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[dokrok5150]

I have a friend who is from the school of “good enough”. Meaning he uses the same grove for every verse, same groove for chorus and the same fills leading in and out of the verse/chorus. Me? I’m from the “it has to sound/feel right” school. I perform in a duo that does covers and some originals. For example we are going to cover “Sweet Home Alabama” (don’t judge me). I’ll drag the original into Studio One then see if I have something in my drum midi library that is close to the groove of the song. Then I go though the song and tweek it measure by measure so the drums are as close to the the original recording as possible. I also tempo map the song so it ebbs and flows just like us real musicians. BUT… it can be tedious. You’ll get faster the more you do it. I’d save a lot of time if I joined my friend in the school of “good enough” but I just can’t. It has to be right. His stuff sounds like a cheap drum machine. Mine rocks. I’d like to have a plug in that I could tell “extract the drumline and convert it to midi” but that is a feature my DAW (or any other that I’m aware of) doesn’t have. If your music is worth it to you… welcome to my school.

Reply To: EzDrummer & DAW- looking for some workflow ideas version: 3.0.5
Operating system: Windows 10

[dokrok5150]

Thanks, pal… Toontrack Tribe to the Rescue!

[dokrok5150]

Thank you so much!

[dokrok5150]

ah… 3ms is really good so if you are experiencing noticeable lag contrary to what your eyes tell you your ears are hearing the real lag time which if you can hear it it is obviously much longer than 3ms. So I would think that your lag is being introduced somewhere else in your audio chain and I would blame using the Windows WASAPI.  WASAPI is fine for gaming, streaming audio, etc. but bad for pro audio monitoring. ASIO is the go to. Google the difference between them. Do you have an interface? If not you should.

Long ago when I got my first laptop I loaded Studio One with all it’s plugins along with EZdrummer. Opened a song I had done on my desktop and… what the??? Tracks not playing back correctly, pops, busses, stuttering… I started a new song on the laptop, hit record and started playing my keyboard. The latency was terrible. Thats when I learned that you don’t use WASAPI. Grabbed my spare Presonus interface, plugged it in, set audio driver to ASIO and boom! All is good.

I’m attaching screenshots of my old (2008) Tascam US-1641 interface for your reference. It still works and and I have no issues with it. Notice the latency times. So 3ms is almost instantaneous. ASIO, young pilgrim, ASIO…

ps: I also use a Roland TD-3 with no issues. Good luck.

Reply To: Audio Buffer Size Wont Go Lower Than 144 version: 3.0.4
Operating system: Windows 10

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Thanked by: Deliriums

[dokrok5150]

BEST ANSWER

You are playing a 3/4 or 6/8 groove. I would go with 6/8.

Your theme I count as 1 2and3and 4 5 (6) with 6 being your rest.

I would start my search with tap tempo. I have attached a screenshot.

Notice the time signature is set at 6/8 and the tempo is set to 60.

The kick drum is on 1 and 4 and the snare is on 2 3 and 5. 6 is a rest.

I am making the assumption you know how to count 6/8 time.

You may find something is your groove library but odds are you are going to have to create your own.

The 6/8 kick/snare groove is your foundation. Good luck with your search. Or creation.

Dr. Rock

Reply To: Can you please help me find this groove version: 3.0.4
Operating system: Windows 10

• The post has been modified 5 times, last modified 2 years, 8 months ago by dokrok5150.

[dokrok5150]

Listened to the song. Drums are just fine. Ignore the knuckle heads. You’re doing just fine.

Reply To: The drums sound too much like midi version: 3.0.4
Operating system: Windows 10

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Thanked by: Mark Wheatley

[dokrok5150]

It’s not the program it’s your buds. Had a similar issue using Airbuds. Switched to my wired headphones all good. Then tried my Bose Bluetooth headphones and all good. All bluetooth is not created equal.

Reply To: Bluetooth Latency version: 3.0.4
Operating system: Windows 10

[dokrok5150]

You will get there. I had hoped that these programs would magically suck the groove out of my head and paste it into my drum track. No. Crap. As much as I was in a rush I had to slow down and put in the time. I would set aside time in my day to JUST work with the software and not be chasing the beat in my head. Learn the in’s and out’s. The more I became comfortable learning to get the software to do what I wanted the faster my creative process became. Real musicians never stop learning. We can get impatient but damn it, Jim, WE SHALL OVERCOME! Back in the beginning of DAWs there were very few resources for help. Now here is the forums, YouTube, tutorials… Can’t figure out how to do something? Dollars to doughnuts (as my granddaddy used to say) someone has had the same issue and figured it out.

I could feel your doubt and circling disappointment about whether you had made the right choice with your hard earned dollars. I have flown that plane multiple times. You have.

Rock on, my Young Brother…

PS: If it makes you feel any better I’ve just updated EZBass. Very cool but… guess who is setting time aside again?

• This post was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by dokrok5150.

