Drum Sample Replacement in REAPER | 4 easy ways to augment a drum mix with samples

[@ChernobylAudio666]

WOW. I spend so much longer in AudioSnap in SONAR Platinum.... I bought Reaper in 2013 and this is totally come a long way. REAPER 5 has now become my drum-editing DAW.

[@timocarliermusic]

This is great - very concise and clear. Appreciate it!

[@professorlamp]

0:12 Method 1 2:17 Method 2 5:38 Method 3

[@TheREAPERBlog]

Thank you! I will update the description today.

[@professorlamp]

No problem, I saw it mentioned on a blog post and knew I needed Method 2 so thought I'd save anyone else the time :)

[@TonyBullard]

Thorough while still being short and to the point. Very well done. Thank you.

[@TheREAPERBlog]

Thank you.

[@jamesogara7053]

This was super helpful! Thank you so much!

[@audiotalestudio9710]

Very precise and detailed information. This was really helpful and you always explain everything very clearly. I've been using SD3's internal Tracker function to convert wav. files to midi but have never been able to get the results I wanted. One go at this and everything worked perfectly. Thanks alot.

[@metatron7515]

i know this video's a bit old but thank you, i've been using ReaGate to trigger samples from an audio file, but your second method with the Dynamic Split to MIDI works for some of my projects much better, cheers

[@minnesotapetecampbell6920]

This maybe a silly question but if I downloaded some samples how do I get them to be seen in media explorer?

[@emblemcc]

Awesome.. always going back to this vid, if can't remember.

[@Axiom9_Band]

Awesome! Been using method 3 for out latest rehearsal room recordings and the results are great! Is there a way to, instead of creating audio, record the triggers as MIDI in order to modify the velocity manually later? Thanks for all tutorials.

[@MarkBragg]

Thanks that was great. Do these plugins send midi velocity corresponding to the volume of the drum hits? I feel like drum trigger might (albeit too low) while reagate doesn't. If that's the case, do you ever find the variations in velocity useful for realism? Or does it not really matter for augmentation, and invariably you have to tweak by hand? Just curious. Thanks for the video.

[@TheREAPERBlog]

They do and yes you have to tweak. I didn't get into tweaking and perfecting the settings and working with very dynamic or poorly recorded audio. Maybe I'll get into that in the next Q&A.

[@maxivillafane4273]

Thank you! This has been extremely helpful.

[@iammodernrevolution]

Jon you're the JEDI!!!!!

[@MikeLuke]

Though I'm using Reaper for quiet a long time now, I didn't know that. This is great. Was considering to buy Trigger2 (Slate) or any drum replacement software, but obviously I don't need that as I own a bunch of different drum samples libraries that I usually use when playing on an edrum kit - and that I can use with those methods! Thanks for sharing this, Jon!

[@zeromot]

I also mix in Reaper and thought about buying Slate Trigger 2 but this is simply brilliant! And actually it sounds really good.

[@timocarliermusic]

Hi Jon - I am trying this (method 3) in combination with your Addictive Drums 2 video info. I followed the method 3 instructions and am sending to 36 in Addictive Drums (kick), but no result. Any idea what I might be doing wrong?

[@TheREAPERBlog]

is it a MIDI send to addictive drums? I might need a screenshot

[@timocarliermusic]

Oh, silly mistake. I watched your video again and realised I had left the threshold on Reagate at zero. It's really cool you show these different methods here. Method 3 seems to be giving me the least amount of headache - is there any advantage in choosing method 2 (creating midi track) over 3 (using Reagate to send midi notes)?

[@TheREAPERBlog]

I think one of them doesn't do velocity. Can't remember sorry

[@timocarliermusic]

I noticed XLN (Addictive Drums) have a dedicated drum trigger software programme too.

[@TheREAPERBlog]

I use slate trigger 2 mostly

[@RiffHarvester]

Excellent video.

[@MaxTovstyiMusic]

Great and useful video, I only have a problem, when I am doing it with a snare drum, it also has hihats or tom very quite, but in midi they are quite long and it feels like the drummer is playing 32nd notes, how can I gate them? So I only getting what I need? And how about ghost note as well? Thanks

[@TazzSmk]

I wonder if methods #3 and #4 are effectively usable for live performance?

[@DjangoFlaherty]

Thanks! Very cool.

[@DjClimamusic]

Wow awesome, you read my mind or what?! :D AHAHAHAHH! That is what i was looking for, this is gold information thank you so much, BIG hug from Brazil, thumbs up! :)

[@frankb8616]

Excellent! I'm still thinking the first way is the fastest if you already have a folder filled with samples.. anyone know a site? also is not your D for dynamic split? did you change it? Thanks

[@TheREAPERBlog]

Frank B First way is very fast, but only one velocity. There are ways to improve the realism that I may show in another video.I've been collecting samples since 2004 so I have a lot to choose from. Very easy to get these days and often for free. I changed D to fade start of selected item to edit cursor. Something I use a ton more.

