Drums: A comparative review of different options
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Computer configurationMoment (mathematics)Software developerInternet forumEvent horizonSoftwarePerspective (visual)JSONMeeting/InterviewXMLUMLComputer animationLecture/Conference
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Computer configurationMereologyMultiplication signData miningMIDIInstance (computer science)Goodness of fitLevel (video gaming)CASE <Informatik>Right angleSoftwareLecture/Conference
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Internet forumMereologyRevision controlDemo (music)Point (geometry)Multiplication signTrailBeat (acoustics)Level (video gaming)Mixed realitySet (mathematics)Musical ensembleProjective planePhysical systemSoftwareBitFeedbackNormal (geometry)Mathematical singularityGreen computingVideo gameDemosceneQuicksortReal numberGoodness of fitProper mapUsabilityDrum memory1 (number)Computer animationLecture/Conference
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MappingMIDISoftware development kitDrum memoryMultiplicationMusical ensembleProgrammschleifeTrailMereologyPlug-in (computing)ResultantMultiplication signProduct (business)NeuroinformatikComputer animation
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Musical ensembleDefault (computer science)Instance (computer science)MIDIVelocityMedical imagingSampling (statistics)Different (Kate Ryan album)Interface (computing)Scaling (geometry)Pointer (computer programming)Software development kit
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MIDIMusical ensembleOpen sourceIntegrated development environmentProper mapComputer animation
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MIDIMultiplicationProgrammschleifeDisk read-and-write headCrash (computing)ProgrammschleifeTrailMIDILoop (music)Instance (computer science)MappingMusical ensembleMereologyOrder (biology)SoftwareScaling (geometry)Computer configurationDrum memoryComputer-assisted translationMultiplicationLecture/ConferenceComputer animation
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Computer filePhysical systemDataflowDrum memoryWordInstance (computer science)outputMusical ensembleSerial portLoop (music)Presentation of a groupComputer animation
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Row (database)Similarity (geometry)Sample (statistics)Computer fileWordDrum memoryLoop (music)outputFunction (mathematics)MereologyFitness functionLoop (music)Musical ensembleSpectrum (functional analysis)Different (Kate Ryan album)Parameter (computer programming)ProgrammschleifeLibrary (computing)Computer animation
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WordComputer fileDrum memoryOnline helpShared memoryDean numberLoop (music)Drop (liquid)Drag (physics)ProgrammschleifeMixed realityComputer fileMusical ensembleLoop (music)Film editing1 (number)Special unitary groupOrder (biology)Proper mapComputer animationSource code
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ProgrammschleifeLoop (music)Text editorSoftware development kitInternet forumResultantPoint (geometry)Different (Kate Ryan album)Computer configurationPattern languageVideoconferencingBuildingProgrammschleifeMultiplication signDrum memoryComputer animation
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Pattern languageBoss CorporationAsynchronous Transfer ModeInformationLink (knot theory)Musical ensembleSample (statistics)Text editorLoop (music)Sampling (statistics)Volume (thermodynamics)Complex (psychology)Inheritance (object-oriented programming)Computer animation
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Asynchronous Transfer ModeInformationLine (geometry)Pattern languageMereologyModemInheritance (object-oriented programming)Software development kitRight angleInterface (computing)Goodness of fitChannel capacityMixed realityComputer animationXMLSource code
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Pattern languageSummierbarkeitInformationAsynchronous Transfer ModeDataflowWordClosed setLoop (music)Musical ensembleBeat (acoustics)Computer animation
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WordGoodness of fitKeyboard shortcutProgrammschleifeLoop (music)Computer animationXML
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Asynchronous Transfer ModeInformationPattern languageIntegrated development environmentBoss CorporationUser interfaceMach's principleOscillationDemo (music)Drum memoryMenu (computing)Limit (category theory)MappingMIDISequenceLevel (video gaming)Mixed realityMereologyProgrammschleifeDifferent (Kate Ryan album)Software development kitSoftwareBeat (acoustics)Computer animation
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Multiplication signFlow separationTrailInstance (computer science)Integrated development environmentMusical ensembleStudent's t-testSoftware development kitAxiom of choiceMeeting/InterviewComputer animation
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Fast Fourier transformPunched cardMoving averageInterface (computing)Beat (acoustics)Scaling (geometry)MappingWaveformAxiom of choicePlug-in (computing)Online helpWindowDigital rights managementTrojanisches Pferd <Informatik>Mixed realityMathematicsSoftware development kitMIDIComputer animation
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DistanceContingency tableMIDIProgrammschleifeCartesian coordinate systemBeat (acoustics)Computer animation
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Service (economics)Line (geometry)Hausdorff spaceVolumeModule (mathematics)Computer-generated imageryBlogParameter (computer programming)MIDIFluidComputer wormMIDITrailLoop (music)BitStructural loadData managementFunction (mathematics)Point (geometry)Beat (acoustics)WeightComputer animation
