Drum replacement requirements...

[achren_git]

Apologies because I know there are a few threads on this, but they are pretty old, and I know drumagog in particular has been updated since those were posted...

So, I'm working in Reaper, and through various workarounds and JS plugins, I can take a mic'ed snare track for example, and output a midi version of this to Superior Drummer to play a Metal Machine Snare sample to beef up the original recording. So far so good.

Now, if I want to use different samples from the toontracks one, or indeed some of my own samples, (multisampled of course), what do I need?

I'm currently trying a demo of slate's trigger2 pro which is currently on offer, and I have drumagog basic which I could update to drumagog 5. Both about the same price, and neither of which I have to say completely blow me away. I might demo aptrigga too.

Would slate be worth it for the samples, or is there some cheaper method I'm totally missing out on here?

While it would be nice to have an all in one vst that does it all, I can already create midi from my mic'ed drum tracks using reaper, so all I REALLY need is some kind of vst instrument that plays back drum samples but not superior drummer (unless someone knows a way I can load my own samples into that...)

Any thoughts? What's drum replacement like in 2016, explained someone self taught who hasn't really recorded much since 2005 ish...?

 

[achren_git]

Well, the answer seems to be buy slate trigger, since it's on sale...

 

[Paschalis I.]

+1 for Slate trigger

 

[Trevoire520]

Yeah Trigger is really good. I have heard of some people having issues with MIDI in Trigger 2 though?

 

[kylendm]

Just know that you'll need an iLok which is another $50.

 

[nezvers]

Never had problems with Slate trigger 2 midi also don't get why there are some complaining it having trigger lag or something, because for me it works perfectly in time. Just load Alesis D4 rim snare sample to add top and snap for miced snare = instant win every time.

 

[JeffTD]

Never had problems with Slate trigger 2 midi also don't get why there are some complaining it having trigger lag or something, because for me it works perfectly in time. Just load Alesis D4 rim snare sample to add top and snap for miced snare = instant win every time.

There are some complaining because converting to MIDI or printing audio from MIDI will not be 100% phase accurate on every hit because MIDI protocol is tick-based (relative) whereas audio is sample-based (fixed). It will be a problem in every program, it's just made obvious in Trigger because the MIDI generated from a track won't always match up with triggered audio printed from the original track, and the effect is compounded if you're using Trigger to convert to MIDI and then back to audio again later. Sometimes it's 2-3 hits that are off, sometimes it's 20-30, and It gets worse after tempo changes happen (tick v sample based comes into play here).

 

[Heabow]

^ Good to know why exactly. Thanks for the explainations.

I find DRT easier and more flexible than Trigger to convert audio to MIDI but I use Trigger 2 to sample replace.

OT — I have to check and move Trigger 2 settings such as velocity, dynamic and the range every fucking time I open a session with it in because this thing always comes back to default settings (sound wise, not visually) which is pretty annoying. Today I had to re-print all the Trigger tracks of an album I'm starting working on because of that. Great! Other than that, it works well.

 

[TiagoAlves]

I use DRT to convert from audio to MIDI. Then i'll check every MIDI note to match the audio and remove some false notes, and then i use Trigger with the sample i want.

 

[nezvers]

That seems counter-productive to convert to midi to replace with playing midi. If want to replace than trigger on source. I never had problems with trigger to miss trigger sample (also baked trigger track which I did just to check if complains are true).

 

[Heabow]

It's not useless at all because you have way more control on the triggering with MIDI. I used to Trigger directly from the source and it was painful to fix and clean stuff on the audio tracks. With MIDI notes, if you have to change a velocity which is pretty common depending on the samples used, it's easy and quick. At least, I perfer that way.

 

[achren_git]

DRT is a new one on me. In the end up I went for trigger (already got at ilok). I can defintely see the advantage of printing a midi version of a drum track before replacing but I've only bothered with that previously on problem tracks with blasts or ghost notes/fills where I think I've missed something. Otherwise I'd just print to audio and check that.

I also tend to mult out to two snare tracks, one blasts, one hard hits for example so i can tweak the trigger threshold for each type of hit seperately. I guess this is standard practice?

 

[greyskull]

It's not useless at all because you have way more control on the triggering with MIDI. I used to Trigger directly from the source and it was painful to fix and clean stuff on the audio tracks. With MIDI notes, if you have to change a velocity which is pretty common depending on the samples used, it's easy and quick. At least, I perfer that way.

Exactly