Guitar player & XP80 owner looking for Rock sounding DESCENT drum kit patches for his xp80.

....ohh i am so desperate i ll probably have to buy something else for drums something like the TR-rack or the Alesis DM5

GIVE ME SOME DESCENT REAL SOUNDING DRUMS !!!
ARGHHHH.

Thank you.

My Xp-50 drums sound great (bearing in mind that this is a synth, and that sampling is necessairiuly limited). I don't find that big a difference between my drums and my brothers DM5, except a slight increase in quality, which becomes imperceptible when properly mixed. Maybe you wanna look at your amp/cabs...
Al

Thanks for the reply al, i think you are right about mixing, when you have 4-5 instruments playing together with the drums they sound ok i would say, but the problem is when you have Drums & bass only, you get to notice that the sound is kind of ...irritating... it's not realistic enough for me, especially the snares, (except maybe the picolo snare). You said you brother has the DM5, is it any better? Would you say that it's more realistic, how better is it you think (in a scale of 1 to 10 how much would you give to the roland and how much to the DM5).
And please...dont tell me to go and buy the Bass and drums expansion card.....
thanks.

i think you are right about mixing, when you have 4-5 instruments playing together with the drums they sound ok i would say, but the problem is when you have Drums & bass only,

get a drummer? FX? errm, there's a limit to what can be achieved by a sampled sound, i either mike up Alex on his real kit, or Fx the buggery out of everything

You said you brother has the DM5, is it any better? Would you say that it's more realistic, how better is it you think (in a scale of 1 to 10 how much would you give to the roland and how much to the DM5).

Like I said there's a limit to how good a sampled sound can be. You also have to be aware that a live kit has the acoustics of the room, and the acual drums have 'sweet spots' no two hits are the same, so there's a constant change in the sound, even my brother's dm5 triggered from pads isn't as realistic as his real kit. The best thing you can do is stack up Reverb, and use a tad of chorus. Thes will be on the board...

And please...dont tell me to go and buy the Bass and drums expansion card.....

would I do that? I actually intend to, when I've bought my piano action board, multitracker, mixer, new, stereo amp, etc...
hehe, I wish...

hope that gives you something to work with...
Al

Please don't get mad, but I'd really advise that you go out and at least try out the SRJV80-10 Bass & Drums expansion baord. It is really worth it.

At one time (a couple of week ago) after owning an XP50 (recently upgraded to an XP60), I got fed up with the drums in the XP. They sounded terrible when compared to a drum set - I should mention that I can also play the drums and it was frustrating.

I then went to my local music store and tried out the XV3080 and was blown away by the realism, and sought to find out if my XP could sound like that. It's kinda funny. I had a Hip-Hop expansion board and completely ignored the B&D board because of the lack of variety (just bass and drums).

When I actually went toi try it, I was blown away. These drums are the best things next to a sampler. . . Really! They really are. I now use the B&D board more than my kit so I don't have to mic my drums. Like all synths, the sounds could be tweaked to your liking, like removing room ambiance (via shortning the times in the TVA). At least give it a chance. It was me trying this board out that stopped me from feeling intimidated to by the upcoming new Roland XV workstations.

The Bass sounds are excellent too. This is one of Roland's best boards. I was just about to pickup a DM5 or DMPro before I checked this board out. Just think about it, if you get the board instead of the module (and prices are falling for these - $199 at ZZsounds!!!), you don't have to worry about new Operating System learning curves and running out of inputs on your mixer, most importantly, everything would be contained in ONE workstation. Good luck.

The Inamous EPU.

Thanks guys,

Epu i am gonna try your suggestion, after all i have nothing to lose. By the way i play the drums myself as well. And yes the idea of having everything on one workstation is what i am looking for. I am impressed by the session board which i am planning to buy, but i was listening to a demo cd of the Bass and drums board which wasnt as impressive as i would think it would be. I ll give it a second chance. As it's been already mentioned real drums come with room accoustics and two hits never sound the same but after all you cant have it all in a single workstation, i ll use the best option availiable for my money.

