Is Idrums A Good Software Program Options

[fictionmusic]

I love i-Drums. I use it a lot and admire it's programming flexability.
You can use it at different tempi and different meters easily [snip]

Is it true that you can use iDrum with different meters? (This is Glaresoft's iDrum we're talking about, yes?)

I've checked out the demo and read several mgazine reviews, and I like it enough that I persuaded my significant other to get it for me for Christmas.

But ... my experience with the demo, like every review I've read, tells me that iDrum patterns can only be in 4/4, although you can set the resolution to 16ths (the default), 32nds, or 64ths. I would love to be wrong about this!

Well you are not really wrong, but not entirely right either. The drum machine has a midi file that is generated for each pattern and they can easily be edited to any meter. You are using the i-Drum as a voice generator at this point.
You can also program a pattern in i-Drum that can turn into an odd meter pretty easily. If I want something in 5/4 for example, I'll set the resolution I like and program a 1 bar pattern in i-Drum itself (I use 16ths like 8 ths at this point). Then I drag the midi file onto my sequencer and trim out the space at the end of the pattern. So instead of using the step sequencer to define the end of the bar (which you are correct in assuming only does 4/4) I do it in it's corresponding midi file. I have a whole lot of different midi files I have created in a folder within the i-Drum folder. I keep the whole i-drum folder in my task bar so I can grab and edit midi files (a la Stylus) all the time.

The fact that I can program a pattern, drag the midi file and then edit it, and create lots of personal kits as well, suits the way I work.

[PaulSC]

Hey, thanks for the tip. I'll have iDrum soon and will give this a try.

[Dave Bourke]

To answer Andrew Turner's post above, fictionmusic's post here is exactly the sort of thing I meant by "using iDrum properly" in my previous post. Very clever and very musical.

Bear in mind, too, that each voice in iDrum can be independently pitch-changed, bit-reduced, highpass/lowpass-filtered, and decay-enveloped. You can also create unusual choke group setting for cymbals and electronic percussion sounds.

Not forgetting how easy it is to create your own rhythmic instruments simply by dragging the samples you want to use into the interface.

For instance, I recorded my nieces and nephews playing in my mother's back garden, then chopped up the samples, dragged them into iDrum, and created some amazing child-tribal chant things. Plus, it's just so quick to work with.

The bottom line is that iDrum is limited only by your own musical imagination.

Kind regards.

[Turner]

Thanks David.

First, I'd love to hear that tribal-chant-thing!

I assume these customized drums work fine with GarageBand? There seems to be built-in functionality in GarageBand, but I'm not sure.

In other words, could I use GarageBand to drive / record iDrum filled with samples, of, say, me tapping on my desk and a coffee cup?

thx!
Andrew

[Dave Bourke]

Andrew, while I bought GarageBand and all the iApps when iLife '04 first came out, I no longer have GB installed on my machine. But since iDrum was initially largely targeted at and designed for the burgeoning GarageBand market, there is absolutely no reason this shouldn't work perfectly for you.

Kind regards.