Drums!!

[dylannw5]

Hi,

I've had my Micro BR for a couple of months now but i've not had much use out of it.
Mainly because i like to lay down drums first, then play over them, i want to use the BR for rough recordings of finished pieces.

Is there a program out there where i can create drum patterns then paste them together to make a finished drum track of the song?
Then i'd like to be able to play the guitar and bass and what ever else on the BR to a metronome, and then be able to put the guitar tracks over the drums and mix from there.

I don't know if that makes much sense, but any help is appreciated.
Thanks.
Dylan.

[Glenn Mitchell]

First of all, are you not wanting to use the on-board drum trax?
The main advantage is they don't take up a track.
I'mnot one to say but lots of others have done some great drum sequencesthru programming the on-board drums. It takes a bit of learning IMO but quite flexible and lots of options. You can change the default kits as well

[dylannw5]

i've had a play with the on board drums but the drums in these songs are quite specific, it's like trying to write a guitar melody with pre programmed riffs.

i just need some sort of program where i can click the drums in to the whole song, set a tempo then choose which drum to hit when i want, rather than blasting through a load of pre programmed beats.

The built in drum machine is good for jamming to for fun, but i need something more specific.

any ideas?

[dylannw5]

I've started using LMMS for doing my drum tracks.
will i be able to put tracks recorded on my BR into LMMS for mixing? or tracks from both LMMS and the BR into Audacity to mix?

[Glenn Mitchell]

Certainly you can bring in the track from the MBR. I don't know LMMS. Let us know.

[Vanncad]

Hi Dylan,

As I understand, you want to "tap" along to your song and create the arrangement this way. I think you can do this on the BR600, although I have never tried it personally.

I use the Boss BR Rhythm Editor (free download from thier webpage).

I build basic patterns and then combine them to make an arrangement. I play along to the arrangement to make sure it "fits" the song and then modify the individual patterns by adding cymbal hits, fills, etc. as necessary.

I then copy the pattern and arrangment files from my PC to my BR600 song folder on my compact flash card.

This requires some time and patience, but it is a cost-efficient way of adding drums (did I mention I was cheap?).

I do not think the Rhythm Editor works with the Micro BR, but if you download the Rhythm Editor and mess around with it, it might give you a good visual for the patterns you need to program in your Micro. At the least, it will give you an easier way to create and practice with different drum patterns.

Just a thought.

 - Vann

[64Guitars]

I've started using LMMS for doing my drum tracks.
will i be able to put tracks recorded on my BR into LMMS for mixing? or tracks from both LMMS and the BR into Audacity to mix?

You can export your drums from LMMS to a WAV file (Project/Export). Then you can import that WAV file into the Micro BR (see pages 103/104 and 113/114 of the Micro BR manual) and record your guitar, bass, etc. while listening to the imported drum track. When you're finished, you can mix everything on the Micro BR, or you can export the individual tracks to WAV files (page 112/113) and mix everything in Audacity.

[dylannw5]

thanks 64!!

cracked it with LMMS and Audacity.

Looked at that rhythm editor vanncad, looks a useful bit of software, just a shame it doesn't work with the micro br!

[SenhorLampada]

Just remembered my experience with the onboard rhythm! I didn't have the space or enough power outlets to use my grooveboxes (Roland's MC-303 and Korg's ER), so I decided to create a simple arrangement (for a 1m30s song)

It was fun...
I recorded one acoustic guitar. I recorded it again, but with distortion for lead.
I tried to record it again simulating a bass (it sucked as a bass, but it was ok in general)
Recorded the bass guitar. And again a new bass guitar, but with some chorus to make a solo-bass.

Ok... back to the drums... I was starting to like the pre-programmed stuff i've set.
I ended up bouncing 3 or four layers of this drum track, but with different effects, panning and kits... It ended up not sounding like something really pre-built

I thought that was a nice experience, overall!
Gonna just record (maybe) some keyboard pads now, and then post it here

Cheers!

[dylannw5]

I've just dug out my old Zoom MRT-3 drum machine, i've never really got round to understanding it.

Is it worth giving that a go?  How does it compare in ease of use and sound compared to the Micro BR?  I'm guessing you could just run the drum machine through the guitar input on the BR?