Drum Machines for Logic- recommendations

[yxz]

I used to use Reason a lot. I'm phasing it out now though. The only thing I really liked in Reason was Redrum. What are some solid AU drum machines I can use in Logic? (I'm not talking Superior Drummer or BFD either...I mean solid drum machines with sequencers that aren't trying to emulate real sounds.)

Just looking for some drum machines with sounds/capabilities to emulate sounds that you might hear on a Passion Pit/Crystal Castles/Delorean record.

Thanks!

[msl]

This has been covered quite recently. Search my friend.

some of the main contenders
Tattoo
MicroTonic
Drumaxx
Nerve
ADM
D16





.

[yxz]

Originally Posted by msl

This has been covered quite recently. Search my friend.

some of the main contenders
Tattoo
MicroTonic
Drumaxx
Nerve
ADM
D16





.

Appreciate it. Can you by any chance link me to the thread? Thanks.

[Simonator]

If you really insist on having this style of plug-in with built in step-sequencer, here's another:

iZotope, Inc - Audio Processing Technology and Plug-Ins for Pro Tools, VST, MAS, Audio Unit, and DirectX

... But I strongly recommend that you kick that habit, and like (I speculate) the majority of people do just program midi to fire a sampler... the strongest option IMO being NI Battery

NATIVE INSTRUMENTS : HOME | HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE FOR MUSICIANS, PRODUCERS, DJS, GUITAR AND BASS PLAYERS

... you can loop around a midi region so what you end up with is virtually the same as a step sequencer any way... then you can copy & paste those blocks around and edit them as you like to the flow of the track.

[Entrainer]

I really like Guru.

And, shameless promotion of the month, my
library inside it.

My friend just remixed Crystal Castles and
used that combo... worked well for him.

Just got an enlightening view which slightly lifted
my spirits. That same friend/artist/remixer played
a party in Iowa (of all places) last weekend. All young
crowd. He said it was like the Rave days... acid,
22 yr old lesbians, topless, making out 6 inches from
his face.

Kids these days...

Ehh... good for him.


:jealous with kids: lucky basterd

[Simonator]

Just to add another 2 cents to my previous response...

I've followed that same path from Reason to Logic. Messed with lots of options. Battery works best for me. It offers SO much control, from being very easy to get to grips with, to mind-blowing stuff you'll find out it can do years down the line. I regard it as WAY more than a drum machine & generally tend to use it as my 'go to' sampler in most instances.

In support of Entrainer's post... He is HIGHLY respected, & regarded as one of the finest purveyors of drum machine samples in the world right now. I've only heard the demo sample pack (could you remind us of the link Entrainer?), but what I've heard is awesome.

Besides Entrainer's 'Driven Drum Machines', you should also give serious consideration to:

Wave Alchemy Sample CDs & Sample Packs - Wave Alchemy
Goldbaby Goldbaby

I think that all products from these three companies compliment each other nicely, they are all fairly priced, and if you invested in these collectins you'd be left wanting for very little.

[arbee]

I really love the D16 products. I have a few of their effects and demoed drumazon. great stuff.

should check out audio damage's tatttoooo, seems pretty cool.

[yxz]

Originally Posted by simonator

Just to add another 2 cents to my previous response...

I've followed that same path from Reason to Logic. Messed with lots of options. Battery works best for me. It offers SO much control, from being very easy to get to grips with, to mind-blowing stuff you'll find out it can do years down the line. I regard it as WAY more than a drum machine & generally tend to use it as my 'go to' sampler in most instances.

In support of Entrainer's post... He is HIGHLY respected, & regarded as one of the finest purveyors of drum machine samples in the world right now. I've only heard the demo sample pack (could you remind us of the link Entrainer?), but what I've heard is awesome.

Besides Entrainer's 'Driven Drum Machines', you should also give serious consideration to:

Wave Alchemy Sample CDs & Sample Packs - Wave Alchemy
Goldbaby Goldbaby

I think that all products from these three companies compliment each other nicely, they are all fairly priced, and if you invested in these collectins you'd be left wanting for very little.

I can use those samples with Battery 3? Battery has to use only battery specific files, correct? I can't use my own samples within it? That seems like a huge downfall to me. Am I wrong? Thanks again.

