Drum Software??

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NY Chief
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Drum Software??

Post by NY Chief » Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:49 pm

OK, guys. Got a new PC, monitors, recording desk, etc.

What's out there? What are you guys using? I'm looking for something to set simple grooves to jam over and record tracks to get familiar with the gear.
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Post by rockstah » Tue Mar 21, 2006 1:08 pm

ny whats your setup? u have multi tracking software?

u can go with loops or plugins this way.
tell me more

i use protools/nuendo and use loops and drum plugin software as well ( example- drumkit from hell plugin)

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Post by Bainzy » Tue Mar 21, 2006 1:39 pm

I'm using Propellerhead Reason; I use Guitar Pro first to tab out the drum tracks, export them as midis and import them into Reason for converting into programmed samples with effects - works really well.
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Post by rockstah » Tue Mar 21, 2006 1:48 pm

i use reason as well ;)

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Post by NY Chief » Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:22 pm

I went for my lungs in new gear, Mark. New HP PC with 1Meg Ram and 250Gig HD, dual 17" monitors, KRK V8's, some rack goodies, and a desk to plop them on. I have a Yamaha AW16 DAW that a friend lent me to play with. It's got some drum samples but I'm not very impressed with them. I also picked up one of those new LIne 6 Tone Ports which comes with some software. I haven't even plugged that or the computer in yet as I'm still setting all this stuff up. I figured that the Line 6 box would be a good simple start up while I research what software package(s) I might go with. (Really leaning towards the M-Audio - Pro Tools stuff in part on your suggestio
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Post by rockstah » Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:43 pm

NY Chief wrote:I went for my lungs in new gear, Mark. New HP PC with 1Meg Ram and 250Gig HD, dual 17" monitors, KRK V8's, some rack goodies, and a desk to plop them on. I have a Yamaha AW16 DAW that a friend lent me to play with. It's got some drum samples but I'm not very impressed with them. I also picked up one of those new LIne 6 Tone Ports which comes with some software. I haven't even plugged that or the computer in yet as I'm still setting all this stuff up. I figured that the Line 6 box would be a good simple start up while I research what software package(s) I might go with. (Really leaning towards the M-Audio - Pro Tools stuff in part on your suggestio
i hear ya plug that line 6 - did it come with rifftracker( multitrack program) ? if not its 99bucks - get ya started recording - has some drums.
the m-audio 410 and 1814 are good or you could buy a 002r like i have and run protools. alot more plugins available on the net for nuendo as well. - the muadio stuff will alow you to use a version of protools - although you could go with RME Hardware stuff if you arent concerned with using protools and use nuendo - nuendo is a killer program - its just in what ya want to use.

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Post by NY Chief » Tue Mar 21, 2006 4:06 pm

Good info. Thanks, Bro!

This stuff is new to me. Any suggestions where to go to get an education?

The Tone Port comes with a demo of Ableton Lite. I believe it's limited to 4 tracks per song.

I've heard a lot of third party plug ins do not work with Pro Tools. Any truth to that?

How does M Audio's version of Pro Tools compare with digi's?
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Post by rockstah » Tue Mar 21, 2006 4:34 pm

NY Chief wrote:Good info. Thanks, Bro!

This stuff is new to me. Any suggestions where to go to get an education?

The Tone Port comes with a demo of Ableton Lite. I believe it's limited to 4 tracks per song.

I've heard a lot of third party plug ins do not work with Pro Tools. Any truth to that?

How does M Audio's version of Pro Tools compare with digi's?
ableton live will get ya going - its an interesting program. its really aloop recording app. but i have used it to track guitars as well. works really well. 4 tracks will get ya going.
protools plugins are called RTAS with all other programs you use VST plugins. so youll need those kinds of plugins to run with the app accordingly.

not sure it might be a slimmed down version - i bet its has less tracks. mightb e something like 16 tracks where as full blown is unlimted based on yoru cpu/ram etc.

see the thing with getting m audio hardware you can now use a version protools. something you couldnt do before you had to buy digi hardware which is bookoo bucks now u have maudio and a special version of protools. or you can use cubase or nuendo or whatever you wanted to use. keep in mind i use both nuendo is a kewl application as well. i just happen to know protools alittle better at this place in time.

when i bought my hardware it was between the maudio firewire 1814 and the 002r - i chose the 002r because i didnt want to be locked out of protools. 6 months later digi bought maudio and came out with a version of PT that worked on maudio hardware!
just ramblin - food for thought here.

