New guy needs advice.

[iEagleV]

Sorry if this post get's long

At the moment I record guitar using my POD 2.0 and program drums on FL studio using samples found on this wonderful forum. FL studio actually works well for programming drums, but sucks for recording, so when I finish the drums I export as a wav file, open up in reaper and record guitar over it. (Obviously this technique is rubbish as once I get the drums in on the project file of reaper I can't tweak them with out having to open up FL again)

I don't know how to program drums into reaper, is this where people use program's like 'Trigger' ? Would that be a good purchase?

I want to be able to do drums and guitar (and I will eventually do bass and vocals) in one DAW, instead of swapping between reaper and FL, and i'm sure once I learn to use 'trigger' or a similar program in reaper it will wield better results than what i'm getting right now in reaper.

One last question.

What plugins would you reccommend for mixing/mastering?

At the moment when I mix drums I just use the FL comressor and the voxformer eq plugin. I also have the free w1 limiter and Gclip - although don't when to use limiters! What I want to do is put a small list together of the kind of plugins I am likely to need, so I can budget and get the best bang for my buck as far as plugins go.

Thanks, and sorry if this was unclear

 

[iEagleV]

how do you program drums if FL studio? cant you export midi and then use some drum sampler in any other DAW?

in Fl studio I just use the piano roll (sequencer) thing, drag a sample from my saved packs from the browser on the left and make sounds from that. Drum sampler? Like superior drummer and addictive drums?

If I get something like that can I still use my own samples?

 

[Skinny Viking]

Trigger is a drum replacement program, not something you use to actually program drums with

 

[iEagleV]

Trigger is a drum replacement program, not something you use to actually program drums with

So how would I about programming in reaper? I am happy with my samples so something like addictive drums would be a bit of a waste. I just want to do what I do in FL, but in reaper.

wait, should I just be using the midi item and programming like that?
If that's what I Should how do I assign a sample into it?

 

[guitarguru777]

Howdy new Guy ......
First let me say this has been covered in like 20 threads in this forum!

But because its the christmas season and I was a former FL user and can feel your pain i will explain......

Fruity Loops is not your typical "piano roll" type music sequencer. Fruity loops is more like a step sequencer then a music sequencer. In order to get things exported properly in Fruity Loops so that you can use something like DFH / Slare Drums / Addictive Drums you need to be able to export your file as "piano roll" midi, which is not possible. So the methods below is all you can do.

There are 2 ways in which you can do this.

Method 1:
You program everything the way you normally do then you export your project as individual wave files per channel. To do this go to the FX send of each channel and change the output channel for each selected effect. Its on the top right of the box once you click on the instrument on the left. When you export your file choose the option to "split fx sends". This will give you each individual drum in its own wav file then you can import each wave into a separate track in your DAW.

Method 2:
You program everything the way you normally do then export each channel one by one into a midi file. Then import each midi clip into your DAW. After import into your DAW you need to adjust the note that Fruity Loops Exports (which is always C3) to the correct note for the drum you are trying to use. Repeat this process for each drum.

Method 3:
Dump fruity loops and learn to program MIDI in the Piano Roll in reaper / your DAW. THIS is how it SHOULD BE DONE!. Frutiy loops is made for Rap / Dance / Hip Hop guys not programming Rock / Metal drums.

Stay Tuned for a brief tutorial on how to use the Piano Roll to do drums. (I am at work so it may take a few hours)

 

[bryan_kilco]

I use FL as well. What I do is program all the beats/steps then go into your mixer in FL and assign each drum to its own mixer channel. (I usually do Kick, Snare, Tom 1, Tom 2, Tom 3, Crash (all crashes on one channel), Hats on one channel, splashes on one channel, etc for all my cymbals so that way I have a bit of control over separate cymbals. Then export as .WAV, and chose "Split Mixer Tracks".

Go into your DAW and Import Media File and chose all wav files that you need, onto separate tracks.....tweak from there.

