how do you program GOOD drum sequences?

Morshu · Post by **Morshu** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 2:58 am

i've made a weird sequence using patches an arpeggiator and modulation sequence in the r3- but it sounds bad

how does one program proper drums

tpantano · Post by **tpantano** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 4:12 am

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/allsynthsecrets.htm

Re-Member · Post by **Re-Member** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 5:03 am

Trying to create drum patterns without a proper note sequencer is tricky, but it can be done. Here's two videos that might help you out:

http://insidesynthesis.blogspot.com/200 ... chine.html

http://insidesynthesis.blogspot.com/200 ... ncers.html

Morshu · Post by **Morshu** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 8:50 pm

you guys are awesome, thanks. very helpful

Morshu · Post by **Morshu** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 9:50 pm

i tried that tutorial a few times and i cant seem to figure out exactly how to do what he is doing- i know i have cross mod and all that stuff, but no matter what i do i dont get drums i get a strange distorted sound generally- i was able to make a modulation sequence kind of like drums but its still not right,... anybody post a simple example of exactly what hes doing?

CharlesFerraro · Post by **CharlesFerraro** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 9:08 am

tpantano wrote:http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/allsynthsecrets.htm

You actually read all that? Just read the first one and its pretty legit. Think I'm going to do one a night.

Morshu · Post by **Morshu** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:53 pm

actually i liked the video alot better than the text, although they both take just as long to understand - but yes i did lol. it was confusing.

acemonvw · Post by **acemonvw** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 4:38 pm

I tried walking through the first video on creating drum sounds from the synth. If I followed exactly what the guy said, it didn't really work out for me.

Putting the filter to HP just removed the bass entirely, even when the filter had keyboard tracking to the upper end. I had to turn down the cutoff to hear the bass again, though in the video he didn't do that. Now, I have a radias and he was showing on an MS2000, but I saw someone saying they got this using their R3, so it SHOULD work for me. I must've missed something. I also felt like I was always able to hear a note, even with turning the decay down.

Obviously, they're different machines, but should be similar enough to follow along I assume. It sort of works. It just seemed like his whole setup was tighter... meaning the bass kick he created, the snare, and hi-hat sounds were much closer together, like my bass was way on the left-most notes, not very powerful either, and my hi-hat was way on the right (I followed all the virtual patching as well).

I don't need anyone to walk me through, because it's not that big of a deal considering the radias has drums in it, but I'm curious if, by following exactly what he did in the video, others can replicate the sound better than I could.

I did like the idea of using mod sequencing for creating the drum beat. Cool idea. I have the spectralis do the sequencing, but it's still a useful technique. I always forget about mod sequencing :/

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 5:09 pm

On the video he puts HPF tracking to 200%, on the radias you don't need to use virtual patch for this because the keytrack does already go to 2.0

You will have to turn the filter cutoff down a bit on the Radias because it has a lower 'base level' on the knob than on the MS2000/MK

I might try this later on my Radias but it really isn't necessary except as a programming exercise - you should really explore programming your own drum kits and sequencing them with one of the step sequencers as it is infinitely more flexible. You don't have to use the drum PCM waves and can use all kinds of synthesis methods including the VPM and waveshaping or drive to warm up the kick for example.

Similarly, you don't need to specifically use 'cross mod' and he's not actually using it - he's just using the sine wave which on the MS2000 is fixed to cross-modulation (no waveform, VPM or other forms of modulation like on the Radias)

acemonvw · Post by **acemonvw** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 5:17 pm

Thanks X-Trade,

I didn't really think about the HPF tracking, I just followed along, lol. I had figured out that I had to lower the cutoff, but didn't know why, so thanks!

I did try it as a programming exercise, always nice to go through and try to better understand the synth. I had never really considered creating drum sounds like was shown in the video considering the spectralis and radias both have internal drum sounds, so it's an interesting approach.

I figured the sine wave out, pressing on cross-mod certainly wasn't giving me the results that made sense, and it just sounded like he went to a sine wave.

Oh there's just so much more to learn about synthesis (which is not easy to do when in grad school

)

CharlesFerraro · Post by **CharlesFerraro** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 10:34 am

CharlesFerraro wrote:
tpantano wrote:http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/allsynthsecrets.htm
You actually read all that? Just read the first one and its pretty legit. Think I'm going to do one a night.

I FINALLY finished reading and applying every trick, tip, and suggestion in each article of Synth Secrets. Holy s**t. took 10 months....

Great series, I highly recommend it to anyone who is damn serious about synth programming. Also, he uses some retro synths that companies like arturia offer emulations for. Arturia even offers free trials that I suggest you use when he has an article that talks about programming with say, a minimoog. He repeatedly uses an ms-20 and talks about the poly 6 once or twice, both of which are offered in korg's legacy collection software.

the RADIAS can do almost everything discussed throughout the whole series.

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how do you program GOOD drum sequences?

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