OK. So after a big pain in the behind time, I worked with EZDrummer on one of my mixes. It took me a long time choosing among all of the parameters including the several voices selectable for each part of the drum kit in EZDrummer.
http://www.reverbnation.com/larrylevin I have two versions of the song "Vista" I had written. One with the original version done with PSR-S900 drum voices and the other just mixed version done with EZDrummer drum voices. Occasional bongo, tambourine, and hand claps come from PSR-S900 in both versions.

As I have little drum experience, could any one of you with more familiarity with how drums should sound in a mix (and I know it's subjective), tell me what you think? Is it superior to the PSR-S900 mix?

And yes, Diki, I'm going to try to find someone with drum programming experience and interest in my style of music who I can consult with. I don't know how I'm going to find this person, but I will.

Beakybird



[This message has been edited by Beakybird (edited 05-05-2009).]

Maybe a tab better, but will be much improved with a live drummer or something different - keep it going

Me, I'd start by erasing ALL the fills except those at structure boundaries. Then, and only then would I start pasting fills back in whenever the thing screams out for them. Not before. You've also got to get into 'pickups' rather than fills at anything other than major structure boundaries... The tiniest snare drum ghost or mini-fill is all you need, many times.

An arranger 'trick' you can do sometime, if you feel up to it, is record as MIDI files ALL the fills from as many related styles as you can. Then, in your DAW sequencer, you can import these at will, and give yourself a HUGE boost in choice of fills for any point in the music.

Another trick is to take a look at JUST the drum track in any well liked SMF's... There are some pretty good Beatles SMF's out there, if you look, and other things in that vein. Take a look at them in a sequencer, and cut and save your favorite fills and especially 'pickups', those not really fills, just slight punctuation, that drummers do to acknowledge structure boundaries without getting all up in your grill...

Often times, just copying and pasting the snare and hihat parts is all you need.

The EZ Drummer's drum SOUNDS were a huge improvement over the PSR. But the drum TRACK still needs work to be more drummer-like, IMO.

Something else to investigate in your sequencer is to look at drum hits (hihats, snares especially, kicks, whatever) and make sure the arranger derived SMF doesn't have all the backbeats, or just about ANY consecutive hits at EXACTLY the same velocity level. Kits like EZ Drummer and BFD have many, many samples per drum velocity, so there is no excuse for two hits to EVER sound the same. There's two ways to go about this. First, I think EZ drummer has a mode (probably called 'alternating' or something like that) where, even if you DO hit it with something that doesn't vary, it'll play two adjacent samples alternatively, or just go into your DAW and hand massage it...

Hope these tips help...

[This message has been edited by Diki (edited 05-06-2009).]

EZ Drummer has a Humanizer function that varies how the drums are hit.

EZ Drummer will work to the GM standard so start off with this first, (Let all the drum sounds be triggered by the S900 and just adjust the drum volumes) to get the feel of how the styles work, before moving on to more advanced features. (Learn to walk before you run)

The defaults are pretty good so don’t try and get fancy straight off.

Hope this helps

Bill

The EZDrums were miles better in my ears, much better fidelity. But you could make them even better with the humanize function, and toss in some effects on those bad boys - a bit too dry in my ears. And maybe some compression on the snare... imho..

Docz

No question there... EZ Drummer beats the PSR by a country mile. You need to rework the programming with less fills and get a more balanced mix of the drums but you're off to a great start.