Drum Synth tone

[Kenneth R.]

I'm currently recording my own stuff with Cubase SX1, and for the drum and bass tracks I'm using the MIDI editors to program hit-by-hit my tracks. I then export these to audio and bring them back into the project for some tweaking and EQ. While this is passable, I'd like to know if there's better ways to do drums, and get a better tone? Further, my MIDI bass sounds horrendous no matter what I do.

Please share your methods if they work.

 

[Melodeath]

You could try getting samples to use instead of your computers MIDI instruments.

 

[dreamcatcher]

Or make the MIDI data into triggers to fire samples made or gotten from elsewhere rather than recording the audio. Depending on your RAM, that would be less for your hard drive to do, and you *should* be able to EQ them like an audio track (I say having never used Cubase but it seems logical).

And try to think of the MIDI bass guitar not as an instrument you hear, but something you just sense as being there. Load up on kick, in other words, and then try to set the bass in the spaces of the kick sound so the kick reinforces the bass.

Also, I recommend putting the snare on a separate track, sampled or audio or whatever. It needs special treatment, and I have noticed it can get lost in the mix of the other sounds in the drum track itself, and moreso once the other stuff is added.