Drum Programming/Sequencing Help

[TheNobleNemesis]

Hello, my fellow ableton users. I'd like to know if you know of any resources or have any advice for me pertaining to drum programming and sequencing, as i've been lately having some issues regarding creativity at the drum rack. Any advice and/or resources would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[H20nly]

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You need Battery for this one: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=179539&hilit=+%2Abookmark%2A

I book marked these for me... You started one thread; I almost posted you your own link


Other than those; put a snare on the 2s and 4s... Add kick to taste...

I will add this... Bar none, for me, the quickest slickest drum programming has come from using Fruity Loops. I have the Producer edition... When I switched my DAW from Windows to Mac that app and Soundforge were the only things I lamented about... Fruity Loops now has a Mac version and the lifetime upgrades are cross platform.

[jestermgee]

Another idea for "instant" drum starting is to simply copy another beat.

As with anything you cannot always start with a blank canvas and create and mold everything from scratch. you need something to generate ideas and get the ball rolling.

Having a collection of drum loops can sometimes help. If you need to get a start on a beat to go with a tune, just load in one that sounds pretty good and copy what the elements are doing. You can experiment with audio-to-midi if you are on ,live 9 or just try and emulate what is happening in the loop. Then, take away the loop and continue building and testing samples.

Don't get into the mindset of thinking your beat is boring and has been "done before" because you will just endlessly be searching for something that sounds original. Start simple and build.

And as always: Have fun or go home.

[TomViolenz]

I'd say changing the workflow somewhat usually gets the creative juices flowing:
My bigest jump in beat programming came when I changed to using 128s in Sampler with the chain selector assigned to a controller.
If you are into layering drums use two identical (or not) of those on neighboring drum pads and start playing with the respective chain selectors.
If you always drummed in your beats, try changing to using a step sequencer, or vis versa...
Just two ideas...

[beattorrent]

since putting the snare to the 2's and 4 was mentioned, i would like to know if anybody can guide me regarding snare drum patterns per genre, i know that trap music's snare falls on the 3 and just feel the kicks while on dubstep the kick on beat 1, the snare on beat 3 to create a half-time feel, i would like to know how does this work on other genres as well as their bpm's

[Nick the Zombie]

Try writing a boring, straight forward beat and then turn off the grid so you can start nudging notes around by a few ticks before or after the major beat divisions. You'll start to get some nice "swing" going by straying outside of strict quantization. This will get your head nodding a little bit more, further inspiring some more interesting changes and before you know it you'll probably have something unique happening on the drum track.

[sowhoso]

i don't know how anyone can begin to respond without knowing what kind of music you're writing

or is everybody assuming EDM

[jestermgee]

i don't know how anyone can begin to respond without knowing what kind of music you're writing

or is everybody assuming EDM

I don't think anyone is assuming anything, just chucking their own ideas at the lad.

The copy/paste technique can be used for any genre and personally that is where I like to start if I haven't done a style before. Use something as a template, copy, paste to your own idea.

[beattorrent]

i don't know how anyone can begin to respond without knowing what kind of music you're writing

or is everybody assuming EDM

I'm writing EDM, i just want to know how to start programming for initial pattern for specific genres because its still difficult for me to program from scratch.

[Tone Deft]

this is music, we're not assembling Ikea furniture.

put on some tunes and drum along. loosen up and have fun.

for me it was the All The Breaks sample set. I pick a loop and record midi drums over it. get a few clips rolling then lay those out in larger sections (16 bars for example) in Arrange view. then subtract elements to create tension an release. call those the verse beats then make another variation for the chorus and or bridge, whatever. once I lay down some sections I go back to editing the notes just between sections to help it flow.

heh, I wrote Ikea instructions... just remember that it's music, have fun with it.


it's funny that EDM can have elements of any genre in it. also just about any genre has songs that use EDM elements.

[drez]

I loathe drum programming. Everything I program sounds completely programmed, which for me, I didn't like. I'm a musician, not a drummer.

Then I got a Push.

Now all I want to do is drum program!

It's made it easy to slap ideas down and for me, actually PLAYING drums. I've gotten a ton better just by playing the pads and then I go in and edit the patterns in real time. Much more enjoyable to me then ever before.