Alot has to do with how authentic you want your cover songs. Some songs i want to be very close to the original, others i want to be my "take" on the song. To get a close to original cover i use a midi file and a drum software like JS. To do a "version" of a cover i use Band in a box or Real band and a style i like to embellish the song.

Real Drums are very nice sounding, but they are not going to follow the midi track. So I use a combo of both. If i could only afford one tool i would buy BiaB with RB and start there, you can use any drum VSTi in RB to make the authentic covers work. I have used SFZ free sound font player with a nice drum, font and got very nice results. Then later JS can be a nice add on.


HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96