:03
Splat
Here's a Cake/Maschine template I did for getting sounds out of Maschine into separate channels (just a different way to use it), sure not what you are asking but hey I'm no expert either:
http://www.alexshirley.com/Default.aspx?tabid=135
 
2014/01/07 18:11:33
konradh
I program everything I use on a record myself; but I often play around with pre-fab patterns to get ideas or different feels for songs I am writing, similar to Craig's comments.
 
Regarding the actual drum sounds, I bought a couple of add-ons for SD3 and wasn't really blown away by the drum sounds.  I have been much happier with EZDrummer and the add-on packs. It also has some decent grooves.  My only complaints about EZ are 1-you can't mix and match drums from different sets and 2-you can't tune the drums—but given the price those are trivial complaints and you can always upgrade to Superior Drummer.  If I need drums from different EZ sets, I just add another instance to Sonar.  And although I like being able to tune drums, 90% of the time I end up going back to the default tuning.
2014/01/07 18:52:36
dubdisciple
step 1: Take any boring loop
step 2: Chop and map across sampler
step 3: mangle that @#%@$
step 4: resample, rinse and repeat
 
You can skip or combine steps 2-4 any way you want.  EDM and hip-hop have been doing it for decades now. In fact, pick a loop, any loop from SD3 and I'm sure a few people here could turn it into something it's own mother would not recognize.
2014/01/07 20:46:43
SilkTone
Seriously, if your problem is that you can't find what you need from premade drum loops and you don't like programming your own, you owe it to yourself to at least give the Jamstix demo a try. The level and range of control you have over how the drums are generated in realtime is quite impressive. You can even import your boring static MIDI drum loops and let one of the many Jamstix "drummers" put some life into it. This quickstart video will give you a good idea and here are some demo songs.
 
And if you don't like the stock Jamstix drum sounds, you can use Jamstix to drive any of the drum VSTis mentioned in this thread.
 
It does take some getting used to though as you build the whole song inside the plugin itself. But the latest versions have made this much easier to do.
2014/01/07 21:51:14
mettelus
I think you may be making this way more painful for yourself than you need to. Triggering drums from a keyboard is simple, and editing options are not overly complex. The two biggest things are having kits available that define your sound (and when you build these, save them), and a way to fire those sounds off (and a MIDI controller is your perfect choice).
 
Back to the point in the OP... once you get proficient with how to create/edit things, I think you will find that route incredibly "quick." PRV should become your best friend with drums... (can see my ramblings below for more detail).
 
 
As an aside (i.e. superfluous gibberish)... I just did this while typing this post... can throw this into "stupid and creative ways to use X3" (I forget which version you are running, but think I saw you were on X3)
1) Grab a mic, insert and audio track, record a beat vocally (for one drum use a monotone).
2) Insert MIDI track, drag the audio track to it (Shift-drag the clip), converts to MIDI with velocity data.
3) Insert Session Drummer, load your preferred kit, assign the output of the MIDI track in 2 to SD.
4) Double click the MIDI track (opens PRV), hit Ctrl-A to select all notes, and move them to the drum of your choice (if done in monotone, you should have only one note line), but not a big matter...
5) In PRV, with the + (move cursor) you can move notes individually to drums of your choice.
6) As long as you get the beats you want, can do all drums in a quick pass (one recording) and move them up/down as necessary.
7) All done in X3 with no MIDI controller at all  What you get is a MIDI beat to your exact definition, and can even make the "Tom tom tom tom Bam" sound with the right vocal touch (but doesn't matter that much as velocities are easy to edit as well (see Charlie Roy's video for a demonstration)).
 
Can even just lay a mic down and pound on the desk...
 
Quick Edit: As the point of this technique is to preserve timing, be sure to hold the Shift key when performing move operations, I realized as I re-read this that I neglected to stress this point. Shift dragging in the PRV also will trigger the drums as it passes over them so you can preview the sound as you move them through the kit.
2014/01/07 22:05:41
Splat
mettelus
I think you may be making this way more painful for yourself than you need to. Triggering drums from a keyboard is simple, and editing options are not overly complex. The two biggest things are having kits available that define your sound (and when you build these, save them), and a way to fire those sounds off (and a MIDI controller is your perfect choice).
 
