Music: Drum software....?

[Koldov]

Hi All,

 

I wonder if anybody on here creates music and uses drum software?

 

I play guitar and quite often put song ideas up on my YT channel and FB to share with friends, many of whom are of a similar musical inclination.

 

One friend contacted me and suggested that the drum track I play along to was rather weak, or that the overall feeling of the song could be enhanced with a better backing track.

 

The drums I normally use are just loops from Garage Band and yes I have to admit, I don't really give them much thought as long as they are in the right tempo/style, because mostly they are just ideas, not finished songs.

 

Well, he took one of my tracks and added drums and I have to say there is a vast improvement.

 

 

(Just be warned: It's a little HEAVY!)

 

The only trouble is he said he used EZDrummer 2 and I've looked at it and it costs £120!

 

Back in the early days I used Fruity Loops (remember that?), but it seems I need something a little bit more programmable and not just an 8 bar, looped beat (but preferably free).

Edited January 23, 2017 by Koldov

[3s-gtech]

You can create your own drum loops in GB, as I'm sure you know. I've done that when I wanted to build something up from the bottom - takes a lot of work to get it sounding any good and I'm sure it'd be easier with a dedicated program or kit. Bit different when it's EDM, but worth a play.

[mikkydoos]

This is a seriously clever site...

 

 

https://www.audiotool.com/app

 

 

Bit complex but its free !

 

 

And this..

 

Drum pattern sequencer

Edited January 23, 2017 by mikkydoos

[Koldov]

You can create your own drum loops in GB, as I'm sure you know. I've done that when I wanted to build something up from the bottom - takes a lot of work to get it sounding any good and I'm sure it'd be easier with a dedicated program or kit. Bit different when it's EDM, but worth a play.

 

Yeah, it is a bit of a pain though, I was hoping for something a little more intuitive. I had a copy of Music & Music 2000 for the Playstaion 1 and the thought of editing all those notes individually still gives me shivers...

 

This is a seriously clever site...

 

 

https://www.audiotool.com/app

 

 

Bit complex but its free !

 

 

And this..

 

Drum pattern sequencer

 

Unfortunately, these seem to be along similar lines as building the beats in Garage Band. It also seems to go hand in hand that drum programs are heavily biased towards EDM obviously, most of the samples tend to be from that genre, I'm not sure they have enough Rock/Metal samples in the standard pre-sets without a lot of tweaking.

[mikkydoos]

I didn't listen to the track first lol. Good riffage btw.

 

Shell out on EZDrummer. It'd be better for you in the long run.

 

I got a Roland electric kit and a decent desk because I HATE messing about with a mouse when recording.

Isn't too bad when you tweak the EQ... but you kinda need to be a drummer too!

[Koldov]

I didn't listen to the track first lol. Good riffage btw.

 

Shell out on EZDrummer. It'd be better for you in the long run.

 

I got a Roland electric kit and a decent desk because I HATE messing about with a mouse when recording.

Isn't too bad when you tweak the EQ... but you kinda need to be a drummer too!

 

Hey thanks! Didn't see your reply for some reason....

 

Yeah it's a shame really, I quit the last band (live gig video on my channel, I'm the 'cool' one with sunglasses hahaha! )

 

 

there was just too much drama and as it wasn't my band I didn't get much creative input.

 

Obviously I'd prefer to be out gigging, but it doesn't seem like there are many local bands in my genre looking for a guitarist around here at the moment. Fine if you want to be in a covers band or a pop/punk (?) band though, or if you are a drummer (because decent ones are like gold dust)!

 

So, I might just have to get that electronic kit and start practising, (it looks like you can get a reasonable second hand kit for the same price as EZDrummer) but I probably won't spend that much on it as I'm not really writing whole songs for public release as such (just to note down some ideas and get a bit of feedback).

Edited January 27, 2017 by Koldov

[Snoochieboochies]

Wiki Loops is an online community where people add their music and get other musicians to provide other instrumental tracks to go along with it.

 

Not exactly what you're asking for, but it's a good resource for a musician.

[Koldov]

Wiki Loops is an online community where people add their music and get other musicians to provide other instrumental tracks to go along with it.

 

Not exactly what you're asking for, but it's a good resource for a musician.

 

That seems pretty cool actually!

 

I got pointed towards a couple of similar ones:

 

https://bandhub.com

 

and

 

www.hitrecord.org

 

but they seemed a bit more complicated and the video aspect was a bit.... scary to be honest!

[BennyG]

I would also recommend Ezdrummer 2. It's also worth looking at Addictive Drums 2. The demo version runs with no time limit but on a reduced kit with only kick, snare, hi-hat and crash.

[Koldov]

Good shout on the 'no time limit demo'!

 

Just watched a comparison piece on YouTube and it seems from the comments EZDrummer would be my best option though.

 

"As a musician that can play the drums and many other instruments but does not read music, for me, "Seeing" the drumset, like you can with EZDrummer 2, I think, will makes things much easier. As I can visualize sitting at the set."

 

"EZD is awesome for us guitarists or keyboardists or bassists or song writers who want drums without the time consumption associated with all that AD has"

 

"You CANNOT tweak Ez Drummer 2 like you can with Addictive Drummer 2. But depending on your tastes, that means either Addictive Drummer 2 is too cheap, or Ez Drummer 2 is too expensive"

 

"I agree completely, but these two products are in direct competition with each other based on the price, so It's not "unfair" to compare them by any means. I'd personally find a SD2/AD2 comparison more helpful as you say, but this helps those who is limited at around the hundred dollar mark."

 

Seems that you get a lot more configuration in Addictive even though they retail at roughly the same price point (I guess you are paying for different aspects though), but to be honest I'd agree with the comments about how not being a drummer or particularly inclined to spend the time to 'tweak', it's better to have something simple so the creative part for me (playing the guitar) doesn't have to take a back seat.

 

I guess it would benefit me more to use EZDrummer as it seems you can just dive right in and have it produce a good selection of beats (and alternatives) some based on genre or even a beat you can tap in yourself!

Edited January 27, 2017 by Koldov