Cheap But Good Grove Patterns

Groove Monkee, Drums On Demand, Smart Loops... all three companies make good MIDI and audio loop products.

And if you go through the DigiFreq Deals page, you can get 10% off of all their products...

http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/deals.asp

Best regards,
Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series. Get Sonar 8 Power - Today! Go to: http://www.garrigus.com/  - http://www.musictechshop.com/ - http://www.cooltechshop.com/

Publisher of DigiFreq - free music technology newsletter. Win a free SoundTech Vocal Trainer Package, go to: http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/

Publisher of NewTechReview - free consumer technology newsletter. Win a free i2i Stream Wireless Music Pack, go to: http://www.newtechreview.com/newtechreview/

The Groovemonkee grooves are MIDI drum loops/clips that you will import or drag into your MIDI tracks. You can use the MIDI loops to drive any drum synth or sampler that you own, including Session Drummer. So no extra software is needed.

I think you understand more than you realize. If you can use MIDI to drive a TTS soft synth, then you are well on your way (and you are "producing audio"). If you like how the TTS drums sound, then use that. 

To answer your questions:

a) the Session Drummer comes with drum sounds (samples) that are more realistic than those provides in TTS.

b) The GrooveMonkee grooves will map just fine with either drum synth.

haskins02


First, I confirmed from Cakewalk website that Session Drummer was not installed in Sonar 6 Studio, but only in Sonar 6 or 7 Producer and Home Studio 6XL (and perhaps others).  I previously did a total install and it is not there.

Thanks for the help but I am still a bit confused.  I have worked with MIDI for 20 years, but don’t know a darn thing about MIDI grooves and so I thought they were a form of MIDI data.  Papa2005 explained that MIDI grooves need to be played by a device that is “cable of producing audio.”  My sound card combined with my TTS soft synth is capable of producing audio, so I don’t know why I would need Session Drummer (or other sampler) anyway to play MIDI groves.  Glyn Barnes partially confirmed my understanding by indicating it could work with TTS, BUT also said it would “not sound as good.”  Is the reason it would “not sound as good” because:
a) the drum sounds on TTS are not that great as the sampled sounds on Session Drummer;
b) the drum mapping on Groovemonkey grooves may be different than the GM drums on TTS, or
c) another reason?   

Your answer is very important to me and would get me on track.  Thanks. (Again, I am generally satisfied with existing drums sounds on modules I have, but my drum beats suck) 
 

I auditioned the demo tracks on KitCore 2 ($100; KitCore1 no longer on sale).  Sounds great but very few would apply to my simple rock/pop music style.  That is why I am still interested in Groovemonkee groves, specialized in individual styles (in my case, Rock 1) and for only $30.  So the bottom line is how do I get Groovemonkee to play on Sonar 6 Studio and sound good, the way it is supposed to sound, without spending more than I need, and without having Session Drummer 2 already installed? 
 
Thanks for your patience with me!
Greg

GrooveMonkey contains GM mapping, and yes its just a midi file so it will work with TTS and play the correct sounds. TTS drum sounds are basic. If they are good enough for what you want then you have everything you need.  Indeed I use TTS as my drum sound source for a couple of years before deciding I needed better sounds. I now use both EZ drummer and Kitcore.
 
So why would somone want drum sample VST?  Firstly the samples will be a higher quality.
 
Features vary but you will be able to vary the levels of different kit elements, individual drum tuning, microphone placment, dynamic curves eytc.
 
EXDrummer and Kitcore and most dedicated samplers from this price point upwards will also use different samples for successive hits to add a bit of variety and minimize the machine gun effect and sound less mechanical.
 
TTS will have no velocity layers so different velocities will just produce the same sound and a different volume. Some samplers will use different samples at different velocity layers.
 
Another advantage is from a workflow point of view as both EZdrummer and Kitcore let you audition the midi inside the VST then drag it into a sonar MIDI track which saves a lot of time.
Finally do not forget the SFZ soundfont player, the basic version of which is bundled in Sonar. There are lot of free and cheap soundfonts on the net if you search around and spend the time sorting the wheat form the chaff.