Onslaught I (not a Christmas song.....)

[Ferryman_1957]

Hey, thanks all, it's nice to be back and I really appreciate the comments. This one has been brewing for at least six months, I have been in a real funk (like Pinedog) and work has been too busy. But I now remember what a pleasure it is to post something up here.

The drums on this aren't programmed, they are audio loops of real drums. You can buy packs of pre-recorded drums which have many different short patterns grouped by BPM. There's probably cleverer ways of doing this, but I just loaded the patterns I liked the sound of in a DAW (Samplitude) and then spliced them together to make a full drum track. I then wrote the song around the drum track, which is kind of an odd way of doing things. 

Thanks again for the feedback, mcuh appreciated.

Cheers,

Nigel

[phantasm777]

cool! you could always ask one of us "live" drummers to help!

[thetworegs]

 a real riff of onslaught fantastic lead loving it and those drums ooooh!! yeah!!!.....Bravo

[Pine]

hey Nigel...looks like you and i have been in same place musically. Soory to hear it but misery loves company as they say.

This piece was a trip! The drums are huge and the tone wonderful. The guitars...good lord man! Sounds like some monster rising up from the darkest depths of time! I think that is the deepest heaviest tone i have ever heard. What makes it so cool is that it's not ALL that distorted...it's just deep, huge, and ...awesome! Had to be played on a guitar with 'buckers tho ...no way you got this from a single coil...(?)

As for drum programming, i am with you there as well. I have owned my BR1200 for a few years now and still haven't learned the drums...Not sure i have the nerve (or the loot) to buy a kit tho...think i'll wait and see how it works out for you.

Way to re-open the door!

Pine

[andy casson]

very cool Nigel, 2:20 blew my socks off as well! I know what you mean about the drums, I am experimenting in Sonar between midi loops, audio loops and sequenced drumming in the DAW Session drummer... but it always lets me down! No rythm... anyway, loved this track, absolutely rocks!!!!

andy

[Farrell Jackson]

This is fantastic Nigel! I hear shades of many influences here......the bass absolutely rocks! The guitar solo mid way is killer playing and the effect is very ominous sounding...I like it all!

For a non drummer like me, drums are always a pain in the arse. I've taken many different approaches of putting drums together and they are always thought intensive.....I've come to that acceptance and know that they are going to be a lot of work but necessary.....I'm still looking for that EZ button that does it all with one push, lol.  Good luck with the electronic drums....I look forward to hearing them.

This song rocks!

Farrell

[Redler]

Fine experimental prog stuff, Nigel! Nice job all around, especially I liked the bass line, it is "catchy" on its way... The drums are superb!

Kari

[Bluesberry]

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh badass Nigel man.  I love the guitar tones, spot on the money.  Bass is right there.  The drums really sound good, but, as you say, alas, a real pain in the back side.  I dabbled with drum loops myself on my BR-1200.  Sounded good, but not really worth the effort.  I ended up getting my Roland HD-1 kit shortly afterwards.  The ever-going search for better sounds for recording.  I love the composition here, this could really work out into a fantastic song.  An intro perhaps to your next prog masterpiece?  All in all, I love hearing this, and it is really good to hear some new music from you Nigel.

[SE]

Always an occasion, when a Ferryman track comes up and you did not disappoint, this is just pure quality, you all ways know a great tack it,s over too soon, well played Nigel, loved it!!

[64Guitars]

Well done Nigel. Very imaginative composition and great tones.

The drums sound great, though I'm not a fan of loops. They seem like a bit of a cheat to me as you're just making a mashup of someone else's playing. I think an electronic drum kit is the best option if you've got the money and the space required for them. If not, then some sort of electronic drum pad system is a good compromise. I'm considering an Akai Professional MPK mini. It's a 25-key midi controller with 8 drum pads across the top. I also like the Alesis pad that Santa's bringing you, and the Roland sampling pads are quite nice too.

Unfortunately, there's no easy way for us non-drummers to create our own drum tracks. A lot of time and effort is required whether you learn to program your drums with BR Wave Converter, Hydrogen, Sonar, etc., or you learn to actually play an electronic kit or pads.

Since most of us don't have the time required to become good drummers, I think the best bet is a compromise between an electronic kit or pads and midi software. You can play or tap out a beat or fill to the best of your abilities on the drum kit or pads and record it into a midi sequencer. Then you can edit the midi file on your computer to quantize, fix mistakes, and enhance those patterns and fills, and assemble them into a complete drum track that you can be proud of. The hardware means less drum programming, and the software means less drumming skill and practice is required.