Samplers and drum machines / software?

[Mike IQ]

The project I'm working on now seems like it's going to be primarily drum machine-driven. We are a 2-piece and not looking to expand on that 'cause it's working too well. Right now, we are using a very antiquated 70s drum machine that's non-programmable. It gives us a kind of Suicide-esque sound and it's fine for now, but I can see us outgrowing its limitations in the not-too-distant future. I have a somewhat more modern Alesis that is programmable and while I'm rusty, I can probably make some cool beats with it. But I'm also curious about sampling and looping breakbeats off old records like hip hop producers used to do back in the day. It probably makes more sense to do this with software as opposed to investing in an MPC or something, right? Any thoughts on this? If it is going to be software, then what should I get? Reason? Ableton? Or are there hardware samplers worth looking into that won't break the bank?

[Naxzul]

Ableton Live

[Mike IQ]

Thanks!

[Harm]

I suggest you give ableton auditon a try too!

Using loops is a good idea, because it sounds more like a real drum. I love drumloops so much and they are one of the reasons why i started drumming. Frankly they have been my drum teacher in a certain way and they inspire my sound too. (listen here)

If you don't want to expand and look for drums i can mail you a practice session which you can cut to loops and use.

[Mike IQ]

I suggest you give ableton auditon a try too!

Using loops is a good idea, because it sounds more like a real drum. I love drumloops so much and they are one of the reasons why i started drumming. Frankly they have been my drum teacher in a certain way and they inspire my sound too. (listen here)

If you don't want to expand and look for drums i can mail you a practice session which you can cut to loops and use.

Nice sounds, Harm - is that all you?

Yeah, I feel like anything a drum machine or from a selection of pre-sampled drum sounds in a piece of software is going to sound kind of stale. The old one we're using now is primitive and analog-sounding so it has a kind of warmth to it. But like I said, we're going to reach the limit of what we can do with that in the not-too-distant future. I think what really inspired me is seeing Beats, Rhymes and Life, the documentary on A Tribe Called Quest. There's this scene where Q-Tip breaks down how he made the beat for Bonita Applebum and it's quite astounding how he makes this pastiche from old records. It's all the more astounding when you remember that this is back when samplers stored their data on floppy disks and could hold maybe 10 seconds worth of a sample. I figure that, with enough patience, I can make some crazy stuff with the infinite memory computers have nowadays...

[fallen]

A really fun way to make beats is to copy/paste them together from raw sounds in a sound wave editor so that you're not dropping the samples onto a grid pattern. Manually pasting them into a sound wave allows you to add slop and feel into the beats.

The way I used to work with samples live was with an Akai sampler and a latching switch plugged into a trigger input. Set the samples to either "one time", "loop" or "alternating loop" and just click the footswitch to start them up and click again to stop.

These days there must be a midi box or something you can plug into an old laptop which would be a 1000 times more powerful than any of those rack mount samplers were back in the day.

[Demon Lung]

I suggest you give ableton auditon a try too!

Using loops is a good idea, because it sounds more like a real drum. I love drumloops so much and they are one of the reasons why i started drumming. Frankly they have been my drum teacher in a certain way and they inspire my sound too. (listen here)

If you don't want to expand and look for drums i can mail you a practice session which you can cut to loops and use.

tell me about ableton audition please

[Harm]

I suggest you give ableton auditon a try too!

Using loops is a good idea, because it sounds more like a real drum. I love drumloops so much and they are one of the reasons why i started drumming. Frankly they have been my drum teacher in a certain way and they inspire my sound too. (listen here)

If you don't want to expand and look for drums i can mail you a practice session which you can cut to loops and use.

Nice sounds, Harm - is that all you?

Thanks. Only the drums are mine, the bass is by my partner.

Yeah, I feel like anything a drum machine or from a selection of pre-sampled drum sounds in a piece of software is going to sound kind of stale. The old one we're using now is primitive and analog-sounding so it has a kind of warmth to it. But like I said, we're going to reach the limit of what we can do with that in the not-too-distant future. I think what really inspired me is seeing Beats, Rhymes and Life, the documentary on A Tribe Called Quest. There's this scene where Q-Tip breaks down how he made the beat for Bonita Applebum and it's quite astounding how he makes this pastiche from old records. It's all the more astounding when you remember that this is back when samplers stored their data on floppy disks and could hold maybe 10 seconds worth of a sample. I figure that, with enough patience, I can make some crazy stuff with the infinite memory computers have nowadays...

Sounds like an interesting documentary being a long time fan of a tribe, which i must see. I produce hip-hop too, been doing so for years and yes, back then the possibilities were little because of the sample memory, but it forced you to be much more creative. Now where anything can be done producers tend to become lazy.

I can imagine Q-Tip inspires you, but just remember: what sounds good in hip-hop doesn't have to sound good in stoner. My offer still stands, if you want, i can hook you up with some pure killer uncut drum loops that nobody has used!

[Harm]

I suggest you give ableton auditon a try too!

Using loops is a good idea, because it sounds more like a real drum. I love drumloops so much and they are one of the reasons why i started drumming. Frankly they have been my drum teacher in a certain way and they inspire my sound too. (listen here)

If you don't want to expand and look for drums i can mail you a practice session which you can cut to loops and use.

tell me about ableton audition please

I was stoned when i wrote that, it is adobe audition, ableton is another program.

Audition is great for recording and making a master of your music. The songs i linked to earlier in this topic are all mixed and mastered with adobe.

Check here how you make metal drums with the program, it is quite time consuming but the result is nice if you like metal drums!

[Mike IQ]

I suggest you give ableton auditon a try too!

Using loops is a good idea, because it sounds more like a real drum. I love drumloops so much and they are one of the reasons why i started drumming. Frankly they have been my drum teacher in a certain way and they inspire my sound too. (listen here)

If you don't want to expand and look for drums i can mail you a practice session which you can cut to loops and use.

Nice sounds, Harm - is that all you?

Thanks. Only the drums are mine, the bass is by my partner.

Yeah, I feel like anything a drum machine or from a selection of pre-sampled drum sounds in a piece of software is going to sound kind of stale. The old one we're using now is primitive and analog-sounding so it has a kind of warmth to it. But like I said, we're going to reach the limit of what we can do with that in the not-too-distant future. I think what really inspired me is seeing Beats, Rhymes and Life, the documentary on A Tribe Called Quest. There's this scene where Q-Tip breaks down how he made the beat for Bonita Applebum and it's quite astounding how he makes this pastiche from old records. It's all the more astounding when you remember that this is back when samplers stored their data on floppy disks and could hold maybe 10 seconds worth of a sample. I figure that, with enough patience, I can make some crazy stuff with the infinite memory computers have nowadays...

Sounds like an interesting documentary being a long time fan of a tribe, which i must see. I produce hip-hop too, been doing so for years and yes, back then the possibilities were little because of the sample memory, but it forced you to be much more creative. Now where anything can be done producers tend to become lazy.

I can imagine Q-Tip inspires you, but just remember: what sounds good in hip-hop doesn't have to sound good in stoner. My offer still stands, if you want, i can hook you up with some pure killer uncut drum loops that nobody has used!

Oh my band is decidedly not stoner; it's more similar to something like Suicide or James Chance & The Contortions or even Devo at times than any stoner band. So I want to lift good 4-on-the-floor beats and funk breaks and stuff. See my description above. At risk of sounding pretentious, we're trying to explore new territory. Maybe I'll lift something from America and CSNY records as well - who knows?

[Harm]

Well, in that case i wish you good luck!