bitflipper
At least I'm not alone in my loop aversion.

Not alone at all!!!
 

bitflipperAll I really want is to take some of the drudgery out of shakers, congas, bongos and tambourines.

That's what I keep thinking... although I wouldn't have called it drudgery, just a LOT of extra work (set up microphones, dig out hand percussion toys, play them... when I put it that way it doesn't seem like a lot of work<G>!)
 

bitflipperI have a tambourine. I have multiple shakers and maracas. I can even play them reasonably well - for 30 seconds or so, then my timing starts getting shaky and the dynamics become increasingly inconsistent.

I'm in the same boat, but I've learned to get 16 or 32 bars of a couple patterns and then re-use them cause no one will notice!
 

bitflipperBut I won't know if they're really what the song needs until afterward. On many occasions I have inserted sampled shakers and deferred the decision to use them until the final mix,

 
This is where I part ways with you good sir, or at least I try to. I've spoken before about the 'benefit' of low track counts in the days of old. You had to really think through the process, and more-or-less hear the finished track before you started. I try to do that now, but it is very easy to be seduced by unlimited tracks, unlimited processors, sampled instruments, etc. Very easy!
 

bitflipperand only then put up a mic to record them.

 
So this is my 'trick' to try to manage my laziness. I have two amplifiers with microphones placed, the guitars are always out and tuned, and there are a couple other microphones set up for whatever else I might want to record. In theory all I need to do is select the right input, arm the track, and go. It doesn't keep me from being lazy every time, but it does help.

Most folks who think they can play most any instrument well enough to sound professional on a recording are simply deluding themselves.  And it shows in the product they turn out.  And percussion is a great example of this.  It is deceptively difficult to play correctly, in time and with feel.  A tool like Brio is IMHO a great addition to anyone's kit.

Is NI's Cuba any good for percussion?

yorolpal
Most folks who think they can play most any instrument well enough to sound professional on a recording are simply deluding themselves.  And it shows in the product they turn out.  And percussion is a great example of this.  It is deceptively difficult to play correctly, in time and with feel.  A tool like Brio is IMHO a great addition to anyone's kit.

So true.
Brings back old club memories where sloshed bozo's would ask our drummer to let them play the Wipe Out solo.

Cuba is very good...but limited.  Which was it's intention.

I still like the Luis Conte kits in Kitcore for Latin percussion, they are the main reason I pre ordered Drumcore 3 LE. (Still no sign of it, I trying hard not to do a CCLarry here.)
 
It seems I could emulate the features in Biro with Cakewalk's step sequencer and the Maitix, not that I have ever used the matrix.

Actually, I think you can. I've never used the Matrix View either, but I've seen it done in a demonstration by Seth Perlstein. He put the bass parts in that way, too. Made a whole song using the step sequencer and matrix. I thought it was pretty clever. Not a technique I'd use, but clever.
 
I do use the step sequencer often, but just for click tracks. I think it just might do an adequate job for stuff like this. At least, as a quick 'n dirty starting point. I'll have to give it a try with the Jamstix Percussion Pack, my usual go-to library for tambourines and shakers.

Last month I was in a Muse's Muse Collaboration contest - long story short I was doing a song which lyrically and musically Cuban influenced. I ended up buying NI Cuba and while I liked it and , after a few bumps in the road was comfortable working with it, never ended up using it. The Tres was okay but i ended up using a real acoustic 12 string, NI Session Horns for the trumpets and the percussion was a combination of Toontrack LP Ezx, SD2 and various maracas loops - all edited of course - Here it is if interested (The song is called "Leaving Bayamo":
 
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=385038&songID=12884742
 
 

I'm really happy about this thread. It reminded me about Solid State Symphony.  Boy that is a load of fun. I found out I was on version 1_2, and the new version is 1_4. I shot an email to Terry, and Brenda, got back to me really quickly, and supplied me with the new version. I want Brio, for a number of reasons. As Bit, said, it looks like you can quickly lay down a nice percussion part. But I'm going to purchase it, also because Terry makes some amazing instruments for Kontakt, that are not only incredibly useful, fun to play, but are also amazingly, and reasonably priced! Thanks Terry, and Brenda!!!

Glyn Barnes
(Still no sign of it, I trying hard not to do a CCLarry here.)
 

oh go ahead...it's fun to watch all the "detractive" reasoning that follows...
We must defend the corporate giants who are so mistreated and so misunderstood 

The poor, poor CEO's might not get that 500 million bonus if we don't buy their software
and tell them to stick it "where the sun don't shine", and we just simply CANNOT have that!