Creating Realistic Drums in REAPER

Creating Realistic Drums in REAPER

[@Not-Only-Reaper-Tutorials]

This is NOT a Tutorial. This IS A SPLENDID TUTORIAL, Kenny! Great job!

[@huguesduchesne7057]

It definitly is :)

[@jebbylawless]

That's the best keyboard drumming I've ever heard! I'd swear it was a studio drummer if I didn't see you make it!

[@emmetscully6362]

Hi Kenny. Could you do a step by step on routing, customization, FX applied, etc to create the specific sound in this video from these SSD drums. I think everyone is blown away by how good they sound. I just can't seem to re-create it. A downloadable track template or project file from this video would be incredible.

[@chadmiller8725]

Kenny, those snare ghost notes are the sauce! I need to practice my midi grid editing to get better at this very important phase of midi drum tracking. I have to pay closer attention and slow things down initially. (Guitarist and sooo not a drummer, but absolutely love all things drums) I speak for the masses when I say "Thank You Kenny for the work & passion - always!"

[@djabthrash]

You should start getting into drums for real, it will change your life. Comes from a guitar/bass player (since i'm a 10 y.o) who started drumming way later in life, at the age of 30.

[@harrisfrankou2368]

I'm using Spitfire Labs Ludwig and finger drumming everyday. I'm working a few basic templates..and ghost notes are the hardest. I'll try this kit as well. Brilliants.So easy to follow and go next level. Love the Kit. I'm using three snares. But this is like a "left right hand" snare fill vibe. More intuitive.

[@chrisdaviesguitar]

This is the best drum tutorial I have ever seen. You just changed my music for the better. Thank you.

[@greenmtguy4593]

So glad you did this man. I don't have room for an acoustic kit, and my midi drums are so fail. I hope this helps!

[@nbkMM]

Wonderful tutorial! Kenny, you're the man! I love how you put the puzzles together in such a clear way. It's like getting 10 tutorials in each one of your videos.

[@johnnymiller3684]

Okay, I'm tired; I thought the title read, "Creating Unrealistic Drums in REAPER." I thought to myself, "Well, that isn't very difficult to do." Lol

[@tfontmusic]

Is there any way you could make the template file for the drums available for download? I can’t get them to sound nearly as good as yours and I would like to see what all you have in your groups.

[@electroniccaveman3493]

It's so good to see a tutorial about handmade drumparts. Many plugins are advertised with ("hey, this plugin gives you the groove with a few mouse clicks"). What the buyers miss is the fantastic feeling that self-recorded music gives you. It is also important to "drum" to other recorded parts. That's what makes it come alive.

[@HELLNAWW]

How do I open up the grid and record using my computer keyboard?

[@HELLNAWW]

I'm a music permanoob pls help

[@electroniccaveman3493]

@@HELLNAWW Become a member of the reaper forum and ask your questions there. There are many helpful people there.

[@HELLNAWW]

@@electroniccaveman3493 okay. I just don't know to record my keyboard 😔

[@gnarlantlers70]

Thank you so much for this. You are so appreciated for all you do for Reaper users. Thank you thank you Thank you. 🙏🏻

[@jimmahbee]

Man not only is the tutorial great but the song is great too! The drums sound amazing

[@stevebracher6998]

And that's why Kenny is "the pro" Makes it look easy! Lots of good stuff in this episode, all of them actually. Thanks Kenny

[@andrewtreen229]

Another great, great tutorial, but I missed the initial setup lesson. You said, "I sent out each set of drums to a different output" which of the drums sounds/recordings from SSD5 go to the Overheads track and which go to the Room track? Cheers.

[@dylanjastle]

Holding ctrl and swiping to adjust midi velocity is absolutely sweet. I have been in Reaper a while and watched many a tutorial. Have never seen that nugget before. Many thanks from Utah Kenny!

[@mateuszzawocki1405]

Kenny, 13:47 LIFESAVER!!! I have allways struggled with manuały click every piece of hit on the grid and then adjust velocity or even by click at the top of every velocity line from the bottom. Never knew how to draw this. Thanks so much for this tip. From now on, nothing will be the same. Greets!

[@richiejackson9321]

Right? Tweaking velocities always seems so painful. That’s definitely going to be a massive takeaway for me, too!

[@mateuszzawocki1405]

@@richiejackson9321 The Best is that I've comment Kenny's video from last week and asked if it is possible to draw velocity line somehow and Look, here it comes. :)

[@gimmeagig]

I'm a bass player and I would not be able to tell that those are MIDI drums. You are so good at this.

[@Valgant]

Thanks for another great video, Kenny! I'd love to watch a video on making realistic drum fills of yours. That would be really cool!

