Creating own Drum-Beats from scratch: what drum software should I buy?

Hydrogen is free and gives a lot of control (different velocity settings and whatnot), but I’ve had the most fun so far with an app called Caustic 3 that runs on my old Verizon/android tablet. It has a bunch of synths and organs and stuff in it, but also a flexible and useful beatbox and effects section. I’m still feeling my way around, but I did this super reverbed-out distorted track with it, from scratch:

https://alonetone.com/benniven/tracks/caustic-magnus-import

After arranging the drum part in one-bar chunks, I exported and saved them. I then e-mailed the chunks to myself so I could import them into BandLab, which runs on my iPhone, where I just copied and pasted to get the length I wanted, then overdubbed the bass and guitar.

Caustic 3 is available as a free trial so you can get a feel for how it works, but you have to buy a $9.99 license key to access saving and exporting. I liked it, and the fact that it seemed like a good use for an old tablet that is now off-plan with Verizon...so I did.

 

I use EZDrummer and have for many years.

Sounds good. You can get as granular with creating beats as much as you want, and has a library of loops to start from/edit if you want that.

It has to merge with your DAW to write MIDI for creating your own beats, so not sure if that answers your question of what you’re looking for or not.

 

If you've got the skills you can just buy some electronic drums too and plug them in to your setup.

My son takes drums, so we already have an electronic drum kit.. I'm kind of intrigued by using them to make my own tracks.

We have an alesis kit and even the low ends come right out of the box with a ton of different connections to provide a bunch of options.

 

Search TDPRI for recent threads on this, too.

I've been using MT PowerKit 2 with decent results. Easy to use, and provides lots of sample groove patterns to start with. Drag and drop into a MIDI track in your DAW.

 

Right, you install the program and then you can select it as an option within the DAW.

 

Addidativ drums is a free plug with good sounds.

 

EZD is also eminently expandable, with MIDI paks (new patterns in whatever style you choose) and new kits (new drum kits in whatever genre, each with its own suite of patterns). That way you can "grow" your drum sound one small expenditure at a time. Also, Groove Monkee free patterns will drop right into EXD, and some of them are very good.
Like you, I started writing from scratch, but it was frustrating and time-consuming. I soon found I got a better "feel" taking patterns played in by real drummers, then altering them in the MIDI edit window (piano roll). Bear in mind you can slice 'n' dice patterns and save them as user presets.

 

The other big one to consider is Native Instruments' Studio Drummer:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/drums/studio-drummer/

 

EZDrummer2 is even more user friendly. It solved all of my issues. I bought a used 25 key MIDI input device for $25 a few years ago and serves my purposes well. It takes some time for a MIDI noobie like me to ramp up (about as easy as a drum machine), but once I got going, it goes well. The additional packs that you can add on are fantastic too, so it is a long term platform.

 

I'm just a hack guitarist and recording hobbyist, been using EZD for years and really couldn't live without it. I've got an Akai LPD 8 with 8 pads and it's all I need for creating great sounding drums. Don't like the cost of the expansion kits but there's so many free beats out there, as mentioned, Groove Monkey is huge too.

M

 

I can trigger my EZDrummer 2 with my Alesis Command EDrum set.

Sweetwater has a tutorial on the procedure.