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How to create a proper setup for a drum playthrough

Started by Progdrummer, November 10, 2018, 04:26:20 PM

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Progdrummer

Hello folks!

I've been using my Drum It 5 MK II for 4 years and I'm definitely satisfied with my sounds and the feeling I achieved.
What I'm trying to do now is a little harder to achieve: I use to play over drumless songs to end my training session, and I would love to create a YouTube channel just for fun and showcase a bit of them.
But I need it to make it as best as I can.

This is why I'm asking for your help: could you please suggest me what should I get to record a proper drumalong session using SD2 or similar in real time via MIDI?
As for now I only have single sound kits on the DrumIt 5 brain, but I would love to be able playing using Superior Drummer with a MIDI connection, switching drumkits anytime I want without creating any file at all. And I would love being able to record everything in a good fashion, audio only would be good enough to me, I'll get a Go Pro for the visuals later.

So, could you please tell me exactly what kind of laptop, software and connections do I need to make it real?

Thanks a lot in advance :)

Greetings from Italy!

paulf707

Hi!
That's quite a wide ranging question...…

You say you want to use a VST (e.g. SD2 or similar) rather than the onboard Drumit sounds.. Therefore you will need a PC/Laptop/Mac to host this. You will also need a good quality Audio Interface to be able to playback the sounds in real-time with very little latency. If this interface doesn't include Midi connections, you will also need a Midi interface. You will need an DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) to host the VST and record the Midi / Audio performances.

PC/Laptop/Mac
I'm a PC user, so I have no experience on Macs. From a PC spec perspective you'll probably need i7 CPU, 16Gb RAM, SSD hard disk with 500Gb minimum space. Depending on the Audio Interface you choose, you'll need either USB2 / USB3 or Firewire connectivity

Audio Interface
If you are sure you only want to use Midi recording and VST sounds, then you can choose a smaller interface (2in 2out) - but to get low latency you need a 'pro' interface with ASIO drivers. I use Focusrite but there are many to choose from. USB will be more than good enough for a 2in 2out interface.
If it doesn't have Midi connections as well (some do, some don't) you'll need a separate Midi interface - this can be very cheap.
However, if you want to consider audio recording from the D5, then you have got up to 8 audio outputs available. To record this in one take you'd need an interface with 8 audio ins (and that gets expensive). These are often on Firewire, so you need a laptop with this connection. Alternatively USB3 (and probably USB2) should be fast enough for 8 inputs.
You can record the Midi performance to the DAW and then play that back multiple times playing only certain drums / cymbals in order to record multiple audio tracks through a 2 input interface (but it will take more time).

DAW
Cakewalk is now free on a PC - that's more than good enough for what you are describing and is particularly good at Midi editing. If you are going down the 'audio recording' route, then Mixbus in relatively cheap (watch out for seasonal offers) and has a very good name.


I'm having similar thoughts, but aiming towards audio recording rather than Midi. I have been looking at potential 'non-PC' options, and looking carefully at the Zoom R16
This is a 16 track recorder with 8 inputs. It can also easily transfer the audio recordings to a PC for editing etc., and can also act as an 8 input Audio Interface into a DAW if required.....
2nd hand prices are not dissimilar to 8 input audio interfaces for the PC, and gives a lot more options (for audio recording).....

Hope this is helpful - I'm sure others will add their thoughts and advice. (These are just my thoughts and experience)
Any questions, just ask