Mark

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Post by NitroLiq » Tue Mar 21, 2006 4:44 pm

I use Native Instruments Kontakt 2 for sampled instruments (drums, bass, piano, strings, etc.) with either Logic Audio or Nuendo. A Soft sampler would be a good solution or sample playback software. If you look at various drum sample CDs, there are some good ones set up towards songwriting (more so than just using loops). Take a look at:

http://www.spectrasonics.net/libraries/libraries.php

I have the backbeat collection and it's pretty cool as they'll separate grooves into verses/fills and whatnot with variations. It also has groove control so if you do use a sampler, it allows you to slow/speed up the recording without pitch issues as well as assign each drum to a separate track. Very handy set...sometimes when I'm writing, I'll loop a verse grove and play over it....if you don't need to change the tempo, you can bypass using a soft sampler altogether and just cut and paste the audio parts....very easy to slap a decent sounding demo together....especially since the loops are done by guys like Matt Bissonette et al.

You can also check out Discrete Drums

http://www.discretedrums.com/

which is supposed to be very versatile for separating each drum into separate tracks and are available in pro tool session format.

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Post by rockstah » Tue Mar 21, 2006 4:46 pm

STYLUS RMX kicks major ass ;)

my last 2203 file is using discrete drums. very kewl how they give a bunch of different mic placement of the kit to work with ;)

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Post by NY Chief » Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:34 pm

Well you asked for it, Mark!! :shock:
More Questions!

The interface to the PC itself...FireWire, USB, A/D converter, lightpipe, dedicated input card??? How does it "get in there"?

Guess I'm leaning more towards the M Audio stuff so I can run PT as well as other (Nuendo? That ain't cheap!! $2K for Nuendo 3)

The M Audio Pro Tools will do 32 tracks @ 24bit/96Khz according to the ads. That sounds like plenty for me.

I'm sure at some point I would like to add a control surface as well (I'm still an old school desk and tape machine guy). It looks like I could add a digital mixer at some point?

And, how about burning to CD? The software aould allow me to burn to the drive in the PC, right?

Thanks for time, Mark (and anyone else!!)
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Post by rockstah » Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:55 pm

NY Chief wrote:Well you asked for it, Mark!! :shock:
More Questions!

The interface to the PC itself...FireWire, USB, A/D converter, lightpipe, dedicated input card??? How does it "get in there"?
firewire, pc card, usb are all ways of getting the sound in via the sound card - u want a firewire interface!
Guess I'm leaning more towards the M Audio stuff so I can run PT as well as other (Nuendo? That ain't cheap!! $2K for Nuendo 3)


The M Audio Pro Tools will do 32 tracks @ 24bit/96Khz according to the ads. That sounds like plenty for me.
maudio stuff is great way to get into it
I'm sure at some point I would like to add a control surface as well (I'm still an old school desk and tape machine guy). It looks like I could add a digital mixer at some point?
with the digital domain - maudio/protools your mixing is going to be all on screen at this point - yeah u can later add external($) hardware to push knobs ;) or just get a digi 002 - i have the 002
and how about burning to CD? The software aould allow me to burn to the drive in the PC, right?

