Hi, I am just curious if any drummers use BIAB and if so what they think of it. Thanks, John

I am speaking in my post only about Real Drums in BIAB. I primarily play keyboards, but I have also have played drums professionally in both studio and live performances. I have not tried all the drums or there various settings in BIAB, but to date I’ve been impressed with most of the Samples I’ve used. While BIAB does sound and play as pro drummer does, I have not always been able to have the drums play fills and riffs in the places as they were originally recorded in some cover tunes. For example, perhaps someone could show me how to get the drums to do the triplet fills at the end of Van Morrison’s cover Tune Moon Dance. However, letting BIAB be what it is, it inspire me to come up with my own original version of Moon Dance that I am pleased with. I like using real drums in BIAB when I composing original songs as long as I’m not trying to “micro manage” the drums parts. BIAB often will generate a tasty drum fill where I want it and keeps a really solid drum beat without sounding stiff or unhuman like. I have some used RD that just doesn’t sound quite right to me , but have been able to adjust it with EQ, compression, and limiting to have them sound more to my liking after importing the tracts into a DAW.

Like everything about auto-accompaniment, the result is good, but generic and not song-specific.

If a style was song-specific, it wouldn't be versatile.

At the request of one of my good customers many years ago I did an Elvis Presley "Don't Be Cruel" style and learned two things

1. The style is good for "Don't Be Cruel" and not much else. As soon as that guitar lick comes in, it shouts the title song
2. It's actually easier to sequence the song from scratch than to create and tweak the style to make the song come out right

I play drums, but I don't use BiaB for that. If I did, I'd make a click track drummer, send it to one channel in a headphone, the rest on another channel, and play away.

Insights and incites by Notes

I'm not a drummer, although I did stay at a Holiday Inn and I did play drums back in school and messed around with some in the various bands I was in..... but I would say the answer would be a solid and unequivocal.....



YES.

Thanks guys, I should have mentioned why I asked. I am organizing Karaoke style jazz jams. There will be nights when one or more drummers want to play along with whoever has scheduled a song but there is no bass player attending that night. In that situation I want to use BIAB to provide the bass (like Karaoke backing tracks). Okay so one drummer is fine with doing this but another won't play without a bass player. I am looking for ideas on how to sell (playing along with BIAB doing bass) to drummers :-) Right now I am making up a BIAB mp3 file for him to play along to just to check it out. I created 4 choruses (melody, solo, solo and melody). Maybe he just needs to hear how good it really is. I can jam along with the bass only no problem.

Just a few ideas…For the drummer who won’t play without a live bass player ,I wonder if you have a keyboardist who plays bass parts, keyboard split or just plays bass, wonder if the drummer would play with that? Also, maybe you and the drummer may be willing to play without a bass part?

Drummers & BIAB,
Hey, on my latest properly completed track I used BIAB drums and a drummer, (he's actually multi instrumentalist but identifies as a drummer,was more than happy to play guitar along with BIAB RealPlayer drums.
He's an amazing drummer and records drums exceptionally well so him being comfy paying along is a real PLUS.
Here's the track...
https://soundcloud.com/rayc/the-keeper-by-pygmy-beat-extended

Bass by me, guitars by the drummer/guitarist, vocals by a guitarist and drums by the machine - though Realtracks so less machine I suppose.

There will always be people who are resistant to certain technologies.

Playing with BiaB is a compromise, let him know that you know that. Nothing can replace a real band of competent musicians, but you have to do with what you have.

I play both bass and drums, and I know that the two instruments have to lock in to each other. So the drummer playing with a robot bass player will have no control of the groove, and the drummer is supposed to set the groove. I can understand his resistance.

On the other hand, is it better than not playing at all?

If he things playing with a robot is worse than not playing at all, you probably don't want him to play anyway.

Insights and incites by Notes

Okay thanks for your ideas guys. I will try to use them to be more persuasive Currently my strategy is this. There will be a real bass player when we do our demo recording (a pretty good one). I am limiting one song to using the BIAB for bass as a test (kind of like sticking your toes in the cold water). I want this test so that when these jams run live I am not going in cold with BIAB bass and Live drums.