[@chrisashworth7089]

Top, top tutorial (as per usual)....sooo helpful for the non-drummer. Scary to think how many people you must help with such wonderful clarity. Thanks again, and again.....

[@joeheukerott9186]

Wow! This is truly a master class. There’s so much in this video. So very useful. As always, thanks very much. 🥁

[@checkmatenate]

So crazy how you routed the close, overheads, and room mics to trigger at the same time like it’s an actual recording of a real drum set.

[@cupboardhomestudio971]

Thank you so much Kenny 😉... it's always a pleasure to follow your advice. 🎼

[@robscalise]

Beautifully done Kenny. advanced level instruction by example. Have been experimenting with mastering products like Ozone 10 that use AI to get you started. Would love to see a video from you on that new approach to mastering!

[@danbassman24]

Amazing tutorial! Ive been trying to figure this out forever. Thanks.

[@correametal]

This is simply amazing! Thank you so much Kenny. You are The Best!!!

[@boldizzle]

I never even considered sending the overheads and room to their own tracks. Always learning something new from Master Kenny G!

[@jimmennell8525]

Absolute gem of a video. The most interesting info for me takes place within the first 2 minutes.

[@ChrisMartinsMusician]

That's a lot of future practice for me to get to that level of proficiency but that's a badass video and demonstration. What a fantastic result and as always a great tutorial.

[@boatandtackle6996]

Kenny, that was fantastic. I am just starting to try doing drums with Steven Slate so this was invaluable. Thanks so much

[@SeanCadillacMcswain]

Dang dude!!! there is so much great info packed in this video

[@Taffafilms]

Ghost notes OMG! Sure this will take me a long time to learn...but man what an incredible tutorial you just gave to this community. Thank you Kenny!

[@elypelowski5670]

Wow. This is a phenomenal tutorial on creating drum tracks in Reaper

[@pianoatthirty]

This is outstanding. Kenny have you ever done a full course on realistic drum programming? Aside from this amazing video, I feel like it's a niche topic that no one has really ever tackled yet.

[@HELLNAWW]

Hi how do I open the grid and create some notes.

[@Jadevibration]

Fantastic tutorial!! Thank you Kenny!

[@axcellgrease]

I need to try this! Thank you!

[@alkamz]

Nice Video as usual, Kenny !

[@pelennorDSP]

Fantastic tutorial as always, Kenny! So let's say you're using a drum library with different samples at different velocities, would you aim to have your snare hits (for example), say on the two snare tracks each at a similar velocity (but different to the other track), or would you use two different snares in the software?

[@monkstudios9257]

Thanks a keeper there Kenny, great work. Thanks for sharing!

[@AndyCampbellMusic]

As they used to say back in the 60's FAB! 👍

[@underwoodvoice9077]

Also groovy.

[@sedinhas]

wow this saves so much headaches!!! Thank you so much for sharing

[@nkronert]

That sounds fantastic! Especially at 1.5 speed 😎

[@checkmatenate]

That’s was insane.

[@BenMartinBox]

Nicely done. Stay safe.

[@shaigvili8323]

Hey Kenny! Thanks for the best REAPER tutorials on KZbin! How did you split the drum channels there (kick to output 1 snare to output 2 etc) to create this sound? thanks again!

[@dominique948]

Thank you Kenny !!

[@cosmicsimonmusic]

Holly mole man, this is golden!

[@pglx68]

Thank you very much for this. Ghost notes ftw

[@fazendomusicaemcasa]

Thanks Kenny! This is a special tutorial.

[@gabrielvieira5823]

Amazing tips! Thanks man!

[@joeygwood]

Rage Against The Machine called and wants their riff back lol! /s Great tutorial Kenny! I've been using the same free SSD Dry & Tight kit since I switched to Reaper. My process is very similar to yours. I send the different kit elements to their own tracks and crank up the room mics. I also add a drum reverb track with ReaVerbate and send the kick, snare, and toms to it for some extra depth.

[@ieatacid]

I can't figure out how to send the different drums to different tracks. Is there a video you can recommend?

[@tomw1970]

@@ieatacid it gets a little confusing doing it manually the first few times in ssd because of the way the stereo and mono channel routing and channel numbers and the input numbers aren't 1 to 1, 2 to to etc. It takes a little math, a self made chart or counting on your fingers. I just let Reaper do it for me automatically when I load the plugin. It should give a dialog box asking if you want each sent to their own track or just a single stereo track.

