Do you make your drums or do you use samples?

[wonshu]

I am still in process of chopping the wood for the bassdrum. So much branches, so much...

Please let us know when you are ready to kill the goat.

You're joking of course... and the joke is wonderful!!

But real skin does sound awesome... I have one frame drum here with goat skin and it is amazing...

[vurt]

no drums usually, but do like to trigger gates, occasionally with a phat resonant bass. but not "drums".

[Benedict]

I make my sounds 98% of the time. I make them right there in the track. Mostly from Kong (Reason) or my own ADs 8 module but not uncommon to make the whole kit in one synth patch like Kraftwerk & Human League used to (pre Linn Drum).

I don't use random samples as a broad rule for my own music. Occasionally, a Rex Loop or Drum Kit is used for a tutorial, but really rare in my finished work.

The sample set I am most likely to use is actually the free Power Drums 2, as they just work. I have demo/reviewed several of the large-name VSTs, and honestly, they are too much fiddling about. Thinking like a real band, you don't say to the drummer, "No fella, you gotta ponce down la dolce vita to bring us 14 different Kik and Snare heads to try them in the mix." Bonzo'd bonzo you in the nose and rightly so. The different sound is more on the Mix than the composition.

So I make the sounds in the mix, usually after the real music is made, so the drums support the Scene & Story of this Song rather than the other way around.

[Hipster Bales]

I make my sounds 98% of the time. I make them right there in the track. Mostly from Kong (Reason) or my own ADs 8 module but not uncommon to make the whole kit in one synth patch like Kraftwerk & Human League used to (pre Linn Drum).

I don't use random samples as a broad rule for my own music. Occasionally, a Rex Loop or Drum Kit is used for a tutorial, but really rare in my finished work.

The sample set I am most likely to use is actually the free Power Drums 2, as they just work. I have demo/reviewed several of the large-name VSTs, and honestly, they are too much fiddling about. Thinking like a real band, you don't say to the drummer, "No fella, you gotta ponce down la dolce vita to bring us 14 different Kik and Snare heads to try them in the mix." Bonzo'd bonzo you in the nose and rightly so. The different sound is more on the Mix than the composition.

So I make the sounds in the mix, usually after the real music is made, so the drums support the Scene & Story of this Song rather than the other way around.

[Hipster Bales]

no drums usually, but do like to trigger gates, occasionally with a phat resonant bass. but not "drums".

Unusual but nice

[Zeisner]

Custom drums would be amazing, like "snoms" (snare/tom hybrids). If things only weren't as expensive...

[Hipster Bales]

Custom drums would be amazing, like "snoms" (snare/tom hybrids). If things only weren't as expensive...

Yea, I just use Image-Line's stock synths to make them

[Uncle E]

Tahti is currently free and has some nice drum synth engines built-in.

[Zeisner]

Yea, I just use Image-Line's stock synths to make them

You can use a lot if not most synths for that. More important are the effects anyway. I like to use bad (like really bad) pitch shifters and octavers to introduce artifacts which can make a drum sound more physical. It's funny how the worst effects can work well on drums while being useless for anything else. Like distortion with plenty of aliasing. Useless for melodic instruments but that aliasing brings out the metallic sound of cymbals really well. That's why I recommend to keep and experiment with the worst plugins out there.

[Hipster Bales]

Yea, I just use Image-Line's stock synths to make them

You can use a lot if not most synths for that. More important are the effects anyway. I like to use bad (like really bad) pitch shifters and octavers to introduce artifacts which can make a drum sound more physical. It's funny how the worst effects can work well on drums while being useless for anything else. Like distortion with plenty of aliasing. Useless for melodic instruments but that aliasing brings out the metallic sound of cymbals really well. That's why I recommend to keep and experiment with the worst plugins out there.

I did that A LOT back when I started FL, I just chose the one I like best, but yea, I recommend that as well when you're starting out.

[DrGonzo]

What about you guys? Do you use samples? do you make your own?

Both! Depending on what I'm after.

If I want to make something in a particular genre I almost always start with a sample pack with loops and drum hits just to directly get me going and set the vibe. I find loops are particularly useful for this.

Making your own drum sounds is something much more individual and something I personally feel is like when you deliberately want to create your own style or sonic signature. I rarely make music and synthesize drums though. Sound design is something I do separately. Spend a few hours creating, recording and editing.

I did a short 3 minute video recently about making your own drum sounds with a small analog synth and how it ended up sounding.

[cryophonik]

My main source of drums is currently a combination of my TR-1000 (synthesized) and Digitakt 2 (samples) for hardware and Triaz (samples) for software. I also have a Syntakt (synthesized and samples) that I just repurchased, but I’m considering swapping it out for another Analog RYTM mk2 (synthesized and samples).If I’m after realistic sounding drums, I use sampled drums exclusively (e.g., EZ Drummer, SSD, Addictive Drums).

[Hipster Bales]

What about you guys? Do you use samples? do you make your own?

Both! Depending on what I'm after.

If I want to make something in a particular genre I almost always start with a sample pack with loops and drum hits just to directly get me going and set the vibe. I find loops are particularly useful for this.

Making your own drum sounds is something much more individual and something I personally feel is like when you deliberately want to create your own style or sonic signature. I rarely make music and synthesize drums though. Sound design is something I do separately. Spend a few hours creating, recording and editing.

I did a short 3 minute video recently about making your own drum sounds with a small analog synth and how it ended up sounding.

Nice! I'm currently in the sound design stage on my project right now

[Uncle E]

I did a short 3 minute video recently about making your own drum sounds with a small analog synth and how it ended up sounding.

Did you see this?

https://payhip.com/b/deKID

Maybe you could release a JT-Mini preset pack using that.

[DrGonzo]

I did a short 3 minute video recently about making your own drum sounds with a small analog synth and how it ended up sounding.

Did you see this?

https://payhip.com/b/deKID

Maybe you could release a JT-Mini preset pack using that.

That's from Momo Muller, right? Yeah - he's pretty incredible with making small editors. Problem with the JT Mini is that not everything can be programmed. Like waveform and resonance. No idea why Behringer didn't make it fully controllable.

/C