Drum Plugins...........

[gainiac]

Here's the Deelio..........

I'm a PT LE user and a bit of a neanderthal when it comes to anything beyond straight recording with the PT.

I need a plugin that'll serve as a sample library, as well as interface with PT that I can control with a USB controller so I can program drum parts for my tunes. Up until now I've relied upon my bass player/ recording engineer for this, but he's a dyed in the wool MPC guy.

I want something simple and powerful. Also any suggestions for excellent drum sample libraries would be great, I want great meat & potatoes live drum sounds.

So far I'm very interested in Native instruments "Battery" which seems to fit my ticket. If any of you have experience with this product please chime in with your thoughts!

Thanks!

Martin

[ratkent]

I just got EZdrummer and it's working out nicely.

http://www.ezdrummer.com/prodinfo_ezd.asp

[µ¿ z3®ø™]

battery is cool, but really is only a sample player that U need to load w/ drum samples.
i know it's a boatload of money to get all of the expansion packs, but BFD is very good at getting creating extremely realistic sounding drum tracks.
i can also mention spectrasonics stylus RMS which, depending on Ur style of music, also has several expansion packs dedicated to different styles of music.
BFD requires some knowledge of how to process drums to get particular sounds while stylus RMX uses pre-processed drum sounds.

[DJLantz444]

Stylus RMX, by far. It's amazing.

[gainiac]

i know it's a boatload of money to get all of the expansion packs, but BFD is very good at getting creating extremely realistic sounding drum tracks.

BFD requires some knowledge of how to process drums to get particular sounds while stylus RMX uses pre-processed drum sounds.

Excuse my ignorance, what's BFD?

Big F*!kin' Drums???

[gainiac]

Stylus RMX, by far. It's amazing.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out.

The important thing for me right now is idiot proof and sounds real good.

The last thing I want to do is get frustrated and end up buying a 6-pack.

:drool

[gainiac]

I just got EZdrummer and it's working out nicely.

http://www.ezdrummer.com/prodinfo_ezd.asp

That looks pretty cool, ez to use?

It seems like they get you on the expansion packs though.....It's not open format?

[scottlr]

battery is cool, but really is only a sample player that U need to load w/ drum samples.
i know it's a boatload of money to get all of the expansion packs, but BFD is very good at getting creating extremely realistic sounding drum tracks.
i can also mention spectrasonics stylus RMS which, depending on Ur style of music, also has several expansion packs dedicated to different styles of music.
BFD requires some knowledge of how to process drums to get particular sounds while stylus RMX uses pre-processed drum sounds.

Can you explain how BFD works? I have been interested in it for quite some time, but have yet to find anyone with first hand experience. I'd be using it with Logic Express. I am impressed with the samples I have heard, but does it place midi notes within my song like the kits that comes with GarageBand and Logic do, that I can edit within the song? Or will I have to do all of my edits outside of the DAW?

[ratkent]

That looks pretty cool, ez to use?

It seems like they get you on the expansion packs though.....It's not open format?

Just like the name, it's really EZ.

The expansion packs are just that: expansions. I don't even know if there are any available yet. But if you want "great meat & potatoes live drum sounds" they are certainly included in the original version.

[gainiac]

Just like the name, it's really EZ.

The expansion packs are just that: expansions. I don't even know if there are any available yet. But if you want "great meat & potatoes live drum sounds" they are certainly included in the original version.

Yup, I'm gravitating to that package already. The demos sound good. Avatar is a very nice sounding room too!!!!

[Seegs]

what about required processor power for the various programs?

some are so processor intensive that unless you have the latest and greatest mega-speed processor you can't use your sequencer or plugins??

How do they interface with PT LE...as a drop down plugin or a seperate program??

Chow,
Seegs

[µ¿ z3®ø™]

Excuse my ignorance, what's BFD?

Big F*!kin' Drums???

correct.

Can you explain how BFD works? I have been interested in it for quite some time, but have yet to find anyone with first hand experience. I'd be using it with Logic Express. I am impressed with the samples I have heard, but does it place midi notes within my song like the kits that comes with GarageBand and Logic do, that I can edit within the song? Or will I have to do all of my edits outside of the DAW?

