beats

Due to my current living arrangements, I can't play my Tama kit very often. It is just way too loud. And it's a hell of a shame too because it's in mint condition and the tone is killer. As a result, I've been using my Boss drum machine to program beats to play to. It's easy to program and all of the sounds are pretty good. There are two distinct drawbacks though, and that's that the sound and timing customization is limited. It really sounds too perfect and it's impossible to create a "groove" or "swing" feel. So today I was floating around online looking for a good drum program for the pc. I found Hammerhead drums, some VTi-related drum banks and stuff (none of which I know anything about), and then I stumbled across this program called FL (Fruity Loops) Studio 5. The name is pretty lame, but this software is amazing! I downloaded the demo version and gave it a quick test drive. The customization options are virtually endless. Plus, you can add virtual instruments like electric guitar and totally customize every little aspect about the guitar's sound & timing. This program is just unbelievable. I had no idea software like this existed. So after trying it out, I've pretty much decided that I want this for good. With the demo version, I can't save the patterns I make so if I want to use this thing ongoingly, I need to buy it. They have several different versions based on feature availability. With something like this, I think I'd want the fullest version. I seriously believe that I can put this to use often - like maybe even every song until I'm in an apartment with more privacy/room to blast out on my kit. So I'm going to keep tinkering around with it for a few more days and then make a final decision on whether or not it's worth the money. If you want a pc program to make drum beat patterns with, then Fruity Loops appears to be the way to go and you should download the demo immediately. I am so impressed with it.

While on my surf this morning, I also happened to run across a seemingly cool recording forum. I didn't have the time to really go through the topics and all, but looking at their titles and seeing how active the message threads were, I went ahead and registered on the site. Maybe I'll see some of you fellow music recorders there. My username there is hexitt.

If anyone knows of any other sophisticated drum programs for the PC, please leave a comment with the name or link. I'd really appreciate it.