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Model checkingArithmetic logic unitState transition systemPhysical systemHost Identity ProtocolSample (statistics)Bridging (networking)MIDILoginACIDBloch waveGamma functionBlock (periodic table)Computer-generated imageryBefehlsprozessorService (economics)Software development kitMIDIMusical ensembleMappingGoodness of fitPlug-in (computing)Computer animation
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Different (Kate Ryan album)Musical ensembleMultiplication signHidden Markov modelDefault (computer science)Row (database)Computer animation
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Service (economics)MIDIProgrammschleifeComputer animation
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ProgrammschleifeMIDIMIDIMereologyMappingComputer animation
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Hand fanElectronic program guideDrum memoryDataflowBoom (sailing)Pole (complex analysis)Plug-in (computing)Inclusion mapACIDInformationAsynchronous Transfer ModeHill differential equationMultiplicationArchitectureAbelian categoryFile formatMIDIBinary filePerspective (visual)1 (number)Computer animationLecture/Conference
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Drum memoryMIDIProxy serverPole (complex analysis)Scalable Coherent InterfacePattern languageGoodness of fitMappingComputer animation
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State transition systemVelocityMappingMultiplication signMereologySoftware development kitMusical ensembleDrum memoryBeat (acoustics)Computer animation
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Drum memorySampling (statistics)Scaling (geometry)Software development kitMultiplicationComputer animation
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MultiplicationThumbnailPlug-in (computing)Beat (acoustics)Drum memoryDifferent (Kate Ryan album)Type theorySoftware development kitRight angleMusical ensembleMultiplication signComputer animation
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Drum memoryMIDISoftware development kitFunctional (mathematics)Goodness of fitSampling (statistics)Drum memoryComputer configurationMappingSoftware developerVelocityComputer animation
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Computer configurationMusical ensembleVector potentialComputer fileMIDIBeat (acoustics)Software development kitScaling (geometry)MultiplicationProjective planeMappingComputer animation
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Link (knot theory)Software development kitPlug-in (computing)Boss CorporationNetwork topologyRootGoodness of fitSound effectComputer animation
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QuicksortDrum memorySource codeSoftware developerLattice (order)MIDILibrary (computing)Multiplication signScripting languageData conversion1 (number)MappingShared memoryInstance (computer science)Computer animation
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Magneto-optical driveMultiplicationoutputComputer configurationMultiplication signComputer animation
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MathematicsDifferent (Kate Ryan album)ProgrammschleifeDrum memoryBus (computing)Plug-in (computing)Musical ensembleDisk read-and-write headInstance (computer science)BitType theoryFunctional (mathematics)WritingConvolutionSoftware development kitCuboidMultiplication sign1 (number)Sampling (statistics)Projective planeSequenceData compressionMappingComputer hardwareTerm (mathematics)Internet forumFilm editingTrailMIDILimit (category theory)Overhead (computing)Computer animationMeeting/Interview
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Transcript: English(auto-generated)
00:12
Yes, so, well, the title, I had to come up with something, but really, this is not about reviewing in the sense of trying to see
00:26
which one is better than the other. It's really just about seeing what exists at the moment and maybe what we can do with those and what are they good for. So, first, I think it's important to have in mind
00:43
that this is from a user perspective, not a developer or not somebody that is working on designing those tools, because, well, that's where I stand. And also, I see sometimes when developers are talking at conferences, events and such, I see them talk or on forums
01:02
about the mythical user, how he would use the software and in what way he would maybe misuse it or whatever. But my experience is the people that I mostly work with, they look up to me as somebody that is tech-savvy,
01:21
that is like a poor user or something. But when I'm in those events with developers and you guys, I feel very dumb sometimes. So I think it's good to establish that probably the user that will come to use or meet those software, those solutions that we have,
01:42
well, he might be talented or maybe he's meant to become talented, in the sense that maybe there are stuff that he's not capable of doing yet but might be capable of doing because his musical skill will grow with him and the tool that he will be using at the beginning will be the tool that he will be comfortable
02:01
when he gets to that stage as a musician. So the question of can the software be used from a very basic skill level, music-wise, to a very advanced skill level is important, I think. So that person might not be very tech-savvy.
02:21
For instance, a very good friend of mine, a very good producer, he still has a very tremendous, cool career in Belgium. Well, big in Belgium, right? And yes, so I've seen him once.
