MSF: One tom generator to rule them all

[Annabanna]

OK, so it's a silly title, but there's something that keeps me up at night. I'm not entirely sure whether MSF is the right tool for the job, but it seems like a good place to start.

Goal: Chromatically keyboard mapped tom tom instrument with simple controls for shell size, thickness, head type, tuning, resonant head.

Issues: I have an absurd number of sample libraries, but always the same issues where timbre jumps moving into new velocity range, or tone jumps as note triggers sample of different diameter drum, etc. I want an idealized, smooth version that has no such jumps across the velocity or keyboard range, but which smoothly shifts diameter, etc across the range.

I unfortunately cannot use MODO drum due to hardware limitations, but I I have daily frustrations with Modo Bass due to it being intentionally crippled by the developer. For instance, I ALWAYS want zero fret noise on slides (not the same as pitch bends), zero release noise, and various articulations that it COULD do, but chooses not to in the name of "realism." I suspect they have similarly tried to be as realistic as possible about emulating actual toms within the context of an actual kit.

I don't want that kind of realism. I want clean, usable tones in simple chromatic layout where I can easily dial in and out things like attack noise, etc to get it to sit perfectly in a mix without having to process it to death to fix problems afterward.

I love tom grooves, and there's just something intoxicating about Caravan, etc, but it tends to be an engineering nightmare, and there's a reason you just don't hear that stuff in modern production. The modern sound is clean, hyper-punchy, and has near zero mud. In contrast, Sing Sing Sing and the like are 92% mud. The "war toms" cinematic thing is near the opposite of what's needed. To get a classic groove like Iko Iko / Brother John (Meters version), or Hand Jive / I want Candy to work for a modern audience, the biggest impediment is the toms themselves as it's all low mid rumble. I've spent the last 4 days straight auditioning hundreds of tom sounds for a groove I'm constructing, and none are quite right, but since they are samples, there's not much I can do.

I think there's a huge opportunity for a renaissance in this kind of intensive rhythm if the sounds themselves can be tweaked to play well together with minimal processing to create something that fits neatly into a modern mastering curve, and isn't constantly fighting itself.

It struck me watching an old video for Bow Wow Wow just how much the instrument itself was critical in the sound. He's playing Staccato horn drums with rack mounted timbales, etc. No resonant heads. All attack and fundamental. Ring where appropriate, dampened where appropriate. Those songs just wouldn't have worked on a regular drum set. The problem isn't that that sort of groove can't be coaxed into a modern production aesthetic. It's that I've been using the wrong instruments.

Anyway, before I go on all day... This is a lifelong passion for me, and something I'm sure I'll be tweaking for decades, but as I'm new to physical modeling, I'd just like to open up a conversation to hear from anyone on the following:

Any MSF or other pointers on specifics regarding exciters, resonators, etc for tom sound?

Is MSF the right tool for the job, or should I be looking at other options (Wasted quite enough time on Chromophone).

Any insights into how to translate the concept of various head types, head tensions, etc into usable controls?

Overall approach: Would it be helpful to load samples of various real toms and do some kind of morph between their harmonic signatures?

And, of course... rather than spending the next year of my life reinventing the wheel, if anyone has tried this, or has a patch that is of this general nature that I could take a look at or use as a starting point, that would be super helpful.

[MeldaProduction]

I think you are going into a very deep hole of physical modelling . It's actually pretty much infinite. And drums are surprisingly difficult... I tried the MODO drum and I actually hated it... I thought "finally someone managed to do that" , and now, it seemed to me like a set of pitch shifted samples... I think many tried and failed...