A Beatles Virtual Instrument

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:02 am

Hmm... thank you for that, Wizard.

As far as those MIDI drum tracks go, I couldn't find any years ago, so I downloaded all the free GM sequences I could find in all major styles and extracted the drum tracks.
I then removed all the setup data from the starts of the tracks (GM files usually have many parameters set this way), and saved the resulting drum "starter" tracks by the names of the songs from which they came.
Seemed like a great idea at the time, but I've not used any as my "grooves" are song-specific, so I build them from scratch.

FWIW, I'm the same with loops - I won't touch them.
I don't think I'd sleep nights if I did.
Hang on... I don't sleep nights anyway, if at all!

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:41 am

twistedtom wrote: Frodo I see you are being a vampire and staying up all night again.
Tell my how you like the packs you loaded instead of going to bed.

Ah-- I had to get a nap in before the onslaught of today's appointments start kicking in...

But, I basically like the expansions. As I said earlier, the Latin is the most interesting. The Nashville kit sounds better on the demos than it does right out of the box, but that's okay. Everything needs a little TLC. This kit tends to have a trashy side-- if I'm not mistaken, there's a Swingerland snare included especially for that purpose. The Vintage kit sounds pretty good, although right off if strikes me as being on the dull side. An immediate boost ranging from 1-4k helps bring it more to life.

I didn't get the Claustrophobic and Twisted kits because I didn't see an immediate need for them. These are sort of non-descript alternative kits-- electronic or otherwise uncommon combos of acoustic instruments.

As for loops, there are not enough, imho. I've never used loops before, but I now appreciate being able to get something respectable going very quickly. MIDI loops are just so different from audio loops. I like building my own grooves, but in a pinch using a MIDI loop gets me off to a good start. I'd have to edit my own loops anyway, so it's nice to just augment or modify a basic backbeat once in a while without always having to start from scratch.

twistedtom · Post by **twistedtom** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 10:34 am

Here is a start on some MIDI groves I have found so far.

http://www.afromix.org/html/musique/res ... ex.en.html

http://www.smartloops.com/products/MIDI ... oops2.html

http://www.smartloops.com/products/MIDI ... oops3.html

http://www.synthzone.com/drums.htm

http://www.drumtrax.com/

http://www.harmony-central.com/MIDI/files.html

http://www.mididrumfiles.com/

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 11:03 am

Hey Tom:

Fantastic links. Finally-- something that I can collect that won't break the bank!!

zed · Post by **zed** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 11:20 am

It hurts to see you guys scrambling for loops. I wish you already had BFD, because there are over 5000 grooves that come with it, and I suspect most are specifically tuned to take advantage of the different velocity variations in the kit pieces.

Another great product that comes with hundreds of nice MIDI drum grooves is DrumCore, which also comes with hundreds of audio drum loops which, in many instances, will sound much more realistic than a MIDI drum groove (simply because it is a real performance of a drummer playing a groove in a live space).

But those products, as you know, are not free.

How many loops came with EZDrummer??

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 1:44 pm

I believe there are some 8000 patterns in EZD.

But I'm certain that my pursuit of patterns would continue even after buying BFD2. I may come across a convincing groove that I like and will want to remap it so that it would work in whatever drum VI I'd use at the time.

I saw Drumcore's extensive expansions and had my eye on the Luis Conte volumes, which may make that collection worth the price alone.

But there's been so much praise for BFD2 that it seemed the most likely next choice.

kinnylandrum · Post by **kinnylandrum** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:34 pm

Hi Frodo,
I use Drumcore all the time and it helps immensely, both the audio loops and the MIDI samples for adding fills, crashes, stops, etc. to the loops. You won't be sorry.
Kinny Landrum

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:31 pm

kinnylandrum wrote:Hi Frodo,
I use Drumcore all the time and it helps immensely, both the audio loops and the MIDI samples for adding fills, crashes, stops, etc. to the loops. You won't be sorry.
Kinny Landrum

Yes, Kinney-- I think it was your recommendation of Drumcore that turned my head.

