Any Suggestions For Drum Software? Options

[twain]

Can anyone suggest a good program for drums? I'm looking for one that doesn't alter the original sound of the sample as soon as you pop it into the instument. I've been using Reason, but have recently got fed up with the poor sound playback. Reason has a bizarre habit of playing samples back and making them sound hollow. Maybe it's just me but I'm tired of messing with it and have just decided to move on.

This post has been edited by twain: Wed 28 Jul 2004, 05:14

[Dave Bourke]

You can't use your own samples with Stylus – which is what twain wants to do.

However, you can't go wrong with iDrum if you're running OS X. For $49, it's an astonishing package – a step sequencer (a la TR808), a MIDI module, a drum-kit builder all-in-one. All controls and patterns are presented in one window and it takes just a few minutes to build a kit by dragging samples into it.

Each sample has a pattern matrix (called a Part) that can be displayed (and played) in 16/32/64 divisions and also has its own filters, pitch control, decay, choke settings, and mapping controls. You can even use it with loops!

You can create your own library of parts and load them from disk to mix and match.

Each iDrum file stores a kit and up to 99 patterns and/or a complete song. In AU mode you can use automation to change the first 16 patterns. The swing algorithm is identical to that used in the MPC 3000 (i.e. it's killer!).

You can also drag a MIDI file into iDrum (and out of it) - what more could you possibly want for $49 :-)

If this reads like I work for Glaresoft, I don't – I'm just a very happy user.