Thanks for time, Mark (and anyone else!!)
i use nero to burn cds ;)

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Post by NitroLiq » Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:38 am

rockstah wrote:STYLUS RMX kicks major ass ;) my last 2203 file is using discrete drums. very kewl how they give a bunch of different mic placement of the kit to work with ;)
Which file is that? I haven't used discrete drums myself but I've heard great things. I already own so many loop CDs and have DATs of drum samples from the studio days...if I was doing professional work again, and needing real drums, I'd definitely consider DD. I have the original stylus (not RMX) and it's definitely cool. Their atmosphere instrument is no slouch either...very easy to write car commercial jingles with the two of those...well...add in my trusty virus b also...heh :) These days I usually just layer in loops on top of regular drum programming to give some movement not so much to use them by themselves. Backbeat is a great writing tool for straight ahead pop/rock stuff...can't really go wrong with Spectrasonics.
NY Chief wrote:The interface to the PC itself...FireWire, USB, A/D converter, lightpipe, dedicated input card??? How does it "get in there"?
Yep, Firewire seems to be the flavor of the week and is good because it frees up a PCI slot if you decide to buy a UAD-1 or something similar to help the processing load. That being said, there's nothing wrong with a PCI card and breakout i/o box either. Check out some of the products at Echo Audio. They used to be part of Event audio...I have their old 20-bit Gina PCI card/breakout box and it's been a reliable workhorse for years. They offer firewire and PCI stuff as well. The important thing is whther you want something with built in preamps or just the i/o. Everybody and his mother makes an interface now with pres...m-audio, focusrite, echoaudio, lexicon....if you go with something that just has the i/o, you can use an external pre like from a mixer (what I do with a mackie) or a standalone...like the vintage mic pre kit George just built.
NY Chief wrote: Guess I'm leaning more towards the M Audio stuff so I can run PT as well as other (Nuendo? That ain't cheap!! $2K for Nuendo 3). The M Audio Pro Tools will do 32 tracks @ 24bit/96Khz according to the ads. That sounds like plenty for me.
You don't really need Nuendo...Cubase SX is much cheaper and has much of the same functionality. Nuendo is being geared more towards surround mixing and movie scoring. Nothing wrong with ProTools either if you're just doing audio recording. If you plan on getting into robust midi sequencing, you might want to go with Cubase as its midi features are more robust, at least they were last time I used PT. Plus, your'e not limited on track amount like PT lite, though 32 tracks is more than enough.

You have to look at what you plan on doing...if you're doing audio recording with some sequencing and you plan on bringing sessions over to work with other PT users, then by all means, go with the PT/M-audio package....the main thing about PT (the software not the hardware) is that it's a studio standard so other folks will easily be able to import sessions. That being said...I've done some international collaborations with a friend who uses Sonar while I use Logic or Nuendo...it's a little extra work but you can still get things happening...you just have to decide which software the final mix is going into.
NY Chief wrote: I'm sure at some point I would like to add a control surface as well (I'm still an old school desk and tape machine guy). It looks like I could add a digital mixer at some point?
Yep, then Mark's suggestion may be a good one regarding the Digi002 package. Other folks make good ones for controlling logic, cubase, sonar, etc. like Mackie:

http://www.mackie.com/products/mcu/index.html
NY Chief wrote: And, how about burning to CD? The software aould allow me to burn to the drive in the PC, right?
No...you burn CDs with separate software....Nero, like Mark suggested, is popular. BUT, it'd be nice if your audio software can export audio mixdown's as mp3s...I know Nuendo 2 does....saves a step.

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Post by rockstah » Wed Mar 22, 2006 12:21 pm

werd up Nitro - good advice there - discrete drums was this file - 2203modsu.mp3.

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Post by NY Chief » Wed Mar 22, 2006 12:51 pm

Excellent info, guys. Much appreciated.

My wish list is shaping up to be M Audio 1814, PT (M Audio version) Ableton or Cubase and some drum stuff.

Will I need a separate sequencer app to get drums to file for import to track or does the PT software include that? Obvioulsy I would need that if I used separate samples but what discrete and drumkit from hell, fruity loops...all that shit?

I also like what you said about just the I/O, Nitro. I'd like to try that Neve kit George has been playing with. If I did go that route I would use plugins to software for the pres or would I need hardware (like the kit)?
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