MidiDrum lets
users simulate real acoustic and electric drum sounds. You can
download it for
free. It is less than 800kb overall and will not eat up much CPU resource when you run
it – very very neat!
MidiDrum is a MIDI drum rhythm generator, support custom drum rhythms, it can be save or load from file, the rhythms can be export to MIDI format file too. Open/Save .rhy file witch created by MidiDrum. Export Drum Rhythm to ".mid" file format. Support max 8 Beats and 8 Steps/Beat. Support multi-language, Auto selected by System Regional settings and include
Chord/Disco/Waltz/Polka/Rock/Rumba/Tango" rhythms.
Its graphical
interface is straightforward and intuitive for users with a little music
knowledge:
When you
downloaded the file all you have to do is unzip it, you don’t have to install
it unlike most software that come with an installer. To run the program, just
double click the MidiDrum.exe file:
Its help file
is a .chm (compiled HTML) file that comes with the software
(click MidiDrum.chm to open it):
There is
nothing much on the help file since it only uses a single window to do
everything.
Making
the Beat:
When creating
drum beats it is best to start with the kick drum (also known as bass drum)
pattern. To start making a kick drum, choose 35: Acoustic Bass Drum
on the instruments panel:
Then start to
fill the checkboxes on the beats along the bass drum line:
Click Play to
listen to the sound of the Bass Drum. Listen to the pattern and make necessary
changes to the tempo (using the tempo slider) if necessary. Once you are
satisfied with the bass drum pattern, let’s add the back beat using the snare
drum sound:
Alright, that
might be a lame drum groove and not good enough to inspire you to make your own
beats. I will up the ante a little by adding another instrument called the hihat:
Now this groove
is a little more complex than the first one. It has what musicians call a syncopation
wherein a beat is played where it is not supposed to be played. Notice that I
moved the bass drum from step 5 to step 6 and the snare drum from step 6 to 7:
The shifting of
the beats created an unexpected effect and thus giving it a little syncopated
“funky” feel to it. This is only one way of adding color to a drum groove.
Depending on your creativity you can do much more with a very simple tool like
MidiDrum.
You can make
drum patterns that you can play along during practice or actual play. The
export format is standard MIDI so if you transfer it to your cell phone it will
be able to play it as your ringtone (but this is assuming that your phone can
play MIDI, if your phone’s model is 3 years old or newer then chances are it
plays MIDI files).
Free Funk MIDI Drums Patterns
