JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Bass and Drum Forum midi drums

I KNOW, I know... midi drums are fairly lame sounding... but I'm a big midi re-arranger and am finding that with a few quick tips, I'm able to dramatically improving my drumline sections.

I can usually get a fairly good human feel and tone.

Anyone else doing this? Wondering...

Peace, Slick

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There are two kinds of music... good music and bad music. - Duke Ellington

http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?songs=25457&T=6380

http://groups.msn.com/SwampYankeeBlues

Hey Slick,

Midi drums can sound pretty good, if you've got good drum sound programs. For some styles, like hip-hop and techno, they sound more "fitting" than real drums. If, however, you're trying to get midi stuff to fool folks where live drums are apropos, then I'd recommmend that you program them very simply and add live percussion like shakers, tambourines, and hand drums.

It's been my experience that you can get kick and snare drum sounds that are very "real." You have to be careful how fast you are playing them. You have to let the kick or the snare sound decay before you trigger it again, or it sounds unreal. With a live drum, when you hit it rapidly, there are sounds still reverberating when successive hits are struck. Midi drums simply start a new sound with each trigger, the old sound is then shut off. It gives them that digital "stutter" that says "digital, not real" (there may now be a program that addresses this, but I'm not aware of it.)

I usually program a kick and a snare with a hat, on a seperate track, as a click. If I don't like the hat after laying down some tracks, I can get rid of it. Then I throw on some shakers or whatever. I know some folks who mix midi drums with live cymals (cymbals also have the problem of having the decay shut off when they are triggered again.)

Good Luck,
Mike

Good advice mike... I like the 'adding the real side instruments' thing, I can see/hear that helping.
Yes, I'm looking for drum sounds for blues and jazz. I usually am re-arranging somebody elses drum tract. getting pretty good at it and learning more about Cakewalk every day. It helps that I was a drummer when I was younger, even tho I can't play it anymore I still know what it's suppose to sound like. Still, ain't nothin' like real drums... but in a pinch...!

Thanks for the feedback.

Slick

------------------
There are two kinds of music... good music and bad music. - Duke Ellington

http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?songs=25457&T=6380

http://groups.msn.com/SwampYankeeBlues