[Entrainer]

You can easily drop Wav or Aif
onto the pads in Battery.
It also imports EXS-24...

cheers-

EDIT:
Oh yeah, for that link, just click
that little logo down below.

I don't generally hype stuff in topics,
but the reference to Crystal Castles triggered
my memory of my friend's remix and that party.

I thought them days were over... the 90s back,
at least the debauchery and psychedelics?
Or a random occurrence?

[yxz]

Originally Posted by Entrainer

You can easily drop Wav or Aif
onto the pads in Battery.
It also imports EXS-24...

cheers-

EDIT:
Oh yeah, for that link, just click
that little logo down below.

I don't generally hype stuff in topics,
but the reference to Crystal Castles triggered
my memory of my friend's remix and that party.

I thought them days were over... the 90s back,
at least the debauchery and psychedelics?
Or a random occurrence?

Haha, I can't speak much for the debauchery (though, yes, there a lot of stupid girls- and guys- out there) - but as for the psychedelics- those definitely haven't died down. People still love 'em...until they have a bad trip of course...

Thanks for the battery info. I thought it was battery exclusive. What exactly are the samples you have for sale? Thanks again.

[Simonator]

Originally Posted by the a-b theory

I can use those samples with Battery 3? Battery has to use only battery specific files, correct? I can't use my own samples within it? That seems like a huge downfall to me. Am I wrong? Thanks again.

No no no no noooo... battery can swallow virtually anything- either loaded by it's internal browser, or even drag & drop.

Battery can do anything & everything.

I've only scratched the surface... but it's not complicated to get started.

I don't even know if N.I. do demos, but I imagine they do.... try it out.

I absolutely LOVE it, as do MANY edm producers.

It does come with a huge library that is in a weird format... which is no doubt what you are confused with. This has multi-samples for each hit (or 'cell')... this has the possibility that if you send a quiet velocity you get a different sample sounding than when you send a loud velocity.
... but you can forget about all that... it will happily play back wavs, aiffs & several other common formats (I even use it for playback of .Rex files; you can open the Rex in Recycle, export midi, open Rex in Battery, then drag the midi into Logic's midi track.).

I really cannot overstate how amazing this puppy is.

Once you've got Battery, another MAJOR bonus is that you are not limited by the swing/shuffle grooves within the drum machine... because it has none!; all the programming is done in Logic's midi track (and that's Logic's forte).

Download the template logic file I attached in this thread:

LOGIC USERS... some midi groove templates for you:

And use it as a starting point for all your productions...
It should contain an extended selection of groove templates (which you can add to at any time)... including the Akai MPC & iDrum + more.

I'll typically have 4 or more instances of Battery in every project- one for normal drums, one for fx, the at least a couple of others doing random sampler duties or even playing pitched instruments (you can spread one sample over a key range & play melodies from your keyboard.)

Okay... I'm raving now.

In the unlikely event that you should wish to read more of my rants on how amazing Battery is, and what it can do beyond the basics, here's an old thread with more raving:

NI Battery 3:- Stereo or Individual OUTs to DAW?

[Simonator]

Originally Posted by the a-b theory

. What exactly are the samples you have for sale? Thanks again.

This is Entrainer's shizzle:
DRIVEN MACHINE DRUMS: 24bit Electronic Drum Samples for GURU, EXS-24, and Kontakt in WAV, AIF


to VERY broadly generalise (please anyone feel free to correct me or add to this), my perspective is that-

Driven Drum Machines is very edgy, possibly a bit nasty. He's sent the original hardware drum machines through a plethora of different types of highly desirable outboard gear- filters, distortion etc... to make some very unique & raw sounding samples that have a little something over & beyond what you are accustomed to.

Goldbaby does the classic machines... in every possible variation... so you end up with like 200 different 808 kick drum samples at virtually every possible setting of pitch & amp envelope.

Wave Alchemy do fierce sounding, contemporary drum machine samples including layering different machines to create frankenstein samples.
Historically they've tended to go for newer hardware like Elektron, Vermona, Jomox... but they've just released a new pack with some old school stuff.
You should also seek their freebie sample demo packs.

tbh, you could happily get by with the freebie demos from these companies... but once you've had a taste you'll probably want more!!

