So I do the bass and snare on one track, do cymbals - usually ride and crashes together, sometimes hat. Granted, there's a lot of modern music where that 'programmed' drum sound is very common.that whole patterns-n-beats thing.so I guess it depends on the music you are doing.Ĭlick to expand.I do it that way as I do my drum inputs on a keyboard. I can't comment on how your tracks sounds.haven't heard them.but I've heard a lot of programmed tracks that sound just like 'programmed tracks because they were done piecemeal.and not with the mindset of how a live drummer would be playing them. I guess though if the drums are viewed as just a bunch of 'patterns-n-beats'.then shuffling things around and swapping out sections after a song is finished may seems more valid and OK.but I like to create drums tracks so they sound just like a real drummer was in the studio, and his drums were recorded live, and that's it.they are then part of the song. IOW.the drum track flows with the song.I couldn't finish a song and then suddenly go in and completely change just the kick drum just doesn't work like that, IMO. I can't treat the individual drums as just a bunch of 'parts' that I would individually swap or cut/paste/copy across an entire song. Having each drum on its own MIDI track would make me nuts looking up/down across 6-8 MIDI tracks.

IOW.when I create drum tracks (been using SD for 10+ years now), I like to see the pattern of the whole kit. If that approach really works for what you outlined seems more tedious, and it's also too 'disconnected' for me. Rather than painstakingly editing ALL of my other finished midi patterns, I just have to delete the original kick midi patterns and throw in the new one. Say I finish a song and think, damn, a four on the floor beat would work better. Doing things this way also makes it a lot easier to experiment with different patterns. Once I've got the simple stuff that doesn't vary much nailed down, I can then focus on the more intricate patterns (namely HH and snare). I then copy and paste that pattern into the second verse, and the third, and so on. It literally takes seconds to do this in Cubase. I map out a single measure, then drag it across the entire verse. Say, for instance, a song has a particular kick pattern for the verses. I also use markers and set up my drum patterns measure by measure for easy rearranging. It saves me a ton of time, especially when I'm doing velocity tweaks or controller lane edits. I just personally find it a lot easier to work with.

Superior drummer 3 kits