02:40
We were working on a piano piece on MIDI, and I thought maybe the part we were working on could use some sustain pedal, but it was designed by hand. So handwritten in MIDI, and he didn't know where he could add that stuff.
03:01
So he just added a reverb, and, well, it doesn't work the same. It doesn't sound the same, but it was very unique in the way he used it, and it worked for him. So there are cases where, of course, there are options, and we can go and fetch them, but most of the time, people that are not comfortable
03:23
with anything related to technology, they will just take the shorted path. And yes, so probably not tech-savvy, or maybe not tech-savvy. He's subjected to advertisements. Well, basically, he goes on forums, he goes to magazines and stuff,
03:43
and he sees shiny, fancy stuff, and he likes those, because, well, those advertisements, they say that the tool is well-suited for him, despite of it being true or not. He feels confident that if he's using that,
04:00
it will allow him or enable him to go where he wants to be. And that's very important, to feel confident that you have the proper tool. And also, well, that's probably related in the same way, but he knows other musicians in real life, and maybe they're not using the same software as he does,
04:21
or the same solutions. And to me, it's an important aspect, the fact that that trust that you have in a brand or in a solution, whatever, it comes from the people that are creating it or making it available, but also from the community that is using it.
04:44
So yes, and that's also where all the helps, or most of the helps, you will find will come from. So those are the criteria that I tried to have in mind when trying the different solutions we have for drums. So ease of use, like I said,
05:02
that the person, about the piano part, he didn't want to look around in forums and stuff for how to add sustain. So he needs to be able to go very quickly from there is nothing to there is something that is more or less working. The sound quality, of course, it doesn't need to be outstanding at first,
05:22
but can it grow with the project? Like, you start sketching something, you have a basic drum beat. Could you repurpose that work you have done and make it grow with the project as, you know, with, ah, sorry. So when the project will start to expand and grow
05:43
and we want to do mix and stuff, can you bring that with you? So sound quality. Trustiness, well, like I said, does it make you feel confident that you can use that to go from the very early stages of your song to the very last stages?
06:03
Yes, this is redundant. All right. And yes, efficiency, because, well, nerds will like it when it's efficient. OK, so the first solution, of course, is using real drummers. Those ones I've used, they're good.
06:22
Yes. So system requirements. Well, obviously, if he's a good drummer, that's better. Also, a good drum set. Lots of people, I think, don't understand the importance of tuning drum sets and just having overall good material when you're going into studio or into session.
06:42
But you also need lots of microphones and preamps, and probably that's the most difficult thing, but a really good acoustics if you want to record something properly. So pros, well, it sounds good sometimes. Also, the drummer will do something very important.
07:03
He will help you design the beat that you will try to create. So the feedback that he will give over what you're trying to write, I think is very important. Also, the more you work with a drummer, the more he understands what sort of music you're wanting to make.
07:22
And that's also very important. So in a way, he's growing with your project. Cool feature? Well, yes. Cons, well, it sounds terrible sometimes. Well, you need a good drummer and a good drum set.
07:42
So also, maybe at some point, you're using a very good drummer, but you feel that your music is shifting towards something else, and maybe that drummer will not fit your project anymore. So maybe he's not very versatile. And yes, also super loud and beer stuff.
08:04
So now, oh, no, no, wait. I wanted to have you listen to ... Oh, shit, I need to close these sessions, crap. Hopefully, this will be quick. But those sessions are very large.
08:25
So this was a session I recorded last year. I didn't have the original session, but I still had the stem export for the demo we made. So the demo was recorded in a rehearsing room with normal microphones,
08:47
something that you could acquire for not too much money. And it sounded like this. I will play a little bit of it, and then I will solo the drum.
09:04
Sorry. So this is the drum. This was, like you can ...
09:21
So as you can see, this was, I think, five-microphone setup. So fairly easy setup. And this is when we started mixing, and then the mastered version. But here, I don't have the isolated track for the drum, unfortunately.
09:45
So this is the ... Oh, sorry. Sorry. My fault. So this is the first version of the mix.
10:01
This was the last version of the mix, I guess. And this is the mastering. So for that result, it took some time for the mastering version.
10:22
It took some time in a professional studio, so that cost money. It was a professional drummer, so that cost money as well. And the overall finished product, I'm pretty proud of, but it was a lot of effort, and yes, it took lots of resources.
10:43
So now for the actual subject of this talk, plugins and sound banks and stuff, they try to bring the cost and to make it easier to achieve those results. And when I started doing music on my computer,
11:00
this was the one thing I was dreaming of. And I finally bought a license after some time. It's very good, but there is one big problem. It doesn't run well with Linux. So let's review the pros. Well, the sound quality is outstanding.