Back to the point in the OP... once you get proficient with how to create/edit things, I think you will find that route incredibly "quick." PRV should become your best friend with drums... (can see my ramblings below for more detail).
 
 
As an aside (i.e. superfluous gibberish)... I just did this while typing this post... can throw this into "stupid and creative ways to use X3" (I forget which version you are running, but think I saw you were on X3)
1) Grab a mic, insert and audio track, record a beat vocally (for one drum use a monotone).
2) Insert MIDI track, drag the audio track to it (Shift-drag the clip), converts to MIDI with velocity data.
3) Insert Session Drummer, load your preferred kit, assign the output of the MIDI track in 2 to SD.
4) Double click the MIDI track (opens PRV), hit Ctrl-A to select all notes, and move them to the drum of your choice (if done in monotone, you should have only one note line), but not a big matter...
5) In PRV, with the + (move cursor) you can move notes individually to drums of your choice.
6) As long as you get the beats you want, can do all drums in a quick pass (one recording) and move them up/down as necessary.
7) All done in X3 with no MIDI controller at all  What you get is a MIDI beat to your exact definition, and can even make the "Tom tom tom tom Bam" sound with the right vocal touch (but doesn't matter that much as velocities are easy to edit as well (see Charlie Roy's video for a demonstration)).
 
Can even just lay a mic down and pound on the desk...




Oh I've got to try this, thanks...
2014/01/08 03:40:16
Vab
What an amazing simple trick I learnt on the internet.

Real drummers everywhere are mad.
2014/01/08 08:34:32
chuckebaby
mettelus
I think you may be making this way more painful for yourself than you need to. Triggering drums from a keyboard is simple, and editing options are not overly complex. The two biggest things are having kits available that define your sound (and when you build these, save them), and a way to fire those sounds off (and a MIDI controller is your perfect choice).
 
Back to the point in the OP... once you get proficient with how to create/edit things, I think you will find that route incredibly "quick." PRV should become your best friend with drums... (can see my ramblings below for more detail).
 
 
As an aside (i.e. superfluous gibberish)... I just did this while typing this post... can throw this into "stupid and creative ways to use X3" (I forget which version you are running, but think I saw you were on X3)
1) Grab a mic, insert and audio track, record a beat vocally (for one drum use a monotone).
2) Insert MIDI track, drag the audio track to it (Shift-drag the clip), converts to MIDI with velocity data.
3) Insert Session Drummer, load your preferred kit, assign the output of the MIDI track in 2 to SD.
4) Double click the MIDI track (opens PRV), hit Ctrl-A to select all notes, and move them to the drum of your choice (if done in monotone, you should have only one note line), but not a big matter...
5) In PRV, with the + (move cursor) you can move notes individually to drums of your choice.
6) As long as you get the beats you want, can do all drums in a quick pass (one recording) and move them up/down as necessary.
7) All done in X3 with no MIDI controller at all  What you get is a MIDI beat to your exact definition, and can even make the "Tom tom tom tom Bam" sound with the right vocal touch (but doesn't matter that much as velocities are easy to edit as well (see Charlie Roy's video for a demonstration)).
 
Can even just lay a mic down and pound on the desk...


this itself deserves a you tube tutorial, great idea Mett.
2014/01/08 13:28:48
vladasyn
The problem with sfz file is that it is a kit, right? So if I open it, it would change my kick, snare and toms selection as well... Is there a way to assign different sounds to the HH- it shows like 4 or 5 notes associated with it- how do you edit individual without altering all kit instruments? Thank you.
2014/01/08 13:34:57
scook
From a Session Drummer perspective, sfz files are used to define for each instrument pad. A collection of sfz files define a kit. A kit and MIDI loops define a program.
 
To defined a collection of audio files to play on a Session Drummer pad, build an sfz file. Look in the Session Drummer Content Kits directory. In that directory are directories for each instrument pad. In those directories are the sfz files and samples used by the predefined kits and programs.
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