Programming drums in Logic Pro?....

You are probably looking for the hyper editor. One note: It is very customizable, though there is a preset for a gm kit.

J

What he said. But there are so many ways of doing things… there's a lot of power in there, so be sure to explore thoroughly. It's easy to miss something really great just because (as it happens) you didn't like the first preset you heard.

Then, of course, there's the very best method (although admittedly not for everyone): get a live drummer in. If not for Audio, then at least to capture the MIDI.

I've found using Ultrabeat's step grid, and switching in and out of Full View (lower right corner) gives me control of notes and switching back to the grid enables tweaking of velocities and accents.

Mousing parts in never really worked comfortably for me, so short of an actual drummer, I've used a Korg PadKontrol to get ideas down, and edited/corrected them later in the piano roll which works for me.

BTW, for your rock and metal projects, Toontrack's Metal Foundry (Superior 2 expansion pack) gets released soon - might be perfect for these projects.

Find a buddy that plays drums, get a Roland octapad or some other pad controller,
Have your buddy play the kit, with fills and dynamics.

Isn't that funny? — That's just what I said!

😉

I use EXS24 to make drum kits. It's straightforward, you assign a sound to single note. You can get samples from anywhere - recording them as audio, or using existing drum samples from software instruments (I just "re-record them as audio).

Playing "drums" on a keyboard does require some development of technique, mainly to modify volume of one or more sounds simultaneously, while leaving other volumes unchanged. Playing "drums" means playing chords, and I found that varying the volume of individual notes in a succession of chords was not easy to control.

Ooh! Ooh! D4! I have one of those… there's a photo of it somewhere in the Forum…

[Here…|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9664288&#9664288]

I really must transfer my D4 drum maps to Logic. I wonder what's the best way… it could be time-consuming. Lucky I've done all the paperwork in advance.

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What do you mean, Logic doesn't have a simple drum grid like Cubase? Have you checked out Ultrabeat?

I really must transfer my D4 drum maps to Logic. I wonder what's the best way… it could be time-consuming.

Or automatic, if you believe in that sort of thing:
www.redmatica.com

J

Good thinking — I'll check it out.

I generally use the piano roll editor and/or MIDI controller keyboard to program drums and use the ESX24 sampler (coupled with strip silence - one of the most useful features of logic pro 8) when I want to produce completely original drum sounds:

http://musicproducerxxx.com/play.php?vid=246

Hope this helps

Just an insignificant little terminology Q: I 'play' in my drums by 'drumming' on my keys - is that also called 'programming'?
My understanding is that 'programming' is step inputting notes; any sort of playing them in (via whatever midi controller) I would not call programming. Is that right?

Hi Erik,

I 'play' in my drums by 'drumming' on my keys - is that also called 'programming'?

My definition of 'drum programming' is:

It is acceptable to say you are programming if you're editing MIDI events or regions in the process, recording/editing within a composition of multiple MIDI performances, if entered with a controller or manually, modifying the sounds or samples used by a performance, and many other scenarios. 'Drum programming' encompasses most things which are aided by a sequencer or a sound generator (I'm not considering live drums in this explanation). 'Programming' is such a vague term, there is nearly always a better word to use (assuming you want to be specific), because the term can be used for just about anything related to MIDI events or sound generation/reproduction/sound design for a drum track or loop.

J

Follow up: So 'playing' in your example (while still a general term) is often a more descriptive use of 'programming', though it depends on the context.

Justin C, I popped over to Redmatica to have a look, but I couldn't see anything that obviously shouted out +"D4 owners, look at this!"+

What exactly was it you thought I might find useful? I could certainly do with saving some time converting all my old D4 Regions to something internal, so I'm champing at the bit here!