Programming drum tracks..attn: Jeff Dunne and others

[SCOTT502]

I bought DFH Superior and love the drum sounds. I am trying to work my way through programming the drum tracks and have a couple of questions. I've heard a lot of good stuff from you guys who use this plug-in and was hoping for some advise.


First off I'm using DFH as a plug in for Logic Express mainly but am also fooling around with Cubase LE. I have a midi controller keyboard to trigger the sounds. I have found a function in Logic called "Hyper Edit" that allows me to place beats on a graph using the mouse but that is hugely time consuming and not very intuitive ( I may not be using it to it's full potential though) . I would like to use the keyboard to trigger the sounds but what's the best way to compose on the fly? Jeff I know your stuff tends to be on the quick side and I don't think you're hitting the keyboard that fast. (although with your picking speed you just might be) So how is it done?

I know this is a remedial question and one that I should probably work out for myself, but I need a little shove in the right direction.


Have a great Memorial Day and many many thanks to all the military personel out there!!

Scott

[Jeff Dunne]

I won't even begin to get into the sound portion of it - you could write a Ph.D. on that and still only cover the bare basics.


I actually use the graph to place out my beats. In Nuendo and Cubase SX (could be in LE, not sure), there's actually a midi drum editor, and say you want your hats on every 8th note - you set the quantize to 8th notes, click and drag along the section, and wah-lah.

Yes, it can be time consuming, but it also lets you mess with velocities more and make things sound even more realistic, because it makes you think about every little hit, how it would be played, how hard, etc. Copy and paste is also a godsend.

Check your PM's, though .

[Kev]

also, velocity is easier to get realistic quicker with dkfhs as it has a sort of random velocity feature yes? Basically, i just program drums in the cubase editor. Its all very time consuming but, once you get it done, drum parts in songs tend to be repeated so its a case of copy and paste. You may want to stick some plugins over your drums and a reverb. The sound of raw drums is a sound no one wants to hear

[SCOTT502]

Hey Guys, thanks so much for responding. From what I've figured out using DFHS it rocks. Yeah, the ability to choose velosities is great for getting the right feel.

Jeff if your using one of the Cubase programs I'll look deeper into mine and see if I can find the midi drum editor. There is one in Logic (or something like it as I described above) but I'm not sure I'm using it correctly as it is a royal pain in the arse. I don't suppose you or anyone else who uses Logic Express would know if there's a midi drum editor in there?

Scott

[Jeff Dunne]

You should be able to highlight the midi track and go into midi>drum editor, from the drop down menu, and then it should be farely apparent. If you find that, I have a drum map specifically for DFHS, with all the different hits and cymbals in there, which I find very helpful.

I don't know anyone who uses Logic actually, aside from some producers (Steven Wilson, etc), but they don't program drums at all.

[SCOTT502]

O.K., let's see...when I highlight the midi track and pull down the midi window I have a selection called drum map setup but no drum editor. When I select this it gives me the location of the sounds on the keyboard and allows me to customize it if I choose...am I on the right track? (no pun intended) If I am then do you just trigger the drums via the keyboard at a slower pace or in pieces, then quantize what you have recorded and adjust the tempo?

[Jeff Dunne]

Hmm... that doesn't sound right. I don't think Cubase LE has the midi support needed for this.

What happens if you just double click the recorded midi track?

[SCOTT502]

O.k. this is starting to look familiar. When I double click on the midi track it opens up a window called key editor. It's a graph with a keyboard on the left side that enables you to enter notes with a mouse.

[Jeff Dunne]

Alright, you can actually use that in accordance with the table in the back of the DFHS manual - but I find the drum editor much easier to use.

[SCOTT502]

Thank you very much! I'll see what I can do with it and look into getting something other than LE.

Thanks again for all the help!

Scott

[WaR HeaD]

i dunno if i am wrong but if you active DKFHS (i don´t know because i haven´t got this drum kit, i have one by steinberg...groove agent, its not a pro drumkit at all but it works for the basic/new user) on Devices>VST Instruments and select the inputs and outputs to the drumkit from hell, the key editor will apear with squares intead of keyboard notes...so you can start to write your drum beats

this is what i do with the steinberg drumkit i have... hope this helps

[WaR HeaD]

btw i prefer to use an already made drum part, for example, using guitar pro, with a gp tab that already has a drum sequence, i can export only the drums to a midi file, and then copy/paste into nuendo midi track, the drum part is done at the moment, i have only to check the tempo changes...if i need to

[SCOTT502]

Cool War Head, I'll give it a try...thanks for the help!

Scott