A dumb question about drum hits

[LeSedna]

What is "crack" in a snare hit ?

I often read in drum samples descriptions "normal hit, crack hits, soft hits". I get it for normal/hard/soft/rimshot hits, but I don't get what is a crack hit.

Also, i've noticed in S2.0 or SSD there are different snare hits, more than I can understand why. Could you explain ? Are there different techniques to hit a snare ?

 

[egan.]

what is a crack hit

But seriously, to my knowledge it's just a really hard snare hit although the term might get interchanged with rim shots sometimes.

 

[Mattayus]

It's usually the term given to the hardest set of hits

 

[szymon]

It's usually the term given to the hardest set of hits

yep. Can be obtained by hitting the rim and the head at the same time.

 

[rfahey86]

Its when the snare is hit hard and it makes a cracking or snapping sound

 

[LeSedna]

yep. Can be obtained by hitting the rim and the head at the same time.

Isn't that supposed to be called a "rimshot" actually ? I've always called a hard it on head+rim giving a slighly more powerful and ringing hit a "rimshot" but I'm no drummer.

 

[szymon]

Well... rimshots are closest to "crack", for there are no such hits called cracks
Just guessing (and im a drummer ).

 

[Morgan C]

Isn't that supposed to be called a "rimshot" actually ? I've always called a hard it on head+rim giving a slighly more powerful and ringing hit a "rimshot" but I'm no drummer.

Technically it is a rimshot, and you can have soft rimshots and hard rimshots, but most software just have soft to hard normal hits and then hard rimshots at the top of the velocity range.

 

[Trevoire520]

Yep, crack=rimshot.

 

[heshian46]

Rimshots and Crack hits are essentially the same thing: when the stick hits the snare head and the rim at the same time. However there is one major difference between the two, stick position.

On a "Rimshot", the stick is hitting the rim at roughly the half way point of the sticks total length. This produces more of a ringing tone.

When doing a "Crack" hit, the stick will hit the rim at 3/4's of the length of the stick from the tip. This provides more power to the hit, thus producing a louder "cracking" sound.