Just wondering if there are any finger drummers in the community and if so what gear are you using and any tips on getting started please?
I’ve recently started looking at maybe getting a drum controller like the Maschine Micro, but could also use the Korg microKEY 25 that I already have. I’ve found a few YouTube channels, most with drum controller pads, but also found a couple using a keyboard.
I’ve got EZdrummer 3 with a few EZK packs that I can use, but have also hear that Addictive Drums 2 is good for finger drumming as it might be more customizable.
Maybe I’m spreading myself a bit thin as I’m already into bass and guitar, but feels like a bit of an itch to try finger drumming
My gut feeling is that playing those drums on a keyboard is not going to really be any good. First, the layout is not as flexible and customizable as with the pads. Second, even with a touch sensitive keyboard (and with aftertouch), I don’t think you get the same sensitivity range as with the pads.
I am also guessing that in order to be really good at finger drumming you need to put in a lot of practice (as always), and depending on how “expressive” you want your drum tracks to be, you might be better off following @howard’s method and use the piano roll/MIDI grid editor to program your drums…
I seem to remember that @Koldunya owned a Maschine (Mikro?), but she seems to have “vanished” from the forum.
Yeah I generally just program drums and don’t try and play them in. It’s very easy to humanize them to where they sound just as good, and it’s a lot easier (for me anyway). I don’t see that changing ever, as I have been doing it with various sequencers on and off since 1988
True, unless you are interested in more complex grooves with lots of ghost notes; say, something like this:
Not that this is going to be easy with finger drumming but perhaps you get faster closer to what you want if you start off with drumming the basics out on some pads!?
Maybe yeah. Using the pads and then manually fixing them in the editor works too, and for things like fills might be a good move. Though really programming fills is not hard either. Just takes a little practice like anything else.
I’ve had a go with my keyboard both in EZdrummer and Garageband on my iPad. If I drop it an octave, the kick and snare are on the first two keys. I managed to get a basic 1/4 note beat going with my left hand (index/middle) and added 8th notes on the high hat or ride. It’s velocity sensitive, but the keys still have to travel a bit before it registers a note so attempting ghost notes wasn’t that easy.
Although I’ve never really played keyboard, I think the dexterity you get from guitar and bass certainly helped a bit.
I don’t know much about drumming at all yet and hadn’t considered the wide variety of ways you can play the different drums/cymbols. It’s definitely a whole other world you could get lost in.
I also tried tapping out a few beats and then dropping them into the Midi drop zone on the Grooves tab in EZdrummer which I certainly found easier than “Tap to Find” using a mouse . This sort of approach would probably help for adding drums to my guitar and bass tracks.
I don’t really know how far I’d like to go with this, whether it’s mainly for adding drums to guitar and bass or maybe I’d explore making stuff where beats are the main focus. Maybe it would just be a phase or would simply not have enought time to work on finger drumming. I think that I just inherently like rhythm so drawn to drums as well as bass.
The maschine mikro is currently reduced from $399 to $329 (AUD), but looks other than on the Native Instruments website, only one retailer has it at that price and they don’t have any in stock. There are promoting getting free expansions, but unclear if you have to register by the 15th or just purchase (could buy online, but takes upto 8 business days to come from overseas)
“From now until January 15, purchase a Native Instruments Maschine Mikro MK3 Compact Groove Production Studio and receive 10 Expansions valued up to AUD $790 for FREE! Users will receive an email explaining how to choose and download the expansions once the unit has been registered on the NI website. Offer ends January 15, 2024.”
Guessing, like with most companies though, they do stuff like this at least once or twice a year.
I think this is probably the “best” approach unless you really know what you are doing tapping out beats that are more than kick-snare-kick-snare and eighths on the hi-hat. If you get EZDrummer MIDI packs as you go along, you should have plenty of options.
And… since the pre-made grooves are all in MIDI, you can adjust and modify them as you need.
Thanks @howard. I did open the midi mapping, but until I have a better understanding of the different drums/cymbols and where/how you can hit them, I wasn’t sure what to pick.
I also tried in Addictive Drums, but only have the demo version and it limits what drums you can play (no toms available for tapping out beats for example).
. This sort of approach would probably help for adding drums to my guitar and bass tracks.