[@richiejackson9321]

Joey, how many tracks do you usually send out from SSD? I like the simplicity that Kenny has here. Do you treat everything like a close mic (like Toms and hats, etc)? Or do you have a fairly broad drum sound like this one? (I can already tell after typing this the answer is going to be “it depends” 😅)

[@richiejackson9321]

@@tomw1970 Hop Pole Productions has a great video on drum routing. When you create the drum track, you can do it from “Add Instrument” and it will prompt to have it multi-tracked, then you can go into the mixer and start sending it out, deleting the tracks you don’t need. :)

[@tomw1970]

@@richiejackson9321 that's what I do 90% of the time but in ssd5.5 I have a few presets that I've added my own samples to like cow bell, tambourine, shakers, extra cymbals, etc plus different kicks and snares. I did the routing for each preset manually once then saved each as a preset within ssd and as a track template in reaper.

[@Pedrotheart]

Dude!!!!, I need a more in-depth tutorial on this, good job my friend

[@PunkRockLifer]

Great video and walkthrough thanks. I haven't got my kick, snare etc on different tracks though so might of made a mistake here. Also, is there a way to choke crashes?

[@markholmes2419]

Thank you. Really useful (as always)

[@paolomastrandrea8852]

"I don't know what is real anymore"

[@frankpratte8358]

Thanks Kenny, great drum performance. Those ghost notes, so fast, really hard or impossible for me to execute.

[@tomw1970]

One of Kenny's last videos shows the whole set up ad custom action he created to switch between his drum mode and keys mode. I think the name of that series was editing midi drums 1 and editing midi drums 2.

[@djabthrash]

@@tomw1970 You answered the wrong comment here i think :)

[@raindogred]

sounded awesome..I'm with you Kenny..I got a gretsch catalina and a bunch of mics gathering dust. I love SSD5 and mostly trigger with a Roland kit and a real hihat and cymbals miced. No tuning and sounds great every time. I always wonder if you play drums on a kit Kenny as well? Could not even imagine trying to play with just fingers on a keyboard..thats some awesome motor skills right there. I run hardware sends from Reaper to 2 old desks (soundtracs and a yamaha), via old motu boxes, along with the rest of the tracks, insert hardware compressors from the desk..it's a glorious mess :) ...i can't tell the difference between SSD and a real kit in a rock mix.

[@djabthrash]

He said in the comments of a recent video of his that he was a drummer : FREE Guitar Amp Plugins in REAPER (Reaper Mania) : kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqXdYqdsp7WpiLs

[@datooch]

Kenny, this is sick! Excellent. What kind of MIDI keyboard did you use for this?

[@gaudinni]

Thanks!

[@BillGraper]

Wow, another GEM! I just created a link to this in my special folder. I think I'll use this on my next rock song.

[@harrisfrankou2368]

same good tip on the folder.

[@djabthrash]

@@harrisfrankou2368 I save these in a custom (unlisted) KZbin "REAPER KNOWLEDGE" playlist :)

[@kpaceh]

Holly wow! Kenny I'm super impressed. You definitely have real good drumming experience. Seems you are a drummer by hearth, do you have some videos where you play a real kit? :)

[@ricardmilos4308]

Great tutorial! Also , I love the animation with the dancing skeletons at the end. Where is it from?

[@jimbeaux4988]

Oh man, you got that done really quick! Sounds great. What velocities do you like for the crashes? I find softer velocities sound better and less harsh.

[@djabthrash]

Depends on the source material and so many things (velocity curves)... Use your ears to find the sweet spot to find good and/or realistic :) On most Superior drummer stuff i tend to aim at 110/115 for regular strong hits on crashes.

[@MrFabioRomani]

Thanks a lot Kenny, killer as usual, but I didn't understand how you triggered each track with only one drum piece and how you named the midi notes :(

[@user-qj4vg9gq5m]

Thank you Kenny!

[@ruedassueltas]

Cool song!

[@HernanTaffarelli]

PLEASE make a tutorial on HOW TO MAKE DRUMS NOTES!!! This was an awesome tutorial! Thank you so much.-

[@djabthrash]

"HOW TO MAKE DRUMS NOTES" What do you mean ?

[@DThompson55]

This is like a master class in how to create drums in Reaper - Kenny where'd the note names come from? I downloaded some from a reaper forum, but I have a lot more than this, and frankly more than I need.

[@djabthrash]

Note names where ? In the piano roll or on the MIDI events themselves ? Or both ? EDIT : Go to the "view" menu of the MIDI editor and then : - mode : named notes (to display notes names in the piano roll) - piano roll notes : show note names on notes (to display the note names next to the midi events)

[@vsaucemichaelhere3409]

Kenny Gioia, you are a legend

[@pglx68]

Also you must be a quite good IRL drummer!

[@halimdrummer777]

VERY COOL! Thanks maaaaan!

[@QBtracksandstuff]

Magic right there!

[@derekkane4574]

This is a tutorial that I will keep bookmarked. Until you make a better one😉 One question though, I am interested in the set up for the routing. I'm sure you have a video somewhere that gives a "how to"... So, how does one set that up? Thanks!

