Percussion and Drum Tracks on Keyboard

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Hi,

I recently got a Stage Piano (Roland Juno DS 88), which allows me to play all kinds of sound, including Percussion and Drum Tracks.

The Juno has a lot of Drum Tracks as Presets. But I would like to be able to play them myself. The thing is that I have no idea about playing percussion or drums.
Another thing is, that I have kind of figured on which Keys the Kick, Hi-Hat and Cymbre are. But for everything else I have no idea how to find it. besides trying every single key after the other.

So I have a couple of questions:
- Is there a way to know which sound is on which key? Like is there a rule of thumb how drum kits are organized on a keyboard?
- Can someone recommend a video lesson on percussion in general?
- Can someone recommend a video lesson on playing percussion on a keyboad specifically?
- Can someone recommend some material to read or some lessons on creating drum tracks for different genres (Rock, Hip Hop, Techno, all welcome at this point)

Thank you so much :)
 
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Hi Gary,
Thanks for your fast reply :)

I have seen one or two videos on the sequenzer and I believe I understand how it works with the looping and stuff.

My question is rather how to make a good Drum Beat for different genres. Things Like:
- for a standard Rock Beat the drummer plays the Kick on Beat 1 and 3 and the Hi-Hat on Beat 4
or
- The typical sound in a Trap Beat comes from the clap on 3+

(I am making something up here).

So I am looking for tips and tricks how to make a nice, recognizeable beat.
As well as for lessons to learn percussion/drumming in general. Like rythmic traning and so on

Of course, curiosity and practice are always the best way to learn things. But I thought maybe there are some things that would make a good start :)
 
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happyrat1

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Take a look at videos for dedicated drum boxes, particularly the newer analog ones like the Behringer RD8 or the Roland TR8.

You'll see a bunch of examples of how most studios lay down beats.

Transferring those skills to the Juno will take a bit of work on your part.

Most drum kits have similar keyboard layouts among them so once you know where to find your kicks, snares, toms and high hats and cymbals, the rest are usually oddball percussion that you can add later.

Myself, I own a few drum boxes and sequencers so I rarely use the step sequencers in the Roland because they are a huge pain to set up and configure compared to a Boss DR-880 or Alesis SR-18.

It really depends a lot on what styles of music you are creating.

Gary ;)
 
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wow nice. I googeled the Boss DR-880. That looks crazy. Never seen something like that.

I checked out a tutprial for the Roland TR8. That helps me a lot.

I saw that there is a "Roland TR Cloud", which is the whole thing as software. Is there an open source alternative, that is worth checking out?

And one more thing I asked myself also earlier: What does 808 or 909 refer to? Are these Just the model numbers? Or does that descripe an actual drum set?
 

happyrat1

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Model numbers.

Open source drum machine softwares are few and far between and not really very good.

If you are looking for freebies I don't know of any and I'm a hardware guy anyway, so I don't do VSTi''s

Gary ;)
 
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Hi Gary,
Thanks for your fast reply :)

I have seen one or two videos on the sequenzer and I believe I understand how it works with the looping and stuff.

My question is rather how to make a good Drum Beat for different genres. Things Like:
- for a standard Rock Beat the drummer plays the Kick on Beat 1 and 3 and the Hi-Hat on Beat 4
or
- The typical sound in a Trap Beat comes from the clap on 3+

(I am making something up here).

So I am looking for tips and tricks how to make a nice, recognizeable beat.
As well as for lessons to learn percussion/drumming in general. Like rythmic traning and so on

Of course, curiosity and practice are always the best way to learn things. But I thought maybe there are some things that would make a good start :)
is this thread still alive ?

If so, and if you're still looking for information about drumming and rhythm patterns for specific styles of music I suggest you take a look at this book :


have fun,

E.
 

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