Advice on Drum programming Toms? (Thank you all for the suggestions so far!)

The Lounge Other Gear
#25

…all these options, from the stubborn potato breaks (most prominent and famous example to find in collins “in the air tonight”) to aaaaaaall the ways to tribal bouncing…

as @onthebannedwagon suggests so bluntly to the point…take a deep burundi dive to discover the whole world of rhythmical wonders between the obvious down and upbeat rules…

toms are ur bongos on each standard western drum kit…u can reinvent them each time u go…
and long before ur start to twiddle any filter envelopes u test the most essential envelope…how starts ur sound, how lasts ur sound and where does it END…in all music notation, that’s where all expression and groove relation got their roots…defining their place in time and flow by their individual starts AND stops…

5 Likes
#26

Haha. This made me laugh.

Yeah, that’s why I don’t use them much, and everyone is talking about using filters, distortion and saturation, so it’s a common sentiment.

I feel like they would be good for synth wave, of course.

Plus, I paid for the toms, might as well get some use out of them.

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#27

Okay, so okay with decay as well.

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#28

Not even low key, but Phil Collins and even Prince are pioneers in instituting drum machines along side real drums instead of in place of them.

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#29

What kind of music do you have in mind btw.?

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#30

…yeah…whenever u feel lost in drum programming…shorten all decays to almost nothing and see what u’ve got… :wink:

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How to change parameters globally
#31

This is old school, but when it comes to the melodic side of techno, some of Jeff Mill’s releases on his Purpose Maker label are at core African rhythms where toms are an integral part of the groove, e,g,

Made me laugh, but I get where you’re coming from.

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#32

Synthwave is the most traditional way I would try.

Then hip hop.

But I usually produce DnB or EDM in general.

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#33

Dope.

It’s a little work on the TR8S. A couple menus per tracks. But good idea.

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#34

…get a takt…
…there it’s always just one little overall twist away… :wink:
which u can even adress with lfo…

while on a more traditional roland groovebox, u defenitly might wanna take a look on those pattern layouts @Annihilation_Squares provided here…heaps of basics to discover and easy to implement for endless groove discovery missions…

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How to change parameters globally
#35

You can definitely use toms in a satisfying way, though maybe as a post-ironic gesture these days. Skee Mask uses them to nice effect at the begininng of this track:

(though in fairness it’s more of a throwaway pattern for the intro as the toms are soon laid to rest).

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#36

I got a Syntakt.

Are you saying get a Digi ?

I could never cheat on her.

But I think there are some Tom sounds. Just so bent, that they already solved the problem for me.

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#37

I saw you talking about him on your thread about the kits you’re offering.

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#38

I’m a bit obsessed. :grin:

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#39

…that goes for all Elektrons, except for the little knobby Models (which are even more hands on).

But Tr8s is pretty straightforward, too! IIRC you can put decay on the CTRL knobs (so decay is always right in front of you.

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#40

You can and that’s just how I’d do it.

That’s pretty much my go-to move thus far!

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#41

…that one parameter twist to rule them all, can be found on pretty much all elektron devices…

and with such universal parameters like amp envelope’s decay, it’s also on multi twisted monsters like the syntakt just one twist away…

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#42

Just copy Afro Cuban clave rhythms and you’ll be good

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#43

can relate

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#44

Personally no.

Personally no. I dont really do 4 on the floor.

Tricky. I’m a drummer, so put toms where I would play them as a drummer. Drum machine Toms can be amazing if you can pull it off, but I get why people dont like them. And you dont have to.

1 Like