[Entrainer]

Well, I wouldn't personally consider them edgy or nasty...
That would be closer to Distorted Machine Drums (doesn't exist)

I would classify them more as "punchy" and "creamy"...
but everyone's words communicate a different meaning,
like Bowie said "Talking About Art is Like Dancing About Architecture."

Driven, to me, is subtle harmonic distortion and natural
sounding limiting/compression that occurs when driving
the input to a console or compressor a bit hot.

Many times the sound associated with a particular compressor
or console is that driven sound, and many MEs will stack
compressors with little to no "compression", instead driving
the inputs a tad to get the desired color.

If you consider a sinewave, and how it appears to be quieter
than a squarewave, while registering the same amount of
dB...

Same philosophy. But, IMO, better than a digital limiter,
because there aren't those weird artifacts on the attack.

It's one of the things that is missing in the digital realm.
I did try a new piece of software that was influenced by the
Culture Vulture. Kind of a close, but no cigar scenario.

Cheers-

[Simonator]

Originally Posted by Entrainer

Well, I wouldn't personally consider them edgy or nasty...
That would be closer to Distorted Machine Drums (doesn't exist)

I would classify them more as "punchy" and "creamy"...
but everyone's words communicate a different meaning,
like Bowie said "Talking About Art is Like Dancing About Architecture."

Driven, to me, is subtle harmonic distortion and natural
sounding limiting/compression that occurs when driving
the input to a console or compressor a bit hot.

Many times the sound associated with a particular compressor
or console is that driven sound, and many MEs will stack
compressors with little to no "compression", instead driving
the inputs a tad to get the desired color.

If you consider a sinewave, and how it appears to be quieter
than a squarewave, while registering the same amount of
dB...

Same philosophy. But, IMO, better than a digital limiter,
because there aren't those weird artifacts on the attack.

It's one of the things that is missing in the digital realm.
I did try a new piece of software that was influenced by the
Culture Vulture. Kind of a close, but no cigar scenario.

Cheers-

I stand corrected :-)

Makes me drool even more... do need to invest in your package if ever I get some expendable income.

How many purchases are left available before the final cut-off?

[tojo]

I'm in the same boat. I can't stand ultrabeat. Such a pain in the ass to set up your own samples on it sometimes. I really like ableton's impulse, but rather than rewire it all the time i'll look into some of these reccommendations1

[AJ Reynolds]

just get battery.

hold on to your reason license though because reason 5 looks really good for drums.

i started with Reason moved to Logic moved to Pro Tools and now see myself going Reason with Record.

[rids]

There is also Motu BPM. NI Maschine is nice with the controller. Guru has a good interface too, though I think the samples that come with it are somewhat outdated or not up to par, quality wise.

[in a blue field]

...am i the only person who never felt the need to expand beyond dragging and dropping drums into PT/Logic?Cubase etc? i just know i'm gonna get crazy flamed for that, i hold pencils wrong and tie my shoes wrong too, but yup, and i've had Battery for a long time but i just dont like making a loop, does that make sense? i feel stifled. i like treating my drums like something you draw across the entire song, i find i work more creatively that way too, less likely to produce just another nssst-nssst-nssst...

[Ossicle]

Originally Posted by in a blue field

...am i the only person who never felt the need to expand beyond dragging and dropping drums into PT/Logic?Cubase etc? i just know i'm gonna get crazy flamed for that, i hold pencils wrong and tie my shoes wrong too, but yup, and i've had Battery for a long time but i just dont like making a loop, does that make sense? i feel stifled. i like treating my drums like something you draw across the entire song, i find i work more creatively that way too, less likely to produce just another nssst-nssst-nssst...

No, I do it too (when i don't use the SP 1200). In Logic I usually open 8 around audio tracks (I like to keep things simple) and just drag n drop drum samples, drag n copy the patterns, manually adjust the grooves etc. The most versatile and hassle free way of working for me. Easy to insert eq efx comp for every track. For glue, I route all the drum tracks to a stereo bus that has a bus comp (usually Stillwell Rocket).

I've tried Battery, Guru, Ultrabeat, EXS24 and iDrum - none of them worked as well for me.