Thank you guys

Hey, I agree with you on the Session board. If it's any board you are gonna add to your setup, this is it. This is like the standard JV/XP Board to have.

However, the Bass & Drums is sure to keep your synth going for YEARS to come. I had the Roland Audio JV/XP CD Demo. I heard the Bass & Drums Demo on that disc and like you was not really impressed. It's not until I checked it out that it blew my socks off.

Check out patches like: "XPx30 - Acoustic Touch". That Acoustic Bass is too much on the side of having a real bass player. I've even fooled many bassists. They say "Who is that guy?". "XPx131 - DynoPiccoloSnare Kit" is good too". With the velocity split feature, you can get some convincing fills going on the snare.

Good luck man. The demo sucks, but when you check it out, you might just keep your XP/JV longer than you expected. Oh and BTW, get the Session board when you get a chance - No I don't work for Roland!. Good Luck.

The Infamous EPU.

Thanks Epu, the Bass & drums expansion is my next stop then. Another question now:

Do you or anybody else use any kind of pre-programmed drum patterns? I need some help on that too, i 've got loads of patterns but i need something like the drag and drop drummer where you can easilly make a drum backing track in seconds. Quality is priority No1 of course so i need GOOD, USABLE patterns. If anyone is using anything particularly good for this kind of work i ll be glad to know what it is

Thanks all again.

>Do you or anybody else use any kind of pre->programmed drum patterns? I need some help >on that too, i 've got loads of patterns >but i need something like the drag and drop >drummer where you can easilly make a drum >backing track in seconds.

hi, me again (remember me?) hehe
Having a brother I've picked up a lot about drum patterns, and they are just that. They're very simple on the basis I use, which is two bar repetition. The first bar will be flat, the second will have an element of suncopation that could lead into a fill. I can then copy this while maintaining interest by the changing pattern, and drop fills in as and when required. I do however tend to come back and tweak at my development stage (after I've written a full piece). If it would help, I could throw together some short two bar phrases, and some fills, and mail them to ya. If you're interested...
Al

Of course i am interested !

ae2@coventry.ac.uk

Sorry - completely off topic but couldn't help noticing the @Coventry.ac.uk email address... I'm a student just down the road at Warwick Uni - small world huh?

Pete

Hello, so you are into music as well ? what kind of music do you play then?


[This message has been edited by Animaniac (edited 06-03-2000).]

email on route...
Not the best of ideas to splash your address across the net, when I can picl it up off your profile...
try not to, I have so much spam 'cos I've done it, at least put in a spam guard (like nospam could be put in there somewhere)
just a thought
Al

Thanks for the advice Al. I 've replyed to you email already.

By the way, does anybody knows where i can find some drum & bass midi files? (i am talking about the music style) I am a bit curious since i checked all over the net and i did not find not even a single one drum and bass midi file...i might be looking at the wrong place.


[This message has been edited by Animaniac (edited 06-05-2000).]

Animaniac, All you have to do is take a SMF of the song and delete or mute the channels other than bass and drums.Usually channels 2 and 10....Fran

Ok , let me say it once more,i am refering to The MUSIC STYLE of DRUM & BASS. Like when we say TECHNO, DISCO, ROCK e.t.c. I think i have cleared this now, but that was just a side thing my main concern is ROCK DRUM PATTERNS & FILLS plus ROCK sounding drum patches for the xp80

thanks everybody, just today i got some very usuable drum patterns i might post to you if you need any.

This goes to Al, i need some drum lessons:

What is a flam?

This goes to Al, i need some drum lessons:

What is a flam?[/B][/QUOTE]

its a type of stroke, a double hit, the first is a tap followed VERY closely by an accent. love from PsYcH.. Al's drummer brother

so now you know DAMN my server is slow, I still don't have your reply...
Al

Thanks for the flams, can i have some midi stuff now? please?

