Loopcloud Drum Tutorial

I know Loopcloud Drum is covered a little in the Loopcloud series but I'd like to see something focused on Loopcloud Drum. It seems to have a lot of potential but slightly confusing to be honest.

Nice idea! Are there any areas in particular that you find confusing or just in general?

Over the past few days I've been digging a little deeper into LC Drum. A lot of the confusion is gone but I would like to see more guidance with the sequencer, pattern order, swing, etc. Choke groups would be nice to see covered too. Oh yeah... and the Mixer view, master effects...lol I suppose I'm looking for an in depth look in to what Loopcloud Drum is capable of.

No worries! Livestream now set for next Wednesday at 18.00 BST!

I just commented this on the YT video "Make a beat in the style of Maztek Neurofunk - 3 Minute Beat", I was wondering if anybody has an opinion on these issues?

I am surprised that I can't buy/download extra 'Loopcloud Drum Patterns' even though the Loopcloud app has it listed under "Formats", guess it must be an upcoming feature. I did buy some cool Loopcloud drum kits to expand my drum kit choices but I found myself quickly customizing at least half of the pads and it got me wondering whether new drum kits is money (credits) well spent?

Yeah it may well be an upgrade at some point. If not it should be. It would definitely be useful to be able to buy patterns separately.

Do you have an opinion if the Drum Kits they sell are worth the credits? It won't be just me who almost immediately starts replacing sounds on one or two pads (or nearly all), and you wind up with a (subjectively) better kit either by randomization or custom drag an drop or a combination of both. Not gonna lie: some drum kits from the shop just sound yummy and not buying them with the crazy amount of credits you still have is near impossible. I think I bought 6 or 8 extra drum kits but now decided to stop buying more.

Also, Loopcloud drumkits generally feature bass pads and synth pads and not just drum and percussion pads. I am a bit startled how well that works out (normally I would add bass and synth in separate tracks) but at the same time it also limits me what I can do for bass and synth further along. Any thoughts?

I personally prefer the Genre Expansion Packs, as they've got more usability. More patterns, loads of oneshots etc. Really good for creating instant unique kits in a certain style that you can randomise till you get a unique and workable kit.

Bought 20 extra kits in total, still 1800 credits 2 go for the remainder of the year. Samplestate's "Minimal Deep Tech" and Loopcloud's own "House Exp" my new favorites. Always want to venture out in genres not really familiar to me like ... Dub Reggae (nice Drum Kit) so got this too. Note to self: now you have plenty and then some, stop buying!

Ah well, to answer my own question "Also, Loopcloud drumkits generally feature bass pads and synth pads and not just drum and percussion pads. I am a bit startled how well that works out (normally I would add bass and synth in separate tracks) but at the same time it also limits me what I can do for bass and synth further along. Any thoughts?" After a bit more experimentation I have come to the conclusion bass, synth and pad sounds within the Drum kit are indeed very limiting in what you can do in your track afterwards. They may be suitable for simple projects or just to be used as placeholders but even that I find rather restrictive or outright annoying. The fact that these elements are often pitched makes the unsophisticated randomization function pretty useless when looking for less annoying placeholders (also that randomization routine suspiciously often suggests the same samples over and over again, it is definitely not the strongest aspect of the current Loopcloud Drum version).

I think you're right in that using the pads for melodic sounds is a bit of a waste if all you want to do is create beats. Maybe just a bass sample and the odd FX would be better, and then just keep the rest to purely drums, allowing more scope for fills and variety with the single kit in different contexts.

@robjones Thanks for your feedback Rob, I think you are right. That's up to 8 pads you could re-assign for actual drum/perc use, not even an easy task btw, many professional drumkits (like in Ableton) often include one or more dubious pad assigned instruments that you'll find no use for. Also, should you use them after all (quaint can be good) they tend to bear witness of which drumkit you used [and didn't bother to modify] (and we don't want that!).

To research the "wiley producer obfuscation options" I loaded the Loopcloud Drum midi into other drum instruments, it looks like Loopcloud Drum adheres to GM (or IMAP?) settings to some if not large extent:

I had 100% pad triggering for:
Ableton Drumkits
XLN Addictive Drums 2

I had approx. 90% pad triggering for:
ToonTrack EZdrummer

I had approx. 85% pad triggering for:
IKMultimeda's Modo Drum

The real question remains does the midi trigger the right instruments but with 8 pads assigned to Pad/Synth and Bass (i.e. Loopcloud Drum) it is difficult to come to a final conclusion because none of the other instruments commonly have similar instrument mappings; anyway, the kick was always a match but I lack the time to checkout all GM mappings. Perhaps RTFM is the answer but I haven't found one...

Interesting to see the crossover in terms of other instruments' mappings there.

By the way, just had a meeting with one of the guy's behind Loopcloud Drum. Watch this space this week for some BIG news! And then obviously, some new tutorials/livestreams to follow as well......

Just had a quick try of the new version of Loopcloud Drum. Some really nice updates, mainly the multi outputs and the ability to trigger patterns with your midi controller. Being able to process the sounds individually on their own output just makes the plugin much more usable.

Absolutely! HUGE update!