(drum) midi --> wave?

What I want : a "perfect" drum sound, as a wave file. (or another filetype which i can use to make a decent mixdown)

I have Cubase SX in wich I can make the drum in midi.
But then i need to render it to a wave file.  There are several options for this, i could do it in cubase itself (with a vst instrument like(fxpansion) DR008? ), or with an external soft synth (like synth edit)

I want a drum that sounds real good, and what if i download 3rd-party samples or buy sample cd's or something?  Are for example dr008 and synthedit compatible with those?  I thought dr008 only reads *.dr8 files?
Or should I look for LM4 or something? (which I thought is compatible with wave files you can find on the net)

Groucho uses (pretty effectively, I must say) some freebie software called LeafDrums, and this works with external samples, and will organise and render your drum tracks for you - and yes, there are plenty of kit samples freely available. Is this any help?

Oh no, I tried this program a while ago and found it quite buggy and very limited to create large "songs", in cubase its much easier to make large parts and work with them to create songs.

Well I daresay there are other sample-playing progs around that can be triggered by MIDI notes - perhaps somebody has some other suggestions that you could try....

Dieter@be Posted:
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I tried this program a while ago and found it quite buggy and very limited to create large "songs".......

If you haven't heard Chris's (Groucho) materal, maybe you should give it a  listen.  It's definitely not limited.  Now, he might can (or not) identify with the "buggy" part, but he doesn't appear to be limited in his ability to create great songs (and drum parts) using the software.

 

Oh I triend Leafdrums a while ago, at first it looked pretty good, but it became clear after a while that it lacks much what for example cubase sx has.  I'm not gonna use leafdrums again, sorry.

I'm now trying DR-008 but it just doesnt give any sound  
The midi track is not muted, the output is set to dr-008, and i loaded a drum kit.
Also hitting some pads lights them up, but I hear nothing  

I tried out dr-008 in Sonar 2 XL and haven't figured out either how it works exacly, hehe. Maybe I should give it some more time since I only looked at it for a couple of minutes.

En welkom op het forum Dieter

Well, first of all, the dr-008 can handle pretty much any sample format as it says right there on their webpage. There's tons of sample sets floating around the web for free, including one I recently uploaded to Karl's ftp site, if you want to check them out.

As far as Leafdrums, I've found it to be entirely bug-free. Not a single problem, and I can't say that about *any* other program (Audition included).

But if you've already got cubase & dr-008, I suppose I can understand why you wouldn't have much use for a free program. In the end though, all the drum programs pretty much do the same thing (except for "drum machine" style programs like Groove Agent or BFM). Some, like dr-008 have a lot of processing features which, given that I own Audition, I find superflous. But it just comes down to: can you *think* enough like a drummer that the drum part won't leap out as being glaringly, obviously, fake?

I'm still working on that one. But I've found that if you can do it with one program you can do it with any of them.

Chris

....But it just comes down to: can you *think* enough like a drummer ....

Chris

What... "beer, beer, beer, beer"? that wasn't so hard!

can you *think* enough like a drummer that the drum part won't leap out as being glaringly, obviously, fake?

What do you mean exactly?  That non-drummers who program drum in for example cubase don't know so well (als real drummers) what they are doing? (I'm not sure if I understand it right, what you said)

(Btw I am a real life drummer too, so I pretty much know how it works )

can you *think* enough like a drummer that the drum part won't leap out as being glaringly, obviously, fake?

What do you mean exactly?  That non-drummers who program drum in for example cubase don't know so well (als real drummers) what they are doing? (I'm not sure if I understand it right, what you said)

(Btw I am a real life drummer too, so I pretty much know how it works )

Well, I think we've all heard tunes from people online where the sample *sound* is decent, but the drum part has no groove, or sounds nothing like what a drummer would actually *play*. etc. For techno/electronica stuff this doesn't really matter, but if you're trying to do realistic-sounding drums for rock/pop-ish tunes, you gotta know a little something about how drummers drum... (and knowing a little something about Beer can't hurt either... )

Chris

So you mean you should try to make it feel natural?
Thats not very obvious when working with midi and samples ...(but I'm very un-experienced with it)

So you mean you should try to make it feel natural?
Thats not very obvious when working with midi and samples ...(but I'm very un-experienced with it)

You'd be surprised how obvious some of it is, but it still gets ignored. A friend of mine, who is a good drummer (he sight-reads complex parts, for heaven's sake!) once put it quite simply. He said that whenever you program a drum part, you should remember that a drummer has 2 hands and 2 feet, and that's all. So, for instance, if you've got a nice little hi-hat figure going on through a track, it would be a good idea to stop it whilst doing a fill around the toms!

The KISS principle seems to work pretty well on drum parts, as a rule. If you can hear more than 4 things struck simultaneously, it's impossible!

[exactly]

lol    thats obvious man!
i program exactly the same as what I play!  My goal is to have my drum "played" perfectly, not showing off things that I can't play  

I thought you were talking about a midi track sounds too perfect = not natural or so.

So you mean you should try to make it feel natural?
Thats not very obvious when working with midi and samples ...(but I'm very un-experienced with it)

I can't say much abut sample techniques as I never use them, but I do know a little bit about midi stuff.

A lot of 'midi drumming' sounds wooden and unrealistic for pretty much the reasons others have already mentioned.  If you are a drummer, then I suugest you buy a midi pad and actually play the parts yourself, that will automatically introduce the elements which are missing from a lot of stuff - timing and expression.  If you can keep time (and I imagine that, as you are a drummer, you can) turn off the quantisation, it will help enormously.

For the rest of us non-drummers, then I'm afraid it's just a case of a lot of work editing the controllers and moving hits around by a few ticks.  The one trap which a lot of people fall into is putting together tracks which a real drummer would find impossible to play (at least, without overdubbing).  If you have Kick/Snare/Hi-hat groove going and then clout the crash or ride or roll around the toms, something has got to go - drummer do not have three hands!  

Mind you, if they did, then it would make the beer bit easier .