[bauwerk]

Originally Posted by Ossicle

No, I do it too (when i don't use the SP 1200). In Logic I usually open 8 around audio tracks (I like to keep things simple) and just drag n drop drum samples, drag n copy the patterns, manually adjust the grooves etc. The most versatile and hassle free way of working for me. Easy to insert eq efx comp for every track. For glue, I route all the drum tracks to a stereo bus that has a bus comp (usually Stillwell Rocket).

I've tried Battery, Guru, Ultrabeat, EXS24 and iDrum - none of them worked as well for me.

The advantage though when for example using battery is that you can easily tweak the sample itself pretty fast, like tune it or tweak the adsr.

I myself is looking for something new with a built-in step-sequencer, the one that i liked the most so far is guru, but i am not sure i want to invest in a program that hasn't been updated in over a year , and still doesn't have x64 support and so on.
Tried Nerve also, quite nice program and the sequencer was damn smooth to tweak, though it didn't have drag and drop to midi sadly enough.
So now i am looking towards Maschine, seems to have one bad-ass software although i don't really have any use for the hardware of it.

Why a new program since im currently using battery? Well i really need to get away from the damn pianoroll, cant stand it for drums, never could.

What im looking for is an all in one program like guru or maschine (damn close to buying it) that has it all in one, the better overview with a step-sequencer with named tracks for kick and so on. I'm not after triggering battery with for example a separate step-sequencer (the one that comes with cubase is a joke).

Saw a lot of suggestions some posts above that i will check out when i get home in an hour. Oh yeah, motu bpm perhaps?

[AJ Reynolds]

Originally Posted by in a blue field

...am i the only person who never felt the need to expand beyond dragging and dropping drums into PT/Logic?Cubase etc? i just know i'm gonna get crazy flamed for that, i hold pencils wrong and tie my shoes wrong too, but yup, and i've had Battery for a long time but i just dont like making a loop, does that make sense? i feel stifled. i like treating my drums like something you draw across the entire song, i find i work more creatively that way too, less likely to produce just another nssst-nssst-nssst...

well yeah, but the guy wants an instrument for logic. i work the same way as you most of the time because i use hardware for my beats. i also like using software drums as it give more possibilities. like if i want some really realistic and expressive congas, i'll use battery because it's got multi sampled instruments with different velocities.

[yxz]

Originally Posted by Ossicle

No, I do it too (when i don't use the SP 1200). In Logic I usually open 8 around audio tracks (I like to keep things simple) and just drag n drop drum samples, drag n copy the patterns, manually adjust the grooves etc. The most versatile and hassle free way of working for me. Easy to insert eq efx comp for every track. For glue, I route all the drum tracks to a stereo bus that has a bus comp (usually Stillwell Rocket).

I've tried Battery, Guru, Ultrabeat, EXS24 and iDrum - none of them worked as well for me.

Really good point, and, honestly, this is one of my biggest concerns. How can I separately mix each drum sound during the writing process? As in, suppose I want to add some distortion and delay to the snare (logic inserts like ohmforce and echoboy), but don't want that for the rest of the kit (kick, claps, hi-hat)- if I'm using battery. Does this make sense at all? That's one thing I really, really liked about Redrum- it was super easy to add different effects to each individual drum sound. Is this still easily possible? It has to be be...

[mike vee]

i tried most of them and ended up with BPM....its the best for SO MANY reasons

[bauwerk]

Originally Posted by mike vee

i tried most of them and ended up with BPM....its the best for SO MANY reasons

Perhaps thats the solution to my problems, having a hard time buying something from a demo though if it's incomplete like the guru one, let me check.

[yxz]

Thanks for all the info! Any way you could answer my question 3 posts above?

Originally Posted by simonator

No no no no noooo... battery can swallow virtually anything- either loaded by it's internal browser, or even drag & drop.

Battery can do anything & everything.

I've only scratched the surface... but it's not complicated to get started.

I don't even know if N.I. do demos, but I imagine they do.... try it out.

I absolutely LOVE it, as do MANY edm producers.

It does come with a huge library that is in a weird format... which is no doubt what you are confused with. This has multi-samples for each hit (or 'cell')... this has the possibility that if you send a quiet velocity you get a different sample sounding than when you send a loud velocity.
... but you can forget about all that... it will happily play back wavs, aiffs & several other common formats (I even use it for playback of .Rex files; you can open the Rex in Recycle, export midi, open Rex in Battery, then drag the midi into Logic's midi track.).

