drum programs

[irtehmitchell]

Are there any programs available where I could program drums by assigning the different drums to seperate keys on the keyboard? Is this even possible?

[Moseph]

your keyboard doesn't have drum patches?

Regardless, yes, they exist. Drum sampler software is pretty common. You can also get them in plugin format (ie, VST, RTAS, DirectX, AU).

[irtehmitchell]

I should have been more specific, I meant my computer keyboard.

[Moseph]

Check out VSTHost and download some free VST drum samplers (I recommend GTG DrumSampler II). VSTHost can be set up to read your computer keyboard keys as if notes were pressed.

A cautious word though: you're probably going to get better overall results using something like Hydrogen or Hammerhead Rhythm Station, since they allow finer control over rhythm quantization and note velocity/volume.

[irtehmitchell]

thank you very much.

[irtehmitchell]

ok i've messed around with the program and plugin you've suggested, but i haven't been able to figure out exactly how to assign keys on my computer keyboard to keys on the visual keyboard that i'm displaying. some of the keys are already assigned, but not all of them.

[Moseph]

GTG DrumSampler II uses GM MIDI input configurations (google it if you're curious).

Upon closer inspection, the keyboard inputs using VSTHost are (mostly) in the wrong octave to successfully trigger DrumSampler II. Unless you can find a way to transpose the keyboard inputs to a lower octave (which I couldn't find in a few brief attempts) . You might want to look into something like Sensomusic Usine, Plogue Bidule, or energyXT if you really want to pursue this method of creating drum tracks over a seperate standalone software.

[<3<3<3]

Native Instrument's Battery is a really good sounding drum plugin. You can really manipulate the sounds, and it comes with massive amount of good sounding drum samples. I'm not exactly sure if you can route it to your keyboard directly. But you can you use it as a vsti plugin with Fruity loops or something and use your keyboard with that. Oh yeah, you can also use FL to do that for drums. Just upload some good drum samples.

[Moseph]

I think I have two basic workarounds. Both are dependent upon the latest version of VSTHost, which allows for very basic MIDI routing.

1) http://www.adbe.org/freebies/plugins/mkey.html

That site seems to offer what you want directy, and also looks to provide a plugin that is customizable enough for these basic needs.

2) http://subminimal.org/tools.php
The freeware dev ModulR has a plugin called "stepchild" that is pretty customizable as a step sequencer. There are inherent limitations though: it's always 32 steps in a given sequence and there will likely be some work involved to get things happening the right way.

I played around with (2) for awhile and got some results out of it that were fun, but I haven't yet attempted (1). I'll likely look into it when I have some more free time.