Guitar Gear Forum

Hey guys! I have been wanting to program drums to try and be more creative with my whole musical existence. I have bought EZDrummer, BFD Eco, and downloaded a couple of free VSTi plugins that are supposed to sound good too. I am not to sure the best way to approach programming them. I think that I can do it all on my computer, but I don't know if I too keen on that.

I have seen MIDI keyboards (25 and 36 keys) as well as those control surfaces that you hit with your hands. To me these seem like I could tap out a beat easier on one of these. I find myself tapping out beats all the time with my index fingers on my desk, this is why I think that either a keyboard or control surface would be ideal for me. I would love to invest in an electric kit, but I don't have space or that kind of money to spend.

So what do you guys think? Should I get myself a MIDI keyboard or one of those control surface units? Also, please recommend some brands and devices to look at, as I have no idea what is good or not. I have looked at the M-Audio keyboards in the past, but I have no idea if they are good.

Thanks

Cole

Here are some great discussions about the subject, covering everything from hardware to software to recording methods etc. it's in the recording forum, which by the way is where this one is going too

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4651

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4344

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4772

GuitarBilly wrote:Here are some great discussions about the subject, covering everything from hardware to software to recording methods etc. it's in the recording forum, which by the way is where this one is going too

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4651

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4344

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4772

Thanks Billy! There seems to be more traffic in the Amp forum, so I figured I would ask there... I will keep this in mind for future reference!

I will read up on those threads!

Cole

I got a Korg Nanopad2 last week and i'm liking it so far, the only downside with ez drummer is you have to map your controller to the notes in ez drummer, you cant change the notes ez drummer sends, it's not very hard. The korg is nice, its not SUPER touch sensitive but for starters it's great i think, It doesn't have any lag that i've noticed and it's only 60 bucks

Nateispro wrote:I got a Korg Nanopad2 last week and i'm liking it so far, the only downside with ez drummer is you have to map your controller to the notes in ez drummer, you cant change the notes ez drummer sends, it's not very hard. The korg is nice, its not SUPER touch sensitive but for starters it's great i think, It doesn't have any lag that i've noticed and it's only 60 bucks

Sweet! I will look at that guy! I have a few different VSTi plugins to work with, but probably won't use EZDrummer as much as BFD Eco. I like the way the kits sound better. I do want to try out the Drum Gizmo and Blue Noise Plugins.

I just read your thread about the same topic... what made you choose the Nanopad2 over the padKontrol?

Cole

colejustesen wrote:

GuitarBilly wrote:Here are some great discussions about the subject, covering everything from hardware to software to recording methods etc. it's in the recording forum, which by the way is where this one is going too

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4651

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4344

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4772

Thanks Billy! There seems to be more traffic in the Amp forum, so I figured I would ask there... I will keep this in mind for future reference!

I will read up on those threads!

Cole

I've been recently trying to change that and see if we get more traffic going in the other forums, this is why I've been randomly moving/referring folks to other forums. It would be cool if we can get traffic a bit more organized, it makes threads like the ones above a lot easier to find.

In other words, it's nothing personal Just trying to organize things a bit better

GuitarBilly wrote:

colejustesen wrote:

GuitarBilly wrote:Here are some great discussions about the subject, covering everything from hardware to software to recording methods etc. it's in the recording forum, which by the way is where this one is going too

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4651

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4344

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4772

Thanks Billy! There seems to be more traffic in the Amp forum, so I figured I would ask there... I will keep this in mind for future reference!

I will read up on those threads!

Cole

I've been recently trying to change that and see if we get more traffic going in the other forums, this is why I've been randomly moving/referring folks to other forums. It would be cool if we can get traffic a bit more organized, it makes threads like the ones above a lot easier to find.

In other words, it's nothing personal Just trying to organize things a bit better

Never took it personal. You are a good guy and I totally get what you are trying to do. I will fall in line for you

Cole

Nateispro wrote:I got a Korg Nanopad2 last week and i'm liking it so far, the only downside with ez drummer is you have to map your controller to the notes in ez drummer, you cant change the notes ez drummer sends, it's not very hard. The korg is nice, its not SUPER touch sensitive but for starters it's great i think, It doesn't have any lag that i've noticed and it's only 60 bucks

Nate,

That does look nice, though I am out of USB ports on my laptop and my Focusrite Saffire interface has MIDI I/O ports that I anticipated using. It looks like the Nanopad2 only connects via USB, is this correct?

If so, I need to look at something else.

I did see the Alesis QX25 keyboard that looks promising... I think I might prefer the tap control unit more though, but I am also considering getting the keyboard for doing synth stuff later down the road (for VSTi strings). Can you trigger strings with the Nanopad2? It seems to limited to drums alone...

Right now, it looks like there aren't many low priced options that actually have MIDI I/O ports... The only thing I have seen thus far is the QX25.

Cole

colejustesen wrote:

Nateispro wrote:I got a Korg Nanopad2 last week and i'm liking it so far, the only downside with ez drummer is you have to map your controller to the notes in ez drummer, you cant change the notes ez drummer sends, it's not very hard. The korg is nice, its not SUPER touch sensitive but for starters it's great i think, It doesn't have any lag that i've noticed and it's only 60 bucks

Sweet! I will look at that guy! I have a few different VSTi plugins to work with, but probably won't use EZDrummer as much as BFD Eco. I like the way the kits sound better. I do want to try out the Drum Gizmo and Blue Noise Plugins.

I just read your thread about the same topic... what made you choose the Nanopad2 over the padKontrol?

Cole

Well as of right now the price, i didn't really have the extra cash to drop on a padKontrol as i originally though, plus i've read that the pads and the XY pad are the same. I don't really need the extra knobs and midi in/out's

colejustesen wrote:

Nateispro wrote:I got a Korg Nanopad2 last week and i'm liking it so far, the only downside with ez drummer is you have to map your controller to the notes in ez drummer, you cant change the notes ez drummer sends, it's not very hard. The korg is nice, its not SUPER touch sensitive but for starters it's great i think, It doesn't have any lag that i've noticed and it's only 60 bucks

Nate,

That does look nice, though I am out of USB ports on my laptop and my Focusrite Saffire interface has MIDI I/O ports that I anticipated using. It looks like the Nanopad2 only connects via USB, is this correct?

If so, I need to look at something else.

I did see the Alesis QX25 keyboard that looks promising... I think I might prefer the tap control unit more though, but I am also considering getting the keyboard for doing synth stuff later down the road (for VSTi strings). Can you trigger strings with the Nanopad2? It seems to limited to drums alone...

Right now, it looks like there aren't many low priced options that actually have MIDI I/O ports... The only thing I have seen thus far is the QX25.

Cole

Yes the nanopad2 does only run off of usb ports, if you can't run it then the Kontrolpad although it's a little spendy (170 bucks) it does have Midi in/out's

Thanks Nate! I will look into the padKontrol as well as the Alesis QX25 and Q25.

Cole

I had bought one of these Yamaha YDD-60 drum machines when MF was blowing them our for under $100

It has midi so it's great for triggering software and laying down beats. I HAD to quantize after the beats were laid down though - even when I was surely playing in time.

You can use your hands or anything you want to hit the pads. It even has a dedicated 'hand percussion' mode


The built-in backing tracks/drum loops it includes, while cheesy, are fun to practice over as well

Thanks Devin! I will look into that too. I am no drummer by any means, so I don't know how many times I will have use the quantize option.

How is the Floyd Rose treating you? I hope awesome!

Cole