Altering a Drum Sample vs. Finding a New One

[penguinpajamas]

Hey guys, so one of the things that I feel like has been really lacking in my music lately is my selection of drums I use in my songs. They never really seem to fit, and I'm not talking about a mix or an EQ issue but more the sound in general just not fitting the song or being what I'm looking for. Upgrading to maschine with it's huge library helped me with expanding my sample selection a bit, but I still feel as though I spend hours scrolling through drum samples to find one that "fits" with the song. I'm beginning to think I need to work with processing my drums to get the sounds I'm looking for, but all the processing I've done makes such a minimal change that I typically just end up taking it off anyway, and it gets me no closer to the sound in my head. At what point do you stop looking for a different sample and start tweaking the ones you have, and subsequently, at what point do you stop tweaking a sound and start looking for a new sample.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Charlie

[TomViolenz]

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[ImNotDedYet]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TO3z8LtP5U is a perfect solution for what Tom is talking about.

[memes_33]

the 128 solution is very powerful. being able to scroll through kick/snare options with my eyes closed and hand on the 'up' or 'down' arrow button makes finding drums that sound good together so quick and easy. the downside is taking the time to organize them as such.

[Tarekith]

For me it's always about finding the right sample, you can't process something into sounding right when it's not working out of town. Where the things I always do it new drum libraries, is go through and listen to them one by one so I can delete the ones I know I'll probably never use. Saves so much time in looking for the right sounds when I'm actually working on a song.

[jlgrimes]

Hey guys, so one of the things that I feel like has been really lacking in my music lately is my selection of drums I use in my songs. They never really seem to fit, and I'm not talking about a mix or an EQ issue but more the sound in general just not fitting the song or being what I'm looking for. Upgrading to maschine with it's huge library helped me with expanding my sample selection a bit, but I still feel as though I spend hours scrolling through drum samples to find one that "fits" with the song. I'm beginning to think I need to work with processing my drums to get the sounds I'm looking for, but all the processing I've done makes such a minimal change that I typically just end up taking it off anyway, and it gets me no closer to the sound in my head. At what point do you stop looking for a different sample and start tweaking the ones you have, and subsequently, at what point do you stop tweaking a sound and start looking for a new sample.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Charlie

I'd say if the sample is 90-95% there, alter.

If not search for a new sample.

If a sound needs to be blended into the mix a little, alter.

If a sound needs to be fatter or bigger, layer.


There are on rules though.

[TomViolenz]

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[Daniel_S]

Hey guys, so one of the things that I feel like has been really lacking in my music lately is my selection of drums I use in my songs. They never really seem to fit, and I'm not talking about a mix or an EQ issue but more the sound in general just not fitting the song or being what I'm looking for. Upgrading to maschine with it's huge library helped me with expanding my sample selection a bit, but I still feel as though I spend hours scrolling through drum samples to find one that "fits" with the song. I'm beginning to think I need to work with processing my drums to get the sounds I'm looking for, but all the processing I've done makes such a minimal change that I typically just end up taking it off anyway, and it gets me no closer to the sound in my head. At what point do you stop looking for a different sample and start tweaking the ones you have, and subsequently, at what point do you stop tweaking a sound and start looking for a new sample.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Charlie

I could imagine a lot of your frustration comes from having to browse your samples out of context (i.e. not in the track while it's running)
Have you considered using the drum hits you like (preselected, not the whole Maschine library) in a 128?
( up to 128 samples in Sampler, distributed equally in the Sel tab)

This way you can assign the SampleSelector to a knob and scroll thru your samples while your pattern containing the hit is running.
Much easier to find a hit that sounds good in the context you want.
Just an idea.

I've just watched Dubspots vid showing this method off and it looks like the perfect way of auditioning drums on the fly.

Has anyone used this method with their Push? If so, does it well?

[TomViolenz]

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[tedlogan]

I'm still in the process of setting mine up (got sidetracked by other stuff), but I've done a few rough setup tests with Push. It works excellently. One of the more rewarding things to set up for Push, and definitely worth the time.

[Daniel_S]

I'm still in the process of setting mine up (got sidetracked by other stuff), but I've done a few rough setup tests with Push. It works excellently. One of the more rewarding things to set up for Push, and definitely worth the time.

Excellent. Little project for the weekend then