Best - EASIEST - drum machine?

[guitbuddy]

ANOTHER THING = I thought of:

As good as MT power kit is --- I notice its all kind of at ONE volume level. { loud}
-- and I don't know enough about drums to even know what I want --- But, what
should a drummer play during acoustic guitar parts, or softer parts of a song??

What drum VST - gives VARIED styles with volume changes - low, to medium, to high ?
{ and I don't mean just changing the volume knob, of course. I mean playing parts
for different volumes. }

thanks

[BillW]

Regarding volumes -
This can get complex if you want different volumes fro different parts of the kit.

But speaking only from my use of EZD -
Each microphone can be a separate subtrack. Then you can control volume throughout of each one via automation of the volume (I'm assuming you know what that means - if not there are YouTube lessons of Mixcraft automation in general). And then of course you can vary the volume of the main drum track as well.

When I say "microphone" for EZD, note that they do not have a separate mic for each part of the kit. I'm not at my Mixcraft computer now, but there is snare, kick, overhead, a couple others. But not one for each tom for example. Still, it works very well if for example the snare is too loud or soft but the rest is ok.

When you think about what you are trying to accomplish, it's understandably a bit of work. you're trying to emulate a real drummer - who will not hit each beat exactly the same each time - and will "feel" his/her way through the song - adding dynamics as he/she feels it.

Most good software will avoid the "exact same hit" by putting some randomness in there. That avoids what they call the machine gun effect - where rapid hits sound like "rat a tat tat" rather than realistic drumming.

Last bit of advice - don't overthink this. Unless the drums are a MAIN part of the song, you don't need to spend a lot of time once you find good software. I messed with samples using a SFZ player and finally concluded it was worth it to buy EZD - which did all that work for me. So I could go back to making and mixing music.

[cactus-head]

guitbuddy,

Yes, in answer to your question: I do use Realidrums. It's very easy to use. The preprogrammed grooves (patterns) and the adjustable complexity sliders give you a great place to start. I swear you'll find yourself absorbed in playing with the functions for hours just to hear all the differences; and it also automatically calculates fills based on the current beat position in the measure whenever you activate them. Switching grooves is like auditioning a drummer and telling them what you want. You can also switch in and out instruments on the fly. But, I'm not trying to sell you on this. Check it out. If you decide to buy but end up not liking it, I believe Realitone will give you your money back.

[Perennial Jive]

fxpansion geist.no contest

[Acoustica Greg]

fxpansion geist.no contest

geist.no looks like a Norwegian web page.

[GovernmentMule]

fxpansion geist.no contest

geist.no looks like a Norwegian web page.

Well, is the contest worth entering?

[MikeDVI]

Hi all, I too was about at the end of my rope on this. I play many instruments, but sadly drums are not one of them. Even contemplated buying an electronic kit and hire real drummers to come in and record for me. (I may still do this...). The problem is, like many I tend to want it my way so I nitpick, then am not happy with the results. Read: spoiled brat guitarist thinks he knows drums LOL.

Years back I got by with an old SR-16, then more recently messed with a lot of software including JAMstix.

I finally settled with EZDrummer with an AKAI MPD218 and have pretty good results! Next will be superior drummer as I have seen some pretty impressive stuff going on there.

OP specified "EASIEST" tho, and I agree with most here on the forum that EZdrummer is.

Just my .02

Mike

[guitbuddy]

Thanks Mike, for the EZDrummer tip.

seems a lot of people like it. I'm wondering how it compares to MT POWER KIT?

[Rolling Estonian]

Last bit of advice - don't overthink this. Unless the drums are a MAIN part of the song, you don't need to spend a lot of time once you find good software. I messed with samples using a SFZ player and finally concluded it was worth it to buy EZD - which did all that work for me. So I could go back to making and mixing music.

This is one of the better bits of advice I've read in some time. BillW was referring to drums but this advice could also apply to many other applications.

Nice to see you've gotten rolling with EZD2 Bill, great stuff.

M

[Mark Bliss]

Yep. With all the crazy stuff to obsess over, ya gots to make yer choices.
This is meant to be fun for me. Endlessly editing and perfecting MIDI drums, or for that matter recorded drums..... Ain't the mountain I wish to die on. If there's a relatively quick and easy way to get to "good", that's the choice for me. I look at some of the rigamarole (Highly technical term! ) people go through with drum replacement and crap, please........ Not fun. Hand me the piano.