U have the choice of running the plug in several different ways. U can run it as a straight stereo plug alto' that precludes U processing individual drums. it does have midi tracks that U can load in and edit like regular midi tracks in logic or garageband. U can also program in Ur own drum tracks of course.
mosty, i use the multi out function so that i can process the snare differently than the kick drum. there are three different mic sources for each drum (close, overhead, ambient) and it's easy to mix the three together to get any desired level of dryness or room sound that U can possibly imagine. i have used the DFH plug as well and i have to say that it's possible to get stunningly realistic drum tracks from either program. i will say that some knowledge of drum mixing is required to get professional results. these are RAW drum sounds and because of that U can get everything from 'alternative' sounding drum tracks by doing little processing to pro sounding tracks by using high quality compression and eq. BFD is fantastic for the perfectionist that wants to create realistic drum tracks and has the knowledge of how to process real drums to get different results.
stylus RMX, on the other hand, has a number of expansion packs and should be fairly easy to pick which packs U need to do certain types of music. the drum sounds are already processed and are uniformly good sounding. it's more for the person that wants good sounds right outta the box and doesn't mind that their tracks are gonna have that spectrasonics 'sheen'. that's not a dis against ilio. they make stuff that sounds very good, just very distinctive.

[kirk95]

Just got Scarbee Imperial Drums XL! Check it out!

[tonefreak]

BFD and Stylus RMX user here... both are great with ProTools LE

[µ¿ z3®ø™]

BFD and Stylus RMX user here... both are great with ProTools LE

they really compliment each other well, don't they.
i use battery when i'm using 'alternative' percussion effects and i kinda like ultrabeat for what it does. but a mix and match of stylus and BFD gets me everything i need for the real sounding stuff.

[gainiac]

Ok now I'm scared :D ...

I like Ez Drummer, but am put off by it's limitations. For instance you can't tune the drums.

Then I listened to BFD and was duly impressed, I like the multisource sampling and mixing (those samples) capability.

Can you tune the drums with BFD?

I heard snare sounds that I really liked that i didn't hear with the EZ.

Then they got this OTHER product called DR-008 which seems to be heavy duty sampler land providing all sorts of deep editing random madness. (Place I don't want to go yet but am easily sucked into therefore hindering progress)

I can probably tune the drums with that. (DR-008)

Seems to me that BFD has the most open and extensive upgrade path, 'cause you can import "toontracks" stuff into it too......as well as other popular drum plugin-gizmo-thingies.........

The question I need answered now is BFD something I can easily just get my feet wet with, get up and running, get some tracks laid quickly, but still go even deeper at my own pace as I get more comfortable?

What's the best and most flexible way to intergrate it with PT? I'd like to prcess the drums individually.

What functionality will the DR-008 (Software Drum Module??) give me that BFD (Virtual Instrument??) doesn't?

I got that sampletank thing too that PT comes with. What do I do with that?

[µ¿ z3®ø™]

Ok now I'm scared :D ...

be very, very, VERY scared

I like Ez Drummer, but am put off by it's limitations. For instance you can't tune the drums.

i haven't checked out EZ yet, but it doesn't surprise me that there are limitations. they are tryna shoehorn their DFH samples into an easy to use interface. there's gonna be some compromises. i also have not read anywhere how large the sample library is for EZ. it could be a great program for someone just starting to get their feet wet.

Then I listened to BFD and was duly impressed, I like the multisource sampling and mixing (those samples) capability.

Can you tune the drums with BFD?

I heard snare sounds that I really liked that i didn't hear with the EZ.

yes, U can tune all of the drums in BFD. add to that all of the different velocity layers and the ability to mix the three different mic sources and U get the ability to create stunningly realistic drum tracks.

Then they got this OTHER product called DR-008 which seems to be heavy duty sampler land providing all sorts of deep editing random madness. (Place I don't want to go yet but am easily sucked into therefore hindering progress)

I can probably tune the drums with that. (DR-008)

i've seen and used DR-008 a bit and it's more of a beatbox emulation software. it's cool for what it is, but after seeing guru, i'm of the opinion that if U're lookin' for beatbox software - guru is a great choice.

