Drums are the major hangup for lots of home studio folks. They are critical and are mixed hot, in your face. Two good software programs have already been mentioned, EZD and Jamstix. There are others, Studio Drummer for example. There are a ton of vids on YT for all of them. You won't pick it up in a few hours, devote most of a weekend to viewing the how-to vids. Then of course it's what DAW software will you use to host either one?

Real Band can do that and you already have it. But some drum software is exclusive to one software package like Studio Drummer is part of Kontakt meaning you pay about $150 as an add on library but you have to already own a full version of Kontakt which costs from $500-$1,000. DAW software like Cubase, Pro Tools, Studio One etc have drum software built in too but of course you're now buying a full DAW for $400-800, learning it then learning how their drum software works.

Someone mentioned loops. People have been using loops for pretty decent drum tracks for 20 years. There are tons of loop libraries out there and some are free. Biab and RB both work well with loops. You can also take your Real Drum track and do audio editing on it. If you need a fill on bar 15 you can drop a loop in there and EQ it to match the sound of the RD. You can find midi drum tracks and find some good midi fills. The midi can trigger a drum synth for playback only and there are some free drum synths around including a decent sounding drum kit. Of course all of this has a learning curve that you just have to dig in and figure out.

I feel your pain, you know what you want in your head but to really get it you have to make a serious investment. The beauty and frustration of Biab/RB is all the RT/RD's that gets you "almost there" but not quite. Getting over the hump for that last bit can double your cost. Or more.

If you're really serious about this and can afford it then buy a well known and tested software package now and go for it. Trying to do it on the cheap can work to get started but you'll wind up buying the good stuff anyway so you may as well do it now. IF you're really serious.

One final thought. Audio production is a serious industry and people get 4 year college degrees in it. You're not going to get proficient in a month, 6 months or even a year. It takes time but like the old saying goes. a journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step.

Bob


Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.