11:21
It's very versatile, because there are lots of kits, and users are sharing lots of presets. So that's very important. Actually, it's part of that plugin, the fact that you can mix the drum kits inside of the plugin. It can turn basically any drum kits into something else.
11:42
So that's very interesting. It helps you design your grooves, because it has a built-in MIDI Loops player, if you will. It's also very flexible with the MIDI mapping, and that's important, because maybe you're working with a drummer that has an electronic drum kit,
12:02
and he's helping you out, but the mapping will be all over the place. So the fact that you're capable of remapping on the fly is very convenient. Also, it has stereo and multi outs, which means that you can start very quickly. You don't need a very complicated setup in your DAW to start using it.
12:25
You can use stereo tracks and basically use presets, and then once you're comfortable with the way your song sounds, you can start to tweak a little more in detail how it sounds. The biggest cons is, of course,
12:40
the day you most need it, it will not work, and actually, I've been there. That was a very terrible day. Very uncomfortable, actually. It was a paid session, and yes, nothing would work, so that's not good. Also, it doesn't scale, apparently. So this is the interface.
13:04
There are lots of small tweaks and stuff that makes it very convenient. For instance, if you want to check the different velocity layers, just by how high is the pointer on the image, it will give you different samples.
13:22
You can change your kit on the fly, like maybe I don't like this snare. That's alright, I can use this one. Oh no, it's terrible. Yeah, why not this one? Like I said, presets, by default, there are lots of them.
13:41
And also, this MIDI thing I was talking about, this MIDI thing I was talking about, and again, it comes preloaded with lots of them. So maybe this one.
14:07
So again, like I said, it's pretty easy to use and pretty fast to move stuff around. Only problem is, again, it will most probably not work.
14:21
Today we were lucky. So I don't consider this to be a proper solution even if you're in an open source environment, because when you're working on something artistic, it's very important to be able to stay focused on your targets. You have some sound in your head and you want to take them out.
14:42
So crashes and stuff, that's a nightmare. Yes, alright. So I guess the easiest way if you want to add drum tracks to your tracks, is audio loops.
15:01
Well, audio loops, they're cool because, well, sound quality can be very good. They can do most genres of music. No MIDI mapping problem. And there are some that propose multi-outs, like the loop loft, for instance. I don't know if you know them, they're great. You can even have Nate Smith playing on your songs.
15:23
So that's cool. But cons, well, again, sound quality, some of them are very bad. And also, if you're changing some part in your song, well, it won't really adapt.
15:43
It doesn't scale up also if you don't have the multi-outs. You cannot tweak them as much as you'd want. And also there is a big problem with audio loops, and it's that we don't really, or at least until recently,
16:02
we didn't really have a good software to manage those loops. So there used to be this one called Samplecat. I tried to install it, but yes, that was not very... So it's not practical, and it doesn't work in the end.
16:26
The one in order that just allows you to import, I mean, it's good, it allows you to listen to it before you import, but basically that's all you can do.
16:41
So yes, I don't consider this a proper option, because usually people that use loops will have a lot of them, so it's important to be able to manipulate them in a convenient way. And here is this one. It's a new stuff, it's called Sononime.
17:01
It has some very cool features, like for instance, I will show you right away. So it's jack compatible. And it's jack compatible, and it has an audio, a stereo audio input.
17:25
And the reason for that is because it can listen to the music you're doing. So this is a session I will use for the presentation. Well, the first loop sounds like this.
17:47
So if I want to find something that will fit with that, I need a rhythmic part that will understand where those accents are. So I connected the output of Ardor to the input of Sononime,
18:03
and now if I play my loop, now it has this loop that I've heard here.
18:23
It's basically what I just played. And now what's very smart about the way they built this tool is that it can analyze all of your loops, all your library,
18:42
and suggests stuff that are similar in regards to different parameters, such as spectrum, or the tone, or the pitch, or whatever, which is very convenient because, well, the spectrum will give you all the accents.
19:01
So say I want, I don't know, a drum that will fit this, I suggest maybe this one.
19:21
Another thing that might seem very mundane, but actually is very important about Sononime, this might sound silly for some of you, but actually, you can drag and drop stuff. And that should be a given, but actually, it's apparently not so easy
19:45
because, well, one of the solutions that was suggested on Reddit for this very problem about managing loops was to use Mix to do it. But the problem with Mix is that the file explorer wouldn't allow you to drag and drop.
