Drum Programming - Studio Advice

K

Ketadream

Guest
Hey All...

Kinda new around these parts as far as posting but been a lurker since before the name change.

I am currently looking to do an addition to my studio.

I sequence with a RM1x and software (cubase cakewalk).
Unfortunately the RM1x does horrible drums.

What I wanted was an EASY way to set up some beats.

I was thinking about picking up a Korg ES-1 but the 32khz sample rate scares me.

The purpose of this is just to be able to step program some beats and not have to worry about setting up key groups or making sure the sampler is firing the right key for the drums. I guess I could suck it down and use cubase to sequence it out...

My gear list is here
http://www.ketadream.com/main_studio.html

So the questions is, should I just suck it down and screw with the keygroups or sequence in cubase.

Is the ES-1 an option and will the 32khz kill me?

Does anyone know of any other quick drum solutions that are quality...
 
nice setup you have there.....make sure that the joint dont blow up on you with all your wires everywhere.....but it's nice. but anyway......ask KasioRocks or Mano1.....they always on point with their stuff.......
 
Heh!

HA! you should have seen the wires before the patch bay.

The ones that are running now are into the bay and into the mixer I cant figure out what to do with them, plus I have 4 midi lines comeing out of the 8x8

The mess of wires on the stand are just there for when I patch my effect routes through the patch bay.

Any sugestions on better ways to run cable's?
I built the home studio without any prior knowledge of how to wire and do things (the patch bay was a ***** to set up)
 
Just to clarify a bit are you saying that the drum sounds on the RM1X are no good or that it's not tight enough? 'Cos if it's the former couldn't you just use the RM1X to trigger samples on your E-mu ESI? That way you would be able to use it as a step sequencer to get your loops going, but wouldn't be stuck with the on-board sounds.

As for the Korg, I've never used one (but the other Electribe stuff is cool) but you might lose some top end presence at 32kHz, I guess you'd have to hear it and decide for yourself - check out hat and cymbal sounds. Looking at your set-up though it seems a bit extraneous. You've got 2 sequencers (soft and hard) and a sampler that you can set up drum kits on, with, I would guess, all the functionality of the ES, so why spend the money on another toy? (I don't mean 'toy' in a pejorative sense, it's just what I call new bits of studio kit).

Hope this helps and please post what's wrong with the RM1X 'cos I was thinking about getting one now that their price is dropping 2nd hand.

:cheers:
KasioRoks
 
i use an rm1x in my studio as a sequncer for my sampler and synths and find the sequencing very tight. i am using only hardware though and have it slaved to a 909. the drum sounds on the rm1x are fairly weak though, there are some nice sounds hiding in there but the kicks are poor.
i use a selction of drum machines for my beats including a 909, an 808, a 606, a novation drumstation and alesis hr16 an B. the roland programming interface is the best by a mile and the 909 has the ability to program an external instument using its stepsequencer through midi although the annoying problem that you cant switch between external and internal sequencing without stopping it, you would also be able to map the drum sounds from your sampler across an octave and then use the 909 to trigger them by selecting the notes and then pushing the buttons. 909s are quite pricey just now and not a full drum solution. you will need to think about what sounds you are wanting to make and then use that to pick a drum machine. i havent used the er1 so cant comment on their performance unfortunately, a drum station has a nice 909/808 emulation using analog circuits for most sounds and can be sequenced fairly straight forward with the strep sequencer on the rm1x, the jomox x-09 is meant to be nice too and has a roland type step program. there are plenty nice drum machines out there though, all with different sounds and features and most of them are failry inexpensive second hand. the casio rz-1 is a nice chicago style drum machine with space for 4 12 bit samples which come out nice dirty though over everything the rolands are the best to program.
try going to a shop and trying out the er1 and see if it does what you want.
 
i had the same problem with the rm1x, so i buyd a boss/roland dr. rythm ( dr 770) drummaschine- since then the people are astonished about my percussions.:cool:
 
Check this thread for some details from Rich (AKA Dyeone) on how to do as I suggested. Seems like you're not alone!

KasioRoks
 
yes, its right - the rm1x sequencer is realy a dream, specially the groove-function. but the drum and percusion-sounds are kicked away from the drumz out of the boss by far!
 
come on you dont even have logic :D

yeah getting a es-1 seems kind of pointless if you just want it for drums. it blows away everything in that price range though.

i like to know what exactly patchbays are. is it just a set of cables??

i only got a scratch mixer and keyboard hooked to to my sound card, but i hope i will one day have some more :) so i would like to know what the patchbay does. thanks.
 
It's just a place to connect wires really.. One way to use them is to connect the outs to your keyboard into the back of the patchbay on one side and then put the in on your mixer, soundcard, whatever into the back of the patchbay also. Then you patch them together in the front... Basically it serves two purposes.. It hides wires and it makes wiring a whole lot easier. Instead of going to the back of your gear to change wire locations, you do it on the patchbay and you don't even have to get up.. assmuming that your patchbay is close of course.
 
