I’m a guitar player by nature, with ability to play drums if/when necessary. Playing an electric guitar at ear-orgasmic volumes through a VST and headphones is no problem for the neighbors. Acoustic drums…not as much. If you want to stay on good terms with the neighbors, and not be on a first-name basis with the local police for disturbing the peace, electric kits with MIDI capability are the way to go.
I bought an electric kit, and learned how to capture MIDI from live drum sessions (rather than programming beats), and later still, to “fan out” the analog tracks with a Drum VSTi plugin. I settled on EZDrummer, but there are a LOT of choices for Windows users (where I started). Almost too many to consider…but when I switched to a Linux OS, drum VSTi was a chokepoint that almost sent me back to Windows. I was familiar with Ardour on Windows, and Ardour on Linux was a painless and transparent process.
However, finding a Drum VSTi that captured MIDI from a live drum session, while I was playing, became a very frustrating situation with numerous dead-ends or half-baked workarounds for MY use-case scenario. While us Linux users are almost spoiled for the choices available to us in the Linux ecosystem, drum VSTis isn’t one of them…there is a fundamental dearth of suitable VSTi plugins for real drummers to track live drum sessions with MIDI in Linux. There are a lot of samplers to playback MIDI on drums instruments, but capturing MIDI input from electric drums has very limited options (IMO) at this point in time.
I’ve got it solved now, so thought I’d share my findings for any others looking to travel a similar path. I’m hoping it will only improve in the future, but I’m finally happy with my Linux setup. So I’m making this time-saving thread that I had hoped to find when I was “looking for the way.” Maybe it will help others find the way, or help them get there quicker?
For starters…here is the use-case scenario:
- my genre is rock or hard rock, sometimes on the verge of “metal”
- a human drummer, capturing MIDI input to the DAW via electric drums with MIDI out
- my electric kit is a typical 5-shell arrangement (kick, snare, 3 toms, hi-hat, ride, and 2 crash cymbals…a VERY common configuration)
- coming from Windows, my Drum VSTi was EZDrummer…that’s my “yardstick”
- I wanted a NATIVE Linux solution…no bridging
Here are the contenders I considered the best options, with pros and cons for each:
AVL Drumkits is a pretty nice Drum VST with native Linux compatibility. These are probably the most polished Drum VSTs in Linux. Differing kits available include the Black Pearl and Red Zeppelin and Blonde Bop…and each has a distinct sound, and all sound pretty good. This is a good choice for many users. However, the shell configuration was lacking for me. AVL kits are comprised of a kick, snare, Rack Tom, & Floor Tom; all the cymbals are there…hihat, ride, crash and splash(?). If your drum shells match up with AVL, this is an excellent Drum VST for you. But if you have a kit with 3 or more toms, you must either remove one of your shells from your drum module and adjust your playing style, or capture your multi-tom fills and rolls and then edit your MIDI to move the “unmapped tom MIDI” to one of the 2 available toms (rack or floor). While I like the AVL plugins, this was a dealbreaker for me, so I kept looking…
I considered Hydrogen, which seems like a great way for non-drummers to program drum beats, but a PITA to figure out how to capture live drums into Hydrogen MIDI. I also didn’t care for the drum sounds I heard in Hydrogen. The sounds I heard were very “pop”, and “synth/techno” sounding. Maybe the perfect solution for someone else, but made no sense to this guy, FWIW.
MT PowerDrumKit (MTPDK) is a drum VSTi with excellent MIDI-capture and ability to manipulate MIDI-mapping, and comes with several “grooves” for those who don’t actually play drums, but program beats. While MTPDK has a “linux version”, it is actually a modified Windows version that has been modified to work well with yabridge. I had used MTPDK on Windows before I discovered EZD and there is only ONE kit available for MTPDK, and I don’t like the sound of that kit. Sounded very “pop” or “radio rock” and likely sounds good across multiple genres. But the kit configuration models the standard 5-shell configuration. Being a non-native Linux solution that requires bridging, coupled with the drum sounds, this one was not for me, but others may find it perfectly acceptable, and it IS a viable option. Even so, I kept looking…
I stumbled onto DrumGizmo, which markets themselves as “naked and unpolished” drum sounds, with NO PROCESSING whatsoever. There are several drumkits available, in various configurations from typical 5-shell (DRS Kit) to a 6-shell kit (Crocell) and some double-bass kits with multiple tom arrangements such as Aasimonster and Muldjord. While the DRS kit matched my configuration, I like the sample sounds from Crocell the best. And I liked that I could add another tom in the future and Crocell would accommodate that. After downloading the kits, unpacking the zip files, reading the documentation, etc… I encountered several issues. The raw “unprocessed” kit sounds didn’t sound good to my ears, and there was a LOT of mic bleed. I had to learn how to process the drums as if it were a real kit…I learned how to gate each piece, and learned how to work the “bleed” slider for the perfect amount of ambience. It was a LOT of work learning a new plugin and new mixing skills, but once I got it dialed in, I just saved it as a “DrumGizmo-Recording” session template. It almost always requires a little tweaking, in context with the other instruments, but I’m usually 90% toward finished drums as soon as the live MIDI drums are captured. This is my current setup and I’ve been happy with it. The biggest downside, for me is that this plugin