Dog watching TV, I mean, Reaper

[unimogbert]

2023 EDIT - Folks tried to help but it just didn't work. No MIDI drums.

Some folks are helpful. Some, very few, are not. I'm not going to ask questions here any more.

[unimogbert]

2023 EDIT - Folks tried to help but it just didn't work. No MIDI drums.

Some folks are helpful. Some, very few, are not. I'm not going to ask questions here any more.

[KevWind]

Actually I surfed a bit and this might be a much better video for you, because it references a free drum program that sounds like it is closer to one with the numbers you mentioned in a prior post (with the drum names being on lines numbered 36 through 44 and may help get you actually get started.

Don't be put off by the youth and beanie the guy is actually pretty good at explaining clearly what he is doing




And just so you know we all had to travel the same road you are currently going down. When I started trying to use midi in my recording I could not program drums sounds that were not downright embarrassing and unusable. Now I can at least get some sounds that are passible.
In this song (below) I used a hybrid method of both trying to play in midi from my physical keyboard as well as double clicking notes into the grid and some of the other techniques he talks about in the video to make it less robotic sounding. This track is basically straight acoustic guitar rhythem , acoustic guitar riffs run thru effects , vocals , midi drums and midi bass

[sdelsolray]

Originally Posted by unimogbert

I'm reluctant to run tutorials and videos while at work so haven't watched that yet. Maybe it's the Rosetta Stone I've needed.

Thank you!

I would suggest patience. It took me quite some time to learn basic RE skills, hundreds of hours over many years, and I only record solo fingerstyle and classical guitar.

Put another way, I suspect that if your were to look back a few years from now at the RE journey you took, you might get a laugh or two, with little or no regret.

[unimogbert]

2023 EDIT - Folks tried to help but it just didn't work. No MIDI drums.

Some folks are helpful. Some, very few, are not. I'm not going to ask questions here any more.

[unimogbert]

2023 EDIT - Folks tried to help but it just didn't work. No MIDI drums.

Some folks are helpful. Some, very few, are not. I'm not going to ask questions here any more.

[MikeBmusic]

Originally Posted by KevWind

OK at the risk of complicating things I would say that while Mike is trying to be helpful (as per his own experience) IMO Honestly except for "feel" there is no fundamentally no difference between inputting midi notes via physical keyboard or virtual keyboard. And arguably if you have no prior physical keyboard experience using the virtual keyboard and or simply drawing midi notes into the grid may in fact be simpler

Just to clarify, I was not referring to playing MIDI notes on a (Casio) keyboard, but to playing actual drum sounds on one, and recording the audio out of the keyboard (not the MIDI).

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by MikeBmusic

Just to clarify, I was not referring to playing MIDI notes on a (Casio) keyboard, but to playing actual drum sounds on one, and recording the audio out of the keyboard (not the MIDI).

I'm with Kev on this one. In general scheme of things recording an audio track (fundamentally) is exactly the same thing as recording a midi track. If you didn't "look" at the edit screen you'd never know the difference. The benefits of midi track however are almost endlessly more workable, scalable, keyable, tempo pliable and editable.

I can't think of a single reason to lock yourself into audio "if" midi is available.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by MikeBmusic

Just to clarify, I was not referring to playing MIDI notes on a (Casio) keyboard, but to playing actual drum sounds on one, and recording the audio out of the keyboard (not the MIDI).

Ah got it

But again unless one is proficient at keyboard and actually playing and keeping track of pattern as well as when and where you might want to change it up and all the while staying on the beat, (which I am not for example). Doing it that way could be just as or perhaps even more problematic, than simply entering midi notes.


Because then you would have audio that is not on the beat (unless your keyboard or the software had some kind of timing correction feature for audio output ) "and your mistiming is not so far off" as to have a beat be assigned to the next increment. Which happens to me regularly while trying to use the midi timing input feature in Pro Tools.

Which means that instead of just highlighting and engaging an auto midi timing correction function or manually moving midi notes back to the grid lines .You would then have to chop up the audio and manually try to move back to being in time. Or try to use an audio timing correction feature usually based on snap to transient, which can also be a can of worms unless your input timing is pretty close. I know mine isn't and I have tried all these methods

That method working for you is cool and I keep trying to use the keyboard for direct input more and more and I am actually getting a little better (slowly) And that may indeed be a less complicated solution for some people BUT
It really all depends on the individual and their particular learning curve and skill set or lack there of. That is what I was pointing out.

[MikeBmusic]

I don't use that method now, but have in the past, and I know some people who prefer it rather than learn MIDI. If you can play guitar, you can hit one key at a time, in time, and if you mess up, just rerecord another track. So you record your kick in one pass, your snare in another pass, your hi-hat or cymbals in another pass, etc. Then you can mix them easily - and in fact if you need to mute a 'bad hit' or part, it's easy with volume automation. Just as easy to cut an off-time note into its own track segment and move it, too.

There's a lot more to MIDI than just 'putting notes on the grid' - in fact, if you drag everything to the grid, or quantize everything, it can sound very robotic - it's the routing of the wav tables, locating the sound files, etc, WHILE trying to learn how to place the MIDI notes and edit them that is giving Unimog trouble.
Learning where to place those notes is more difficult - whether doing it step-by-step or playing 'live' and then fixing manually - unless one is a drummer and can 'read' drum music, and has experience with it. Example: a triplet. Everyone know what they sound like from a good drummer, but how do you place the notes - and at what velocities - if you're not a drummer?

[unimogbert]

2023 EDIT - Folks tried to help but it just didn't work. No MIDI drums.

Some folks are helpful. Some, very few, are not. I'm not going to ask questions here any more.