Drums are notoriously hard to create, and there is no definite guide… And this page isn’t one, sorry :). However, we will see through various examples how to build decent ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First advice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
One thing that is important to remember is: one drum may sound good for one song, but not for another one<\/strong>. For this reason, I would always advise, like for all sounds, to create your drums from scratch for every new song. Even if you have a “formula” that works for you, apply it, but from scratch. By not copy\/pasting\/loading, you will introduce small variations, maybe errors, and the song will benefit from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the mix of all your sounds that make your song stand out. One benefit of AT is the possibility to play a pattern while editing your sounds. So don’t hesitate to play one of them, all the better if it includes even basic arrangements, like a bass, basic drums, chords and melody. Then enter the Instrument Editor and start tweaking the drums in real-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funny thing is that, the sounds of songs you love often sound thin, even crap, when listened to alone, as we’ll see in the next examples. Hence the need to listen to them along your arrangements!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The basics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Drums are generally made of two things: noise and\/or<\/em> square envelope, with a decreasing pitch (I personally have never heard hardware envelope successfully used in a drum, but I’m sure there are some out there!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lot of old-old-school drums were simply composed of noise :<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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