Neil. Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Hello enfants de la nuit, So i would like to invest in some way of making drum loops/sequences that i can either jam along to like the kills, or record onto a laptop like the kills. I went looking about on the web and in town the other day, and I've had two suggestions: Drum Machine / Sampler So the first suggestion was to get a Drum Machine / Sampler. This is what the kills and dead weather use. it has the benefit of having everything preloaded, and pretty much fits the bill. the drawbacks include price, and that you're a bit restricted to exclusively using it as a drum machine. Also, it was recommended that I get some sort of loudifier for it, so it can match up to guitar amp volumes. I'd have to invest in some sort of amp to handle it I suspect. MIDI Controller + Laptop I never actually thought about this till I asked in the shop about drum machines. Two out of three shops suggested I invest in a cheap-as-chips MIDI controller with pads, like a drum sampler thing. They all said that there's tonnes of software out there that would allow me to create drum loops, sequences, whatever. It would also have the added benefit of things like being a handy addition to general recording. They said that for a novice though, a lot of the software is not necessarily beginner friendly. Pro's include the low low price. Con's include difficulty, and that i'm thick as shit when it comes to the software side of recording. Oh, and the "price" of the software.... apparently. So kittahs, baring in mind that i'm a total novice at recording, and all i want to do is make super simple drum loops/tracks (listen to the simplicity of what the kills and dead weather use), which is a better option, and can you suggest anything worth looking into? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don'tPostThePear Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 midi sequenced drumsamples from a DAW is not an option? it is probably better and more flexible than any drum machine could ever be because you an use an unlimited amount of samples, there are millions of drumpacks on the internet plus you can effect (eq, verb, comp etc. again there are a huge amont of VSTs out there) them any way you want (if your cpu is strong enough) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted July 28, 2011 Author Share Posted July 28, 2011 Is that not what the second one essentially is? Like, using a MIDI controller to make drum tracks on some sort of software on my laptop? Not being patronising or anything by that by the way! I genuinely do not know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboMansonMB-1 Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Hey! I've kinda-sorta been wondering about this aswell...I vote drum machine for the kewlz, although I know less than Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted July 28, 2011 Author Share Posted July 28, 2011 I had a look at this the other day: http://www.waltons.ie/Product/View.aspx?id=28833&cid=525 It seems to have all the buttons and knobs i'd need, but then could I The Kills with that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomrulez Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 I've been gassing for a Korg Electribe at the moment, look into them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted July 28, 2011 Author Share Posted July 28, 2011 that would also allow me to The Kills, but it's a lot more expensive than a Midi Controller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboMansonMB-1 Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 that would also allow me to The Kills, but it's a lot more expensive than a Midi Controller. But wouldn't it theoretically be less than a MIDI controller with software? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted July 28, 2011 Author Share Posted July 28, 2011 yes.... software.... expensive..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboMansonMB-1 Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 yes.... software.... expensive..... Unless it's free Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don'tPostThePear Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Is that not what the second one essentially is? Like, using a MIDI controller to make drum tracks on some sort of software on my laptop? Not being patronising or anything by that by the way! I genuinely do not know. Yeah, the question is that do you wanna push the keys/pads on the midi kontroller for semi live drum sounds or you just want something which pumps out the beats. If the latter then you don't even need a midi controller, you just click your beats together with a mouse preshow or something. So these midi controllers adds nothing to the sound/quality etc. if you don't want to use them live. Using a mouse instead of them during production is the same thing but they are more comfortable devices. If you dont want to use premade dumbeats (essentially a backingtrack) then i would get one of those drum midi controllers linked in the topic, a pc and a controller is a much more powerful device than a drummachine alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted July 29, 2011 Author Share Posted July 29, 2011 Hmmm.... See pear, I don't gig or anything, this would just be for faffing about at home with some drum loops to my own taste, and maybe for a bit of recording for the lulz. So if i'm correct, I could put drum loops/tracks together without the need for a midi controller BUT, the midi controller has it's advantages in that it's another way of doing it, right? I would imagine a midi controller would have other advantages too. One I can see straight away is that if i was using something like guitar rig, I could have a nice reverb setup that could be toggled with the push of a button, same with delays etc etc. You reckon a midi controller would be a decent investment then pear? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don'tPostThePear Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 You reckon a midi controller would be a decent investment then pear? yep, but i have seen something interesting on the net. A guy took apart a normal 10$ computer keyboard then took the controller out of it. He replaced some of the buttons's connections with momentary switching footswitches and rehoused it into a sturdy enclosure. So basically he built a foot controlled keyboard but i think he didn't used every character, he had about 20 buttons. Then he assigned keyboard shortcuts in his DAW to the actions he wanted to trigger with his floor keyboard. So it is not midi, it is like using keyboard shortcuts with your foot. Something like this but he rehoused it into a better enclosure and used footswitches instead of the buttons: http://createdigitalmusic.com/2007/08/get-loopy-with-the-diy-10-ableton-footcontroller-no-soldering-required/ edit: this: http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=112242 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 If it's just for messing about, and you've not tried it before, get a DAW and program some beats. You can always get a controller later if you start gigging or if you want to be able to interact with your sequences. the_man is the guy for this question but i've not seen him on here in ages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 Any suggestions on an easy to learn DAW for making drum loops? edit: key words being "easy", "learn", and "i'm shit at this" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomrulez Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Fruityloops is apparently easy for drum loops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 apparently? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomrulez Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I used it very briefly once and it seemed easy enough, I've heard a fair few people recommend it for building loops and drum parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 I'll give it a look. Cheers tom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Any suggestions on an easy to learn DAW for making drum loops? edit: key words being "easy", "learn", and "i'm shit at this" "drum loops" are different to programmed drums AFAIK. When I program drums in Cubase, I do a whole songs worth of drums just using copy/paste. If you want to loop stuff, maybe something like Reason would be more suitable. Reaper is a free DAW which is apparently very easy to use, but i've not tried it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomrulez Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 +1 for Reaper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboMansonMB-1 Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Fruity Loops is awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don'tPostThePear Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 FL is kids toys compared to Reaper, i'd jump right into Reaper if i were you Neil. I can tell you how to make drum loops in that if you don't want to read the readme ebook. And Reaper is effectively free, it never expires you have to buy it if you wanna produce commercial tracks (if you wanna sell them etc.) I think 4 is about to get released, i'd get into that instead of 3 because i think there will be some differences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 Cool, I'll give reaper a go. Looks to be pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyH Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Hi! just registered as your query is almost identical to mine, & almost the only result I can see in google today. so, cool kills/new order/lcd soundsystem percussion... I'm curious as to how you've got on over the last couple of years, and whether you have any iOS kit. I've recently (< 1week) discovered that the CameraConnectorKit can be used (with iOS8+ perhaps, I'm on 9.0.2 on an iPhone4S) with a usb hub!!!!! I don't have any proper mics (I wanna build a piezo one:) I have been hoarding vox / loop / sample / midi software, and am now about to try and set it all up... two heads are better than one, so I thought Id'register and reach out. I'm considering using this as content to plug, to help myself (my memory banks suck) and others, in the form of "how to's" - home-made, DIY, frankenstein style digital adventures in good vibrations... We need to talk! Jack White is a god EDIT: check out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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