20:01
So, all right, let's say we have found some stuff that fits, or at least that we feel confident we can use them. So I chose these ones here. So let's have a listen.
20:25
So it's not bad, but it's not great either. So in the end, what you probably have to do is edit them in order to fit. So once you've cut the different hits and placed them on your grid,
20:41
it could sound like this. Which is not super appropriate, but we could try to work something from that. This was another one.
21:00
Which, again, why not? I also had this one. So in the end, what I did is I cut it.
21:21
Unfortunately, I cannot uncombine it. I've tried, but it wouldn't work. I don't know why. Yes, maybe because I've copy-pasted. Anyways, so this is the thing that I edited out of a loop.
21:49
So I just kept that. Basically, every single hit has been cut out and placed where I wanted it, because even with Sononaim, I couldn't find one that I really liked or could use properly.
22:06
So that leads us to... So that's about loops and stuff. Basically, Sononaim could be a good option if you really want to use them, but truthfully, I don't consider it to be extensible to the point where you could have professional results.
22:26
Except if you're basing your composition out of the... Well, you're building it over the loop. But that's something different here. That's not the scenario I'm presenting, but yes, why not? So when you go onto forums and stuff about Linux audio
22:43
and you ask about drums, usually the first thing that comes up is this. Hydrogen, it has lots of very cool features. It's very easy to start with. The pattern editor is very good.
23:00
There are lots of kits and also you're capable of modding them very easily. So I don't know if maybe some of you didn't know about that, but say I have, I don't know, whichever. This one, why not? So you can really go and try to shape it or make it sound the way you want.
23:27
Also, it's multilayer. I think it can go up to 16 layers. And each sample can be edited.
23:40
So it's pretty deep. Also, you have the mixer. So it's not super complex. It's basic stuff and volume and such, but that's already something. Yes, you can very easily install new kits, which is, I think, convenient.
24:04
It's important if you don't find the songs you like to be able to seek new one directly from the interface. Sorry, that's not the import. So basically all those are available right from the interface, which is good.
24:23
Sorry. It has mixing capacity, like I said, capabilities. Now for the cons. It's not very convenient because, well, if you want to incorporate it with your song, you basically have to work with JackTransport.
24:45
To my experience, it's not always the best idea. So say I have my loop here. Yes.
25:02
So is it connected? Yes. So if I... Yes? You need to enable it in hard-on. Oh, didn't I? Oh, yes. No. Yes. Yes. Sorry.
25:21
OK, so say I have this cool beat that I want to try. Yes. Wow. Amazing.
25:47
So... Good. That's great. Well, it's not ideal.
26:05
Also, normally, if I loop stuff here, yes, it doesn't work. So I'm trying to hit the shortcut for loops, but it doesn't work. So yes, that solution is not... Well, I think it could be improved.
26:23
Also... Oh, yes. Why wouldn't it work now? I guess JackTransport has missed. Oh, yes. That's why.
26:41
OK, so there is also something very annoying, which is about the MIDI mapping. Oh, well. Yes, that's very annoying as well. So what was my super drum beat? Yes.
27:00
Oh, great. Cool. That's convenient. I like that. Oh, that's bad. That's metal. Cool.
27:20
JackTransport? Oh, yes. So now, technically, if I change the kit, it will not, of course, reassign Death Metal. Yes, of course. It will not reassign all the MIDI mapping, so maybe I basically have to rewrite it all over.
27:43
So, yes. That's not good. It's only stereo off, so if you cannot go to the end of the mixing stage within hydrogen itself,
28:03
basically you will be limited later on. Yes? Can you now? I think you can export all multitrack audio from hydrogen and then you can mix it like a real drum kit in Ardor.
28:25
OK. But you need to sequence it in hydrogen for that. Yes. So the sequencing part itself is already complicated because, like I showed, well, it's not very convenient to work with different software. JackTransport doesn't allow for loops and stuff, and that's a very common workflow nowadays.
28:42
It's very rare, or at least I know very few people that start by writing their songs and then recording them. So, yes, probably you could export, or even if you're very brave, you could isolate tracks, export several times. Why not? People do crazy stuff like that sometimes.
29:04
Yes, basically what I feel about hydrogen is it feels like it's maybe less relevant in a modern-day production environment. Typically where I would use hydrogen is for education purposes, when I need to practice stuff on my instruments,
29:23
or when I teach music also, and sometimes I recommend to my students that they practice with hydrogen because it's way more fun than a metronome, for instance. But yes, it's very good at starting stuff out, but not finishing them.
29:42
That's my impression. Okay, so also you could work around the JackTransport stuff by using kits directly inside of your DAW of choice.