I may not be sorry, but it sure looks like I'll be broke for a while!

zed · Post by **zed** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:41 pm

Frodo wrote:I believe there are some 8000 patterns in EZD.

I had no idea. If this is the case, how come twistedtom is already searching to find more??

Twisted Tom?!?!? How come you are already trying to find more?? It seems to me that with 8000 loops it will take you quite some time to figure out and organize what you have already.

Both you guys... don't do what I have done. I have spent hours organizing my drum grooves and trying to keep track of the ones I like and the ones don't like, ones which suit a certain style, ones in unusual time signatures, etc. In the end, while the distraction may be fun, it just turns out to have been an exercise designed to keep me away from actually making music. You will end up with so many "organized" grooves that it will still be daunting to find what you are looking for.

Honestly. If you have to organize your grooves, my suggestion is to REMOVE the grooves that are uninteresting or too generic. Put them in a folder you never have to look into so that you minimize the crap in your collection. That will improve your efficiency somewhat.

A concerned fellow junkie,

Zed

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 10:12 pm

zed wrote: I had no idea. If this is the case, how come twistedtom is already searching to find more??

Twisted Tom?!?!? How come you are already trying to find more?? It seems to me that with 8000 loops it will take you quite some time to figure out and organize what you have already.

I'm now wondering if they are counting the basic packet plus the six expansions to come up with that number.

zed wrote: Both you guys... don't do what I have done. I have spent hours organizing my drum grooves and trying to keep track of the ones I like and the ones don't like, ones which suit a certain style, ones in unusual time signatures, etc. In the end, while the distraction may be fun, it just turns out to have been an exercise designed to keep me away from actually making music. You will end up with so many "organized" grooves that it will still be daunting to find what you are looking for.

Honestly. If you have to organize your grooves, my suggestion is to REMOVE the grooves that are uninteresting or too generic. Put them in a folder you never have to look into so that you minimize the crap in your collection. That will improve your efficiency somewhat.

A concerned fellow junkie,

Zed

Dear Fellow Junkie:

Advice well-taken!

I think it will be important to audition all the patterns in any case. Uncertain of whether or not said generic grooves might have appeal upon audition or might find a useful purpose when one least expects it.

I hope that I can organize a folder of "spares" that will appear in EZD's directories without disrupting the hierarchies. It might be easier later on to say that I *have* never used a particular groove than to conclude in the early phases that I *shall* never use a particular groove.

Certainly, if the questionable ones are in their own folder, it will be that much easier to further fine tune the collection without the risk of throwing out a gem unaware.

Signed,
A Fellow Junkie

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 2:22 am

Thank you for those links, Wizard.

I'll make a point of checking those out.

twistedtom · Post by **twistedtom** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:32 am

There are a lot of useful groves but there are a number I may not use also. I think it is 8000 variations of the groves by using the different hat variations. I actually have not tried out all the different groves in EZD yet but I am working on it.
One thing I did not see any Jazz groves in EZD, I want a lot of hard rock and grunge, punk groves . I probably could adapt some of the groves for my needs . I see your point Zed this could become addictive.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:53 am

twistedtom wrote: One thing I did not see any Jazz groves in EZD, I want a lot of hard rock and grunge, punk groves .

You might find more of those with Claustrophobic, DFH-- and the other one (who's name you'll appreciate) Twisted Kit.

twistedtom wrote:... this could become addictive.

I wonder how the developers of Addictive Drums would feel about that!

zed · Post by **zed** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:23 pm

EZD is an acronym for ZED

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:53 pm

zed wrote:EZD is an acronym for ZED

LOL!! Good one!

Hey--- back on topic---

PLAY UPDATE 1.0.044 BETA has been posted by Doug Rogers just today:

http://www.soundsonline-forums.com/show ... hp?t=11208