drum software -- advice

[Gabriella]

I am looking for an excellent drum program that most people will think is really a human drummer, i.e., great analog-type of sounds, etc. Is there an "industry standard" here? Thanks for any responses.

[Roy Howell]

I am by no means an authority in this area, but I've been told a Roland MC-307 Groove Box($799 list) is good. But, that's too much for me right now, so I may go with the smaller Roland MC-303(list $399).I may just find a bargain on EBay.
But, we should both probably heed the advice of some of our more rhythm-savvy ChatRoom buddies...
Any suggestions, guys?
Thanks again, Roy

[pk_hat]

yes, a suggestion comes your way and it's called 'Battery', by Native Instruments.
I think it's exactly what you're looking for at a great price.
There's also Fruity Loops 3, which can now be purchased boxed at the shop.

Investigate these two, I'm sure one of them will please.

pk

[TriAxis]

This isn't a software based Drum Unit. I use an Alesis DM-Pro, its a 20-Bit Drum Module with 64 polyphony. It can process 16 Drum Sounds at once, each sound can have up to 4 voices each. It has its own effects chip built in with Chorus, Reverb, Overdrive, etc etc...
It has hundreds and hundreds of real and unusual drum sounds. 256 Kick Drums, 256 Snare Drums, 128 Toms, 128 Cymbals, 128 Hi-Hats, then hundreds of other Drum Sounds.
The amount of control and quality is great.

You need an external Midi sequencer or you could use Digi001 to run it. You can also hook up 16 Drum Triggers to it.
You can even save and make up your own Drum Sounds and Samples. Then "burn" them to a flash Ram card, and use your own creations.

I'm very happy with it, I've tried Roland and Yamaha's Drum Brains and Modules. I think this Alesis DM-Pro is by far the best.

[Mark_Knecht]

Hey there - I posted this question a week ago! (Look at 5/08/01) I was pointed at ACID PRO 2.0, and later at some specific sample loops. I purchased ACIP PRO 2.0 ($149) with a free upgrade to 3.0. I got it over the weekend, and the results so far are quite good.

I would not go so far as to say it really sounds like a human drummer, but you can get loops that are done by humans, which will move me in the right direction. It's amazingly easy to put patterns together really quickly, and very easy to modify things as you get going.

The interface to grabbing the loops is kind of slow, but for the price it seems really powerful. I'm making decisions now as to what other loops to buy to get more sounds. The ones that come the program are OK, but I want more.

If you're interested, drop me a note and I'll send you a couple of patterns I put together so you can hear for yourself.

Cheers,
Mark

[Vegadark]

I also have a DM-PRO by Alesis. I totally swear by this thing. It can sound anything from completely real to fake to electronic. This thing is the best. There is no drum style that it cannot handle...

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§§§Vegadark§§§

[homerg]

I bought Acid Rock by Sonic Foundry which is really cheap, then I got their Drum Tools (loops). It's great. You can either use their loops or you can create your own loops using their "one shot" loops. That way you can pan your drum kit's components any way you want, and you can control each drums individual volume and pitch. The best drummer I've ever played with, and they don't talk back!

[andyo]

Two things,

Ok, I know that the Zoom RT-123 isn't software - but it's only $150. I use it all of the time at work. You have to mix and match to get the right kits - Also, I usually process the *hit out of them with PT. Easy to use. Affordable. Not the greatest sounds, but good.

Battery is a VST plugin & stand alone unit.
I'm confused - PT/LE supports RTAS & AS. Does this mean Battery won't work?

Andy O.

[pk_hat]

Battery is a VST plugin & stand alone unit.
I'm confused - PT/LE supports RTAS & AS. Does this mean Battery won't work?

Andy O.[/B][/QUOTE]


It means that PT will not see it as a VST instrument the way Cubase or Logic would. But, because it's also a stand-alone application, you can create drum patterns and whole songs, save to .wav and importinto PT.
Voila...

By the way, Battery does have awesome sounds, it would be a wise investment.

pk

[homerg]

Oh, if you like I can send you a sample of what I did on "Come Together" by the Beatles. It was all created with individual drums that I used to create my loops with. This is one of the hardest ones I've ever done, except for maybe Dear Prudence, but I'm very happy with it.