Aerodrumming Along (Tommy Igoe's JAZZ WALTZ - FAST)
Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2021 1:35 am
Salut !
I'm having a lot of fun with Aerodrums (I can't believe I've slept on it for so long)
I haven't heard many jazz demos around while checking out this system
after I finally discovered its existence, so here's a freestylee jazz play along demo
that I edited by selecting the best parts from 2 takes/recordings,
playing a slightly customized version of Aerodrums' awesome Bop Kit,
I hope you'll appreciate it
https://soundcloud.com/taotekid/aerodru ... XNPdtOM4N0
Here's a link to the (free) play-along track (+ its chart, which I didn't use
https://vicfirth.zildjian.com/education ... -fast.html
Also, I'm in the process of mixing, converting & importing a minimalist Aerodrums-ready version
of Versilian Studios' and Karoryfer Samples' awesome free jazz drum samples, Virtuosity Drums
(which I'be happy to share with the community as it's open-source/Creative Commons 0 )
& I've been trying to get the most out of the available samples in terms of velocity (snare & toms)
& round-robins (kick & cymbals) so as to make it as playable - with as little repeated samples - as possible,
but, if I'm correct, I found that only a few elements (like the kick & the hi-hat pedal & splash)
support alternate samples (using sub-folders \a & \b), which makes me wish that all elements
could use the same functionality ... in fact, I think it'd be awesome if an \a & \b sub-folders system
could replace the \l(eft) &\ r(ight) one, in the sense that it'd make twice the number of available samples
per hand, which would greatly improve Aerodrums' playability & realism (especially in jazz settings)
regardless of which hand is playing ...
or to put it another way, with the current \l(eft) & \r(ight) subfolders system,
the anti-"machine gun" effect only works when both hand are playing on the same element,
while an \a & \b sub-folder system could allow the implementation of a basic round-robin
("no same sample played twice in a row") policy, which could go even further with a borrowing of samples
from neighbouring velocity layers (& dynamic volume compensation) for added variations & realism ...
so, in the meantime, instead of dividing the sample pool in half by placing the snare's & toms'
even numbered samples in folder \a & their uneven numbered samples in folders \b,
I've placed an exact copy of all the samples
(36 center hits + 36 off-center hits + 4 high velocity rimshots for the snare,
letting Aerodrums analyze & sort the samples by increasing loudness - assumed to reflect hit strength - is great )
in both folders , my thinking being that, the larger the number of samples available per hand,
the smaller the chance that the same sample will be triggered twice in a row,
but it's not ideal in terms of sample-handling & disk space usage
Also, it sounds to me like the 13" Hi Hats' splash samples are panned to the right compared to the rest of the hat,
it's only a detail, & it can be solved after recording when exporting "one wav per element",
but it'd be nice if you could check that & maybe fix it in a future update
Keep up the great work !
Peace,
I'm having a lot of fun with Aerodrums (I can't believe I've slept on it for so long)
I haven't heard many jazz demos around while checking out this system
after I finally discovered its existence, so here's a freestylee jazz play along demo
that I edited by selecting the best parts from 2 takes/recordings,
playing a slightly customized version of Aerodrums' awesome Bop Kit,
I hope you'll appreciate it
https://soundcloud.com/taotekid/aerodru ... XNPdtOM4N0
Here's a link to the (free) play-along track (+ its chart, which I didn't use
https://vicfirth.zildjian.com/education ... -fast.html
Also, I'm in the process of mixing, converting & importing a minimalist Aerodrums-ready version
of Versilian Studios' and Karoryfer Samples' awesome free jazz drum samples, Virtuosity Drums
(which I'be happy to share with the community as it's open-source/Creative Commons 0 )
& I've been trying to get the most out of the available samples in terms of velocity (snare & toms)
& round-robins (kick & cymbals) so as to make it as playable - with as little repeated samples - as possible,
but, if I'm correct, I found that only a few elements (like the kick & the hi-hat pedal & splash)
support alternate samples (using sub-folders \a & \b), which makes me wish that all elements
could use the same functionality ... in fact, I think it'd be awesome if an \a & \b sub-folders system
could replace the \l(eft) &\ r(ight) one, in the sense that it'd make twice the number of available samples
per hand, which would greatly improve Aerodrums' playability & realism (especially in jazz settings)
regardless of which hand is playing ...
or to put it another way, with the current \l(eft) & \r(ight) subfolders system,
the anti-"machine gun" effect only works when both hand are playing on the same element,
while an \a & \b sub-folder system could allow the implementation of a basic round-robin
("no same sample played twice in a row") policy, which could go even further with a borrowing of samples
from neighbouring velocity layers (& dynamic volume compensation) for added variations & realism ...
so, in the meantime, instead of dividing the sample pool in half by placing the snare's & toms'
even numbered samples in folder \a & their uneven numbered samples in folders \b,
I've placed an exact copy of all the samples
(36 center hits + 36 off-center hits + 4 high velocity rimshots for the snare,
letting Aerodrums analyze & sort the samples by increasing loudness - assumed to reflect hit strength - is great )
in both folders , my thinking being that, the larger the number of samples available per hand,
the smaller the chance that the same sample will be triggered twice in a row,
but it's not ideal in terms of sample-handling & disk space usage
Also, it sounds to me like the 13" Hi Hats' splash samples are panned to the right compared to the rest of the hat,
it's only a detail, & it can be solved after recording when exporting "one wav per element",
but it'd be nice if you could check that & maybe fix it in a future update
Keep up the great work !
Peace,