I am refering to your previous post the one that you said you ll send me some examples.
And yes!! your server must be SLOW!

What kind of music are you into by the way? By the sound of it you must be doing pop & rock stuff. Yes?

can i have some midi stuff now? please?

should be in your in tray now...

I am refering to your previous post the one that you said you ll send me some examples.
And yes!! your server must be SLOW!

For some reason the two computers in this house are determined to download every email that's sent to one of our five addresses, it took me ages to establsh that you mail was on the family one, and not my personal one

What kind of music are you into by the way? By the sound of it you must be doing pop & rock stuff. Yes?

generally yeah. It's kind of a mad mix of rock pop/prog rock/metal (sorta Dream theatre but not as good) with some jazz and latin in there for good measure along with the blues. Obviously not all in one piece (yet). Which gives me a lot of material and inspirations to work with...
Al

Al,

I just got your stuff (it took me sometime yes but i am very busy latelly, i had to propose a project for my M.Sc final module. I proposed something with audio signal processing in it)

The patterns are very usuable, common basic stuff that i ll probaly be using everywhere. Ithink by now i have loads of stuff (something like 2000 patterns) all i need is to categorize them.

I need some more fills, and some guidance on how to play flams on real kits, (i can play all of the patterns you posted on real kits which is cool since i am not a drummer (yet)!

I think i like drums as much io like guitars. I 'll certanly spend sometime learnining my way around the kit.

Thanks again

>I just got your stuff (it took me sometime >yes but i am very busy latelly, i had to >propose a project for my M.Sc final module. >I proposed something with audio signal >processing in it)

goo good, good luck with the work. signal processing, as in fx/vocoders etc?

>The patterns are very usuable, common basic >stuff that i ll probaly be using >everywhere. Ithink by now i have loads of >stuff (something like 2000 patterns) all i >need is to categorize them.

uh huh, I must remember to whack in some basics for midi peeps/people who can't do drum/bass lines well when I put my website up (when that happens...)

>I think i like drums as much io like >guitars. I 'll certanly spend sometime >learnining my way around the kit.

I'm a board player and midi freak, but I still enjoy bashing both of psych's kits (leccy/acoustic) as well as hitting bongos...
there's something very playable in percussion I feel.

Al

Al,

I would be very interested in listening to some of your music, have you got anything on the web?

ps: go ahead with the web site put some resources up, and dont forget....flams! (have you got any in midi?)

<>

Unfortunaetly not, I have yet to requisition some webspace, you'll be the first to hear though...
Much of my music still needs tweaks, and, ideally, a band, you can have the midi files, but they'll sound dodgy on anything less than an Xp-50... <>

<>

unfotunately Alex (Psych) is away in spain w/girlfriend, so I'll harass him when he gets back :-)
Al

It's true, i'm pretty late for anwsering your question about the "not so good drums" in your (and the one I own) XP-80.

I think it's pretty simple to make your drumsounds sound better, I use a few different ways.

A. Try to make your EFX free for the drum track, now for each drumsample it's possible to modify the amount of EFX, and now the important thing try some, especially the compressor can make your sound pretty fat/thick.

B. You can also make drumsounds in patch mode, now the drumsounds are having much more possibilities, the biggest advantage is now haviing the booster for your drumsounds, and that makes a big diggerence! When your not sattisfied at first glance just keep trying adjusting some filter values, pitch values (detune) and envelope values.

C. Try layering the drumsounds, but when you do this you have to experiment with the filters (also the BPF and HPF besides the LPF)
I hope you can take you're advantage with these 3 points, please let me now if it was for any help for you.
I'm a newbee, so excuse me if these are common known facts, or maybe they are but didn.t you think of these possibilities.

Succes!

P.S. Let me know if you got some other interesting point for improving the drum sounds.

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Amsterdam (NL)