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BlashyrkhMR101
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:26 am
Posts: 643
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 12:21 am 
 

Hey everyone, I'm trying to throw a demo together quick to try and get a drummer on board this doom/black metal band and I was wondering if anyone could recommend a decent drum machine? Nothing fancy, I've seen ezdrummer and I could not grasp how to use it, and I've also heard the drum machine in Guitar Pro 6 but the cymbals are always too buried in the mix.

Thanks!

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soul_schizm
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2011 8:55 am
Posts: 764
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 12:46 pm 
 

What's the rest of your recording rig like?

I use EZDrummer -- it's pretty easy to use once you understand midi drums in general, but I use it in conjunction with Reaper so it's really just a series of sampled instruments and generic beats. I drag a generic beat into Reaper, and then hack it up to what I want. So really, I'm using the Reaper interface to program the drums.

I used to have an Alesis stand-alone drum machine, and I liked it for what it was back in the day. It would depend on how you want to record the drums. If you want to be able to "play" the drums to some extent, I would probably recommend something that has pads on it that you can whack, along with a click track. If you are wanting to strictly program the drums, I'd recommend more of an EZDrummer/Reaper type setup, and just get the hang of the programming interface.

There's a bit of a learning curve either way.

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BlashyrkhMR101
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:26 am
Posts: 643
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 7:11 pm 
 

soul_schizm wrote:
What's the rest of your recording rig like?

I use EZDrummer -- it's pretty easy to use once you understand midi drums in general, but I use it in conjunction with Reaper so it's really just a series of sampled instruments and generic beats. I drag a generic beat into Reaper, and then hack it up to what I want. So really, I'm using the Reaper interface to program the drums.

I used to have an Alesis stand-alone drum machine, and I liked it for what it was back in the day. It would depend on how you want to record the drums. If you want to be able to "play" the drums to some extent, I would probably recommend something that has pads on it that you can whack, along with a click track. If you are wanting to strictly program the drums, I'd recommend more of an EZDrummer/Reaper type setup, and just get the hang of the programming interface.

There's a bit of a learning curve either way.


Thanks for the reply soul_schizm, my current recording setup for this demo is my guitar through a Boss distortion pedal run to a Fender practice amp mic'd up with the signal going to an M-Audio Fast Track Pro recording through Goldwave.

In regards to EZDrummer, I was not aware it required something like Reaper as I've already used that before and with some level of success, so I'm not sure why I never put the two together. In this situation I've written the drum beats in Guitar Pro which can export to midi, so would I simply be able to import that midi into EZDrummer running inside Reaper?

Thanks again.

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Awblaster
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2010 6:07 pm
Posts: 617
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 12:03 am 
 

Assuming you have EZDrummer installed properly, you should be able to create an Instrument track in your DAW, assign EZDrummer as a VST insert, and then drag your MIDI file on to it, and it should work fine.
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soul_schizm
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2011 8:55 am
Posts: 764
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 11:46 am 
 

Yep, it sounds like you are already very close to being able to use Reaper as your midi programming interface, and EZDrummer as the feed for the sampled sounds.

Like Awblaster said, you can plug EZDrummer in as a VST insert and then it will map in to the midi. I can offer a tip to make it more straightforward, too: there are mapping files that you can download from the Reaper forums, which will put the names of the different EZDrummer samples into the midi interface. That way you don't have to guess which line is for which drum sample.

There are also a load of youtube videos and other internet resources on how to do this. It took me a little bit to figure out, but after that it's fairly easy to use this setup.

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BlashyrkhMR101
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:26 am
Posts: 643
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 12:38 am 
 

Thanks very much guys, I was able to get it situated and working properly. Really appreciate the information and it sounds really good. Of course doesn't beat a real drum kit but hey, sounds great anyway.

Cheers.

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Goran
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2003 8:32 pm
Posts: 147
Location: Belgium
PostPosted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 1:49 am 
 

BlashyrkhMR101 wrote:
I've written the drum beats in Guitar Pro which can export to midi, so would I simply be able to import that midi into EZDrummer running inside Reaper?


Yes, I use this method to write drums for every song I record. You don't import the MIDI into your VST but into Reaper itself (as a MIDI track). Then assign your VST to that track and map the different drum elements to the MIDI notes used in GuitarPro (kick 36, snare 40, ...).

Edit: seems like you already figured it out. ;)
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somefella
Veteran

Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 11:57 pm
Posts: 3134
Location: Singapore
PostPosted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 1:44 pm 
 

BlashyrkhMR101 wrote:
Thanks very much guys, I was able to get it situated and working properly. Really appreciate the information and it sounds really good. Of course doesn't beat a real drum kit but hey, sounds great anyway.

Cheers.


Play around with the accents on each hit, to get it to sound less computer-ey. A friend of mine used EZD on his own release, and after some good mixing, that is pretty much the only giveaway.
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