Music Lesson: Understanding Virtual Drummers

So, these are all different drummers playing various styles. I'm going to take Duncan and, you know what, let's pick him from a new instrument.

New Instrument

• Go to: New Instrument
• Audio Type: Electronic sounds

This is a good time to show you another little tool. That drum loop was put all the way at the beginning of my session down here. Now I wanted to move it over here.

1. Go to the beginning of my loop region.
2. Select Move to Playhead.
3. Click Move to Playhead.

Bang! Let's put it over there.

Introduction to Magnus

Okay, so now I've got Magnus playing an EDM kit.

• This doesn't quite sound like an acoustic set; it sounds more like a drum machine.
• He is playing samples routed through some kind of virtual acoustic drum kit.

What he's using is the Drum Machine Designer interface.

Exploring the Mixer

If I go into my mixer and take a look, you'll see a little arrow down here. If I press it, it opens up a whole section.

• The first one over here shows where the auxiliary is.
• This is the main source sound which is playing Ultra Beat as a virtual drummer, which is incredible!

Whenever I press this again, we see that all the auxiliaries have been opened and all the Ultra Beat sound sources are being sent to various different subs.

• There are quite a lot of auxiliaries; in fact, so many that they're not even showing on my screen.
• Various mic positions are being sent to different busses to be manipulated and processed in various ways.

This approach gives it more of a feel and body.

Understanding Drum Machine Designer

So, what is this Drum Machine Designer?

• It's not really an instrument; it is an interface for Ultra Beat.
• While it's playing, you can see the sounds being triggered here.

Soloing Sounds

For example, I can solo just the kick.

1. Click on it here, and all these processing options come up.
2. This is part of the Smart Control section.

The Smart Control section is down here on the Arrange page.

• When I click on a specific sound that's playing, it pulls this up, allowing me to process it myself.
• For instance, I can go into the clap and give it more presence or perhaps a snappier sound.

Smart Controls

So, what are these controls actually changing?

• They could change various parameters within the plugins across the whole drum bus.
• Most probably, they're changing the sound within Ultra Beat.

This whole environment is essentially a glorified Ultra Beat or an alternative way of looking at and manipulating it.

Integration of Sounds

Once they're all out here for you to see, you can manipulate and process them in various ways.

• We can hear the snap going there in the claps, which I modulated a little bit to change the sound.

The highlight, for me, is the fact that in the Drum Machine Designer interface, which looks a little different from the acoustic one, I can take out the kick.

If I'm programming an Ultra Beat sound, I can highlight this and turn Ultra Beat on. I now have both playing right now. If I've programmed something very grid-based, and I want to add a little bit of movement, I can use the virtual drummer to give it a swing.

Switching Drummers

Let's explore the acoustic versions again.

• Back in the library, if I want to change presets, it's very easy.
• These are basically Ultra Beat derived presets, part of the virtual drummer.

Now, let's go back to my alternative drummer and pull up Gavin again - Indie Rock.

• It's going to notify me that if I change the drummer, it will replace changes I've made.
• This will access the loops pertaining more to these acoustic kit players.

Adding Layers

So, that sounds quite better, having a lot of swing to it!

• Now, I'm going to take the kick out for a second.
• Notice the difference: no swing vs. lots of swing.

Now, if I add my very grid-based something to give it more body. This is quite straight. I can add the kick back in and let's add some rides in.

So, layering these sounds with the very grid-based sequence you've programmed allows for additional manipulation.

Conclusion

You can actually change things within the kit using the virtual drummer, eliminating sounds like the kick to avoid muddiness in your layered sections.

So, that's virtual drummer!