Tracktion 2 and Drumkit from Hell (noob)

[Biowaste]

Hello everyone. My first post and greetings to all.

I have purchased Tracktion 2 and also have Drumkit From Hell Superior on the way. I'm a drummer and would like to "create" my drumtracks using these 2 programs.

How easy is it to create dynamic and realistic drumtracks? I know the DKFH has the sounds, but is it hard to do in Tracktion? It was recommended by a software guy at SamAsh Music Stores because of ease of use.

Will I be forced to program them in the MIDI "Piano Roll" or can I actually write the drumtracks using a musical staff? (Like sheet music - would rather do it this way if possible).

Anyone have any tips/tricks regarding these 2 programs and how they interact with each other?

Thank ya's!

A pure noob,
-Biowaste

[jtxx000]

Tracktion doesn't have a notation editor built in but you can import MIDI files made with an external editor. Another option would be to get one of these and play the drums yourself.

Oh yeah and welcome to KVR!

[AndrewSimon]

My new toy from Yamaha

Yamaha DD55


You can disable the internal sounds and just use the MIDI OUT to trigger drums. (especially multi layered ones like BFD)
The velocity response on this thing is quite surprising though I recommend getting some good drums stick and not use the ones that came with the unit.
I still can not drum but I can "fake it" one hand at the time layering each drum one at a time.
I use MID-OX with MID-YOKE to create different maps for each "recording phase" of the layered drum kit.

The results are amazing.
There is nothing like "writing" a drum part for a specific song.
Using drum pads as oppose to keyboards gives you all king of ghost notes and a real "feel" of live drums.
I have not used a groove since I got this thing

[jtxx000]

The velocity response on this thing is quite surprising though I recommend getting some good drums stick and not use the ones that came with the unit.

Really? I had heard that they weren't that great and wouldn't do justice to something as heavily multisampled as BFD. I was thinking about getting a trigger finger but if this does have good velocity sensitivity I'd rather go with it.

[AndrewSimon]

The velocity response on this thing is quite surprising though I recommend getting some good drums stick and not use the ones that came with the unit.

Really? I had heard that they weren't that great and wouldn't do justice to something as heavily multisampled as BFD. I was thinking about getting a trigger finger but if this does have good velocity sensitivity I'd rather go with it.

When you use the internal sounds the layers suck but at the midi output the velocity is from 27 to 127.
It recorded a small take with various hits. (wasn't trying hard, just a one take 30 seconds)

There is a jump at the low end.
It goes something like this:
27, 41, 50 above 50 I got all king of velocities up to 127.
Especially between 50 and 94. I have seen 51,52,58,60,61 and so on.
With MIDI-OX you can further modify the velocity curve thought it's not realy needed.
There is only one layer missing when working with BFD.
BFD has a 5 then jumps to 28 but again you can fix this.

This thing is beyond all my expectations.
It just sounds right.
I am working on a new song and I think this is the first time I will attempt a drum solo in it.
I will post the results when ready.
But even just for simple backbeats it is really nice to write drum parts for a specific song.
It will always sound more natural then using loops or doing it on a keyboard.

[Biowaste]

Thanks for the quick responses guys...

I guess now I'd like to look into getting a music composer (using a music staff - sheet music) that I can create the drum parts in and assign each note different sounds from the Drumkit From Hell, THEN I want to plug that into Traction2.

Any recommendations? Thanks!

-Bio

[chico.co.uk]

How much do those yamaha things go for then? I can't play drums (properly), but it might be fun messing around with with something like that, and maybe building up a wee bit of rhythm. What about kick drums? What d'you do for that?

[jtxx000]

it comes with a kick pedal and a hat pedal

[multree]

schroeng uses it, too... but has had some problems - don't know which though.... still it's really cheap and fun to play with...

but since I'm no drummer I rather programm by hand

[Lunch Money]

I'm of two minds-- I'm not sure that I'd be able to do a convincing performance, but at least it'd be fun to give the Yamaha one a try, with its ability to use sticks and with its included pedals.

The Trigger Finger looks OK, but as the name implies, you'd have to use your fingers, rather than sticks. I'm not sure if this would offer me a "world" of difference compared to just triggering with a plain ol' keyboard.

Anyone know if the DD55 can handle 'sensitive'-type stuff like soft grace notes and snare rolls?

[jtxx000]

schroeng uses it, too... but has had some problems - don't know which though.... still it's really cheap and fun to play with...

but since I'm no drummer I rather programm by hand

cheap for an electronic drum set maybe but fairly expensive for a toy... it's about as much as BFD, no?

[chico.co.uk]

it comes with a kick pedal and a hat pedal

ooh, that sounds interesting ... so does one of the pads do the hi-hat, and you can open and close it with the pedal? Or is the pedal to do the pedal hat noise you get from closing it with your foot?

Shit, wish i could stop finding things to buy ...

[WoJ]

I have a yamaha DD-11, its much much older than the 55, it was probably out in the 80's/90's, i got it cheap off ebay.

I'm by no means a drummer, i bought it with the intentions of playing in simple beats, but its mainly used for band practices so the drummer dosnt have to bring a kit!....phht drummers.....

I did a quick test by playing in some simple buzz rolls :S data is here and so is mp3.



http://freespace.virgin.net/r.wojtulewicz/drumdata.mp3

It is a good little machine and it only cost me around £30, no hi hat pedal on this version but i aint too bothered, its a good little way of teaching yourself some simple patterns.

WoJ

[AndrewSimon]

it comes with a kick pedal and a hat pedal

I do not use those at all.
I can not get the hand feet coordination for starters and also since I use BFD the HiHat has 6 different types of hits (snare has 6, cymbals have 6 as well) so it's not practical.

What I do is record in phases.
I have midi maps made up (in MIDI-OX) for 4 layouts:
1 Snare and bass drum
2 HiHats
3 Cymbals
4 Toms

I do all the parts separately on different tracks.
Different tracks will also allow you to go back later and change notes easily.
You can also render them seperately and apply FX later on.

Here is a sample of something I am currently working on.
It is very simple drumming but hear how it flows with the song.
For a non-drummer's first try I am pretty happy.

http://www.andras-shimon.com/MUSIC/DD55C.mp3

[jtxx000]

is that all BFD? it sounds great!