Drums - Read it

i recently hace started a new thing for me, want to know if other peeps do it too, I program drums, where my drum kits are all laid out the same, ie samples may vary but the BD is always in the same spot etc., now I program sequences of bd, sd and hat patters, then i save em as templates, all on one zip. like say a simple boom bap beat, and i call it boombap1 now when i wanna do a song, i can go and load any kit, and then load the templates, and build songs from the basic (real basic) rhythms i have alread prgrammed, saves me tons of time making drums. whaddya'll think, is this a waste of time?
basically its like having those books they sell with drum patterns in em xcept i have em on zip.[/color]

I think it's great that you go to the trouble of doing that but you would have to get very complex to program a full 4 bank program with drums that way..

How do you regulate the kits to give you the effect you want?  What I mean is say you want some dirty drums do you make a small program with dirty drums and then load that in place of the drum program you sequenced with?  Do you have many different small drum programs to audition what sounds you like or is it a few big program of drums you have?  If it is a big program does that mean that you keep certain types of drums within the Banks at all times?  I've been considering such a system but never took the time to completly work it out in detail.

I've also hear of creating GM compatible kits but that seems to me to be very difficult.  All I am doing right now as far as organizing my kits is whenever I make a new program it's with a template I made to change all the notes of the pads so It will play samples in the same bank side by side on a keyboard.

I'd really like to know more personally about this topic so if you have any insight let me know bro  ???[/color]

yeah i dun dis.

quality street

grooskee[/color]

you shouldnt make templates, cuz itll make ur beats start to sound the same every time. i template i made is pads with the notes in order so itll work good with sound modules. (itll play the notes in order.)[/color]

I considered this one time, but I think it would lead to a formula type approach which I would like to avoid. It would definitely save time to have templates made with basic styles pre-programmed, but I don't mind spending the time programming something new each time. To me it's all about constructing a sound based on a particular mood I'm trying to create, so to stick a bunch of pre-fab parts together doesn't really satisfy me or accomplish my goal.

Cspace[/color]

I've done it once or twice to hear a song with completely different drums, but like stated about, I like to more or less start from scratch, every song, just to stray from redundant beats, etc.[/color]

I have never found any redundancy in my beats becasue of it, let me xplain what I mean a little better.
all my drum kits are arranged the same across the pads, so pad a1 is always a kick etc. etc. so I can plug any kit into any of my sequences and see how it sounds with little work.
ok, so the templates are all real basic, ie a kick on the 1 and 3 and the snare on 3 & 4, or a simple double up on the 1 and so on, its just a framework, or a foundation. I (of course) go in and do the drums different, but the templates are good for if you have a loop or a sample and u wanna see how it will sound with some drums behind it, then u can keep the template, program the drums and not have to worry about it, plus if u get 1/2 way through a song and feel that the drums could be better (as long as you set up all your drums the same on the pads) just load a new kit or a new template and try it out, dont like it? no time wasted. I say this because I am a drum fiend, my drums never seemed to be right and I was tired of doing a track then wanting to change the drums, spending an hour re-doing them then decide I liked the old one better, the templates simplify the "i wonder what it would sound like if the drums were like this" part of it. I still "play" my drums but the templates mean that I can work with them better, perhaps thats the best way to say it.
just spend the 2 hours doing it and try it for a little while, I dont find that my beats sound the same, (xcept I have a preference for the slow-laid back beats around 80-90 no faster then 95-96 bpm for meeeeeee) I just notice my beats come out alot faster then b4, and my data i save is much more organized since my .all files no longer contain the "development" stages of sequences (ie one with just kick and snare, then another seperate one that adds the next sound etc.)
flexibility, flexibility, flexibility....[/color]

that idea actually sounds like a very good one.
i hear you on being very conscious of my drums, and that would save a shitload of time..[/color]

Sounds like a cool way of testing things out.  I just save all my drum kits on one zip disk, 'cause sometimes my drums are everywhere on the pad!  I'll think try your technique one time, 'cause I'm trying to get organized with thangs.

peace[/color]

put all you kits on the GM drum numbers for the most part, ie snare kick hats all on the correct numbers then you can load up all your kits and try them over the same beat because they all match. this way you can have a library that you can truly audition, you can switch a whole drum kit at the last minute with no repercusions, fair enough, you need more than these basic drums but that's your basis.
You can do this with percussion programs too obviously because the gmmdrumtable covers all shakers congas etc. you can find these charts on the web easily

lex[/color]

I made a template with the note numbers mapped correctly, but before I started I set the "Pad Assign" field in the program screen to Master. This way you can have any program set up how ever you want it. When you need the MPCs note numbers to correspond to your synth or GM or whatever, just switch the "Pad Assign" field to Master. And when you don't... switch it back to Program. (the Master program setting can only be saved as .APS) You can also set up efx, 8outs, and mix settings as either master or program.

I also made a template for my sequences so I won't have to set track names, tempo, # of bars, sync settings, etc. everytime I start a new song. I also set my default sequence name to my production teams name (jus to feel important).

I save everything as .aps and .all, but with no sounds or sequences, along with my OS. So the needlessly time consuming work is done before I touch a pad.

The constant layout seems like a sweet little plan to keep the audition time down for new kits, I'm on top of that. I was wondering if anyone knows a place with the chart with note/# combinations on it. I know someone was working on one a few months ago, but I haven't heard back. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

logic