Re: [linux-audio-user] Drum pattern creation.

On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 08:05:12 -0400, isabellf <isabellf(a)sympatico.ca> wrote: First, Thanks to Dave and Alex for some great replies. I got good stuff out of both. I'm not a drummer. Getting good rhythms into my stuff is always one of the toughest things to do by myself. I'm seldom satisfied and always looking for ways to make this part of music easier and more fun. Some things (most of which cost at least a little money) that you might want to look at: 1) The web - One of my favorite sites is here: http://www.drummingweb.com/index.html Tomas seems to have a lot of good things to say. I like his writing and his analysis of Yes and how the songs changed with the changing back and forth between Bruford and White. 2) A fairly good, if very simple book: Rhythm Programming by Mark Roberts: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1860744125/qid=1097762579/sr=… It's an OK starting place. About $15. Comes with a CD of patterns, but also has some discussion of why things work and why things don't. (Big clue - think like a drummer. Drummers have two hands and two feet. Don't hit 5 things at the same time...) ;-) 3) Drumtrax - A great library of MIDI patterns played by a real drummer. About $50. you will never get through the whole library. It's huge. Don't worry about the librarian being a windows program. The value is in the MIDI library which is obviously cross platform and provided in both MIDI file formats. 4) Far and away the most fun, but far and away the most expensive ($500-$1K) is to get some equipment. I use a small Drumkat drum pad tied to a Alesis DM-5. I set up a drum machine more or less as a metronome and then just bang away, recording MIDI patterns, until I finally get lucky and do something I like. http://www.drumkat.com/ http://alesis.com/products/dm5/index.html My Drumkat is an older 6-pad version I got through a Pro Tools users group connection. I got the Alesis on Ebay. The Drumkat puts out triggers and the Alesis turns them into MIDI events. I don't use the sounds in the Alesis at all, but rather driver Battery and GigaStudio. There is nothing more satisfying, fun and empowering than coming up with some pattern you like and can start composing around. I'm not enough of a drummer to string a whole performance together, but I can do bits and pieces and then give it to my drummer friends and let them do the real stuff. One big advantage to the Drumkat approach is that it is real physics working. Real sticks at real velocities, I think the three things that make MIDI drumming sound most real are: 1) As mentioned by Alex - varied velocities and timing. Very true. 2) Ghost notes. Drum sticks have mass. The hit the drum head and bounce back, but then drummers often let them hit the head a second time at a lower velocity. It's not written as a note, hence it gets called a ghost note. Programming this stuff by hand is just about the most boring, horrible thing to do. I hate it. Mostly drum machines cannot do it since this little hits are not on grid. You can do it in MIDI files and drive yourself insane. You can play it on a drum, have fun, and have it happen naturally. It's insanely great! 3) Odd changes - vary the snare sample. Once in a while throw in a rimshot instead of a straight snare. Vary it like a drummer might. I'm a terrible, horrible, non-accomplished hack in this area, but thee is really no part of music I like to play with more than drum patterns. It's great fun and, when done right, can breathe a lot more life into what you are doing. Have fun, Mark