How do you go about programming your drums?

When making a beat the first thing I sort out is some kind of reference beat, I find metronome clicks slightly annoying (the worst is my Atari, shit sounds like it's trying to impress the microwave "PIP....PIP....PIP....BEEP....") so I turn that shit off and enter some shakers or other perc as a sequence, sometimes I will lay out a constant pattern in a step sequencer and other times I will just light up a few random notes on the Yamaha RM1X or in Cubase etc and move them around until they work, if using something with pads like an Akai XR20 I will use note repeat in combo with a record quantize setting so I can make a quick pattern by bouncing on note repeat (a bit like programing a pattern with the buttons on the 1981 Mattel Synsonic Drums) after that I will start to construct a beat using any number of methods and devices.
 
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I don't know who started this not quantizing stuff, but that's crazy. Back when I had my MPC 2000 XL, If I have to turn quantize off because the timing of my sample is off then I'll do the drums with the quantize off (snare, kick, hat). Most of the time though, I'd set the quantize to some 1/8 setting and do the snare or just do the snare in step edit (to make sure it was perfect). Then put it back to 1/16 to do the kick and hat. After that if I wanted to go back and add in a swing setting I'd re-quantize them with a swing.

Also I'd double time the metronome so it would mimic a high hat. Or I'd just do the hat first (1/8 timing note repeat button) then go back and re-do it later.
 
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I Start With The Kick Drum. Then Snare.

I Like To Treat The Drum Tracks Like Its A Separate Instrumental. Really, I Put More Into Drum Programming Than Choppin The Sample...Thats The Easy Part.
 
I tend to drop them in together so that I have basic beat for dropping the rest of the track over.

I'll then go back and edit the drum track instrument by instrument to match up with key hit points in the other parts.

Then comes the velocity tuning.

Then the last bit of humanising by shifting the position of notes using a little randomisation on starting position.

Maybe add a groove factor if everything is still too stiff.
 
I bang out the general beat I'm feeling for the sample on my drum pad, then quanitize. I generally go snare, kick, hats, then shaker/percussion
 
most of the tme i do the kick and snare at the same time, then the hat, but sometimes i'll do kick snare and hat all at once. hsrdly ever quantize anything anymore, if i don't like how i played it, i'll just shift the notes i don't like until they sound right to me.
 
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