How To Program Drums.com is born!

Hello everyone!

My Unofficial Fibes John Bonham Tribute Kit – 6th August 2011 – Set up like John’s old Chrome Ludwig Kit from “The Song Remains The Same”. Owned since 1983.

HowToProgramDrums.com has been launched to help aspiring drummers and drum programmers, producers and songwriters like you to create your own beats and rhythm tracks easily and to have fun doing it too!

This site’s mission is to help you make more music more easily. Why should you listen to me? I have a passion for drums!

I have been playing drums since 1977 when I was 14. I used 4 track equipment to make my first demo in 1982. I got my first drum machine in 1987 and I branched out into playing other instruments.

Maybe you have been unable to pick your way through the jungle of choices and products and maybe, you just need a bit of extra confidence and a little bit of extra know how to make a start and more importantly, to start having fun creating and producing music with a computer, and maybe with the help of a super reliable, computerised drummer to play along with!

My first “proper” drum machine bought in July 1987 – It’s a Yamaha RX-17 – I still use it today and it works with Reason a treat!

If that’s true for you, rest assured that I have been where you are now. Frustrated, baffled, sitting for hours wrestling with various software applications and connecting various things together and getting nowhere. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

If you are a complete beginner, my aim is to get you started and past any fears and reservations into an amazing world of discovery. I will show you how to program drums quickly and easily. If you are at an intermediate level, there will also be hands on demonstrations of building brand new sample based drum kits in a digital audio workstation, creating drum patterns, loops and finished tracks, programming in midi and inspiring creativity and using different types of software and hardware together for best results.

If you are on a tight budget, no problem – we will look at freeware drum machines with a view to you being able to make an informed choice about what suits you best. I’ll also inform you about what I have both used  and paid for and whether you should too.

Propellerhead’s Reason Digital Audio Workstation – Bought for my son James in Sept 2010 – The start of my breakthrough into Computer Music Production!

If you like the idea of laying down some kind of rhythm track or backing track which you can play along to with another instrument, you have come to the right place. We will look at Digital Audio Workstations (D.A.W.s for short) and VST Plugins (Virtual Instruments) and show you what’s out there, and how to get them set up and up and running quickly. My favourite DAWs are Reason, Reaper and Mixcraft. We shall look at all three of them.

If you have money to invest in your hobby or passion, let’s explore where you may get the most bang for your buck!

 

Anyway, come on in and let’s make some noise!