Cubase: Programming Realistic Drums Explained
Getting tired of trying to record great-sounding drum tracks at home? It's certainly not an easy task. In this Cubase video course, Cubase expert Gary Hiebner walks you through the process of building a virtual drum track that sounds 100% authentic and mix-ready professional. From selecting and tweaking sounds to programming, editing, quantizing, creating multiple outputs, and more, you'll learn all you need to know to get awesome results. By the time you're through with this Cubase course, you'll be completely ready to start programming your next drum track right away! These Cubase videos are designed for Cubase users who'd like to start using virtual drums.
Videos
• Setting Up Your Drum Instrument (06:10) - Starting off, we see how to add drum instrument tracks in Cubase. You'll see how to add an instrument with a MIDI part or a pattern. Plus, you'll learn how to set up your MIDI devices to make sure they're working correctly and see the difference between an Instrument track and the Drum track.Starting off, we see how to add drum instrument tracks in Cubase. You'll see how to add an instrument with a MIDI part or a pattern. Plus, you'll learn how to set up your MIDI devices to make sure they're working correctly and see the difference between an Instrument track and the Drum track.
• Key Editor vs the Drum Editor (04:24) - Here, we take a look at the difference between the Key Editor and Drum Editor and discuss why you would want to use each editor. You'll see how the Drum Editor workflow is a smoother way to work with drum programming and how to assign a drum map to a MIDI event.
• Pattern Editor vs the Drum Editor (04:08) - Learn about the differences between the Key Editor and Pattern Editor and the workflow for each. You can use these editors on any MIDI part, but you'll see how different the pattern sequence mode is compared to a MIDI part.
• Multi-Output Drums (06:05) - Discover how to assign each drum hit to a different output so you have a multi-output drum kit. This way you can add individual processing on each drum and have a mix-ready drum instrument before you start programming your drums.
• Processing the Drums (07:34) - Here, we expand on the previous video, and you'll see what type of processing you can add on your individual drum parts to build up a mix-ready instrument. Plus, the levels and panning are adjusted to create a more realistic-sounding drum instrument. You also see how to create a group and add bus processing on the group track to help glue the different parts together.
• Quantization (05:36) - This video explores the quantization options in Cubase. Quantizing can help improve the timing of your drum performances. You can snap a MIDI note onto the nearest grid and interval settings, or you can use the soft quantize option to keep things from sounding too robotic. You'll also see how, within the Quantize Panel settings, you can further adjust these parameters and even add swing to your MIDI Notes.
• Velocities & Dynamics (07:51) - Learn how you can edit your velocities to create more dynamics in your drum performances. You'll see how to edit the velocities in the Velocity lane and use modifier keys to edit the velocities on the Drum editor.
• Playability of Your Drum Parts (03:37) - The most important part of drum programming (when going for a realistic sound) is creating parts that are actually playable by a real drummer. In this video, we'll see how we can edit our drum MIDI events to make sure they can realistically be performed.
• Velocity Variance & Playback Probability (04:23) - Here, we explore the Velocity Variance and Playback Probability features to see how these can add an element of chance into your drum performances. This means the part won't play back the exact same every time it cycles around.
• Using the Logical Editor Presets (07:33) - In this video, we'll see how you can use the Logical Editor and the presets to humanize and randomize notes in your drum performances. We'll look at some of the presets and see how they can be used on drums. The Logical Editor can also show you how the input note data is transformed with the functionality.
• Ghost Notes (05:45) - Here, we look at adding ghost notes to your drum patterns. You'll see how to create the ghost notes and then edit their velocities so they sit perfectly with the drum performance. The notes are very low in the mix, but they help add interest to the drum groove.
• Articulations & Dynamics (05:41) - The Articulations and Dynamics lanes are useful in controlling the master dynamic level of your velocities. In this video, you'll learn how to use this to change the dynamics of the drums.
• Drum Fills (08:39) - Discover how you can create some extra interest in your drum tracks by creating drum fills. This also helps with transitions between different sections in your arrangements, as it helps signal the listener that a change is coming.
• Creating Your Own Drum Machine (08:47) - Here, we see how to create a drum track and build up your own drum machine using the synthesized drum samples. You'll also see how to use the different filter/envelope sections, add some effects to each drum pad, and layer drum samples on each drum pad.
• Adding Pattern Variations (05:01) - For this video, you'll learn how to use the Pattern Sequencer to create different variations. This is a great way to test out different pattern sequence ideas with the drums, as you can quickly and easily change the pattern parts or build up quick arrangements.
• Creating Your Own Groove Agent Drumkit with Samples (04:51) - Discover how to build your own drum kit using your own samples with the Groove Agent instrument. You can assign a sample (or multiple samples) to a pad, set up group exclusivity for the samples, and edit/process the pads and samples.
• Creating Your Own Drum Map (05:20) - Learn to create our own drum maps in the Drum Map editor. This works well if you're using third-party drum instruments that are mapped differently than the standard GM (general MIDI) drum map. You'll then see how to save these custom drum maps and use them for your instruments.
• Rock Drum Groove (09:39) - In this video, we see how to program some rock drums over a guitar riff. We use the Logical Editor to add some humanization to the performance and then add some hits to accent parts in the drum groove. We also add some fills to create additional interest.
• Jazz Drum Groove (10:50) - Here, we'll look at creating a basic jazz drum groove. We'll bring the swing feature into action here, use softer velocities to work with this style, and use the Logical Editor to add some humanization to the performance.
• Using Multiple MIDI Tracks (03:47) - To finish off the series, we show how you can use multiple MIDI tracks mapped to one drum instrument. For example, you might want to split up your different hits to different MIDI tracks. You'll also see how you can route MIDI and Pattern tracks to the same drum instrument and use them together.