[@santoclemenzi]

Thank you very much Jon! Very interesting video :) do you use also ReaSamplOmatic for drum replacement?

[@TheREAPERBlog]

Santo Clemenzi I do. I excluded it from this video so I didn't have to explain it too. ReaSamplOmatic 5000 will have it's own tutorial.

[@santoclemenzi]

Thanks! Can't wait for that tutorial!

[@darrylportelli]

great job on these vids ... subscribed here!!! ... one question .. i really like the 1st method - if you want to replace say the snare of a whole song, is there a way if choosing for example 30 sample hits and telling reaper to randomy replace the snare hits of the whole song with those 30 chosen samples?? if you choose 30 samples or more you'll have much more realism as each sample would be a unique hit and you wouldn't be replacing the whole song with just 1 sample... thanks

[@darrylportelli]

im saying 30 sample hits of the same snare not a different snare haha

[@TheREAPERBlog]

+Darryl Portelli for that you'd use a sampler.

[@darrylportelli]

And with a sampler you may load your own samples?? What sampler would you recommend please?? Thanks a lot !!!!

[@TheREAPERBlog]

it's possible with ReaSamplomatic 5000 (included with reaper) but a little tricky to set up. Kontakt is probably the most popular general purpose sampler. I use Trigger 2 for drum sample replacement most times.

[@darrylportelli]

+The REAPER Blog cheers!!! i'll check out reasamplomatic... i thought that plugin only loaded 1 sample at a time and couldnt replace multiple ones at a time

[@blinkingglasseye]

using method one, reaper seems to have a hard time aligning transients correctly. is there a way to adjust this? i really like this method, but having to go back and correct each hit is time consuming and hurts my wrist.

[@AndresFe20]

what if I only want to change the sound of one beat? For example not all the snares in the recording, but only one beat in that snare recording?

[@ArinzeAhanotu_001]

Hello.. please I have a cajon drum in church ... how can I transform the sound coming from the cajon to a kickdrum sound while recording in reaper... how can I apply this using the "input fx" on that particular cajon track in reaper..??

[@bfunkadelicmusic]

It depends on what I’m doing. If I’m just writing, I have a few sims I go to just to do what I need. If I’m mixing, I’ll take a little more time to dial in the sound I want.

[@sameerbankar6073]

1:30 what did he do?

[@TheREAPERBlog]

view menu>Media Explorer

[@manasjitkhosla]

I am trying to do the first method with media explorer but I am unable to replace it even if I right click on the sample. It remains the same. Please help. Thank you

[@jamesleesley]

What format does the file need to be in for importing and using "as media source for selected items?" I'm replacing the snare drum track with another and the timing after import isn't working, even when "Tempo Match" is turned on. Thanks

[@TheREAPERBlog]

WAV file preferred. tempo match should be off to prevent stretching. if the timing is still off, try alt-drag to change the start time of the item contents.

[@jamesleesley]

The REAPER Blog Okay, thanks.

[@tomaszskoczylas1418]

Will this work if I have 1 (ONE) track with all the drums? Not separate tracks - kicks, hihats, toms etc?

[@TheREAPERBlog]

yes but it will be more effort. I'd duplicate the file to several tracks, then filter, edit and process each to be a single drum. commit those edits and effects using glue, then try one of these methods in the video.

[@piltrafelia]

iv'e got a huge problem when i'm using method 1, i check the phase but still some hits are out of phase because the drummer sometimes hit very low and some transients are a little off time, do i have to manually set each hit on time or is there something else i can do? btw i'm mixing some death metal songs so there are a lot of snare hits, that's the major problem of doing it manually because it's ok for a few hits

[@PedroGerardo]

Great Tutorial ;)

[@limited2all]

Is it possible to enhance the kick drum in a mastered/full song? :)

[@reelaw3155]

You could boost it with a low boost but you can't really replace it.Also a low boost won't boost the kick drum only.

[@RoyRodriguezS]

I used method 1... but I hear a weird clip or something with a fast kick part

[@merlinzest]

What to do about any pops and clicks?

[@TheREAPERBlog]

In general or specifically with sample replacement?

[@merlinzest]

With sample replacement! My question is void now as i realised the sample i using had some issues. My bad!

[@johnhernandez-garza2313]

thanks so much!!

[@andreasflemming2012]

Thanx!!!

[@JohnLovelady]

Pretty awesome!

[@xxxxxJuDexxxx]

Thanks Jon, that was really really helpful !! :)