Playing drums on a keyboard

The Living Few

What does boards thing of using a keyboard for drums until a suitable drummer can be found? At the moment we are kinda finding it difficult to get a drummer, probably due to the fact that we haven't gigged yet, but it's a catch 22 because we need a drummer to gig. So I was thinking about just asking a friend with good time to play the drums using a keyboard on stage until such time as we find one. Let us know what you think.

A C Slater

kfoltman

Might look odd, but if he can do it well (it takes a lot of practice, but can be done) then why not? Especially if it's this guy ;-) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oThXwURLLhs (ok, not a keyboard, but pretty close)

It might not appeal to the most close-minded folks but, to be honest, screw them

judas101

why not just use programmed drums?

drum machine, ableton or similar

The Living Few

@Kfoltman: that guy is pretty epic alright. If only we could find someone who'd like to give it a try. To be honest, we don't really have time for closed minded conservatives. Anyway it's not like it would be a permanent thing, it's just that we don't have any other choice. If it worked though, then we'd be well up for keeping it. Who ever said there had to be specific instrument player in every band. Cheers for you input on this btw.

@Juda101: I know what you're saying, it's just that we don't want to have any ghost instruments ya know. We'd much rather if someone was manning the instrument, even if it is just tapping away on a few keys for a while. In any way, it would just be too much hassle to record the drums and then sync them up with the pa and try to play to them....not really sure how it works to be honest, never tried anything like it before. cheers for the input though.

kfoltman

The Living Few wrote: »

If only we could find someone who'd like to give it a try. To be honest, we don't really have time for closed minded conservatives.

Okay, if you run out of options, drop me a PM. I'm not a pro keyboard drummer - if anyone like that exists at all - but have both equipment and practice.

A.J.P

Story? Get someone that has a laptop and some drum programs. Reason, Battery, Drums on demand, there's lots of them out there. On stage you can have a Dude with a laptop using a midi keyboard to trigger the drums in real time......or program the drums for the whole song and the midi keyboard just triggers the song.....That does mean that he'll be standing there with one finger on a key and if his finger slips off he''s stumped!!! (when they put their finger back on the keyboard the drum track will start from the first bar again) Personally using a program like reason and program the whole song and just hit play is the way to go. The Dude with laptop and the midi keyboard could then add to the song with strings, pianos or any other sound needed......A down side is Live the soundman can turn every body down a little because the only on stage sound is a guitar and there's no drummer battering hell out of a kit.

DeBunny

I would recommend using one of these rather than a keyboard.

http://www.korg.com/nanoseries
http://www.thomann.de/ie/akai_mpd_26.htm

You would need a laptop though. A trigger pad would be a lot easier to use and would look a lot better than using a keyboard. Whether you like it or not it's important to look good on stage. You have to impress the closed minded conservatives as well.
Thanks to the XX drum pads like these are ''in'' at the moment. Don't know if this would be good thing or a bad thing for you.

You can get the korg nana pad for about €50 in x music off the red cow roundabout. It also come with it's own drum software.

Best of luck. Let us know how you get on. You have a link to your myspace?

EDIT: Oh, just saw the youtube clip. yeah, ask him! I thought it was the clip of this guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs3kxzPYwHc

kfoltman

DeBunny wrote: »

I would recommend using one of these rather than a keyboard.

http://www.korg.com/nanoseries
http://www.thomann.de/ie/akai_mpd_26.htm

Can't recommend either, having personal experience with both NanoPad and MPD (earlier model, MPD16 not 26).

NanoPad is not very well-built and the sensors tend to break after some time, causing stuck notes. The sensitivity isn't great either. The drum roll function of the XY pad is fun but it takes time to master the technique.

Akai MPD controllers have worse response than average semiweighted or weighted MIDI keyboard. Those controllers have other benefits (knobs/sliders and poly aftertouch). For drumming, they're not very good because of the amount of force that needs to be applied to the pads to get them to respond. They're slightly less noisy (in mechanical sense) than a keyboard, and look less awkward, but that's probably all.

I've improved my MPD16 with a simple modification. I attached 3 circular adhesive labels (one on top of another) on top of each sensor, so that the rubber pad has less distance to travel before getting in contact with the sensor. That works well so far, but it obviously voids the warranty. Mine was already out of warranty so I didn't care A similar mod/hack (using rubber tape instead of paper stickies) is also usable for MPD18/24/26/32, I think - you can find the description on YouTube. I'm not sure if the mod affects the lifetime of the sensors, mine still work

The best controller for drumming (other than real electronic drums, of course) is a true weighted keyboard, like the one used in digital pianos. They give you a great control over dynamics, so you can do crescendos etc. with predictable results. The downside is the weight (close to 20kg), size (the smallest ones are 76-key I think, overkill for drumming) and cost.

kfoltman

DeBunny wrote: »

EDIT: Oh, just saw the youtube clip. yeah, ask him!

I think he (David Haynes) lives in the US

The Living Few

Cheers guys for the responses, to be honest, I don't have a clue about any of that kind of the stuff. We were thinking of something more simple that that.

@Kfoltman: cheers for the offer man, I'm waiting for a friend of mine to get back to me about doing it for us, if nothing happens there, I'll defo give you a pm.

@DeBunny: cheers for the info man, our myspace is www.myspace.com/thelivingfew