thrasher! Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 Does anyone know of any free "drum machine" software - I'm just looking for something simple to keep a beat going. Fancier beats would be an added bonus. There's a metronome on my Korg effects box but it's not very audible above the guitar (and it's nowhere near fast enough, only 180bpm max!) I used to use ScreamTracker (DOS) back in the day, but have never found a good alternative for Windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 Does anyone know of any free "drum machine" software - I'm just looking for something simple to keep a beat going. Fancier beats would be an added bonus. There's a metronome on my Korg effects box but it's not very audible above the guitar (and it's nowhere near fast enough, only 180bpm max!) I used to use ScreamTracker (DOS) back in the day, but have never found a good alternative for Windows. There's plenty out there...I found a flash-based metronome that I use a lot. Just do a search. What I'm looking for right now is a program that will let me build my own multi-track drum loops. I'm using leafdrums right now, but I'd like something even more intuitive --I'd like to be able to drop the wavs directly into the grid, like normal multi-track software. I tried using Cubase SX, but it's way too complicated...don't feel like figuring it all out yet. Usually I work with Cool Edit Pro, but for some reason they don't give a grid for the multi-track screen? Maybe Audition does? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorecki Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 For quick and dirty I use Propellerhead Reason (not cheap). Band in a box is a reasonably priced fun tool I know many folks use (I haven't bought it yet) for not only drum patterns, but on the fly progressions as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarGuy Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 Last time i checked hamerhead stuido was free and exportable. havent used it in years tho hotstepper is good too, http://www.threechords.com/hammerhead/hotstepper.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 Last time i checked hamerhead stuido was free and exportable. havent used it in years tho hotstepper is good too, http://www.threechords.com/hammerhead/hotstepper.shtml I was just going to mention that software. It's free and will keep a beat for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibreakemineedtobuildem Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 I use PC Drummer trial and then record the patterns with soundblaster sound recorder. The trial won't save pattern sequences.Just record them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 I came across leafdrums --it's actually pretty close to what I'm looking for. You can plot out your loops, then write them --and there's an option for writing each drum sound's pattern separately. Then it's easy enough to take those and paste them into a multitracker, each one to its own track. Works pretty well too, lets you use any samples you want (not just drums either). It has a couple other write options, I'm not so sure what they're useful for yet. Programming wise, it has some useful features, such as it makes it really simple to duplicate a pattern (in order to make variations). Still ends up sounding more like a drum machine than live drums (even though I'm using some decent quality acoustic drum samples) Anyway, after fooling around trying to program beats for a couple hours today, I really came to value the worth of a real drummer...would have taken 30 seconds to explain what I was trying to achieve. Just have to find one who's into the music I want to make....in the meantime, I can make do with this app. Oh yeah, it's shareware, but it's unrestricted ---there are nag screens to ask you pay. We'll see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrasher! Posted August 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2006 Thanks guys - I tried a few and LeafDrums seems pretty good. At least compound time signatures are possible if a little fiddly to program. 12/8 and 9/8 time signatures can be done using 3/4 or 4/4 time, using triplets & modifying the tempo. 7/8 has to be done with 7 individual 1-beat bars and double-time but at least it's possible. A lot of packages don't provide those options...if it didn't crash as often I'd probably buy it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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