Programming beats DAW vs Drum Machine?

[Mark76]

Hi guys

Just interested to know how everyone goes about programming their beats?

Do you put something down directly into your drum machine and just SYNC it to your DAW, or do you enter everything into your DAW and activate the notes on your drum machine via MIDI?

I'm kinda torn between both methods really. Sometimes the clock on various drum machines is a bit 'off' so entering the notes into DAW seems more reliable. The downside being that it seems a lot less hands on and spontanous.

Which method do you find works best?

[madtheory]

Neither. I play them into a DAW, from the keyboard mainly. Sometimes with drum pad and sticks (hitting things is fun!). I find entering it all with a mouse slightly more fun than gouging out my own eyeballs. Chaining patterns on a drum machine is ever so slightly more fun than either of those methods, to me. I might use one occasionally, just as a different way to make patterns. But that'll get recorded into the DAW as MIDI ASAP.

It's a lot easier to get your dynamics right by actually performing it. And it's fun.

I do edit with the mouse, of course. But if it's just not right I play it again. Latency is something to deal with, if you're using a USB audio interface.

[sandwich]

I absolutely hate entering notes with the mouse. I usually use a keyboard to enter drum notes but after having recently bought the Arturia SparkLE I've fallen back in love with old style drum machine programming. It actually feels better to me but I guess its because that's what I grew up on. Once the sequence is written it then goes into the DAW for fine tuning

[meatballfulton]

IMHO the only real reason to step sequence drums (which is how most drum machines work) is that you simply can't play the parts in real time using keys or pads. I.e. you have no natural rhythm

There's a reason so many pad controllers are out there: finger drumming. I can play a part in more easily than figuring out what step needs to trigger which drum.

I can always quantize when a robotic sound is needed or leave it sounding like a human being. I can swing my playing rather than having to swing the sequencer instead. Not to mention in a DAW I can record as many bars as I like where most drum machines are limited to 16 steps (one bar) and require chaining patterns.

[sandwich]

IMHO the only real reason to step sequence drums (which is how most drum machines work) is that you simply can't play the parts in real time using keys or pads. I.e. you have no natural rhythm

Hmm.. is that so? maybe I should sequence my guitar then too

[meatballfulton]

I'll be honest...I've actually experienced shows where a guy with a laptop is cranking out beats that only someone with three legs could dance to.