Help with drum tracks

[floaded27]

When we have rehearsal, sometimes the drummer doesnt show (particularly for p&w rehearsals) and the other kid on the drums.....well although he is my nephew, his timing sucks! If i could make some sort of backing track, we'd have a foundation and he could use that as his guide to stay in time. I have a Motif ES, but it seemingly takes way too long to make a track (going to pattern mode, creating a pattern, getting the tempo right) and with going over multiple songs (dont know ahead of time, nor is my motif at home with me during the week) i'd have to do this in between every song. Am i doing something wrong or is there a better way to create some backing tracks? (its just for rehearsal so nothing fancy or elaborate is needed)

[blue_jays]

One of the best recommendations that I have for you is that if you are in that situation which most musicians are:

Try using fruity loops and exporting them. Have it on your laptop. I have used the motif and it's a great tool however it's very time consuming (most of the time) to make a click track. What i find is fruity loops combined with the motif works well for me.

[T-Block]

U ever thought about investing in a beat machine?

[chevonee]

You'll love this new tool from Hearandplay called "Back Pocket Band". Click here for more info!
http://www.hearandplay.com/go/?p=a480396&w=backpocketband

[floaded27]

U ever thought about investing in a beat machine?

i actually did have a Alesis SR16 that i let my cousin hold, which he still has. The thing about that was there was no direct editing when you tried to record your own pattern. So using the overdub, you mess up one part, you had to start from scratch. And the weird sensitivity of the buttons is what really made u mess up in the first place. That was the one thing about it that i hated. I WAS at one time gonna get the SR18 which was much better, but then i was saying, "Do i really wanna buy ANOTHER drum machine???" Of course the answer was no.

I did use my netbook (dont have a full-fledged laptop yet) with a DAW and do loops via MIDI once. The thing was always when going to the next song, which was at a different tempo. i did have multiple patterns set up on different tracks for each of the different songs, which i did right before rehearsal since i got there early. The problem was in  a DAW, there is one BPM for all tracks. So when changing songs, i had to experiment with getting the right tempo, and do this while everyone was waiting to practice that next song.  I guess i could have multiple projects open to  fix this, but this is a netbook. cant handle that much at once. When i get a laptop, then this wont be a factor anymore.

[chevonee]

i actually did have a Alesis SR16 that i let my cousin hold, which he still has. The thing about that was there was no direct editing when you tried to record your own pattern. So using the overdub, you mess up one part, you had to start from scratch. And the weird sensitivity of the buttons is what really made u mess up in the first place. That was the one thing about it that i hated. I WAS at one time gonna get the SR18 which was much better, but then i was saying, "Do i really wanna buy ANOTHER drum machine???" Of course the answer was no.

I did use my netbook (dont have a full-fledged laptop yet) with a DAW and do loops via MIDI once. The thing was always when going to the next song, which was at a different tempo. i did have multiple patterns set up on different tracks for each of the different songs, which i did right before rehearsal since i got there early. The problem was in  a DAW, there is one BPM for all tracks. So when changing songs, i had to experiment with getting the right tempo, and do this while everyone was waiting to practice that next song.  I guess i could have multiple projects open to  fix this, but this is a netbook. cant handle that much at once. When i get a laptop, then this wont be a factor anymore.

You should look into that new software from Hearandplay. It has tracks with just drums and also drums and bass. It has over 350 different files which include grooves, praise songs, shouting music, etc in all 12 keys. It's not very expensive and you can take it with you anywhere...anytime.

[docjohn]

FLD;I think what T Block meant;or the SIMPLEST way;

hook your Alesis to audio and just send the click to the drummer ;NOT any groove at all.Just tick,tick,tick-have it where you dial in tempo;hit start and GO!Simple as it gets and lo-tech.You could program a simple 1,2,3,4 etc.. on the ride/etc..

Hey Chev;is the only way you can hear that program demo to sign in?

[T-Block]

FLD;I think what T Block meant;or the SIMPLEST way;

hook your Alesis to audio and just send the click to the drummer ;NOT any groove at all.Just tick,tick,tick-have it where you dial in tempo;hit start and GO!Simple as it gets and lo-tech.You could program a simple 1,2,3,4 etc.. on the ride/etc..

Something like that. If his problem is staying on beat, then something that keeps a steady beat for him is all that's needed, but I hear ya floaded. Maybe a little cheap metronome can work as well.

[betnich]

Maybe Band-in-a-Box would be good for you....like GarageBand, easy-to-use drum loops....

[floaded27]

FLD;I think what T Block meant;or the SIMPLEST way;

hook your Alesis to audio and just send the click to the drummer ;NOT any groove at all.Just tick,tick,tick-have it where you dial in tempo;hit start and GO!Simple as it gets and lo-tech.You could program a simple 1,2,3,4 etc.. on the ride/etc..

Hey Chev;is the only way you can hear that program demo to sign in?

Something like that. If his problem is staying on beat, then something that keeps a steady beat for him is all that's needed, but I hear ya floaded. Maybe a little cheap metronome can work as well.

Part of the problem is folks dont practice. Rehearsal is not really the time to get u established. Not sure he can follow a simple click track, because when i start him off by giving him the beat, he has a hard time with that. Like i said, folks dont practice (and the problem with my nephew is he gets an attitude and doesnt want to play anymore when someone corrects him, which, once again, rehearsal isnt the time and place to deal with that) So, with the fuller track if he wanna get mad and not play, he can go somewhere and sit down and we can keep it moving. Just being real.

Secondly, just a metronome would only do anything for the times that theres actually someone to sit on the drums. just a tick-tick-tick going on will make it hard for the singers to find the right rhythm for the songs. I can follow it fine, but as u know its hard to play rhythmically on the keys PLUS play all the cues that the singers are looking for correctly.

An good free alternative to Fruity Loops  is LMMS (Linux Multimedia Studio) for Windows.

I have Sony Acid Express on my netbook. Might work the same way. I guess i just have to get faster at creating tracks so i can do it between songs (might be easier with this since im much more familiar with it)


Thanks everyone for suggestions.

[T-Block]

I was under the impression that the drummer was the only one who needed to hear the clicks for the beat, then everyone would just follow him. I see your dilemma now man. That band in a box idea is not sounding too bad, lol.