What is your go-to device for drums, and why?

[Simone Lombardo]

I mean, there are so many ways to add drums to your project in Reason: Kong, Redrum, NN samplers, synth drums, or even just drag-and-dropping samples into an audio track. The question is basically in the title: what is your favorite method for adding drums and why would you pick it over the others?

Personally I really like using NN-XT, mainly due to: separate routing, MIDI remapping (so you can potentially get more than 100 different hits by dragging multiple NN-XTs inside a Combi) and multi-layered samples.

[TritoneAddiction]

In the past it's been Kong. But since I bought the R11 Suite I've tried the 2 Umpf devices a little bit. For my latest track I used Umpf Retro. It's fun to just try something new. The Umpfs seem pretty nice, more so than Kong actually.
Also for some songs I use rex loops for additional drum layering.

But for me what's more important regarding drums is the effects I often use. FRG-Compressor, Disperser, Crapre 2, kHs Distortion. Samples can be loaded in any device but it's the effects that make the real difference.

[PhillipOrdonez]

I'm all about umpf club drums together with the drum sequencer and Delta. My template is set up with all outs routed to their own channel. It is fast, easy, looks good, sound good.

[WillyOD]

1) Kong
2) Alt Drums Refillls
3) Superior Drummer VST

[guitfnky]

Addictive Drums. used to be the Reason Drum Kits and BFD refills, but AD blows them away (though I still love and use RDK sometimes).

[Proboscis]

I mean, there are so many ways to add drums to your project in Reason: Kong, Redrum, NN samplers, synth drums, or even just drag-and-dropping samples into an audio track. The question is basically in the title: what is your favorite method for adding drums and why would you pick it over the others?

None of the above. My go-to is OctoRex, where I like to chop up the slot positions in the sequencer to create beats that best suit the song (and because the stock loops are pretty boring - it's a shame they haven't added to the factory library in years)

I also have quite a few Rex percussion libraries, but as they were released when Rex was a single slot only, I need to drag & drop related loops into slots 2-8.

[Loque]

I just drop a sample in the sequencer or just use a sampler. Maybe Punch or a random synth.

[bitley]

808 - because it's the 101 of drum machines

[WarStar]

Kong for getting down quick pattern ideas then Papen PUNCH for tuned kicks or subtractor for 808s. I often use Rex loops for ideas but I'll use alot of none kick drum parts of Rex loops like finger snaps, hand claps, rhythmic sounds etc. Sometimes I'll just use a kick from a Rex clip and layer it to create a new kick. Rex clips are so easy to edit so I really like using them for pattern ideas which I then rewrite with Kong or the above mentioned devices. For toms I use Kong exclusively. I never touch NNxt or Redrum for drums. Just never enjoyed Redrum and NNxt I use for other sample type stuff but not too often.

[groggy1]

Lately, it's been XO (XLN Audio) - it organizes my sample library really well, and I route to separate outputs for Kick/Snare/etc.

Then, I put Drum Player onto it, since I like that much more than XO's onboard sequencer.


If I have infrequent samples (like crashes or risers), I paste them straight into the sequencer.

And sometimes, if I'm really having trouble with the groove, I'll grab a shaker loop, and mix it up in Octorex.


...And finally, if any of my drumloops sound boring, I pull out various glitch machines like "Glitch 2" and "Shaperbox" to make up for my lack of talent.

[Steedus]

Redrum and the included drum library. Quick and fast.

[aeox]

Subtractor sinewave for the fundamental frequency of kick/snare and then noise from thor for a layer. Will usually use the physical modeling in kong for addition top layer to make them sound more "real". It's a lot of parallel processing!

When synthesizing your drums, you have more control over everything. Pitch, decay, sustain, etc. Pitch is the most important here IMO. If you drums aren't in tune with the rest of your track, it's not going to sound right(specially long decay drums like 808s).Normal samples can be tuned but I always lose quality.

edit:

You have control over pitch, decay, sustain, etc with samples but I just mean more control and freedom basically. Changing tune of sample drums is a pain in the ass for me

[Mode7]

Redrum was my main for very long time.

I never liked Kong (but I'm gonna practice their physical modelling, could be intersting)

One year ago, I switched to Umpf Drum Club
Because :
- there's a visualization of the samples (I need it)
- tuning, editing sample, filtering, reverse, volume, panning, modulation, compression, fx, everything is under the hand
- reverb is fine
- lo cut / high cut knobs
-easy routing

I route every channel to separate channels
+
Drum Sequencer

That's my main (I often make hip-hop, Trap, Cloud)

For the trap hi hats, I use a combinator patch found here (Note Rptr). Too bad the Drum Sequencer lacks a piano roll and is restricted to 16 steps patterns.


