Kind of a newbie here, what is the best way to sync up a midi drum track to some guitar tracks I recorded in Cubase? I have Cubase LE and Fruity Loops or NI Kore 2 demo version for sounds. I can get pretty close by adjusting the BPM of the MIDI track but is there a way to match them up perfectly? Is hitpoints the way to go with this ? Say I record a small part and then duplicate it or loop it just to get the song idea going. How can I match up some drums in tempo just to get a rough demo going? Another scenario is I have some ideas that aren't in 4/4... what's a good way to put a beat to the idea besides trial and error? (i don't think like a drummer just yet . Thanks for any and all replies !Peace.
On Tue, 05 May 2009 00:44:40 -0400, skip turlington <> wrote: >Kind of a newbie here, what is the best way to sync up a midi drum track >to some guitar tracks I recorded in Cubase? I have Cubase LE and Fruity >Loops or NI Kore 2 demo version for sounds. > I can get pretty close by adjusting the BPM of the MIDI track but >is there a way to match them up perfectly? Is hitpoints the way to go >with this ? Say I record a small part and then duplicate it or loop it >just to get the song idea going. How can I match up some drums in tempo >just to get a rough demo going? > Another scenario is I have some ideas that aren't in 4/4... what's a >good way to put a beat to the idea besides trial and error? (i don't >think like a drummer just yet . > Thanks for any and all replies !Peace. Hitpoints, MIDI sync, SMPTE.....
On Tue, 05 May 2009 00:44:40 -0400, skip turlington <> wrote: >Kind of a newbie here, what is the best way to sync up a midi drum track >to some guitar tracks I recorded in Cubase? I have Cubase LE and Fruity >Loops or NI Kore 2 demo version for sounds. > I can get pretty close by adjusting the BPM of the MIDI track but >is there a way to match them up perfectly? Is hitpoints the way to go >with this ? Say I record a small part and then duplicate it or loop it >just to get the song idea going. How can I match up some drums in tempo >just to get a rough demo going? > Another scenario is I have some ideas that aren't in 4/4... what's a >good way to put a beat to the idea besides trial and error? (i don't >think like a drummer just yet . > Thanks for any and all replies !Peace. The full version of Cubase makes it very easy to construct a tempo map to already-recorded audio. You merely drag barlines to align with the audio waveform picture. If you want to do this a lot it's well worth investing in a suitable version (assuming it's not in Cubase LE?) But be careful. If the drum track DOESN'T aligh by simple speed adjustment, it means the tempo of your audio track fluctuates. This can sound OK for guitars, voices etc. But a drum groove with fluctuating tempo just sounds bad! You may get better results by actually playing the drum parts. It's not hard - do it instrument by instrument using a keyboard controller. A sympathetic player can "go with the flow" in a way a mechanically-aligned quantised sequence somehow never does. Or perhaps you'll discover that what you're really doing is showing up bad timing in the guitar tracks. Time to stop turd-polishing and re-record to a pre-made drum track. Who told you all drum patterns were in 4/4 Construct some that aren't! CubaseFAQ page: http://www.laurencepayne.co.uk/CubaseFAQ.htm
On 2009-05-05 06:20:27 -0400, Laurence Payne <> said: > On Tue, 05 May 2009 00:44:40 -0400, skip turlington <> > wrote: > >> Kind of a newbie here, what is the best way to sync up a midi drum track >> to some guitar tracks I recorded in Cubase? I have Cubase LE and Fruity >> Loops or NI Kore 2 demo version for sounds. >> I can get pretty close by adjusting the BPM of the MIDI track but >> is there a way to match them up perfectly? Is hitpoints the way to go >> with this ? Say I record a small part and then duplicate it or loop it >> just to get the song idea going. How can I match up some drums in tempo >> just to get a rough demo going? >> Another scenario is I have some ideas that aren't in 4/4... what's a >> good way to put a beat to the idea besides trial and error? (i don't >> think like a drummer just yet . >> Thanks for any and all replies !Peace. > > The full version of Cubase makes it very easy to construct a tempo map > to already-recorded audio. You merely drag barlines to align with the > audio waveform picture. If you want to do this a lot it's well worth > investing in a suitable version (assuming it's not in Cubase LE?) > > But be careful. If the drum track DOESN'T aligh by simple speed > adjustment, it means the tempo of your audio track fluctuates. This > can sound OK for guitars, voices etc. But a drum groove with > fluctuating tempo just sounds bad! > > You may get better results by actually playing the drum parts. It's > not hard - do it instrument by instrument using a keyboard > controller. A sympathetic player can "go with the flow" in a way a > mechanically-aligned quantised sequence somehow never does. Or > perhaps you'll discover that what you're really doing is showing up > bad timing in the guitar tracks. Time to stop turd-polishing and > re-record to a pre-made drum track. > > Who told you all drum patterns were in 4/4 Construct some that > aren't! > > CubaseFAQ page: http://www.laurencepayne.co.uk/CubaseFAQ.htm what I usually do these days is actually use a MIDI drum file as my basic click track, then record the guitars, then drag and drop MIDI files of drum patterns until I get a complete performance. I like doing it this way instead of using a generic click track, becuase by using different drum patterns in different styles, it allows me to better match up the feel of what I'm trying to accomplish (playing to a shuffle beat will garner different results than to a 4/4 metal performance, for example). Groove Agent is a perfect metronome in this regard, but I also play with EZPlayer and Drumcore for different types of patterns and performances. In any case, I'd suggest investing in some standard MIDI files played by professional drummers, and use a sample playback engine for the sounds. many of the files you can probably get dirt cheap, and a number of companies offer free demo tryout packs for download. Check out companies like GrooveMonkee, OddGrooves, and Smartloops. ToonTrack is offering a pair of Monster MIDI File packages with all sorts of patterns (the new one introduced a few days ago even features odd time signatures), and I think you can still download a usable "lite" version of EZPlayer from them. You might also want to investigate Submersible's KitCore packages, which include both sample playback and professionably played MIDI performances at a decent price and low CPU overhead. -- Dan Dreibelbis, Guitar Nerd - Better Living Through Home Recording http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=121942 http://www.myspace.com/dandreibelbis Current Songs - "Booty Dread" newest YouTube Video, me on bass! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyKSUB0AF1g