is very CPU intensive for me. The “latency” during capture really messes with my drummer timing. The workaround was to record the audio output SIMULTANEOUSLY with the MIDI output (2 captures into my DAW), but to only listen/monitor the audio output during recording. Once recorded, I mute the audio and work with the MIDI. A 2nd issue…I think the source of that may be that the Crocell kit was recorded at 48kz sample rate, while my Ardour sessions are at 44.1kz. I could change my sample rate, but I collaborate remotely with others and 44.1kz seems to be the “default” with others. Other kits are recorded at 44.1, so I could switch to a different kit, but I’ve got the Crocell dialed in, and I really like the tones of that kit. Tired of fighting the battle between 44.1 and 48, I discovered that DrumGizmo will “re-sample” on the fly. I’m fairly certain that is the source of my high CPU and occasional xruns. My workaround is to get the drum track produced first, and then “print” the MIDI drums to audio buss, and then turn MIDI off and only work with audio drum busses. Not ideal, but also NOT a deal-killer. I still keep an eye on the horizon for other alternatives as they become available, but it’s no longer urgent. DrumGizmo is where I’m at currently. Pros are the alternative kit options and they sound REALLY good once they’re dialed in. Cons would be as mentioned…high CPU use, high latency during live capture, and a PITA to get dialed in exactly how you want it. I could also look at some of the other DrumGizmo kits and repeat the process for initial setup, but I really like the sound of the Crocell kit. If anyone is curious, here is one of my recordings with the DrumGizmo Crocell kit:
Ugritone drums made (still making?) a pretty nice Drum VST with a LOT of flexibility with drum configuration, MIDI mapping, mixing, blending one-shots, etc… all from WITHIN the plugin! They have NUMEROUS drum kits to choose from, and I settled on Total Studio Drums, a personal taste thing. These sounded fantastic, with very little effort on my part. And for those who don’t actually play drums, Ugritone has hundreds of “grooves” available for purchase. IMO, that’s probably their business model…they created a Drum VST/sampler to sell MIDI drum grooves. But it works VERY WELL to capture live drum session MIDI. There are multiple “instruments” to mix & match, creating your own custom kit; you can change MIDI mapping to suit your module; and you can blend one-shot samples (also provided by the plugin) from directly within the plugin. They sound fantastic for the rock/hard rock/metal genre! However, on MY system, it causes a LOT of xruns…until the session crashes. I can’t speak to latency during live capture, because xruns crash me so quickly. I tried to troubleshoot, and there are several folks with similar issues as me. But there are also several folks who report no issues whatsoever. YMMV. They have a pretty good refund policy though. They don’t advertise their Linux offerings, but when you go to download links, there’s a link for Linux versions. I wanted to support that…I think I spent $20 (on sale) for a Drum VST. I REALLY liked this VST, but doesn’t suit ME for reasons cited. But might be perfect for another dude. $20 is a pittance to try it out. Ugritone was going out of business, but then merged or was acquired by another company, and I heard they re-designed their plugins. I wanted to give them another shot, but got subverted when I discovered the next plugin to discuss…
Audio Assault came out with DrumLocker. I had been experimenting with some of Audio Assaults AmpLocker plugins and various Saturation & Vocal plugins and have been pleasantly surprised with their products. And they seem to always be running sales…I have purchased multiple “amp plugins” for like $5 each. NATIVE…LINUX offerings! When I stumbled onto their DrumLocker sale, I HAD TO try it out. DrumLocker is a free VSTi, with a free 1970’s kit included to test on your system. The 1970s kit resembles the AVL Drumkit 4-shell configuration and is very dry and unprocessed. But it works fantastically on Linux…no issues whatsoever. So I got out my wallet and splurged $5 on the “Metal” drumkit, which I think sounded the closest to my tastes. I’m still working on this one, but VERY encouraged with sounds and performance! And the latency is practically non-existent…I noticed NO latency during playing! The native tones of the “Metal” kit are almost perfect for me, with very little to do…and the CPU draw is negligible. There are 4 other kits (currently) available, and they just dropped another new one last week (Vulgar kit, based on Vinnie Paul/Pantera tones). I’ve switched back & forth between the 70s kit and the Metal kit, seamlessly from within the plugin, with no issues whatsoever! I haven’t found any “cons” yet. If I can get it dialed in, DrumLocker is on track to replace DG as my “go to” preferred VSTi! I’m currently tracking a new tune, and running 2 sessions simultaneously…one with the tried & tested DrumGizmo template; and developing a 2nd template for DrumLocker. I want to hear the 2 versions in context against each other, but am very encouraged that this might be the solution to all my MINOR issues. Could this be the perfect Drum VSTi for this guy? Maybe. And no doubt, it IS the perfect Drum VSTi for other uses on Linux!
So there you have the highlights of the best POTENTIAL solutions for DrumVSTi in Linux-land, based on my research, experimentation and OPINIONS. This is the thread I wish I could have read when I first started down this path 8(?!) years ago. But in the interests of “paying it forward”, at least it’s now available for the next guy! I truly hope this helps other live drummers with electric kits…may this expedite your learning curve and allow you to track your original music compositions sooner! Hope to hear more of that!