Sometimes I use Rob Papen PunchBDRE for kicks
Rex loops for additional rythms
Reason Drum Kits when I need accoustic feel on some parts

[miyaru]

Since I re-entered Reason again with 11 suite (coming from Ableton Live 10 suite) I like to use Kong, created my own kit and template, were the drums are routed to seperate channels.......

[Rising Night Wave]

Kong. And only Kong.
Because it's "analog" and simple to use.

[visheshl]

I used to use redrum the most, but now im gravitating towards kong.
But i generally do the main drums on kong or redrum, then have additional Dr rex loops layered on top

[Timmy Crowne]

Kompulsion for sequencing, Europa for sub-kick/bass, NN-XT for samples. NN-XT has all the control I need for round-robin, tuning, envelope, filtering, modulation and output routing. It’s ugly but it works!

[motuscott]

Real drums because I spent half a century learning how to make them say what I want.
I think this instrument may be on it's way out. It's hard to play, hard to find a place to practice and a royal pain to haul around. Plus those apps sound pretty sweet and you don't have to deal with the "drummer personality".
That said I have a few dozen Dr Rex loopsets featuring yours truly doing that thang I do that I use to jump start a song.

[ShelLuser]

Kong, it's so easy and versatile.. But as of late I've also been experimenting a lot with Maschine and that's something else as well.

[BRIGGS]

For 909ish kicks and some snares:



And this, since most of the samples sound good:



Combined with this to keep things interesting:

[kuhliloach]

What we need is something to help our brains with this problem. There are so many options in Reason its overwhelming to try and have any go-to. And if, like me, you work on different genres this problem always resurfaces. To make matters even more mentally stressful there aren't just different plug-ins to consider, but entire methods and workflows. As mentioned above you can simply drag a sample onto the timeline or go totally insane and drop an instance of Superior Drummer 3, and everything in between. Reason offers so many possible methods that simplicity can only be achieved by planning in advance: you decide before loading the program on all the tools you are going to use, mentally solving these problems before looking at the software with your eyes.

[BRIGGS]

What we need is something to help our brains with this problem. There are so many options in Reason its overwhelming to try and have any go-to. And if, like me, you work on different genres this problem always resurfaces. To make matters even more mentally stressful there aren't just different plug-ins to consider, but entire methods and workflows. As mentioned above you can simply drag a sample onto the timeline or go totally insane and drop an instance of Superior Drummer 3, and everything in between. Reason offers so many possible methods that simplicity can only be achieved by planning in advance: you decide before loading the program on all the tools you are going to use, mentally solving these problems before looking at the software with your eyes.

Think, plan, execute

[m.arthur]

What we need is something to help our brains with this problem. There are so many options in Reason its overwhelming to try and have any go-to. And if, like me, you work on different genres this problem always resurfaces. To make matters even more mentally stressful there aren't just different plug-ins to consider, but entire methods and workflows. As mentioned above you can simply drag a sample onto the timeline or go totally insane and drop an instance of Superior Drummer 3, and everything in between. Reason offers so many possible methods that simplicity can only be achieved by planning in advance: you decide before loading the program on all the tools you are going to use, mentally solving these problems before looking at the software with your eyes.

Making art is making decisions.
It's not Reason's job to 'help your brain with this "problem"' -- it's your job as an artist to commit to your own decisions.

do you think a novelist sits down and says "so many words, so many possible grammatical structures to arrange those words into sentences, how can I get any writing done!!!???".

[m.arthur]

I love ReDrum for its simplicity and the straight-forward sequencer. I've used it for so long it just feels second nature to load samples / write patterns in this manner.

That said, Kong is a behemoth and when you go deeper with it -- using nano layering, alternating layers (or slices in the nurse rex), and especially understanding and making use of the hit types for nurse rex and the drum synths: well, all this makes it an extremely deep and flexible drum unit. So I'm using it more and more (always with Drum Sequencer attached).

[groggy1]

What we need is something to help our brains with this problem. There are so many options in Reason its overwhelming to try and have any go-to. And if, like me, you work on different genres this problem always resurfaces. To make matters even more mentally stressful there aren't just different plug-ins to consider, but entire methods and workflows. As mentioned above you can simply drag a sample onto the timeline or go totally insane and drop an instance of Superior Drummer 3, and everything in between. Reason offers so many possible methods that simplicity can only be achieved by planning in advance: you decide before loading the program on all the tools you are going to use, mentally solving these problems before looking at the software with your eyes.

I hear you, there are a lot of options. And it can be overwhelming

I’m sure a bunch of folks will respond with “this wide set of flows is what I love about reason”

...and I’m one of those folks I’ll say this: every one of the flows in reason is (imho) POLISHED. Eg bouncing a drum beat to Rex is a dream. Using umpf is great. Using XO vst for drums works great. And don’t even get me started about how polished the Players are

I’ve worked in other daws like Sonar, where they also had 10 ways to do something, and each one was unfinished (eg automation in sonar was a mess)