Studio One Question about Drums in Studio One

[dvs]

I've been starting to figure out the instrument plug-ins for drums included in Studio One (Artist, V5) and so far I've been having a difficult time finding a reasonable and realistic sounding drum kit to use for rock, classic rock or blues. All I've found are truly wacky sets of sounds that seem to be aimed at techno, electronic, trance etc. (even the ones with normal sounding names, like "Studio Works").

My experience with S1 so far has made me think I must be missing something, so before I go crazy trying to find it I thought I'd ask if what I'm looking for actually exists and if so where the F*** is it?!? (sorry, not swearing at you all, it's just my inner curmudgeon unleashing itself again on my friends at Presonus)

 

[Elwood]

I don't know if you have considered EZ drummer @dvs. By now it's no secret that I am a recording/techo putz. Still EZ has some nice sounding kits and if fairly easy EZ to work with. You can get some nice dry stuff along with whatever 80s, metal, clangaroo, stuff you might want. Not too pricey. Integrates into Reaper or S1, EZ.

 

[CaptainMoto]

Did you check out the "Loops"?

 

[dvs]

Thanks for the tips, @Elwood and @CaptainMoto .

What I'm hoping to do is get a kit together in Impact XT that allows me to program a kick drum, snare, 2 toms, high hat, crash and ride cymbals. I didn't find a reasonable sounding drum kit in the Impact presets that has all of those together, nor can I figure out how to move samples around or copy from one kit to another. There's a default kit that is empty, but I haven't been able to add drums to it or copy them there from another kit. How do you populate it? Apparently you put sound files in (.wav files, for example) but unless I'm missing something, those did not get installed along with Impact XT anywhere on my PC. All I have are .soundset files, but I can't get to the individual drum samples there, I can only load up the complete kit. Instructions on how to use this are no doubt available, I just can't find them.

 

[Elwood]

Your experience sounds like my attempt at SS Drums. All I got was frustrated.
Sorry I don't have much to help, you are in the deep end and I'm a wader.

 

[CaptainMoto]

If I'm interpreting your ask correctly, It seems you might solve that with separate tracks and instances of Impact.

-find a kit that suites your need for kick and program that track
-lay down a separate track with your selected toms
-repeat for snare, etc........
-each track with have it's own kit element that meets your tastes.

Won't that work?

 

[PapaRaptor]

I noticed the same thing when I started using Impact. I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade here, because EZ drummer is exactly what it says it is, easy. What I don't particularly like about EZ drummer is the samples used are heavily processed and compressed. I've heard mixes from other Studio One users done with Steven Slate Drums (SSD). To my ear, they are much more believable sounding. You can download a free version of SSD here: https://stevenslatedrums.com/ssd-free/

Having said that, I like the interface in ImpactXT (I'm probably just masochistic). I have assembled some kits from a number of sources, including some samples I found online that were ripped from a very old Alesis D4 drum machine. I can't find the original link where I found these, but I have a copy on my site:
https://paparaptor.com/drums/Alesis D4 Samples.zip (It's 360 megs).
You will have to assemble your kit from scratch with this, but IMHO, it is well worth it as most of the sample instruments are sampled at multiple levels instead of using one snare hit for all velocities from 1 to 127.
I also got several kits from a Youtuber who does daily livestreams under the YT name of Home Studio Trainer.
Here is a link to one from his Dropbox account (which is listed under quite a few of his YT videos. It claims to be a sample of one of Mick Fleetwood's drum kits: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3l5q0ftz110h5ry/HST 70s Drums (Mick Fleetwood).soundx?dl=0
Also, he made available a zip file with 16 different kits he has built. I can't find his dropbox link, so I'll put it on my server if you want to d/l it.
https://paparaptor.com/drums/HST 16 ImpactXT Drum Kits.zip EDIT: This zip file is around 380 megabytes and is now fully uploaded.

 

[Elwood]

I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade here, because EZ drummer is exactly what it says it is, easy.

No raining and no parade. I'm a lot happier if I stay focused and for me that means I'm maxed out trying to make music with a guitar. You guys always provoke thought and I enjoy hearing how you guys get things, and struggle to get things, sounding great. For real.
Like I said I'm a wader. EZ can still frustrate me, I guess I should admit that lately I have been enjoying just using the drummer/s in g-band. All that, and the more I dabble in recording, the lower goes my estimation of my ability to even hear some of what your guys talk about with your mixing ears on. I still try.
(and that compression thing, boy do I need to learn)

 

[PapaRaptor]

No raining and no parade. I'm a lot happier if I stay focused and for me that means I'm maxed out trying to make music with a guitar. You guys always provoke thought and I enjoy hearing how you guys get things, and struggle to get things, sounding great. For real.
Like I said I'm a wader. EZ can still frustrate me, I guess I should admit that lately I have been enjoying just using the drummer/s in g-band. All that, and the more I dabble in recording, the lower goes my estimation of my ability to even hear some of what your guys talk about with your mixing ears on. I still try.
(and that compression thing, boy do I need to learn)

I just didn't want to sound like I was bashing anyone's choice of drum VST. They sell a hell of a lot of copies of EZ Drummer and Superior Drummer software and people like them, so who am I to gripe?