[dokrok5150]

Mr. Jay, I have been a professional musician since 1979. I have toured extensively, played multiple genres and written music for commercials. I witnessed the birth of MIDI and the creation of every DAW (and worked with most of them from Cakewalk to Pro Tools).
I no longer tour as I once did. I perform locally on the Gulf Coast of Alabama and Florida and continue to write.

I have witnessed the creation of and used the first drum machines. When you are not a drummer, trying to create a convincing drum part is very, very difficult, especially with the tools I had back then. I would listen to a drum part, listen to where the kick was, the snare, the cymbals, etc. and then try to recreate it. I became (am) extremely good at it. BUT… it was extremely time consuming and difficult. I learned about the levels of kick and snare and hi-hat, how I needed to adjust the velocity of each hit to avoid it sounding like a machine, how I needed to push or pull the hits forward or back in time to make it sound life like. It was a wonderful self learning period but painful, frustrating and quite often exhausting, not to mention how many times I lost my creative ideas chasing the beat I heard in my head.

Now… to your question “DO YOU FIND EZDRUMMER 3 TO BE A SUITABLE REPLACEMENT FOR REAL DRUMS?” I no longer (well, rarely) use a live drummer. Because drummers suck? NO!!! but where I live good drummers who can play well, have great dynamics, are willing to play what I need for my piece and are real musicians are rare. I have performed with drummers who were/are wonderful musicians and human beings with heart and soul and immence creative talent. Since I rarely have access to these friends of mine I need to do it myself. Do the drums sound fake? When I playback a tune for my drummer friends I’ve never had them ask “are those fake drums?” Why? Because Toontrack has recorded the sounds with the finest equipment in the finest studios with the finest drummers. I’ve had my drummer friends listen to my tunes and then asked me “who’s on drums?” I smile and say “me”. It only sounds fake if it doesn’t play back the way a live drummer would play it.

I wish I had EZdrummer way back in the day. My creative life would have been so much easier.

My advice to you, young Skywalker, is to take your time. Learn the program. Watch tutorials. Start with a basic kick and snare for your song. Tap it into “Tap to find”. EZdrummer will filter your beat and present multiple choices. Pick one and drag it into your track. I use Studio One Pro as my DAW. Once you have the pattern in your track look at it closely in your track editor. You will see how the drummer who played it pushed or pulled the beat, what velocities they played each kit piece, etc. You have a professional drummer playing for you. A professional that you would not be able to afford to hire. Recorded in a studio that you also would not be able to afford. Also, once you’ve chosen a beat that ‘works’ you can go in and make changes until it is exactly what you hear in your head. Get rid of the ride, change the snare, add a tom…

As for Superior Drummer? I own it. Think of it as a drum creation tool. Build your own snare/kick/tom etc. sounds. It is extremely deep. My advice concerning Superior is to leave it for now. Learn to use EZdrummer well then come to it when you have built up your “drum chops”. It is a beast. I use EZ 90% of the time. I use Superior when I have a drum sound in my head that I can’t find.

I wish you well on your creative journey and remember – where you are now is where we all were once. Good luck.

Dr. Rock

Reply To: Do you find EZDrummer 3 to be a suitable replacement for real drums? version: 3.0.3
Operating system: Windows 10

1

Thanked by: Jay

[dokrok5150]

the controller that is assigned to the track is displayed in each separate track menu on the left. Let’s say I’m recording a live drum track from the Atom I have to tell each that track where the input is coming from – my NI keyboard, my midi guitar, the Atom. And which midi channel I want the track to listen to. So I expand the track (pull down the bottom of the track on the left) and now I can see the input device that the track is currently listening to. Then I can assign the track to listen to the input from the Atom or whatever input device I wish. I hope this helps(if I understood your question correctly)

[dokrok5150]

jcshirke, I have zero issues with the Atom. I use it with NI Komplete 13 with no issues and other third party such as Modo Bass. Not to say others haven’t had an issue but I’ve often found that a lot of these issues could be solved by READING THE MANUAL. The Atom is a very capable device for me. Besides finger drumming I’ve used it to input other sounds like bass notes, horn hits, string section chords. Of course this requires that I set up the MIDI notes on the Atom to trigger the software. I read the manual. Hope this helps.

[dokrok5150]

Presonus Atom.

Compact and does everything you need. I also have a Komplete Kontrol S61. Atom is currently on sale for $135.

Reply To: External Controller for Finger Drumming? version: 3.0.2
Operating system: Windows 10

• This post was modified 2 years, 12 months ago by dokrok5150.

[dokrok5150]

I didn’t have to clear the cache. It just got fixed.

[dokrok5150]

Sorry Bear-Faced Cow, you are not correct. Clearing the cache was a suggestion and did not work. All suggestions did not work. As I previously stated I was notified that it was a bug and has been corrected. thank you.

[dokrok5150]

Shootie, nothing helped. It is working today. I was notified that the search bug had been fixed.

Now… anybody know how to change your screen name in this forum. I want it to display the name I use across the web – dokrok5150 – instead if my full legal name. Help a Dr. Rock out.

• This post was modified 3 years ago by dokrok5150.

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