I use this technique on many different instruments like the bassline, bass kicks, hi hats, claps and just about anything else. In this example I'm showing you my snare hits...
First thing after you've completed your snare pattern, right click on the snare tab and choose "piano roll". In your piano roll window you will see Velocity in the top middle section of the top bar by default. In the smaller window at the bottom you will see horizontal lines with little circles on top of them and a line going to the right (1 under each snare hit). Those lines represent your velocities for each hit. They will all be the same height...
Now heres the fun part. Put your cursor on the 1st little circle, left click and hold, drag it down a little, then release. Do that for each one making them all different heights. What you are doing is adjusting the velocity for each snare hit, mine look like this now...
*note don't worry about the lengths of the notes changing, thats a different subject, just look at the height difference.
Once you have done this, close the window and go back and listen to your beat now. You should notice that it will have a "real" feel to it. Thats because a real drummer can't reproduce the same hit each time he hits his snare, if he could, he would sound just like a drum machine...lol. Remember, to do this on your bass hits, hi hats and so on...play around with it until your ears say it's good.
Good luck and leave comments if you have any problems.
*If you want to hear the beat that I made using this snare pattern, click on my signature picture...the song is called "Just A Feelin". Pay attention to the hi hats, you can really see how it works with them.
First thing after you've completed your snare pattern, right click on the snare tab and choose "piano roll". In your piano roll window you will see Velocity in the top middle section of the top bar by default. In the smaller window at the bottom you will see horizontal lines with little circles on top of them and a line going to the right (1 under each snare hit). Those lines represent your velocities for each hit. They will all be the same height...
Now heres the fun part. Put your cursor on the 1st little circle, left click and hold, drag it down a little, then release. Do that for each one making them all different heights. What you are doing is adjusting the velocity for each snare hit, mine look like this now...
*note don't worry about the lengths of the notes changing, thats a different subject, just look at the height difference.
Once you have done this, close the window and go back and listen to your beat now. You should notice that it will have a "real" feel to it. Thats because a real drummer can't reproduce the same hit each time he hits his snare, if he could, he would sound just like a drum machine...lol. Remember, to do this on your bass hits, hi hats and so on...play around with it until your ears say it's good.
Good luck and leave comments if you have any problems.
*If you want to hear the beat that I made using this snare pattern, click on my signature picture...the song is called "Just A Feelin". Pay attention to the hi hats, you can really see how it works with them.
