Electronic drum kit to improve skills?

kawi77

New member
After listening to some dance/trance tracks from about years 1998-2004 noticed that many producers used more realistic drums samples or simply recorded live acoustic instruments before building a whole track.
I saw one guy doing a cover of famous dance track on electronic drum kit.
I wanted to get one of mid range kits into bedroom.I do hesitate as it need some changes and money spent.
Have you guys ever tried to do some drumming and see it as midi notes working out groves,sound shapes, time's grid comparing it to simply track built on grid with knowledge you have about where to place sounds?
Seems dance music can be done quicker nowadays but it lacks a natural vibe maybe.
Is buying drum kit waste of time vs experimenting with samples dropped on midi channel?
 
A few important questions: Are you a drummer? If not, are you willing to spend significant time, and perhaps money for lessons, to learn? Or, do you know someone who can play for you?

GJ
 
I am not a drummer.Problem I face is I would like to see drums patterns on midi channel so I could apply more human factors to whole percussion instruments.Playing instrument live gives straight away more human factors.Also randomisation, velocity done by mouse consume more time. Maybe I just need spend more time on drumms se section within my Daw or get familiar with drumms kit vst which helps humanizing.
here is video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ApNEheSGcU
 
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I understand why you want to do it. The question is how will you do it, and how long will it take and are you willing to do the work (perhaps years of it) to get a decent product? Otherwise, just saying "randomization" is useless, because your drumming skills will be so random as to be non-existent.

GJ

PS-- In other words, you may become frustrated with the process very quickly, and it will be a very expensive experiment.
 
Yeah, the main thing to note is that becoming a good drummer requires huge investment of time, effort and possibly money for lessons.

Learning an instrument is a great thing to do in general, but you can't just do it as a sub-hobby within production, you have to be prepared to put in just as much time as you have producing.

You won't be able to just sit down and make better drum patterns a week in. Try five years down the line...
 
If you have a production tick that makes you want an electronic drum kit--> (or play drums/percussion)
You have to deal with that. In all ways, I say explore it and if it doesn't work for you, do something else.


I think you are feeling the HOW I DO THINGS IS IMPORTANT part of production.
Say yeah, um no, quickest, easiest, most economical way isn't always what you will choose to do.

You can buy a super cheap kit and test your engagement level and if it feels right, up your investment level.
You can buy an electronic kit and use it until the return policy date and return it or sell it (at a fair loss) later.

It's X-mas time so you can probably get every person you know to pitch in and get something.
Also, it doesn't have to be all or nothing. You can combine playing and programming together.
And...and you don't need all that time in to develop enough skills to play drums on your record.

You can play full-length and track out the song, keep the parts you like dump the parts that stink and edit the parts that were close.
At the end of the day, you are basically talking about LEARNING A NEW (music related) SKILL and wondering if you should attempt to learn it. Nothing bad happens if you played the drums for a while and then decided it wasn't for you long term.

There are so many benefits and the only draw back is you giving up too soon.

---------------------------
And if this really isn't about PLAYING DRUMS and all you want is a more human-esque rhythm experience behind you drums, then by all means turn off quantize and leave the timing inconsistencies in place. Correct the bum notes and keep all the groovy parts.
Stop recording little sections and play live until you get tired.
 
Wow.I can see split opinions.I think I will purchase something soon.Where can I download free drumms kit sounds( I am talking about more realistic kicks for example)
 
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Congrats on your decision to purchase a drum kit! As your skills improve, I am confident that you will love playing and learning more about drumming and rhythmic concepts. Also, learning the drums might expand your interest and musical opportunities beyond Dance/Trance music, provide a viable musical skill to market for collaborations and another means to earn income within the field of music.

The following Music Radar link provides a few acoustic drum samples, but I am unaware of any free collections that are highly detailed for most drummers:

SampleRadar: 1,000 free drum samples | MusicRadar

Nevertheless, the above link is a good starting point.

In my studio, I have a Roland mesh e-kit mapped to Steven Slate Drums 4 and/or XLN Audio Addictive Drums 2. Other software options include Toontrack EZ Drummer, Toontrack Superior Drummer, FXpansion BFD3 and Air Music Tech Strike. Due to the depth of samples, which include various velocity layers and nuances, most owners of e-kits pursue the one of the previous options, if the setup will be used in the studio.

Please note that I am not a drummer, but a bassist and guitarist. However, I can play basic drum patterns, but I usually hire, or swap services with, drummers to play parts for me. Overall, the previous type of setup works well, based on my experience.

However, do not forget that e-kits usually come with a drum module that can be setup via MIDI to your DAW host. In all honesty, I suggest to use it until you can afford a software integrated solution.
 
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