newbie drum replacement question

[Fragle]

ok guys, here's the deal.

first off, this is just for song demo purposes, i'm not mixing anything, so, technically i don't HAVE to replace my drum sounds.
what i'm doing right now is programming basic drum beats and fills (nothing too crazy, it's just so that the drummer gets an idea of what i want a riff/part to sound like) using guitar pro, recording song ideas over these beats, and present the whole thing to the band....this way it's easier to tell the other guys what a song should sound like than just sitting in the rehearsal space playing the riffs.

now, obviously the guitar pro drum sounds are rather crappy. really crappy actually
i wonder if there's a way to replace some of the sounds, especially the kick, snare, and cymbals, to get a more realistic sounding song demo.
if so, what kinda equipment do i need?
keep in mind that i have ZERO experience with this stuff, so please don't get me started on midi maps and side chains in cubase and whatever

thanks

 

[smy1]

From my experience, I would not do this.

Put a simple, steady drumbeat (maybe with some offbeat 16th note shakers for a good groove) under the riff ideas. The only time that should change is if you go to half time or double time. This really helps in getting the song/riffs across, because if it sounds good with the same old beat underneath, it will sound AWESOME with proper drumming.

Especially if you have zero experience (as you say), I would rather spend my time working on riffs than replacing drumsounds that will be replaced by real drums anyway.

 

[Fragle]

dude, i'm talking either slow/fast double bass, "thrash" rhythm (kick-snare-kick-snare) and similar stuff,as i said, no tricky fills or off beats involved here.
besides, i've been doing this for a long time, but i'm getting more and more dissatisfied with the drum sounds. you know, the gtrs sounds are getting better and better, but the drums stay at the same crappy level....i just hate that

the reason for the procedure is that i always have a quite precise idea of what the drums should be playing when writing riffs/songs, and seriously, don't ever try to explain a drummer what you're hearing in your head

 

[chadsxe]

Get new samples...use drumagog...get reason....get DKFH....get **COUGH** BFD....there are so many possibilities....

What samples are you using now? What are you programming in?

 

[Fragle]

as i said, i'm using guitar pro 4 to program my drum beats. as of right now, i usually export the finished file into a wav file, which i later import into a cubase project where i'll record guitars. that's it.
however, it's also possible to export the drum track as a midi file, that's why i'm wondering if there's a way to enhance the guitar pro programmed drumtrack with some decent drum sounds.

 

[Machinated]

Anything like DFHS, EZDrummer, BFD, or Battery will do the trick, as long as you have the MIDI file. You might want to play about with the MIDI file too.

 

[chadsxe]

as i said, i'm using guitar pro 4 to program my drum beats. as of right now, i usually export the finished file into a wav file, which i later import into a cubase project where i'll record guitars. that's it.
however, it's also possible to export the drum track as a midi file, that's why i'm wondering if there's a way to enhance the guitar pro programmed drumtrack with some decent drum sounds.

Err...I don't no about "enhancing" guitar pro. Just get a decent sample set and export the midi out and import it into cubase. Then use that to run a sequencer with in cubase.

 

[Fragle]

ok, so i know how to export the GP midi track, and how to import it into cubase. but how do i apply samples in cubase?
see, other than simple record and cut/paste actions i don't know shit about cubase....i'm willing to learn though

 

[Machinated]

OK, so you will need a sampler of some sort. Load the MIDI track into Cubase, set up a sampler as a VST instrument, load in your samples, set your output of your MIDI track as that sampler and you are sorted. It may be worth using a drum map, instead of the piano roll.

 

[chadsxe]

Just make sure you drum mapping is the same as you had it in Guitar Pro.

 

[Zombietakeover]

Dude just get on google and read about it.....You want EZ Drummer....go to their website and read the tutorial.....BAm you got EZ descent sounding drums...
geeeez were have you been the last 20 yrs?????

ok, so i know how to export the GP midi track, and how to import it into cubase. but how do i apply samples in cubase?
see, other than simple record and cut/paste actions i don't know shit about cubase....i'm willing to learn though

 

[Fragle]

doesn't cubase sx have some kind of vst drum instrument? i don't know, i guess it wouldn't sound as good as dfhs and the likes, but i'm sure it sounds better than the GP drums
is there a way to route the GP built midi file to the cubase drum machine?
i already imported the midi track into cubase and then activated the vst drum plug in, but i got no sound?

 

[Machinated]

You have to set the MIDI tracks output to the Instrument.

 

[Fragle]

ah, found it, thanks.
well....i didn't think i'd ever say this, but compared to the cubase vst sounds GP sounds pretty damn good

so, with stuff like ezdrummer or dfh the procedure would basically be the same?

 

[Machinated]

Yeah it would be similar, although DFHS has some more complicated maps (separate L and R hits, flams, etc), so you would probably want to write it all in there to begin with.

 

[Fragle]

so dfh and the likes allow me to program drum beats, too? i thought these were merely for sound replacement purposes. cool...

so, what program should i be looking at? iirc, drumagog is a pure replacement software, and judging by your post dfh(s) and ezdrummer (dfh lite basically?) seem more like a standalone drum computer, right?
price range would be around 100€, maybe 150€ if it's really worth the extra cash.
i know there are some killer sounding samples floating around in the internet, and i'd certainly like to have a program that allows me to use these.
any recommendations?

 

[chadsxe]

Serious dude...get EZDrummer if you don't want to spend a lot of money but want awesome drum sounds. These programs will load with-in the cubase enviroment. You then would program the drums through the piano roll. It's the way most of us do it and most of us get GREAT results this way.

 

[Machinated]

DFHS and EZDrummer work as VST instruments in your host software (e.g. Cubase). You use cubase to create a MIDI file, that uses the DFHS (for example) sampler, to get the drum sounds. EZDrummer works in a similar, more stripped down way. With DFHS, you can bounce the tracks from the sampler and import them into a session, just like you would if you had a drummer.

Drumagog is generally used for directly replacing drum sounds, i.e. stick it on the snare track, and you can replace the snare. It can also be triggered from MIDI, or to trigger MIDI.

For what you need EZDrummer may be a good solution.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

doesn't cubase sx have some kind of vst drum instrument? i don't know, i guess it wouldn't sound as good as dfhs and the likes, but i'm sure it sounds better than the GP drums
is there a way to route the GP built midi file to the cubase drum machine?
i already imported the midi track into cubase and then activated the vst drum plug in, but i got no sound?

The LM-7 drum VSTi that comes with all cubases sounds like shit.

P.S. did you select the LM-7 as the output on your midi track?

 

[Wolfeman]

The LM-7 drum VSTi that comes with all cubases sounds like shit.

P.S. did you select the LM-7 as the output on your midi track?

My buddy swears by the LM-7. Says it sounds great for demos. I play him my DFH tracks and call him an idiot. Sad thing is his band is really good, he just has no sense of what sounds good.

Check out his band- Tinjen