druuuums

[El Kid (previously B-LAM)]

gaaaaaar the amount of time i hav spent trying to create decent breaks on crappy freeware drum sequencers is ridiculous...anyone got and decent free or cheap and cheerful programs for making good drum tracks? bin plagueing me for tooo long.

[ASBO]

If it's cheap and cheerful drums you want then look no further than Reason. So many kits and breaks to mess with and really easy to manipulate! Sinch

[Smokey Hokes]

layer layer layer

[Gecko]

I use Battery and Battery 2 which are both wicked for drum programming. U need to use them in conjuction with a sequencer. They sound ace and are really quick for creating your own drum sets

if its live sounding breaks u want try starting with a nice loop u like the rhythm / dynamics of. Make sure its looping perfectly then start layering on sounds to mimic the loop. Eg put a fatter bass drum in the same places the bd lands. Same with the snare and other elements. This can often give wicked fat loops that still have a live sound backing it.

[Clocker]

compress(if u like)....layer, layer. layey.... eq, eq, eq...

[Roadkill the VIII]

I find trackers are the best for drum loops (maybe because I learnt on them). Try Buzz www.buzzmachines.com/

[Gecko]

ahhh FT2, the golden era

and octamed

those were the days, haven't used a tracker in years!

[El Kid (previously B-LAM)]

cheers4all the advice...i'm tryin to get battery 1 or 2 soon, and probably give that buzz ting a go seeing as it's free.


keep it comin if any1 else has ideas 

[Headphobe]

hey dude....  my views are thus: you HAVE to spend ages sorting your breaks out cos otherwise they sound shit:::----->
1... reason is a bit sh*t.  the file compression technique used to keep the prog files small makes the sound quality really crap.  unless you wanna split all the drum sounds over that new line mixer and then spend hours getting the compression right... your in trouble.  also to sequencer can be very irritating.
 2...its all about making sure that your sounds are f*cking well compressed before you slap them into a loops.  i suggest that you get that battery electronic drums pack... its the dogs cock. also its a good idea to build a huge library of sounds that fit together first.  you can do this easily by opening up alreay made sounds in  a wave editor with vst/dx plugs and sh*gging the sh*t out of them.  try and use the same plugins over different sounds to get them all to sound similar but original (get yer batch processor out mate)
3... once youve got yer custom sounds... use something like fruityloops (anything will do) to layer up sounds. (try using ten hihats together at different frequencies and pans instead of just one).  now build your loops and make sure you pay as much attention to the mixer (eq, pan, levels) as you have the rhythmic detail.
4... shag em up in a wave editor to make it all glossy and flowy (reverse a few drums, gate a few, slap some reverb on in the right place andf molest the pitch a bit).
dunno if that helps?
safe
hp

[Roadkill the VIII]

I wrote the following a while back on an AKAI mailing list. Guess it still holds true.......

I guess the best thing to do is to listen to as much music as possible and pay specific attention to the drum patterns. A "classic" hip-hop beat will be some thing like:

1.1	1.2	1.3	1.4
k ch	-	ch	-
2.1	2.2	2.3	2.4
s ch	-	ch	-
3.1	3.2	3.3	3.4
k ch	-	k ch	-
4.1	4.2	4.3	4.4
s ch	-	oh	-

k=kick, s=snare, ch=closed hat, oh=openhat

I find it's good to get something fairly basic like that and then add layers to it, either as extra hits or by using a (filtered) loop over the top.
You probably want to find a few records/loops with drum sounds you really like, prehaps combining the kick from record x with the kick from record y for example, until you have a "drum kit" that you really like. Then program in a simple beat (like the one above) and then monkey with it a load A little reverb and compression on your drums sounds can make them sound more "real" as if they have been recorded in the same room. Also for something like 909/808 sounds try something like buzz tracker, it's really good for quickly knocking up a drum pattern that you can then recreate in your sequencer.
Think about how a drummer plays the drums, there's going to be volume/velocity variations as (s)he won't hit a drum the same twice. Variations on the high hats volume especially is really important, especially if you've got them playing on every other quarter beat Also think in patterns, like 3 bars of loop A followed by 1 of B is a basic verse pattern, then 2 bars of X, 1 of Y and 1 of Z makes the chorus pattern.
Sorry if thats a bit of a ramble, I'm really hungover!