What Is Alt Drums and How Does It Work?
It’s unlikely that you have a drum kit lying somewhere in your house or perhaps an old one in the garage to run to. Maybe, you could borrow one from a friend, but the hassle of putting it together feels daunting. So, how about having a VST drum kit within a digital audio workstation on your computer? A virtual drum kit with the kicks of a practical drum kit to play all day long and live the fantasy? Get in Alt Drums. It’s virtually everything you’d want to recreate your best bands and reminisce about the old times. But what is Alt Drums, and how does it work?
ALT DRUMS IS A VIRTUAL DRUM KIT SOFTWARE COMPRISING A REPLICA OF DRUM SETS IN EVERY SCENARIO AND POSSIBLE SETTING. IT’S AN INCREDIBLE RYAN GREENE’S CREATION, A RENOWNED SOUND ENGINEER AND PRODUCER WHO’S WORKED WITH REPUTABLE ARTISTS AND BANDS IN HIS ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER. THE SOFTWARE FEATURES A DRUM KIT SAMPLE TO ADD A PUNCH AND WEIGHT TO YOUR RECORDS, CREATE AND RECREATE YOUR FAVORITE BANDS OR COME UP WITH SOMETHING PERFECTLY UNIQUE AND ORIGINAL.
This article offers insight into Alt Drums, how it works and why you should get yours, so keep reading to find out more.
What Is Alt Drums: An Overview
Alt drums is an idea that Ryan Green, a punk rock producer came up with, and it was a significant improvement of the drum sample libraries in the existing market. The desire to be unique and original was the sheer force in developing this iconic software. It has three different drum kits per pack, each with an additional snare drum. The software also has two alternative kits, the complex producer kit and the preset kit – which is less intricate than the former.
The software’s user interface is simple and intuitive, so both novice and expert drummers can use it without a hitch. Anyone purchasing this software can choose to get each one of the drum kits separately or everything as a package and create the drumbeat of their liking. It’s an ideal starting point for creating drum beats from scratch, and the software offers a less cost-intensive approach to getting creative with the beats without touching a real drum.
How To Use Alt Drums (And How It Works)
Using Alt Drums is quite a breeze, but you need a mid-level acquaintance with the specifics of producing music. Of course, numerous available tutorials should help you understand the basic terms of creating high-quality sounds. After all, all you need is your intuition and a bit of sound judgement to create something extraordinary. Most producers rely on the producer kit to create seasoned beats since it has all the enabling perks compared to the preset kit. Here’s part of the process, including starting and using the software.
Open a Blank Reason Session and Create a Combinatory – the producer kit has additional processing, including compressors, long and short reverb, stereo imagers and scream 4 distortion. So, open a blank reason session and create a Combinator.
Load Up One of the Drum Kits – the software offers you three drum kit stereo versions, including the dry, overhead and room. The dry version is the direct mics, the overhead versions are the direct mics with overheads, and the room version combines mics from all versions, including itself. You can load any drum kit with either of the three versions depending on how you want your drums to sound.
Start Programming and Creating Drum Beats – The producer kit has its drum kit that opens once you launch it, so if you have a MIDI controller or anything close, you should be good to go. If you fancy combinations from different kits, the software’s NN-XT sampler helps you patch some kit parts and create an entirely different one. For instance, you can pair a snare drum from a different kit to your preferred kit and get the added effect to make things a bit unique.
Remember, the producer kit is more profound, and you can do more with it. You can choose your drums and peripherals, including changing the bass drums, the toms, Hi-hats and cymbals.
Why Use Alt Drums Over Real Drum Kits?
You have to admit that nothing sounds better and more accurate than VST drum kit sounds compared to real ones. Most seasoned drummers will agree that distortions and inaccuracies are the day’s order in real drumming rather than in virtual senses. But that’s not all since VST drum kits like Alt Drums have everything a drummer needs, including:
Simplicity – getting your acoustics right in real drum kits can be daunting. Imagine tuning and tightening the kit, maintaining and keeping the drums in perfect shape to produce consistent, high-quality sounds? With Alt Drums, it’s all a walk in the park since this software offers everything in a hand stretch, all-fined tuned and always ready to rock and roll.
A Variety of Drum Samples – with real drum kits, you’re only limited to a specific sound sample and genre. However, VST drum kits like Alt Drums provide you with various drum samples, including Black Oyster, Jazzy or Grungy. It helps you stay flexible, making switching from one sample to the other pretty convenient.
Cheap and Less Spacious – most people get constrained with space and lack extra room to set up a drumming studio. However, Alt Drums software on your desktop takes zero space, which is pretty convenient. Besides, you don’t have to cough out lump sum cash amounts to purchase an entire drum set, but an Alt Drums subscription or purchase is all it takes to get all the drum sounds you need.
Conclusion
Ryan Green’s Alt Drums has continued gracing the space for over a decade, and it seemingly gets better by the day. The good thing is that it’s pretty straightforward, and its user interface is quite intuitive, although a mid-level acquaintance with music production can come in handy. This software has the knack for giving your drum beats a punch and weight and creating original, high-quality drum beats for your next record. Therefore, it’s worth having it, and you’ll love its every step.