 

[Scott Horner]

I use rewire with Cubase and use FL Studio to program all of my drums. I find it waaayy easier than using Cubase's step sequencer. I load up Kontakt with my SSD library and program from there but if you are programming in FL Studio with your own samples and something like the built in FPC controller (where you can assign different samples to different pads), you can actually export the entire sequence as one piano roll type MIDI file to import back into Cubase in a single step. You just need to add a MIDI out channel to your FL Studio project and copy/paste your programmed sequence onto that and then export. However, if you have individual channels for each sample then you would, indeed, have to either export the .wav mix-down or individual MIDI files which would suck.

 

[guitarguru777]

The problem with that Brian is if you want to change drums sounds later it makes it very difficult. You are better off programming in your DAW.....

Below is a very quick basic tutorial on using the Piano Roll in Reaper to program drums.

Each key or note on the piano rolls is a different drum. You program all the drums in a single MIDI file then route your VST Drum Synth to ouput to different audio channels in your DAW. The benefits to this are if you want to try a different kick drum just go into your Drum Synth and choose the new kick drum. There is no need to do exports or imports of data till you are satisfied with the overall drum sound.

If you look at the JPG below you will see the Piano Roll in Reaper. This is a single channel that we will be "writing" the drums in. Each drum is listed in the photo. Of course there are still toms and cymbals but you get the basic idea of how the piano roll works by looking at the JPG.

In most DAW's you can subdivide each measure into Whole, half, quater, eighth, sixteenth, and 32nd notes and all triplet derivitive there of. I am using eith notes in the example below cause thats the same view as you would have in Fruity Loops.

Each cell is one eighth note and there are a total of 8 cells to make up one entire measure. The high hats are programmed on the 1/4 notes of the measure (Beats one - two - three - four).

hopefully this will give you a better understanding of how the Piano Roll works.

 

[bryan_kilco]

thanks guru. I am still sorta in the dark about piano roll drums. In FL, I can load any sample I want by simply right-clicking the (name of) track and "Load Sample". it just seems easier to me doing it in FL because I can quickly click in my beats and copy/paste and whatnot.

 

[guitarguru777]

Problem is you cant change sounds on the fly while recording cause all of that is done in FL. So you have to go back to FL pick the new drum that you want, or re program the part you want. Then export, then import ..... just takes forever.

Literally the amount of time you are "saving" is actually more time wasted when you consider import and export processes for Fruity Loops.

On top of that, the velocity controls SUCK in FL compared to other DAW's

Maybe I will do a video tutorial tonight.

 

[bryan_kilco]

dood that'd be totally awesome! While I am starting to get better at making my fake FL drums sound a bit more "real", I'm not close to what some of you guys are doing with Superior and SSD and all that.

 

[iEagleV]

On last question for you guitar guru

When using 'reasynth' how do I assign my own samples? At the moment it is set to playing the awful default sounds.

 

[guitarguru777]

You need to use a VST program like Kontakt, hell you can even use Fruity loops as the loader for your sounds. Just run Fruity as a VST.

Do you have any other programs like Slate, Addicitve, Superior? You can load up your samples in those and use them.

 

[iEagleV]

No I haven't a drum sampler like that yet, which one would you recommend? I was thinking of getting one a while back, mainly looking at addictive drums and Superior drummer but couldn't make my mind up on which one.

 

[TheWinterSnow]

No I haven't a drum sampler like that yet, which one would you recommend? I was thinking of getting one a while back, mainly looking at addictive drums and Superior drummer but couldn't make my mind up on which one.

Superior 2.0 + The Metal Foundry + Slate Trigger and you will have a drum setup that will leave you endless.

 

[guitarguru777]

+10000000000

 

[setyouranchor]

Best thing I can advice in your situation right now is use Reaper as your DAW, get the groove 3 tutorial on using it (I'm sure its pretty cheap) and watch it religiously. It made me feel a pro before I even opened the software. For drums, get superior or steven slate. I personally use slate but there is also a tutorial series on groove 3 on using superior! Once you know your way around reaper, know how to program your drums 100% and record audio, come back and read this forum religiously.

http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=007593470310830667409:4qw46y8lnza

set that as your home page and use it whenever you have a question, or your stuck, 99% of the time, it will be there. It'll save a lot of the guys on here going all "use the fucking search!" on your ass