30:01
So there is a very cool plugin that's called DRMR for this, but you'll still be left with a problem for MIDI mapping and stuff. And also now you need to write your own drum beats and you don't have the help from hydrogen itself,
30:23
because, well, I don't mind piano roll, but I could see why people would not feel comfortable writing inside of it. Though there are advantages, the fact that you're able to see all the waveforms directly inside of the same interface, that's convenient. About the DRMR, something, well, the problem is sometimes, yes, there you go.
30:45
So the interface doesn't scale very well, and now I cannot close the plugin or change the, I can close the plugin, but can I change the kit out and move the window?
31:03
Yes? Oh, interesting. Well, like I said, I'm not very tech savvy. Though I think one thing that is cool with DRMR is that you're capable of mixing, well, it's very limited,
31:21
but there is some mixing capabilities inside of it. And now that it's unbroken, thank you, folk. So, yes, I think now with this, it becomes maybe more convenient to use hydrogen. You could start by trying stuff out inside of hydrogen and then bring your kits to Ardor
31:41
when you're starting to get more serious about your songwriting. But, yes, still not ideal. And also something very important about hydrogen and DRMR is that there are lots of kits, but not all of them are very good.
32:02
So, you know what I want. I want this for that, that wouldn't be nice. But anyway, you can try them out. Some of them are decent, but yes. Okay, so now for an expert content, this one.
32:23
I'm sorry, I will take this first. So, say we decided not to use hydrogen or external application and we want to do it inside of a DAW.
32:40
We want the advantages of working with MIDI because we can change stuff later on and it's very convenient, but we're not very confident that we're capable of writing our own drum beats and stuff. Well, MIDI loops are there to help. And, well, that's where it gets very frustrating because I don't know if you know about Audacious,
33:04
but so far that's the best MIDI loop manager that I've found. So basically the trick is, you can point the MIDI output to the MIDI true port
33:26
and from there you can load MIDI files inside of it. So let's say I want to try these beats here. Now I could have a MIDI track inside of Ardhor and ask it to look for... wait.
33:49
Yes, of course. Where was it? This one? Yes.
34:04
So now... oh, that's new. Oh yes. Okay, so now I can play those MIDI files inside of Audacious and listen to them with the drum kit I selected.
34:24
So now the MIDI mapping problem becomes a problem again. So for now let's use the General MIDI plugin. Where is it? Yes.
34:42
Yes. Good. Oh yes. Which one? Let's just go with this one.
35:00
Okay, so basically now with Audacious you can listen to different grooves. Hey, wait a minute. That's not what I've asked. Does it? Usually by default it's listening to...
35:21
Record all channel. Should not be that. That's weird. Oh yes. Didn't have that last time I... Well, when I prepared. When I pretended I was preparing.
35:43
Okay, anyway. So of course, channel 10. Sorry. Come again?
36:00
Okay, let's see. Well, interesting. Okay, let's just pretend that this would have worked. Anyway, this was to make it clear to you if it wasn't already that MIDI loops could be very convenient.
36:26
But the way it is right now, not so much. And that's a shame because there are lots of those available and it's very easy to... It's very easy to work with them and it's a very cool entry things that newbies can use.
36:46
And unfortunately it's not very much available for us on Linux. From there, the next thing would be to try to use general MIDI.
37:04
Wait. Yes, I want to close this. What did I do? Shit. Crap. Anyway. Okay, I think... Just quit, please.
37:28
Okay, so the next best thing after the RMR is the general MIDI thing. Yes, I will probably skip this part about general MIDI because, well, you could guess that general MIDI is not so bad.
37:45
It's usable. It is what it is. And basically the only advantages of general MIDI is that the mapping is very, very, very standard. So that's a good thing. So the next best thing after general MIDI would be SFZ bang sounds.
38:06
And about them, the problem is... Yes, I will speed up a little because I think it's... Yes, this is going long.
38:21
The biggest problem we have with SFZ bang is that if you're like me, you discovered that you could use them. They have nice features... Shit. Ah, crap. They have nice features like multilayer and round-robin and some of them sound very good.
38:45
And it's now easy to use thanks to Karla. It used to be very difficult from my perspective. Yes, anyway. So if you go online and try to find some LV2 and you're eager to have the best sounding one, you'll probably end up with something like this.
39:05
And that's not very practical to use because if you have to try all of them and to see which ones are good at what... Well, that takes some time. So it's not very quick or easy entry, I would say.
39:24
But anyway, let's try something. I don't know. I really don't know. Maybe this one? Why not? And so I've written a pattern here. Let's see how it sounds. Wait a minute. It won't sound like anything.
