Subject: Re: [linux-audio-user] Drum pattern creation.
From: Mark Knecht (markknecht_AT_gmail.com)
Date: Thu Oct 14 2004 - 17:33:55 EEST
On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 08:05:12 -0400, isabellf <isabellf_AT_sympatico.ca> wrote:
> Hello,
> I'm looking for information on the art of drum pattern
> creation. I don't talk about "howtos" for various drum machines or
> sequencers, I know how to use these, I just suck at creating good drum
> patterns ;-(
>
> I do differrent styles of music , folk , rock , jazz, classic,
> experimental stuff, but no dance or techno stuff ( even though some of
> my folk music out of my sblive synth feels a little more techno than it
> should ... ).
>
> One of the first thing I should probably do is study drum and get a
> teacher or something, but I felt maybe some of you know some tricks:
> what to avoid , what can be used at will, how to create fills... I even
> though I could receive a pattern library full of examples.
>
> I currently use rosegarden4 sequencer, the matrix editor is nice for
> drum part edition, but I also have hydrogen and tk707.
>
> And also, if you think another list would be more appropriate, tell me
> which.
>
> Thank you
>
> Frank
>
>
First, Thanks to Dave and Alex for some great replies. I got good
stuff out of both.
I'm not a drummer. Getting good rhythms into my stuff is always one of
the toughest things to do by myself. I'm seldom satisfied and always
looking for ways to make this part of music easier and more fun. Some
things (most of which cost at least a little money) that you might
want to look at:
1) The web - One of my favorite sites is here:
http://www.drummingweb.com/index.html
Tomas seems to have a lot of good things to say. I like his writing
and his analysis of Yes and how the songs changed with the changing
back and forth between Bruford and White.
2) A fairly good, if very simple book: Rhythm Programming by Mark Roberts:
It's an OK starting place. About $15. Comes with a CD of patterns, but
also has some discussion of why things work and why things don't. (Big
clue - think like a drummer. Drummers have two hands and two feet.
Don't hit 5 things at the same time...) ;-)
3) Drumtrax - A great library of MIDI patterns played by a real
drummer. About $50. you will never get through the whole library. It's
huge. Don't worry about the librarian being a windows program. The
value is in the MIDI library which is obviously cross platform and
provided in both MIDI file formats.
4) Far and away the most fun, but far and away the most expensive
($500-$1K) is to get some equipment. I use a small Drumkat drum pad
tied to a Alesis DM-5. I set up a drum machine more or less as a
metronome and then just bang away, recording MIDI patterns, until I
finally get lucky and do something I like.
http://www.drumkat.com/
http://alesis.com/products/dm5/index.html
My Drumkat is an older 6-pad version I got through a Pro Tools users
group connection. I got the Alesis on Ebay. The Drumkat puts out
triggers and the Alesis turns them into MIDI events. I don't use the
sounds in the Alesis at all, but rather driver Battery and GigaStudio.
There is nothing more satisfying, fun and empowering than coming up
with some pattern you like and can start composing around. I'm not
enough of a drummer to string a whole performance together, but I can
do bits and pieces and then give it to my drummer friends and let them
do the real stuff.
One big advantage to the Drumkat approach is that it is real physics
working. Real sticks at real velocities, I think the three things that
make MIDI drumming sound most real are:
1) As mentioned by Alex - varied velocities and timing. Very true.
2) Ghost notes. Drum sticks have mass. The hit the drum head and
bounce back, but then drummers often let them hit the head a second
time at a lower velocity. It's not written as a note, hence it gets
called a ghost note. Programming this stuff by hand is just about the
most boring, horrible thing to do. I hate it. Mostly drum machines
cannot do it since this little hits are not on grid. You can do it in
MIDI files and drive yourself insane. You can play it on a drum, have
fun, and have it happen naturally. It's insanely great!
3) Odd changes - vary the snare sample. Once in a while throw in a
rimshot instead of a straight snare. Vary it like a drummer might.
I'm a terrible, horrible, non-accomplished hack in this area, but thee
is really no part of music I like to play with more than drum
patterns. It's great fun and, when done right, can breathe a lot more
life into what you are doing.
Have fun,
Mark
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