Anyone doing pop/rock and not using a v-drum kit

[dkeatscary]

I just started recording at home and love the sounds and flexibility I’m getting from Superior Drummer, but it is taking me forever to create a full drum track for a song. I think I am simply not adept enough at tweaking drum parts in midi. Right now, I have SD going into Reaper, and then I edit the parts in Reaper via a Roland FP-3 digital piano, which I use for piano parts and as a MIDI controller. I’m sure some of you could bang out a really solid, natural sounding drum track in an hour, but for me, it’s taking weeks, and sounds like a robot playing some really great grooves on a nice sounding kit.

I don’t have the money or room for a v-drum kit, which I’m under the impression would possibly make this easier. Does Toontrack have a product that can make it easier to tweak parts vs using the MIDI editor in my DAW (Reaper)? Should I something different — ie a different type of midi controller — to edit parts? Anything to save time is what I am after.

Thank you so much for any advice, and sorry for obvious newbie post. There’s just so much darn info out there, it’s hard to know where to begin, and this group seems to know everything about this stuff!!

Cheers,
dk

Topic

[Paul Ortiz]

I’d continue to persevere with the MIDI keyboard man. I mean, there are drumpads maybe…we have a set here but I never got on with them. If you’re finding it hard to play the whole kit at once maybe just do it in layers. I’ve been using the keyboard for drums for years and years now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7E34WFw4HE

It’s still not perfect – there are certain fills I can’t do without a real kit (or overdubbing) and there are certain things I *keep* doing, because of the way I play.

But the best thing you can do is just keep practicing. Keyboard drumming really is a technique of its own but once you get it, it’ll make life a LOT easier!!

One other thing I should add, is that if you’re finding the results robotic or clunky, you might want to investigate whether Reaper has a “random quantize” function. I use it in Cubase 5 a lot these days. It just introduces variances in timing by a defined number of ‘ticks’. The only downside is that it’s applied directly to the data, so editing after you’ve humanized can be a pain. If TT could develop a MIDI plugin, or a function within S2/EZD to loosen up or ‘sloppify’ incoming MIDI data on playback…that’d be most awesome!

Instrumental Progressive Metal from England! http://www.facebook.com/chimpspanner http://www.youtube.com/chimpspanner

[mix2much]

To add to what has been said, you might also look into the Grooves that come with Superior as a starting point. They are editable, played by one of the top pop/rock drummers out there and cover a lot of ground. Most of what I’ve needed has been found in the grooves preview page and then edited a hit here or there to taste.

[dkeatscary]

Thanks, guys. Both of you have given me some good direction. I’ll give keyboard drumming a better shake. Time is the one thing I wish I had more of. Mix2much, I’ve given another listen to the grooves, and there are many that will suit me, you’re right. There’s almost too many, it makes it hard to choose!

Thank you again.

[dthgtr]

Don’t forget EZ Player Pro.You can do a lot of editing, mixing and matching kit pieces to make your own grooves.

Later.

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