What do you use for drums?

[pbbobkanobi]

I would highly recommend Reason to anyone wanting to "easily" make their own drum beats in RiffWorks. All you need is a cheap midi controller keyboard ($150 US) and Reason to make some basic beats to start with. I use Instant Drummer sometimes just for the cymbals by turning the intensity all the way down and then use Kick, snare drum, percussion samples in Reason to fill out the drum beat. Many of my songs have Instant Drummer, REX files and Reason all working together to create unique sounds. It drives me nuts to hear the same exact drum beats in different songs so I try to mix it up a bit to get my own sound. Lately I have be going back to some of my older recordings and adding some "ear candy" with Reason. I have Recycle also which allows you to conert wav files to REX which is real handy. this lets you record any sound you can think, convert it to REX and then suck it into RiffWorks.

I think a lot of people forget that they can effect the drums in RiffWorks to fatten them up or make them sound different. Adding some compression and EQ to the Instant Drummers makes a world of difference. You can make some crazy sounding effects this way also. Imagination and experimentation are the keys to developing your own style, including drum beats that catch people's attention.

As soon as RW has some midi support the sky will be the limit for drum beats. I have the BFD drum program just waiting to go. Works great with Sonar...with RW....not so much. We need MIDI!!!

[pooterpatty]

It drives me nuts to hear the same exact drum beats in different songs so I try to mix it up a bit to get my own sound.

I hear ya Bob. That's why, as much as I love Matt Sorum as a drummer, I can't use his IDs in any of my songs anymore. It's like the sign in the music store window that reads, "Please, no Stairway to Heaven" There should be a banner on Riffcaster that reads, "Please, no Matt Sorum Basic".

As far as Reason goes, I'm sure it would do everything I want it to. However, the main stumbling block is price. With a copy of Reason ($499 US) and a basic midi controller (~$150), you're lookin at $650 smackers. Frickin OUCH man!

[pbbobkanobi]

you're lookin at $650 smackers. Frickin OUCH man!

Yes....but well worth it.

[ShredRex]

I thought there was a "light" version of Reason. Plus I have used it before and you don't need a controller. You can use your computer keyboard. There is a neat little add on called Bome's Mouse/Keyboard that does the trick . The drum machine portion of Reason works with just a few clicks of the mouse to set up your patterns.

Mind you I have not used Reason in ages....maybe I should dust off the cd's and install it again. I used to get some really great beats out of it......it drove me loopy for a short time.....

[Wedgebill]

I bet Pbobski would never get banned from a Reason forum, he's their head salesman

Uncle Bill

[pooterpatty]

.....it drove me loopy for a short time.....

Any app that has as much capability as Reason does will certainly have a learning curve. But if you have a real desire to utilize said capability, you'll learn it. I'm a graphic artist by trade, and I remember feeling overwhelmed the first time I opened Photoshop. With apps like that it's best to throw the manual out the window and just tinker with it, especially if the manual is written in Engrish (like some Roland manuals).

[blue4u]

Ahh! Another fellow designer? I am an interactive designer myself of last 9 years. I have a long love affair with Photoshop.

Reason looks laborious to me. All those virtual wires running around scare me! For drums, I like the EZ Drummer option. If you really want to get into synths and so forth then it may be worth it to experiment with Reason but I think Abelton Live (which also supports ReWire) is far more comprehensive and seemingly easier to digest.

The distinct advantage of Reason is Rex. However, the very newest version (just came out) of Live (version 7) supports Rex now. Can you believe it? And both programs cost about the same.

The REAL solution is for the new version of RiffWorks (coming soon?) to support "Acidized" wav files and VSTi (instruments) in real time. I pray for that to happen

Rich

[pooterpatty]

Good to see another designer on board Rich! Check out Clientcopia for a few laughs if you haven't been there already. And if it weren't for Photoshop, I'd be digging ditches (not that there's anything wrong with that!)

I've been toying with the idea of buying a Roland GR20 guitar synth for a while now and I think I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and just go for it. Seems like the easiest and cheapest way to add just about any instrument (even percussion) to a song without the need for extra software.

I think all guitar players secretly envy musicians who play other instruments. Allan Holdsworth has been quoted as saying he gets most of his inspiration from sax players.

[atalwar]

The REAL solution is for the new version of RiffWorks (coming soon?) to support "Acidized" wav files and VSTi (instruments) in real time. I pray for that to happen

Rich

for VSTI (i am already on my knees praying).

Having a very hard time getting vsti stuff into rw. and with live not supporting vsti etc in rewire, its very difficult for me atleast. ( i dont own reason and for some reason i didn't like it too much when i tried it).

Perhaps sonoma should write a small simple utility host that can load vsti record midi over rewire for rw only . So that those who need to get data into rw should be able to without needing a expensive capabale rewire slave like reason and can a great extension for RW.

There you go designers (though i am not officially a designer but a developer). i am addicted to photoshop (personally as well as professionally) since version 4 and the dark ages. nowdays if i can't get what i need off designers, only then i get my hands dirty (which is about 8-10 times a month)

Reason looks laborious to me. All those virtual wires running around scare me!

Couldn't agree more. I want to compose music without taking on an another engineering challenge.

[epauley]

I too am a Photoshop addict guys. I am also graphic designer (not an uncommon profession on this forum). However, these days I teach design as an adjunct professor since my full-time job is art museum director.

[bluesydude]

I've been toying with the idea of buying a Roland GR20 guitar synth for a while now and I think I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and just go for it. Seems like the easiest and cheapest way to add just about any instrument (even percussion) to a song without the need for extra software.

I have the GR20 and I love it. But your are still limited to playing live and recording each instrument. And that is cool. Here is one I did the horns and bass using the GR20. "Dee Dee" It was a lot of fun and someday I want to revisit this and work on it some more. But you can do just about anything with midi. And I believe you can use Reaper as midi interface that you can rewire in to RW and it is much cheaper than Reason ($50 for non-commercial license). I wouldn't pay the full $225 price, instead I would go with Reason. Reason is powerful and could be dangerous in the wrong hands and it can be a little challenging. I guess it what you are comfortable with and how much time and money you have.