[@PASHKULI]

headbanging all evening!

[@BlindingSun_]

Downloading reaper now. Just got yourself a sub

[@AdamJonMusic]

How do you send each drum to its own track like you showed in the beginning?

[@mochaforever7955]

awesome boy awesome ... 💗

[@JH-xc4ur]

It would sure be great if so many of us in the comment section could move past :50.

[@Hakamoto]

How do you get different samples of the same drum and articulation in SSD5? Is it just two different velocities of the same drum? If so, how do you route that to two different notes?

[@jesai5389]

Hi! Thanks for the video! Sorry but... I don't understand one things... How do you assign each drum piece to a different track? I selected the outputs on the "mix" panel of the vst but it doesn't work, maybe I didn't understand or I'm missing a step...

[@xXmortitionXx]

Great tutorial except I can’t figure out one thing. How did you get the kick snare overheads and room in their own tracks like that?

[@joshbarnes5783]

Dang Kenny, who needs a drummer! Nice

[@mateuszszuba1643]

I am looking for an answer on how to separate those tracks, which you showed at the beginning. Can you help me with it? Thank you in advance.

[@aaronelekes7202]

Impressive

[@nullobject001]

Fantastic! You're a great teacher sir. A quick dumb question. How do you get it into record mode with the piano roll view open? The normal shortcut R for me doesn't work when I have piano roll open. Thanks!

[@REAPERMania]

There are alternate actions while recording. You must have changed yours.

[@nullobject001]

@@REAPERMania I'm sure I have somewhere, but when I'm in track view I can hit R and it starts recording, when I'm in piano roll view I hit R and nothing happens.

[@rcrighter4319]

Dope!

[@j6nighttrain]

Is there a video where you show setting up the virtual keyboard mapping for this? I don't know how you got the note names up there.

[@NicolasPerez-qe8hy]

Kenny, i have a specific question for reaper: i want to doble click and input with my number keypad the volume value, i mean, i have a guitar track in 0db and doble click and -3.4db. Can i do that? How? if the answer is no, can you talk with the saruman lord of reaper to add this feature? Thanks!

[@EmmanuelB]

Really cool trick

[@simonezuin8272]

Superior tutorial! This is the tutorial i was looking for these days! I am stunned about how easy you make it seem and with an extraordinary taste in choosing the fills! Kenny N.1!

[@frascar]

This is The tutorial man. Is it possible to download the midi file in order to study how you did alla the drum's fills?

[@helmanfrow]

That's really great keyboard drumming. Did you actually play it in? I've been doing this for nearly 30 years and my keyboard drumming is the pits.

[@djabthrash]

If you're a real drummer, keyboard drumming is easier, especially if you use your 2 hands with one finger each just like regular drumming hands, and use a third finger (or your foot, using a foot midi trigger or a mic that you audio to midi) for the kick.

[@maxkilluminati8278]

your guitar and bass sound good too which plugin is that?

[@jeremiasperez9815]

hey kenny, i routed separate tracks for the drums, like kick, snare, oh and stuff. but when i put let's say an EQ or a compressor in the FX of the kick, it does not trigger, the FX is not working, it's like the audio is not going through the FX, just goes through the main channel where the drum sampler is. how can i fix this and, for example, put a compressor in each tracl like you did here? thanks

[@samuelskvorc2355]

2:30 Do you have to name the notes yourself?Or can you transfer the names some way? I'm a total noob in this :D

[@kennv8966]

how did you trigger that ghost notes on keys? i hope you show us real time hand video

[@joaoaercio]

thanks!!

[@stevelosyk8439]

No clue how to use these drums...lol I can't figure this out at all

[@emersoncookregehr7395]

Is it possible that instead of micing up a whole drum kit (which is very expensive) you can just record one over head with one mic and then separate the parts of the kit by the frequencies they give off into their own tracks. I’m noobie so would greatly appreciate so guidance.

[@djabthrash]

Not ideal but it can be done. Maybe the following video explains that (i've not watched it yet) : How To Fix Drum Recordings From A Stereo Track | Trigger 2 Drum Replacer Tutorial (Steven Slate Audio) : kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6PUnoSDZ7OsraM

[@lessismore74]

Another great video. Kenny needs to sell a shirt that says I HOPE YOU LEARNED SOMETHING, I HOPE YOU CAN USE IT, AND I'LL SEE YOU NEXT TIME.

[@chrisk6656]

Love it. Whats the setting you use to see the sample names next to their midi hits in your midi editor?

[@jerryhartmann4654]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/p2PXephnrLqWd6s

[@tomw1970]

One of Kenny's last videos shows the whole set up ad custom action he created to switch between his drum mode and keys mode. I think the name of that series was editing midi drums 1 and editing midi drums 2.