Hello all,

This is a bit of an open question but I hope you can make some suggestions anyway.

I use FLStudio on Win64 to create music (largely ambient but some uptempo and rock too). Purely a hobby, no commercial ties (or talent for that matter). I do fine with melodies, FX etc, but I have near zero experience of making beats, drum or percussion lines. I will learn, but I am also looking at tools that will help me sketch out drums and percussions for my projects.

Could you suggest any newbie-friendly VSTs, possibly with "assisted modes" (meaning a variety of genre templates or midi loops to get me started and possibly some kind of automatic play along so I can mock up my projects with half decent drums and percs)?

I have thought of using lops just for the mock-ups but that is not very flexible and I don't know the best way to get loops to conform to my project's BPM when their original BPM is different (I will take suggestions on that gratefully too°.

I am faintly aware of tools such as EZDrummer and MDrummer. I did try the latter (old version I think) and found it overwhelming for a newbie.

I know that ultimately I need to devlop my own beats from scratch, but I would appreciate your suggestions for shortcuts and suitable tools in the meantime.

Thanks a lot.

Remi

 

Thanks a lot TolmI. For the recommendation but also the encouragement. It's always difficult to ask about shortcuts or easy ways to do things, as some assume you're not willing to put in the work. I got slated a couple of times for doing just that, so I am always careful to explain the context. That's why I am all the more grateful for a patient welcome.

 

No problem @Remi , we have all been there, it's all good. That's what this place is all about.

 

FL Studio's step sequencer and piano roll are the most intuitive drumtools for newbies. Also FL's library contains hundreds of editable midi drum patterns (with variations including fills, bridges etc) covering different styles of music, which can be easily dragged onto selected channels (internal FL's MPC plugin works as multichannel drum sampler).
So it's efficient to learn FL's workflow first - it's considered as one of the easiest drum programming tools at the moment. You can download, immediately use and edit thousands of free midi drum and percussive patterns using selected samples and drumkits - it gives you far more control than using that "autoplaying" VSTis.
As an alternative to FPC try NI Battery (huge factory library with ready to use drumkits, tons of midi clips corresponding to drumkits), requires no experience and time - just load plugin, select a kit, drag midi and play|edit to your purposes.

Sorry for my english and good luck gaining new skills!

 

Your English is excellent.

Thank you for the info. I have been using FL Studio for a little while but had not seen any MIDI drum patterns, perhaps because I just didn't look for them. I have never seen battery so I'll take a look at that too.

Thank you very much for answering. Very useful.

 

Check FL's browser at the left side - go to scores\fpc drumloops (as far as I remember).
Load FPC on channel, select drumkit, drag midi clip and hit play button.
You can easily change drumkits and midi clips and also make your own drumkits in FPC by loading samples

 

Got it. Thanks a lot.