Drum Sounds?

[mfwahl]

I'm working on a laptop project, recording some demos of songs that I've written. I want the demos to be pretty worked up because I'm mainly focusing on arrangements, new background melodies, writing vocal harmonies, etc. So this time around I want to put some emphasis on percussion and don't have a drum kit/don't want to work with drummer (This is a writing project, not performing). Does there exist in this world VST drum sounds that sound halfway realistic? Are there better options such as drum loops? I've found a couple good drum loops but they come in standardized tempos and I already am dealing with the fact that a lot of my songs end up in the same tempo. I definitely don't want to be forced into that. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

My tunes are kind of like the Kinks, The Band, Dr Dog and I'm using cubase primarily, if that helps.

 

Edit: Other problem with samples/loops, is I need to be able to add/subtract beats. Some of the ones I've seen just give you a couple beats and some fills. I need more of an ability to change that.

[BigWheeledWagon]

I love Native Instruments Battery -- you can trigger it using a midi controller or program it on the "piano roll" (which is the easiest way to visualize it mathematically) or actual music notation. Anyway, if you choose the right samples (these aren't patterns, but individual hits), it sounds pretty realistic. The trick is sort of randomly adjusting the velocity of the hits and the timing to make it a little imperfect -- like a real drummer.

[In a little rowboat]

The trick is sort of randomly adjusting the velocity of the hits and the timing to make it a little imperfect -- like a real drummer.

 

i had a friend that used a AU plug in, i caant remember the name, but it randomly chose samples out of a predeterimned pool, so that for example, you had 6 kick drum samples, it would randomly pick one per beat, to make the sequence sound realistic, because with a real drummer, every kick sounds a hair different...

[mfwahl]

I love Native Instruments Battery -- you can trigger it using a midi controller or program it on the "piano roll" (which is the easiest way to visualize it mathematically) or actual music notation. Anyway, if you choose the right samples (these aren't patterns, but individual hits), it sounds pretty realistic. The trick is sort of randomly adjusting the velocity of the hits and the timing to make it a little imperfect -- like a real drummer.

Thanks. I'm gonna check this out. The internet is such a scary place and then I come to ViaChicago and all is well. Thanks!

[renic]

there is also the steve slate drum sounds.

[Golden Smoghead]

How do those fake drum programs fit in with Cubase or something? I have never understood that part. Are they like a VST plugin that launches a little interface when you add it?

[mfwahl]

How do those fake drum programs fit in with Cubase or something? I have never understood that part. Are they like a VST plugin that launches a little interface when you add it?

That's what the one BWW mentioned sounds like. Hopefully it is because that's what I'm looking for.

[Golden Smoghead]

That's what the one BWW mentioned sounds like. Hopefully it is because that's what I'm looking for.

Me too, basically. I'm actually largely in the same boat you are, working up some songs for songwriting-display purposes, don't feel like f'ing around with trying to mic a real drumkit / don't play drums.

[BigWheeledWagon]

Yeah, it's a VST instrument (a tad different than a VST plug-in, but it still operates in a little interface, but it involves using MIDI to program the triggers for the samples) -- I use it with SONAR. Musician's Friend was selling version 3 pretty cheaply not too long ago.

[a.miller]

Check out BFD. This program rocks for doing exactly what you want to do. You might look at getting Logic (by Apple) or something like that also.

[mfwahl]

Check out BFD. This program rocks for doing exactly what you want to do. You might look at getting Logic (by Apple) or something like that also.

Thanks