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Advantages of using an external drum sampler VST?
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| pointPi |
| Currently, I program all my drum sequencing on my main DAW (FL Studio 11, in case you were wondering), and I'm simply asking what advantages you get from doing that on an external sequencer like NI Battery. |
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| farris |
I reckon that by ”external sequencer” you actually meant to write ”external sampler”?
Battery is indeed a drum sampler, and as far as I know it doesn’t have a built-in sequencer.
Maschine does though, if you want something from NI...
You might want to follow this recent thread about drum programming:
http://tranceaddict.com/forum/showt...threadid=696959 |
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| pointPi |
| Okay, I think what I mean is, should I bother spending my money on a virtual drum macine like xFer's NERVE? Or, since FL started out as nothing but a drum machine, would that be a too much of a redundant decision? |
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| farris |
A better question to ask yourself might be which functionality does NERVE have
that you’re missing from FL. Or how can it help you speed up your workflow.
It is something totally personal I think. Whatever workflow suits you best.
NERVE has a limited demo which you can try. Battery too by the way.
Myself, I’m working with Logic and tried various workflows, from sampler with midi to just laying out the samples on an audio track.
Personally I’ve gone back to a drum sampler with a step-sequencer,
something like Reason’s Redrum and Maschine have.
I can quickly layout some beats, browse and preview samples, edit samples etc.
From what I have seen, FL Studio works in a similar way,
where you have the sample browser on the left and the step sequencer slots on the right.
Don’t overthink it though. A fast workflow trumps broad functionality. |
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| cryophonik |
| quote: | Originally posted by farris
Battery is indeed a drum sampler, and as far as I know it doesn’t have a built-in sequencer. |
Correct. Battery does not have a sequencer.
| quote: | Originally posted by farris
A better question to ask yourself might be which functionality does NERVE have that you’re missing from FL. Or how can it help you speed up your workflow. It is something totally personal I think. Whatever workflow suits you best. |
Totally agree. Personally, I like using drum samplers because they streamline some processes and I like the workflow. But, as you can see from that other thread, there are many ways to create your drum tracks, so they aren't really a necessity.
I use Battery 4 and Nerve and they're both nice drum samplers, each with their own strengths and workflow. Both have really good libraries for electronic music and modulation/envelope shaping. Battery's library is bigger, it has more options for the number of cells, better layering of samples, and more routing options. It really works great if you have a DAW with a nice step sequencer (e.g., Sonar), which I *think* FLS has???? Nerve has a better (IMO) library specifically for EDM, a really cool on-board sequencer that works on both drum patterns and modulation (e.g., filter cutoff, resonance, gate), and a ton of options for non-destructive mangling of samples in each cell. |
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| PaULiN0 |
| Word up for external sequencers~! |
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| tgl |
| Never tried a drum sampler in my life, but from what I just read from the replies above, there's really no need. You would get all your samples into one "wrapper" instead of 10 different "samplers", but is that really worth the money. Workflow would be approximately the same from what I understand from what I just read above me. I'm on FL too and never had the need for a drum machine/sampler |
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| PaULiN0 |
| quote: | Originally posted by tgl
Never tried a drum sampler in my life, but from what I just read from the replies above, there's really no need. You would get all your samples into one "wrapper" instead of 10 different "samplers", but is that really worth the money. Workflow would be approximately the same from what I understand from what I just read above me. I'm on FL too and never had the need for a drum machine/sampler |
A drum machine has amore intuitive pattern maker than your average daw's arrange window or midi editor. Some peeps like me like the audio engine in a external sequencer from another daw like reason re-wired into logic 10 and yes there's a difference but very small. With a sampler you have extra routing options, one for each cell and one for the Master and 1 for the channel. |
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| DJ RANN |
First, can we get the terminology right here:
It's not an "external sampler" or "external drum machine". That would be an Akai MPC hardware unit or an Electribe etc.
We're actually talking about soft(ware) drum sequencers and/or samplers.
It's all about workflow. I personally love hardware drum sequencers to play about with but they *usually* take a lot longer to transfer your quick idea to the DAW (some like machine are integrated but I digress).
The problem for me though is that I just can't abide a sequencer within a sequencer. Maybe I need to give it another proper shot, but my first forays were the layout of a external hardware drum sequencer without the tactile joy, and having to worry about two time lines (one for the drum sequencer and the linear one in the DAW).
Now I know some now follow the DAW location/playhead (which is why I need to give it another crack) but in some ways the deicsion comes down to:
Do you want a real tactile relationship based experience that although fast to play with, takes longer to work with your sequencers when you need to implement them,
Or
Do you want an system that lacks the tactile thing, but is fully integrated, should you be able to get around the fact you're looking at only your drums/perc in one window and all your other tracks in the main arrange window.
Actually does anyone know of a soft drum sequencer/sampler that easily dumps midi and/audio to the main arrange of say Logic? |
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| echosystm |
The FL sequencer, where you just drag samples into the pattern editor, is very basic. It only really gives you control over velocity, pitch, etc. A proper sampler will give you much better sample editing tools, layers, choke groups, etc.
Fortunately, FL comes with a few actual samplers. FPC and DirectWave are probably the best ones to learn. They don't have as many features as Battery and Kontakt, but it's safe to say you're not at that level yet anyway.
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ RANN
Actually does anyone know of a soft drum sequencer/sampler that easily dumps midi and/audio to the main arrange of say Logic? |
I could drag and drop MIDI to/from GURU and Cubase 6-7 years ago, so I assume they are all able to do this now. |
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| PaULiN0 |
| LOL tgl got schooled on samplers and drum machines. |
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