KVR Audio

Dasheesh · Post by **Dasheesh** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:26 pm

Seriously. How do you guys get off on this stuff? Especially bass drums. There is a reason I'm a keyboard player. Programming drums is the most tedious boring sterile destructive thing to ever happen to music.

/endrant

beely · Post by **beely** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:31 pm

Tips:
- "Play", don't program
- Get physical - *playing* with your body is a much more compelling experience than, eg fingers (or mouse!)
- A real drum kit is super fun!

Failing that:
- Get someone else to do it
- Or Go Ambient

Michael L · Post by **Michael L** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:36 pm

Like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWfYy_8I6wI

exmatproton · Post by **exmatproton** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:38 pm

Dasheesh wrote:Seriously. How do you guys get off on this stuff? Especially bass drums. There is a reason I'm a keyboard player. Programming drums is the most tedious boring sterile destructive thing to ever happen to music.

/endrant

I love it

https://soundcloud.com/igloomag/meltt

foosnark · Post by **foosnark** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:46 pm

I really enjoy drum programming, and also finger drumming on pads... and real drumming with hand drums or Wavedrum or taiko.

Perversely, I find myself increasingly moving toward a musical style that avoids driving the rhythm with percussion, so I only occasionally use it for accents now. But I notice a lot of my monophonic synth lines have a drum programming influence.

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:51 pm

Dasheesh wrote:Programming drums is the most tedious boring sterile destructive thing to ever happen to music.

You're doing it wrong.

Dasheesh · Post by **Dasheesh** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:52 pm

Well, you guys are better at this then I am. I'm going to have become better with drum programming because I can't sit in front of a computer screen and stare at little black squares all day trying to force something interesting to happen. I'm completely uninspired. There is a reason I dumped ableton too.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:53 pm

Do you mean programming the sounds, or programming the beats?

Dasheesh · Post by **Dasheesh** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 2:06 pm

chk071 wrote:Do you mean programming the sounds, or programming the beats?

I mean staring at known catalogued quantified expected sounds all placed in their neat little synced places going around in static circles is killing my brain cells.

nineofkings · Post by **nineofkings** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 2:25 pm

Dasheesh wrote:
chk071 wrote:Do you mean programming the sounds, or programming the beats?

I mean staring at known catalogued quantified expected sounds all placed in their neat little synced places going around in static circles is killing my brain cells.

It doesn't have to be that way - the grid can give you an interestingly arbitrary tool to think about rhythm in new ways. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFwWEWcFTmM

beely · Post by **beely** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 2:30 pm

Dasheesh wrote:Well, you guys are better at this then I am. I'm going to have become better with drum programming because I can't sit in front of a computer screen and stare at little black squares all day trying to force something interesting to happen. I'm completely uninspired.

Then don't do it that way. Get out of the edit screen. Pick up some drum pads and sticks. Play and record. If it sucks, play it again. More than one way to skin a cat.

When I was young I *loved* programmable drum machines, and spent a lot of time developing patterns and songs, then moved into the sequencer world and loved the detail and realism I could add with more sophisticated techniques.

These days, I don't really enjoy doing that kind of work so much, but will do it where necessary but one thing I really can't understand or get behind is the people that start all their tracks with a looping 4x4 kick drum, and spend three days crafting a kick drum sound they like before anything else... I mean, if it's your thing, fine, but it's not mine.

And some people just aren't very drum orientated - I've known really good musicians who become fumbling newbies at the very thought of a kick/snare pattern. If drums aren't your thing, use loops, collaborate, or do something else that you *do* enjoy...

Dasheesh · Post by **Dasheesh** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 2:44 pm

Thanks guys I totally am relating to what you guys are telling me. I'm going to have to find a more fun way to add drums into my tracks.

Armagibbon · Post by **Armagibbon** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 2:48 pm

Playing perc is like playing a buncha instruments all at the same time. Every piece of kit has a voice and the stuff you write gotta have that call and answer relationship like a decent melody. And its gotta feel real, so play it in to get all the flow and timing feeling right. You write the same melody all the time? Like draw it to the grid and all that? Yea you're gonna hate yourself hahaha

Bombadil · Post by **Bombadil** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:37 pm

I've been doing it now for 29 years. At first, I enjoyed the novelty of it. Until then, my recording partner would play a real kit, but really couldn't do much more than a basic Ringo beat. So, I found it a little liberating to be able to put things in that he couldn't do. But then I noticed how sterile the tracks sounded in comparison to a real kit mic'ed with 2 very cheap mics: one for the kick, and one overhead. Anyways, I found certain drum machines easier to program than others. I liked the early Roland TR606s and 707s, as well as the R5/8, and R70. Now, using Logic and ADD, and having set up a drum programming page in the environment, my eyes glaze over, and it is one of my least favourite tasks to building song backings.

But, yeah, coming up with beats I'd often move around and play 'air-drums.' I also try to 'think like a drummer,' which some would call an oxymoron.

Auplant · Post by **Auplant** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:40 pm

whoa, I liked doing it out of the curiosity of the "science" aspect of things. Scientific interest.

Programming drums makes me want to hang myself with a necktie.