Best Drum programming method fromVST- HOW TO?

shannonsmith

Hi folks,

So I'm new to all this. I need to record 2 kinds of drum tracks (1) digital drums that actually sound like precise electronic & dance tracks and (2) VST drums that sound like real human playing.

I'm using Native Instrument VSTs like Battery, Mashine, but I have the complete 14 collectors edition- lots of stuff. I do NOT have a drum box- I have a Keyboard (Komplete kontrol).

My first attempts are at making drum patterns that sound like perfect electronic dance drums.

I started by recording on a track - recording a couple beats playing by hand on my keyboard. Then adding a few more tracks of additional drums. Sounded like ****** because I just jumped in without researching more.

Then the tutorials are confusing and most of them don't really go into the basic of basics- a lot seem to assume you know a little or gloss over points quickly.

There seems to be different ways to do it but what is the best way? I just want to learn the best way the first time. (I"m NOT expecting you good folks to watch these vids- just for illustration).

1. This vid says to create seperate tracks one by one and then play them live- each element. That seems very NON-intuitive to me- how do you even know what they hell you want? youtu. be/z4MSd7cYb2o?si=3F_Pzw624g3Q4Qxi

2. This one is not helpful because, well, he's recording several beats live on one track- and then the VST itself let's you seperate the tracks. youtube. com/watch?v=cZ4BHHpi8rY

3. This one youtu. be/cdUFQX_Kf9s?si=_U6qBm6BKmg25JJt) is saying that you: create a (1) Pseudo master, then (2) Drum Bus [place it attached to/under Pseudo], then a (3) NEW track called the VST, like Battery, in my case whichs seems to do nothing but contain the next: , create (4) Battery VST using insert VST on new Track (5) select "yes" to get "endless" tracks under it: 1/2, 3/4, etc. ....then move the 2nd created Battery Insert and subsequent tracks moved under the first Battery track and all THAT moved under the Drum Bus. Then somehow the tracks go under the different tracks. he seems to be doing several at once and then they magically move to the 1/2, 3/4 tracks and separate so you can adjust them. When I tried this- it just recorded all on the battery track and left nothing in the subsequent tracks.

These all seem to be live playing.

Then- it seems like you should also be able to program beats, not live but moving beat elements into position?

It's a mess. In the old days- I just played tracks like into 2 or 3 tracks and did the best I could. But it wasn't good enough and with Reaper and Native instruments, my goal is to get a professional sounds.

I'm not understanding how to

(a) record several beat elements live and have them seperate into the other subsequent tracks that reaper creates. I know it should be easy and intuitive.

(b) how best to record live so I can get beats in sync with the metronome and not sound slopply.

(C) best method for recording complicated, multi-elemental electro dance beats- to program them and NOT play "live" but rather move them into place (OR maybe YES live if that's better) - to sound exacting, NON-human, electro

(d)....this is completely the opposite/ different than the last point- but how to do beats that sound live, flesh and blood organic.

I've seen "grids" and midi grids but I can't seem to utilize it properly.

I seem to be missing some basics that I can't seem to find the best tutorials. I could be just dizzy and not great at programs, etc.