 

[Elwood]

When I start making considerably better recordings than you guys, and I try to help, and you tell me pound sand, I might feel slighted.
In this matter I try to listen x 10 and talk x 1. I just thought I might be helpful. Instead I learn..good good.

 

[PapaRaptor]

When I start making considerably better recordings than you guys, and I try to help, and you tell me pound sand, I might feel slighted.
In this matter I try to listen x 10 and talk x 1. I just thought I might be helpful. Instead I learn..good good.

Hey, I'm just fumbling my way through this, too!

 

[PapaRaptor]

Here is one more that I put together from a bunch of samples. I believe there are 3 different kick drums in this kit. The two in the A Group are tuned just slightly apart to mimic a double kick drum kit. I added a lot of stuff I wanted to have close at hand. I think the kit was mainly built from the Alesis samples. It even has a cowbell and a vibraslap!
https://paparaptor.com/drums/LloydsKit.soundx

Depending on your browser, you may have to right click and select Save Link As. in order for it to properly download. In Chrome it opens it as if it was an XML file.

 

[dvs]

Thanks Lloyd, I'll check out those links & downloads tomorrow and see what I can do. That certainly sounds like what I was beginning to guess I'm looking for!

Capt. Moto, thanks for the workaround idea, I think that would get the job done. Still, I don't think that's the way it's supposed to work...

 

[CaptainMoto]

Thanks Lloyd, I'll check out those links & downloads tomorrow and see what I can do. That certainly sounds like what I was beginning to guess I'm looking for!

Capt. Moto, thanks for the workaround idea, I think that would get the job done. Still, I don't think that's the way it's supposed to work...

Oh! I'm sure it's not.
Seems I'm often finding work arounds to thing that are otherwise simple for the well informed.

 

[dvs]

Thanks again, Lloyd! One of those sets from HST will certainly do the trick. I should probably just pick one and leave it at that. I can see from here that I'm on the edge of a fascinating, deep and twisty rabbit hole, mightily tempted to jump in. MUST... RESIST....

 

[PapaRaptor]

Thanks again, Lloyd! One of those sets from HST will certainly do the trick. I should probably just pick one and leave it at that. I can see from here that I'm on the edge of a fascinating, deep and twisty rabbit hole, mightily tempted to jump in. MUST... RESIST....

You're very welcome.
As to the deep dive, go for it. Get Sue to lend you her ears and go crazy!
I keep coming back to the Mick Fleetwood kit. My drum tracks are somewhat sparse and the kick and snare on his sound really good to my ear.

 

[MikeS]

Here is one more that I put together from a bunch of samples. I believe there are 3 different kick drums in this kit. The two in the A Group are tuned just slightly apart to mimic a double kick drum kit. I added a lot of stuff I wanted to have close at hand. I think the kit was mainly built from the Alesis samples. It even has a cowbell and a vibraslap!
https://paparaptor.com/drums/LloydsKit.soundx

Depending on your browser, you may have to right click and select Save Link As. in order for it to properly download. In Chrome it opens it as if it was an XML file.

I did the Save As, then created a folder in S1 (Right hand side) but when I try to drag & drop your file it highlights the entire section (Including the folder that I created). It says that the file was imported, but I have no idea where to find it. If I switch to "Vendor View" Presonus seems to be the only vendor...???

 

[dvs]

@MikeS See that wrench that's highlighted? That means you are in "Manage Plugins" mode. I don't know exactly how that works, but the sound files themselves are hidden and you can't drag/drop from that view. Click on the wrench and try again.

P.S. You probably won't see Lloyd's .soundx file under Impact, but you should see it in the Lloyd folder. If you drag it to a track from there it should automatically load ImpactXT along with the LloydKit presets.

 

[MikeS]

@MikeS See that wrench that's highlighted? That means you are in "Manage Plugins" mode. I don't know exactly how that works, but the sound files themselves are hidden and you can't drag/drop from that view. Click on the wrench and try again.

P.S. You probably won't see Lloyd's .soundx file under Impact, but you should see it in the Lloyd folder. If you drag it to a track from there it should automatically load ImpactXT along with the LloydKit presets.

Thanks, I'll give that a shot.

 

[MikeS]

Well, that worked (but I have 3 "Lloyd Kits... )
Now I just have to figure out how to use impact... LOL