Hello guys, here's my method, kinda complicated but rewarding in the end.
As we don't have drum triggers to ease the problem of midi tracks, the only solution is to write them down with the pen or by recording them step by step through a midi keyboard. So, here's how I am doing this:
First: we take a video/audio shot of our drummer from the top somehow in order to clearly see where and when he plays the drums, I mean for the complicated breaks or fills to see on which drum element he places the shot. He plays it with metronome on his headphones.
Second: I take this video shooting and fine tune it in Vegas (as is more fast than cubase for example at editing on place). What I do is paying attention for each beat to snap on the grid on a bpm we recorded. Afterwards, I render the video in a smaller file in order to load it into cubase.
Third: I load the perfectly synchronized video file in cubase as a video file. Now begins the mayhem for some. Add a new midi track and load bfd (or whatever drum sampler you may use) as a vst instrument. I instruct that midi track to use for the out port the bfd instrument. Ok, now it's time to play the video file (which has the recorded audio track included) and listen it for about one or two mesures.. It is time to write something down with the pen. I usually start with the hihats and then go back and listen to them to hear how they "fall" over the recorded sound in the video file. Also, as a bonus, you may always check on that video window the precisson and correctness of your newly written beat. Then I continue with the kicks or snares, I add the cymbals, etc.. Of course, you can always copy/paste same patterns you hear during a song.. The most challenging part remains the fills, the breaks...
Fourth: After the writing of the midi drum track, listen to it, tweak it, do whatever you want with it in order to sound good. Somehow, by default, bfd sounds natural even if oyur velocityes are the same for every midi note, which is good..
It may seem a hell of a job but I reached at the performance to write a 4 minute song in one day. But I promise I will buy some triggers, anyway
I hope I didn't made you jump over the window