39:49
Apparently it's not working. Oh yes, it is. Sorry. So I just took the first one I could. Here I was lucky, the mapping was okay-ish, it seems. Let's see.
40:20
Okay, good. Now let's say that's not the sound I want. Let's try to break it.
40:27
Well, that was quick. Just so you know, this is an LTS release.
40:45
Alright. Okay, well. So my intent was to try to load another bank and just show you how easily you can have something go from okay-ish to very bad because of the mapping.
41:02
Also, because the layering are done differently from one bank to another, depending on how you've edited the velocity of the different parts of your drum beats, it can sound very weird as well. So anyway, the next best thing after that is actually still about SFZ.
41:30
But this time it's different. It's about the AVL drum kits. So the AVL drum kits, basically they're samples that were created by Glenn McArthur and Robin Garris created an LV2 out of them.
41:49
And basically they're just SFZs with another benefit, which is they're very trusted by the community.
42:02
So there are three kits, two drum kits and one percussion kit. Pretty lightweight. Thanks to the LV2 plugin, very easy to fire up and start working with. And they can go from stereo out to multi out.
42:21
So it can grow with the song. If you start to go deep into mixing, well, you can keep working on the same sound bank. So it scales up pretty well. And it sounds like this. So it's basically the same drum beat that you just heard, but now with the AVL drum kits.
43:21
Sorry for this very cheesy drum roll, but I needed to display the thumb. So now with the multi out, I won't show how it's done because I think I'm running short on time. But one of the benefits you have is that you can start to mix your kit. And that's very important because this will allow you to shape the tone the way you want.
43:45
So for those that know about it, there is this very cool plugin from Harrison. Unfortunately proprietary, but it allows you to shape the attack and the feel of each kit pieces.
44:04
So if you want to start to use this type of things, it's important to have this multi out. So this is without the tone shaping stuff.
44:24
I don't know if you can tell the difference. Yes, oh yes, much better. Well, anything related to mixing is about subtle stuff, right?
44:41
Yeah, that's what she says. So the next best thing after this is, of course, drum gizmo. Drum gizmo basically, oh yes, sorry about cons. Well, only three kits, that's not much.
45:01
Fixed velocity layers and fixed MIDI mapping. I think my guess is it probably would not work for a drum centric piece. If you had a huge drum solo inside of your song, maybe a VL drum kit would charge a little full. Well, you got me, whatever. Drum gizmo.
45:22
So if you ask around, you will probably be told that it's the best option you have. It is kind of versatile. There are several kits. It sounds extremely good. Those are well sampled, well recorded. It's good gear that have been recorded.
45:41
It has a lot of cool stuff like the shuffling samples that replaced Ron Robin that we were discussing with. They were for earlier. A cool humanizer function and yes, also the cool drum gizmo sticks. So it sounds like this, still the same thing, the same beat.
46:18
Louder.
46:38
So I think it's out of all the options we have, it's the one that sounds the best.
46:51
I like it very much, but still there are some problems I think. Yes. Only five kits that are available and the kits are not very easily editable.
47:06
Apparently they are editable, but not in a way. I think most users, like the mythical user we were talking about, the not text heavy one, would feel comfortable editing.
47:20
The MIDI mapping is also editable, but again you would have to go edit XML files and stuff and most people don't even know that text files exist. It's multi out only, which means that you cannot just fire the plugin and start working right away. It needs work to sound good.
47:41
So it has lots of potential, but you need to make something out of it. So in a way it can work for projects that are already advanced, but it doesn't really scale down. Also, when you fire the plugin, it doesn't really remember the path where your kits are stored,
48:07
or I think it doesn't. Which is a problem for me, because that might be specific to me, but my kits are not in my home folder.
48:20
So basically I have to go back to the root and then only start going deep into my folder tree. Yes, that's not very convenient. Good, so it's on the roadmap apparently.
48:42
The effect of that is that it's just not very quick when you're starting working on your song. Like I said, you want to stay focused on the artistic side. And this is not helping. So I guess where we are right now with drums and stuff that relates to drums is pretty good.
49:05
We can work with what we have, though there are stuff that the community could help with, since this is about a musician and a developer at this conference. I guess we could try to start curating the different SFZ and the sources where we get them,
49:25
try to advertise the ones that are very good. That would make it easier to come across them, because for now it's really very hard to speak, I don't know why.
49:43
So you have to spend a lot of time curating your own library and whatever. Create and share presets, I guess tone-shaping capabilities. Well, we could use any EQ really, but we would have to come with something that people can really easily share.
