Song building

[drdoof]

Do most people choose the instant drummer track first and then try to play around that?
Would it be unheard of to lay down a killer riff that I like and then try to find the best fitting drum track?
Or better yet post the riff without drums and let the community help me pick the best one?

[JouniL]

Whatever you do you should always record your stuff listening to either a metronome or a instant drummer. Otherwise it will be a hell to sync your playing to any instant drummer.

[pooterpatty]

I do it both ways. If I'm just messing around, hoping to stumble upon a cool riff, I'll start out by picking an Instant Drummer that has the basic groove and tempo that I want, then I'll noodle from there (sometimes for hours). If I already have a riff in my head I'll lay it down using the metronome, then pick an Instant Drummer that goes with it.

As far as the community helping you pick a drum beat for your song, that's best done on Rifflink, the online collaboration part of Riffworks.

[Wedgebill]

Also subtle nuances between different Instant Drummers can make your timing sound way off , especially if you have a tiny bit of latency in your setup IMHO