I really cannot overstate how amazing this puppy is.

Once you've got Battery, another MAJOR bonus is that you are not limited by the swing/shuffle grooves within the drum machine... because it has none!; all the programming is done in Logic's midi track (and that's Logic's forte).

Download the template logic file I attached in this thread:

LOGIC USERS... some midi groove templates for you:

And use it as a starting point for all your productions...
It should contain an extended selection of groove templates (which you can add to at any time)... including the Akai MPC & iDrum + more.

I'll typically have 4 or more instances of Battery in every project- one for normal drums, one for fx, the at least a couple of others doing random sampler duties or even playing pitched instruments (you can spread one sample over a key range & play melodies from your keyboard.)

Okay... I'm raving now.

In the unlikely event that you should wish to read more of my rants on how amazing Battery is, and what it can do beyond the basics, here's an old thread with more raving:

NI Battery 3:- Stereo or Individual OUTs to DAW?

[noggin]

Originally Posted by bauwerk

So now i am looking towards Maschine, seems to have one bad-ass software although i don't really have any use for the hardware of it.

Maschine's software is excellent by itself but it's the dedicated hardware and the workflow it brings that makes all the difference.

[Tommy Zai]

BATTERY: I have Battery. Yeahr, it's great, but it's NOT a drum machine. It's a sampler that is designed to load and manipulate percussive stuff. I still need to create beats. A nice pattern sequencer to experiment with would be nice, but then I have two plugins and a DAW just to make beats. YIKES!!

GURU gets raves, but getting around that ugly and small buttoned interface is painful. I cannot even see the sample I loaded and don't feel I have any control.

iDrum is simple, but if I load samples (less than 2mb) into it . . . can't seem to record that audio in Logic.

EZDrummer and Superior Drummer are great if you are doing classic rock and you are so unlikable that you can't find a drummer who will work with you.

TATTOO: I don't know. My buddy has it and says it crashes Logic all the time.

ADM: Is this another one that has it's own format? Can't drag and drop .AIFF and .WAV? I don't remember why it's off my list, but I'm sure it is.

D16: It's sounds like a pesticide. I'll give it a try.

MICROTONIC (üTonic or Gin+Tonic): Looks innovative like Synplant, but will it be like an old Casio KB? Can I load samples? They seem very proud that they don't use samples and have some Eastern European playboy claiming fame for the sounds.

Oh . . .

Why can't it be simpler? Here's where some knucklehead tells me to play a drum and use tape!

[Nev]

I have never understood peoples' obsession with pattern/step sequencers. They suck, imo.

Open up Piano roll in your DAW/sequencer; set loop to 1 bar or 4; set grid to 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, whatever you want; set cursor to edit mode, draw mode or pencil mode, whatever it's called in your DAW; and just paint notes in as the sequencer plays in a loop. Ta Da! Insert whatever swing you desire.

+1 for Battery, the more I read the manual, the more I love that plugin.

[Nev]

Originally Posted by yxz

Really good point, and, honestly, this is one of my biggest concerns. How can I separately mix each drum sound during the writing process? As in, suppose I want to add some distortion and delay to the snare (logic inserts like ohmforce and echoboy), but don't want that for the rest of the kit (kick, claps, hi-hat)- if I'm using battery. Does this make sense at all? That's one thing I really, really liked about Redrum- it was super easy to add different effects to each individual drum sound. Is this still easily possible? It has to be be...

Well in Battery, the plugin has multiple outs (16 stero outs), so you can set up different tracks in your DAW/sequencer for all those outs and process as you see fit. Very simple to setup. Then inside the plugin you assign each cell (or drum pad) to whatever out you want.

Also each cell (or drumpad) has its own FX section inside Battery with Lo-fi, Saturator, EQ/filter, Compression, invertert, and sends for delay and reverb. As well as the plugin itself has a master effects section.

Really too much to even list in one post...

[walth]

Originally Posted by msl

This has been covered quite recently. Search my friend.

some of the main contenders
Tattoo
MicroTonic
Drumaxx
Nerve
ADM
D16




.

cool links