50:03
So decide on one and just start sharing stuff. Also create more kits, probably. Share methods about how to make them sound good, which is hopefully the subject of the next talk. And there are stuff I guess that we could develop to, or not me because I'm not a developer,
50:25
but if somebody felt enticed to do so, well, I guess the MIDI mapping problem could be maybe tackled, probably with a MIDI-ding script, but that would be hard-coded, you would need to have one MIDI-ding script per conversion, like from General MIDI to Drum Gizmo for instance.
50:51
Also, I don't know, maybe some sort of multi-input mixers that one could fire easily, and that would have presets that probably could solve at least some of the sound issues.
51:09
Because for now, I guess the best option would be for one to create presets in Karla, but then it's not very shareable. So yes, I hope you learned stuff, I intended this to be much shorter.
51:31
Anyway, hopefully we would have had a discussion, but I think we're done with the time. So that was it, hope you learned stuff, and maybe this could start a discussion in the community that would be interesting.
51:45
Thank you.
52:01
I think we have time for one or two questions. If there are any, I don't know. Thanks for your talk. So, you didn't really get down into your workflow, or what would be the best for you.
52:25
What I got is, right now, having the existing plugins, you would like to start your starting project with AVL-Drumkit, and then later on replace the plugin with Drum Gizmo, and hopefully the MIDI mapping is the same, or is there a magic tool doing the mapping for you,
52:46
that would be like a workflow for you that could work? Yes, so right now, the way I work, so for references, I'm mostly songwriting and writing arrangements for people, but mostly acoustic type music, pop music, whatever.
53:03
And yes, that's exactly what I do, I start with AVL-Drumkit, and then once I switch to Drum Gizmo, I just remap everything. Yes, that's a working workflow, at least for me. It's pretty easy to start with AVL-Drumkit, it sounds pretty good out of the box,
53:23
and you could just have one or two presets for EQ and compression to use it on stereo tracks. So that would be very easy to start with, I guess.
53:44
Thanks for the talk. I could relate to many things that you were talking about, like the problems, I used to write rock songs with Hydrogen, where I made the whole drum arrangement in Hydrogen sequencer, and I synced that with Ardor, where I recorded guitars and vocals.
54:03
So it works for me, but it's hard and not super flexible. Well, if you go into forums and stuff, that's probably what you'd be advised to do. Yes, but to me it really doesn't fit, like I said, a modern day workflow,
54:23
where people want to be able to change stuff later on, to work on loops and stuff, because, well, I guess maybe back in the 90s or early 2000s, people were still using a lot of hardware, and it was a mindset that people still had,
54:43
but nowadays everything just happens in DAW, and people just expect things to work like that. So if you know what you want your drummer to play, you could just write it very easily in Hydrogen, and it's very good at that.
55:02
But if you don't, if you need more of a functional approach, where you basically have a song in your head, but you still need to find out what the drum could sound like, I think Hydrogen in that sense is a bit limiting. So, yeah. Alright, maybe let's cut it. Thanks.
55:24
Thanks. That wasn't the question though. No, it wasn't. In terms of, I was just curious about if you have any advice on how you create the best sounding room sound for your kit,
55:42
because supposing you pick samples from a lot of different places and they don't sound as if they're in the same room, how could you fool people into thinking that they actually are in the same room? Well... I've tried some reverbs and stuff, but do you have any? Reverb and Linux, some of them are pretty good, most of the ones I use are IR-based, so convolution stuff,
56:07
but I guess, again, that's something we're discussing with UNFA, the fact that we have some great tools in the Linux Studio community, but we really need, for now it takes a lot of work to have them sound good,
56:22
and sharing methods and stuff like that is very important. For instance, I've once spent a whole afternoon just working on my reverb, because I wanted to nail the pre-delay, so I had one bus for my pre-delay and one bus for the reverb tail.
56:41
So there are stuff available and you can really have a very granular approach and go into detail, but it takes a lot of time, so my advice is just, well, I don't really have one, it would depend on how much time you have to spend on your project. If you want it to sound the best, well, it would take a lot of time.
57:03
If you want something very quick, I guess, well, the room microphones for drum gizmo that are included in drum gizmo kits, it's already pretty convenient. Sometimes I would just basically use mostly them and the overhead and a little bit of kick and snare, and that sounds already pretty good.
57:24
But yes, rooms, reverb, anything in reverb is very complicated, and also I guess the aesthetic about reverb change a lot, we didn't use reverb five years ago like we're using it today, and probably very different from what we were doing in the 80s,
57:41
so apply carefully. Thank you so much. Okay, thank you for the talk again.