How To Get a Great Drum-kit sound on your KORG...

At 7:03 Jürgen Sartorius demonstrates..This is where the Magic lies to "fine tune your Drum Kits" on your KORG Arrangers to get your styles to sound even better using TRACK CONTROL...if you haven't been doing this you should look into it for sure..

Donny, sharing your excitement with Roland, Korg or whatever is one of the joys on SynthZone, thank you.

When I had a Technics I was forced to look for ways to make better and stronger drums. (Editing Drums) I also used a Boss DR 670 drum machine, connected it with midi and audio. Changing drum sets was easy, one button. You could also add an extended drum brake. When you spend time digging in its amazing what can be done.

KN 7000 --- Use an ordinary midi file (GM)
1-Replace all GM instrument sounds with Technic sounds.
2-Edit the drums.
3-The style structure was now Technics.
He results were fantastic – for those days. Because all the Technics midi files were style based you could change the style while playing the midi files.

Fun days, John C.

Just midi it to a Ketron or Roland sound source

Have been fine-tuning drums as well as other acc tracks for ages on my Korgs. The PA4X has been around for three years now, you even had one yourself!!!Fail to see what is so spectacular about it,other than the fact that most musicians are not too fond of intensive in-depth tweaking.......

Regards,
John

John & others here, first off I never said it was something NEW.. .....yes I have been tweaking drum kits & my overall sound for years on all my KORGS and every other other arranger since the arranger KB inception and beyond. If you really care about all aspects of your music it's never a bother to do so but pure pleasure knowing you created the sound you want vs just a factory sound that they give you..but that's just me. Let's all remember that many NEW Korg owners might not be aware or have never indulged deeper then turning on the Kb and playing styles as is without digging deeper into the OS tools etc,....my intention was to make the process more aware to those just learning or would like to try improving their styles they way they want to have them sound beyond the factory I know I certainly do.
By sharing info like this here helps us all.

I tend to pay way more attention to a person's playing (technique, tastefulness, rhythmic feel, chord choices, improvisation, arrangement, voice choices, creativity, etc.) than how well they micro-tweaked their drums. If your playing sucks, tweaking the drums ain't gonna help. That's not to say that getting the best quality sound you can out of the drums does not matter; it does....but getting the right pattern, the right 'groove' is, in my opinion, much more important. If you find a dog that can talk, you don't criticize it's grammar. BUT....this is coming from someone who never tweaks ANY of my source tones; I just look for something that sounds good to me out of the box (and usually I can). I just want people to hear the message I'm trying to convey, not how well I tweaked the drums. But hey, that's just me. Different strokes for different folks, just depends on where you want to spend your energy.

chas

Actually I will watch it later today. I have changed a drum kit or two but never tried fine-tuning them. I've been pretty happy with the drum sounds in the Korgs I've had, but I'm always open to making things better.
Thanks for sharing!

Sometimes Don it's just a matter of fine tuning a snare drum timber, or resonance, etc, or any other part of the drum kit the tools are all there to use. I'm never happy with just the factory styles it's just a starting point so you can then create and make them so much better. If not they wouldn't be in the keyboard to use you'd be stuck & just play what they give you ..NOT!
It would be a shame not to dig in....take care..

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from trying to get a better sound out of their units; it's just that, as John points out, " most musicians are not too fond of intensive in-depth tweaking......." and that's because the drums in most current arrangers are already pretty darn good....and unless you're a seasoned drummer or musicologist, it's questionable whether you have the 'ear' to improve on the factory kits. BUT, if you've got the time and inclination to experiment, why not....you can always go back to the 'factory' kit if it doesn't work out.

chas

I've fine tuned drums many times. I feel the bass drum is always too boomy in the mix, so it comes down from 127 to - 90 or so, most of the time.

I find it necessary to tame down the snare or sticks or other things too at times. Doesn't really take much and nice to get it done right.

Going through kits is easy and productive..........

Exactly Zuki....your talkin' my language!!

Fully agree with Zuki ( and Donny here). Donny, I was not aware you were addressing folks who are either novices or not aware of the merits of deep tweaking

regards,
John

I have tweaked lots of things on my pa1x to the point that it was fully personalised and custom set up for me . It’s one of the key reasons I held and actually still have it after over 12 years .

I now have the pa4x and I have deliberately had to discipline myself from spending too much time just exploring what can be done as opposed to actually getting something done !

These instruments are so deep you really don’t need another keyboard for a life time .

I kind of agree with chas and DNJ. I am really critical when it comes to my drum and bass programming . They are the heart of the kind of music I love to play :gospel and funk so getting the right sound to start with is foundational .

However if music is not your full time endeavour , you have to be economic with your time . Playing and refining your performance skills trumps tweaking for me . But both are highly enjoyable !

I must say that I found it interesting, as I usually just balance the track volume when needed. Thanks Donny.

Great Subject Folks....Thank You Harold

Bernie glad you thought it helpful as someone like you with many KB's shaping your own personal sound is imperative. Good Luck.

...and effects! ...........and pans.....and layering.....and pads and the list goes on and on.

Why not customize your settings to the finest? So very simple and quick once you get the hang of it.

I used to mix through monitors. Now I mix through my live QSCs. Makes perfect sense if you're mostly a live player.

....and here comes the 4X76 soon. More work This time I'm spending time with the VH.

Funny you mention this. My wife doesn't understand how I can just do the same thing over and over and not get sick of it. Repetition is the key to success.

I told her "If you were standing in front of 100 people with all eyes and ears affixed, you would do the same".

As someone said "Unspectacular preparation brings glorious presentation"

Zuki I agree as apathetic without passion & dedication will always show through the sound of your music.

Zuki, one step deeper. You are an organizer by nature.

You enjoy organizing -- I am the same.
John C.

Jim, I should give your wife my wife’s phone number and they can ask each other the same question. Must be something about non-musician wives. My wife thinks because I already know how to play I needn’t rehearse or tweak things. Ah never mind...........Jim it can be like spitting into the wind at times.