Seems to me that BFD has the most open and extensive upgrade path, 'cause you can import "toontracks" stuff into it too......as well as other popular drum plugin-gizmo-thingies.........

The question I need answered now is BFD something I can easily just get my feet wet with, get up and running, get some tracks laid quickly, but still go even deeper at my own pace as I get more comfortable?

with the midi drum patterns that come w/ BFD it is VERY easy to get up and going w/ BFD. i like it's user interface better than DFH and (to me) it seems a far more intuitive way of working with a drum emulator. if deeper means doing Ur own drum programming and mixing and processing the drums to suit Ur taste it goes very deep. if deeper means mangling drum tracks, there are better programs for that purpose. BFD is for creating realistic sounding drum tracks.
i would think that BFD is geared for someone that is looking for a piece of software in the long term. because of the expandability and it's ability to import drum sounds from third parties, it's really w/o peer in that regard. i know that one could achieve the same results by using the same sounds in battery, but it would take a lot more work to do so.

What's the best and most flexible way to intergrate it with PT? I'd like to prcess the drums individually.

What functionality will the DR-008 (Software Drum Module??) give me that BFD (Virtual Instrument??) doesn't?

I got that sampletank thing too that PT comes with. What do I do with that?

i use BFD inside logic and because U haven't stated whether U're talking PT-HD or PT-LE i can't really comment on how it would work.

[markster]

http://www.drumsondemand.com/
Drums on Demand. Real drums played by a real drummer. Import the files right into PT. I can write drums for a song in minutes.

[tonefreak]

they really compliment each other well, don't they.
i use battery when i'm using 'alternative' percussion effects and i kinda like ultrabeat for what it does. but a mix and match of stylus and BFD gets me everything i need for the real sounding stuff.

Yes they do! And the ease of use means you have more time to be creative than fiddling around with the program.

Creating beats in both is second nature to me now.

[tonefreak]

The question I need answered now is BFD something I can easily just get my feet wet with, get up and running, get some tracks laid quickly, but still go even deeper at my own pace as I get more comfortable?

What's the best and most flexible way to intergrate it with PT? I'd like to prcess the drums individually.



You'll spend more time loading the sample than learning how to use BFD! It comes with drum patterns they you can easily trigger with a mouse... and they loop so you can check out what all the adjustments do while it's playing.

I use BFD as a virtual instrument within PT. I actually create all my percussion with BFD and Stylus RMX as a separate 'session'. I put kick and snare on separate track from the rest of the BFD and any other extra percussion created in Stylus. I add compression and EQ to the different parts of the kit... it's all very flexible.

Then I 'bounce' the end result as a WAV file and import that into the song 'session' where I add vocals, guitars and such.

It sounds scary at first, but so are many good virtual instruments. Once you get into it, you'll be surprised how fast you learn how to use it.

[tvegas99]

A friend just got this and highly recommends it, I am a Reason guy but I'm always on the lookout for something easier:

http://www.drumcore.com/

[gainiac]

OK.............I'm a PTLE user...........(That was asked above)

PLease give me a rundown on the typical process involved in creating a "song" with BFD.

I'd like a dedicated output for each drum going into LE.

SO what do I do?

Create a sequence in BFD?

Or can I only make patterns?

Mix the multiple sources in BFD until the drums sound the way I like?

Then route the outputs from BFD into PT?

To save horesepower I could actually "record" the BFD performance if I'm diggin' it?

Let's say I want to go back and muck with the mix on a drum or two, can I go back and do that within BFD while the entire performance is still routed into PT and playing back?

I can tune drums in BFD right? (I may have asked this somewhere else)

Does it generate fills that are stylistically correct? (I'm a clod with drum fills)

Any other input on how to build songs with BFD would be cool.

Thanks a million !

Martin

[µ¿ z3®ø™]

i defer to the PTLE experts here.

[gainiac]

i defer to the PTLE experts here.

Hey man, Thanks for your input. The big thing for me is real sounding tuneable drums. From what I've gathered BFD is easy enough to start with but the sky is almost the limit. I want to spend my bucks once.