Drum Plugins for Recording with the Kemper

    yup doug has it. - the end of the day, Drums & Bass are the fundamental nuts & bolts of any track. - and one bug bear of mine is hearing countless tracks with that "signature" Superior/Addictive drums" or whatever sound. - its always over the top polished for what the rest of the tracks are. and then you get the questions.... "i dragged loads of Midi loops to my DAW, HOW DO i MAKE IT glue TO MY BASS!!! (and therefore does not ever fit) - I find these types of programs harder to work with than a real kit. and even more tedious having to edit midi!.. ok granted, the real kit is setup for the track, and also the performance.. DrumSims are not. - Don't get me wrong, they are EXCELLENT writing tools, and I'll be the first to grab them if I have my producer hat on..but later they will be replaced with other alternatives.


    We all hear a different sound when we mix, write, produce or whatever, I also think it matters not about what you use, as long as there is Glue & cohesion to the bass guitar.


    Bottom loine, is no matter what you end up using, there is much work to do!.

    Definitely and44. They're great tools to build a song. I don't care how good they are, they will never replace a real drummer.


    Unfortunately, there are many musicians out there (myself included) that either don't know any good drummers, or drummers that match up to the sound they're looking to achieve. I, for instance, the stuff I write is sort of a combination of Steve Vai, Devin Townsend, 65daysofstatic, and Explosions In The Sky. To find a drummer that's proficient enough to play a progressive metal style but relaxed and confident enough to play simpler ambient/post rock/shoegaze, and to make them blend nicely - it's just not a thing within my network of musicians. Relying on a drum plugin gives me the ability to create something that sounds professional and polished, and, while it's not perfect, when I have enough material and decide to put together a group of musicians to perform the stuff I've written, they know what I'm looking for, and can put their own unique spin on things. And, if I can't find someone, then I can spend some extra time really polishing up what's in my tracks and have something I can be proud of.


    And yes, bass/snare is essential. Everything else is just flourish. A kit with a kick, snare, and hi-hat is all you ever truly need. Apple nailed it with their "follow" option in the drummer plugin - feed it a track you wish for the kick and snare to follow, and, well, it just mostly works. That's something you don't get out of any other plugin, and makes for a fantastic "scratch" tool, IMO.

    Guitars: Parker Fly Mojo Flame, Ibanez RG7620 7-string, Legator Ninja 8-string, Fender Strat & Tele, Breedlove Pro C25
    Pedalboard: Templeboards Trio 43, Mission VM-1, Morley Bad Horsie, RJM Mini Effect Gizmo, 6 Degrees FX Sally Drive, Foxpedals The City, Addrock Ol' Yeller, RJM MMGT/22, Mission RJM EP-1, Strymon Timeline + BigSky
    Stack: Furman PL-Plus C, Kemper Rack

    Quote from dougc84


    @Ingolf The point I was trying to make above was that a lot of people stick with the defaults too often or use a base or bundle's preset without any modification, expecting everything out of the box to sound amazing. And a lot of times they do - they're just stereotypical and easily identifiable. I think we're agreed on that actually. And as far as multi-out for Drummer is concerned, you're probably right - it probably is available. I haven't spent a lot of time with it beyond scratch drums to really care too much, and as it's more of a "scratch" plugin for me to get some basic thoughts and ideas, I haven't felt the need to dig in too deep to it.


    Gotcha! ;)

    If I'm having to program drums for a track, I tend to use multiple virtual instruments.
    Example;
    Kick:
    Slate trigger with That Sound samples.
    Snare:
    My own samples, bfd 3 blend.
    Toms:
    Ocean way drums.
    Hats:
    Drummasonic.
    Cymbles:
    Bfd3 or Drummasonic.


    It's all about whatever works for the song in question.
    Unfortunately, there are no easy answers!


    However,
    If you're not in the business of making records, I'd go for the Vi that gets what you want quickest. If I lacked the skills or inspiration to spend a lot of time eqing and compressing individual sources and groups, I'd go the SSD4 route.
    Lots of expansion packs to get a variety of tones.

    Hello all,


    I have BFD2 which sounds very realistic. But I find that programming is very tedious. I was thinking of getting a Mac for Drummer and Logic. Drummer appeals to me because of the 'follow' feature and the simplicity of not programming every hit but having a human feel.


    Can I use Drummer to drive BFD2 as a sample engine? Also thoughts on Drummer specifically for my purposes are welcome.


    Thanks
    Mark

    See my earlier post (pretty rambling, as it was written from a phone).
    Drum Plugins for Recording with the Kemper
    In short: yes, you can drive your own drum plugin from Drummer.
    Think of it like this: The Drummer function consists of two things;
    1) a drummer TRACK, which allows you to adjust the grooves (by choosing from several different drummers, setting intensity and complexity in an X-Y pad configuration, selecting from a number of different groove types etc etc)
    2) a drummer "instrument", which is loaded as a VI, same as you do with BFD. This is driven by MIDI generated by the drummer TRACK. This drummer instrument can be replaced with your virtual instrument of choice (heck, you could probably put a piano in there, haha)


    The "follow" function is not always what you want, but there are other groove types to choose from. I find that the drummer track gets me 90% there, and then it's just a matter of going through the track and adjusting as needed. Much less tedious than programming it yourself from scratch, and it adds stuff that you might not think to do yourself anyway.


    I really like both Logic X and the drummer feature. I'm sure the DAW is not to everybody's liking, but that's always how it is.


    Bear in mind that Logic X only accepts 64 bits AU plugins.

    ..maybe the Toontrack´s EZ Drummer 2 is now well worth checking.. I see impressive BLACK FRIDAY discounts on their site!! 75% OFF.. maybe someone would be interested in buying it now.. ;)


    ps: I have bought it time ago and I am extremely happy with it!