Thanks everyone...

Thanks everyone for the comments, and sugestions.

I could easily do my drums with the esi but the issue was to make it easy. I was thinking (and it may be flawed) that with an X0X style sequencer I could fire off drum patterns with ease.

The idea behind getting the S instead of the R was that eventualy the R's sounds would be old, while with the S it would depend on the samples I used.

Like I said maybe the answer is that I just suck it down and use the sampler I have for the drums...


Dont get me wrong the RM1X is the best hardware sequencer on the planet and it blows rollands groove box's off the face of the earth sequencing wish, its just its tone generation leaves alot to be desiered. (hence why I have the XL-1 and Waldorf)


ALTHOUGH there is a strange through running through my head of selling the XL-1 and getting the XL-7 Command station which has some easier sequening for drums..it also has pads i can assign to sounds...so that could be another option..

B.T.W. is there a support group for chronic gear purchasers :)
 
DR770

Looking at the DR 770 I think that would be a much better choice over the ER-1 Now its just to narrow it down between the ES-1 and the DR-700

One of my co-workers sugested I Look into a drum station as well, but Im afraid that would be to limiting..shrug..I guess its off to gutair center to try em out
 
Originally posted by ket
I could easily do my drums with the esi but the issue was to make it easy. I was thinking (and it may be flawed) that with an X0X style sequencer I could fire off drum patterns with ease.
Click to expand...
Maybe I'm being monumentally stupid here, but I still don't see why you can't use the RM1X as an XOX type sequencer and easily integrate it with your sequencer. Since I don't know my way round the RM1X I can only work from how I set up drum kits at the minute, but it must be something like this:
assign your kick drum sample to C1 on your sampler
assign your snare to D1, etc for the rest of your kit.
Make sure that the RM1X is set up the same way and away you go.

As you can use the RM1X to sequence external stuff you must be able to do this - surely? - and if you can, why invest in another toy when your sampler is more flexible and more 'future-proof'. Unless you find a kick@ss drum machine of course.

If this can't work, please post back here, 'cos it's the only reason I'd look at getting an RM1X.

:cheers:
KasioRoks
 
kas, you are right that you can use the rm1x in this way. thats what it does best.
the internal sounds in the rm1x are weak (for what i want anyways) and the drums especially so. i have one at the heart of my exclusively hardware set up running as a hardware sequencer and not as a groove box and it has consigned my atari and mmt8 to the redundant pile.
it kicks *** as a hardware sequencer. nice big display, easy menus etc etc.
i always program all my drum machines themselves ( i have them all synced up) and have the rm1x slaved to my 909. this means the 909 controls the tempo function of the rm1x and the start stop etc. i then program my sampler, drumstation when i need it, and my other synths all from the rm1x via midi (except the 101 which i use its own sequqncer) and it all works great lol
the one prob with programming beats into the rm1x X0X style is that you have to stop and delete drums you dont like the position of unlike the roland interface which you can just repress the button and it switches off. this way proves far better at gettting your ideas down and modifying them without having to interrupt the flow.
doepfer and mam sell hardware step sequencers which work just like rolands but transmit over midi. these fall down with complex synth sequencing though where you might need long notes, sweeps etc. all this sort of stuff can be done with the rm1x. the qy700 is great too but a little more than i really needed.
 
somewhere in asia......

Yamaha Production Initiation Director (YPD):
"we need a new workstation with a groove function and a good handle sequencer"

Creative Assistant (CA):
" ok, lets optimize the sequencer of the last groovebox and take the actual sounds from genres funk, techno, house, drumnbass, standarts.... the production of the new sequencer will take about 2134.000 TR - the sounds ...... about 300.000 TR....."

YPD: " that will be 2434.000 TR - too much. the sequencer is important, cause the users gonna take it into their studiosystem ignoring the sounds, to handle other devices, we need a very good sequencer to keep this idea!!!! but we have to spare at the sounddesign."

CA:" no problem. i know another sounddesigner, which does this work for about 120.000 TR. i´ll call him today."


YPD:" we cannot produce a groovebox which costs more than 800 $. i hope this sounddesigner will make a good work. the roland guys make some very good sounds, but their synthies must be more expensive than our ones. so we gonna rock the market."



i think thats the point....:rolleyes:
 
If you can stand shelling out a few bucks, the Alesis DM Pro is just a beast. I picked one up 6 months ago for just under $700 and havent used anything else since. Sounds great and has some nice basic eq boosts that are pretty helpful as well as nice verb and some Cho/Flang. Kinda hard to find from what I hear but the silly thing covers lots of ground.
 
Hi,

I see you use cubase 5 in your kit list,

whats up with waldorf attack?! or halion!?

2 of the best VSTi's on the market.

waldorf attack kicks any drum machines arse, there making a hardware version come to think of it...

fluxtah
 
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