Drum Programming: A Complete Guide to Program and Think Like a Drummer [Paperback]

Ray F. Badness (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1991

This is your complete guide to programming and thinking like a drummer - not a drum machine user. Instead of merely providing instructions for you to program into your machine, this book is a direct, mathematical approach to learning how to drum and how to best emulate a drum kit on a pre-recorded track. By following this book, you will gain an understanding of the drum kit that takes many drummers years to learn - and that will lead to more realistic programming and better results!

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Centerstream Publications (November 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0931759544
• ISBN-13: 978-0931759543
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,435 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great little book!, November 29, 2007

By 

Slipin Lizard - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drum Programming: A Complete Guide to Program and Think Like a Drummer (Paperback)

Ages ago I was in band, playing guitar, writing and recording songs. I've just started getting back into music again, and have purchased a Boss 880 Dr. Rhythm drum machine. Played around with it, lots of fun, and then thought "ok, so how do I program some of my own beats into this thing?". Everywhere I turned, the responses were "read the manual" or "just use samples" and then finally "well the best way to learn to program drums is to learn to play drums". Great, so I'm going to have to spend years learning how to physically co-ordinate my limbs when what I really need is a basic understanding of the fundamentals of how beats work in popular music.
Then I found and ordered this book. Ray has done a great job. He provides the information in a clear, concise manner. Its amazing that this book was written in 1991, and yet it feels like it could have been written yesterday. This is because the book teaches how to think about beats and program them in a way that is realistic to what an actual drummer could play. He uses a simple to understand chart method that is based on 16th notes, just like the old Roland TR 909 interface, super easy to understand. Ray gets right to the point, and then has you program in some example beats. Things are immediately becoming much clearer to me, and I'm only half way through the book. If you're not a drummer, but want to learn how to program your drum machine so that it sounds realistic and not like a "beat box" then this book is for you. The Boss Dr. Rhythm 880 is aimed at guitar/bass players, and they should really include a copy of this book with every unit they sell. Its really amazing how hard it is to find information on how to decide WHAT to program into a drum machine, and Ray does a great job with this text. Thanks Ray!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Missing Piece Of The DAW Puzzle, January 15, 2009

By 

Robert S. Robbins (Williamsport, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Drum Programming: A Complete Guide to Program and Think Like a Drummer (Paperback)

Although there are many books available on the various Digital Audio Workstations, most of them just cover the software and assume you'll know things like drum programming. Fortunately this book provides that missing information. I have no musical aptitude and have never gotten anything out of a book on music until I read this one. I had to figure out how to apply its instructions to a specific drum machine, ReDrum in Propellerhead Reason, but other than that it was really easy to understand and I was immensely pleased with the results. I feel like I'm finally making some progress in mastering Propellerhead Reason! Drum programming is easy given some good instructions and you'll find that in this book.

The book itself is fairly short, only 54 pages of actual text with a lot of space taken up by drum tabulatures. It is oversized like a lot of music books. It resembles a song book. But it is cheap enough and thoroughly explains a topic that you won't find covered in most digital music manuals or books.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Expected More, May 20, 2008

By 

One Man Band (Meriden, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drum Programming: A Complete Guide to Program and Think Like a Drummer (Paperback)

I bought this book based on another review that said it would complement the Boss DR-880 and help me learn to think like a drummer. I did learn a few things around the basic use of cymbals and toms, but on the whole it was nothing I hadn't already figured out. It's crudely written but gets right to the point. You certainly won't learn how to compose any complex rhythms, but it might be enough to get you going if you haven't used a drum machine before and are very intimidated by it. I'm not sure anyone can teach how to compose fills that sound realistic, and this book didn't help me there. But for the price, I guess it was OK.