Izzie G returns to LogicBand and it’s his first time hanging out in the Member’s Area. This time he is walking you through Drum Synth and showing off how to get started with one of Logic’s Hidden gems for Beat Makers. Drum Synth is a powerful drum synthesis Software Instrument, I imagine based on hardware modules that the producers of yesteryear used to craft their drum sounds before using them to make a beat.
This tutorial dives right in with drum synth already loaded up on a track. To do this you will want to first create a software instrument track with Command Option S. Follow that up withCommand Option Return to reset or completely make it a blank track, before heading into the channel strip in the mixer or inspector to add drum synth as the instrument on the track. I show how to do that in this tutorial, just choose drum synth as the instrument to load instead of whatever I chose in that tutorial.
Any follow up questions, leave them in the comments.
Izzie starts off going over the default module that’s loaded up and shows how you can tweak the parameters before starting to use it to create a beat. A couple key commands to note here. He’s using Command Option accent (or command option grave as he calls it). Grave is short for grave accent and it’s the key immediately to the left of the number one or above the tab key. Command Option accent shows or hides the Instrument plug in window. Early in the tutorial he brings up the musical typing keyboard with Command K, But as he wanted to still be able to go through the instrument parameters while using the musical typing keyboard he presses command option accent twice, the first time it hides the Drum Synth window, the second time it brings it back up. But now, it’s in front of the musical typing keyboard. This allows him to be able to navigate through the parameters while still playing the sounds with the musical typing keyboard.
After tweaking and playing in a 808 part, Izzie shows off how sometimes instead of changing the quantize value, all you may have to do is switch from classic to smart quantize. Also covers quantizing part of the performance instead of the entire performance.
Next he duplicates the 808 trackThis is a quick way to get a new track with drum synth already loaded on it. A quick press of Command Option accent and he’s back into the plug in window to switch it from the 808 to a snare and then records a snare part. He also covers how to playback that section of the project on repeat so he can freely adjust the name parameters while it’s playing back repeatedly.
He then covers how different quantize values can be useful to the snare performance and then it’s on to the hats. This time, he pulls up the note repeater, and sets it to be controlled by his modulation wheel(`, and sets it to a triplet feel.
He then goes over the parameters for the cymbals module, and then demonstrates how to play in a melody.
Then it’sa trip through the different parameters showing how drastically different you can make it sound. Saturation is similar to the crush from the other modules but is probably generating the distortion in a different manner.
Also, Izzie likes to show and hide the inspector with the letter I. This is personal preference as I tend to leave the inspector visible at all times. Showing or hiding the inspector will have no baring on how the rest of the tutorial goes.
After dialling in the sound for the percussion melody, the tutorial wraps up with Izzie showing how you can still add effects as normal to the track by using Chromoverb to add some reverb to the percussion melody track. When in the Chromoverb window, he uses Left And Right Brackets to go through some presets before settling on one. As he states, you can add EQ, Compression Saturation, Reverb Delay etc. to your other tracks.
”This is total gold. I’ve not heard it covered anywhere else and often wondered about thIs feature. I’d heard it was accessible but had no clue How to go about using it. It’s great to have it de-mystified and discover how useable it is. Thank you.
Glad to hear you found it useful, and I’ll pass on your comments to Izzie. If you use it to make something, feel free to share if you are up for that also.