Written By: Jerry “Dross” Foltz
Playing Smart – A Drummer's Guide To Modern Technology – Drumagog 5 Platinum Edition
DRUMAGOG 5
Platinum Edition
$149-$379
I’ve been looking forward to introducing the readers of SDM to Drumagog for quite some time now. I say that because it is such a valuable and powerful tool to have in your arsenal. So, what is Drumagog? Drumagog is a plug-in (computer program) which automatically replaces acoustic drum tracks with your choice of other samples. By samples I’m referring to multilayered acoustic drum libraries recorded under all of the very best of circumstances; great engineers, great mics, great drums, with good drum heads that are tuned well, great drum rooms etc. So, Drumagog is a real-time audio plug-in that replaces the sound of your recorded drums. Don’t like the sound of your snare or kick drum? Insert Drumagog on the appropriate track and choose a new sound; Drumagog automatically plays the new sound that you’ve selected in place of the original. It is honestly that easy!
If you read my article on the Samson microphone packs (in this issue) you know that there is a huge price difference between the drum mic packs and what are the industry standard microphones for recording drums. For instance a seven piece mic kit is less expensive than one of the industry standard Tom microphones. Drumagog will enable you to record your drums with inexpensive microphones and then replace the sounds you captured with the sounds that they’ve captured. Believe me; capturing good drum sounds can be very challenging so in many ways Drumagog is a godsend.
FEATURES IN DRUMAGOG:
If you look at the screen shot you’ll see that Drumagog has a file browser in the upper left corner. This makes it extremely easy to find your files. You simply navigate like you would in any of your computer files and click on the sound you want to load. An extremely helpful feature is the “Favorites” tab you’ll see. You simply right click on your “go to” sounds and then select “add to favorites.” This will allow you to collect all of your favorite go to sounds in one location to make things move more efficient. On the lower left of the screen shot you’ll see the Visual Trigger Window. Here you’ll be able to see the sounds coming into Drumagog so that you can adjust the parameters to ensure you are replacing all and only the sounds that you want to be replacing. If you take a look at the screen shoot and look toward the lower center you’ll also notice several sliders/faders. There is one that moves horizontally and is marked as “Blend.” What this does is allow you to blend the sound that you’ve captured with the Drumagog sound to whatever degree you find appropriate. If you move the fader all the way to the left you’ll only hear the original sound. If you move it all the way to the right you’ll only hear the Drumagog sound.
If you take a look at the top center of the screenshot you see what Drumagog refers to as the Sample Window. You’ll notice that there are multiple-colored little rectangular boxes in the sample window. Each of these colored boxes represents a different sound file or layer with this one sound that you are using. Remember that these are multilayered sound files. Some of them are more complex than others however. For instance, the sounds in the Smart Studio Collection have Overhead and Room Mics that you can blend in to get a more “Classic Sound” (distant sound) and stereo spread. If the sample you’ve selected is indeed a sample that was recorded with distant mics you’ll be able to use the faders on the bottom to blend in however much of the distant mics you want in the mix with the close mic sound. Drumagog also gives you some effects options with the Morph Engine and their Convolution Reverb. The Morph Engine actually transforms or “morphs” the drum sound you’ve selected into some unique and interesting sounding instruments. Whether or not this feature will be useful to you will depend on the music you are creating obviously. The Convolution Reverb will allow you to put one of their multiple reverbs on your sound coming directly out of Drumagog should you like them better than the other reverbs that are available to you in your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).
An exciting new feature in Drumagog 5 is Plug-in Hosting. Now Drumagog allows you to bring up drum soft-synths such as BFD2, Superior, EZDrummer or whichever you might be currently using and access their sound libraries as well! Any of you who have ever converted audio files into midi files so that you can replace a sound with one of these synth sounds knows how time consuming this can be. Drumagog now offering plug-in hosting can save you tons and tons of time should some of the sounds in your soft synths be more appropriate for your current project. You can also blend the Drumagog sound with the soft-synth sound in the same manner that you can blend the original mic’d sound with the Drumagog sound which is a cool option as well. The last feature I’m going to touch on is Drumagog’s new Auto Hi-Hat Tracking feature. Drumagog can now recognize the different Hi-Hat articulations like closed, open, half open, quarter open and so forth so that it can choose and play back the appropriate sample automatically!
Drumagog is an invaluable tool within the recording industry for the use of Drums. If you or one of your band members is involved with recording your music on some level than you should know about Drumagog and its possibilities. Even if you don’t have any ambitions to record yourself, be it for demoing or otherwise just knowing that Drumagog exists maybe very well help you if you find yourself in a recording studio and hating your snare sound for instance. At least now you know that sounds can easily be replaced thanks to Drumagog.
SYSTEM REQUIRMENTS:
– Operating System: Windows XP, Vista, or 7. Mac OSX 10.4 or greater. 32 or 64 bit editions.
– Audio Host Application: Any VST, RTAS, or AU host including: Pro Tools (version 7 or greater), Logic, Digital Performer, Nuendo, Cubase, SONAR, etc. (64-bit hosts require a bridge to 32-bit Drumagog 5)
– Hard Drive Space: 4 GB (for sample library)
– Copy Protection: iLok or Challenge/Response (Interlok drivers required)
Drumagog 5 comes in three editions; Basic, Pro and Platinum. You can find more details as well as a comparison chart at www.Drumagog.com and as always, your questions, suggestions, accolades, and hate mail can be sent to: Dross[at]SickDrummerMagazine.com
MAIN SCREEN:
EFFECTS:
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