I just tried to record some live action with my SP for the first time and I recognized how hard it really is to get it right. Well, it's quite fast and I found myself getting out of the rhythm a dozen times before I managed to record just one and a half minute of sound right.

Does any of you guys do this regularly, got any tips? I've got no drumkit around so that wouldn't be an option

Makes me appreciate dudes like Alias and Jel even more, I can't imagine how the can do a whole live set without having to start over again. Seems like there's a lot of practice behind that. Maybe a part of the secret is to map out the keys right and layer the sounds in a clever way.

btw, here's what I recorded:
http://www.box.net/shared/v4ludhgscr

I also noticed that I shouldn't record into my laptop anymore, the soundcard changes the sound significantly.

work with handmade drumloops. like my problem now is trying not to quantize, i cant stand quantiation because i have alot of natural rhythm. i could bang out 3 minutes of live drumming, 3 to 4 pads and only go off-tempo a few times. now im in the process of using my 8 track and just going all live so i have have 8 tracks sequenced instead of 1 track on the 555. takes practice yo. maybe bang out the kick and the snare and get 4 bars of the groove you want, find the tempo then bang out the hats and the rides or whatever, then bang some more layered kicks and snares over that and have 3 pads with 4 bar loops then play em together cause most drumming is loops anyway, why bang out a minute and a half when you prolly only need like 4 bar loops and a few changes that could probably be done with resampling and delay effects or that bpm looper.
hope it helps

Ah alright, maybe I should take it slow first. I used 8 pads on that one and they're all not only drum sounds but have that other sound to it, I don't even know what kind of instrument it was *g* I'll try to have several pads with a 1 bar long sample that I hit once in a while and play just kick, snare and hihats to it next time, maybe that'll get me more out of it.

yeah, its even hard for me to realize that it aint how your doing it its what your doing, meaning what you produce. im always about to sample something and chop it too much thinking im all cool because i can chop but then i realize that i dont need that many chops and no one will even know how much i chopped it. or how many drums ive played at the same time with my fingers. try 2 or 4 bars instead of one, might be a little more interesting.
have fun
peece

For live shows I would definitely use loops instead of single shot live play for sure, but I've seen some crazy cats on Youtube using like 6 pads to bang out live drumming perfectly. So it's definitely possible.

I think it's easiest to learn with a 2 bar sample to give you a feeling for the tempo indeed.

Also, the peeps who do entire shows tend to have each drumkit in the same way layed-out with kick drum, snare and hi-hats etc. That saves learning the spots where you got the samples. I think more ambient stuff samples are sometimes played nearly random as well.

i'm no expert (certainly no Jel...), but i'm getting better, and here's what i did to improve:

set up kits the same way every time. i do kicks down the left, then snares, then hats, then percussion.

practice like crazy (obvs), but i found that practicing over another drum loop at half volume helps yr timing. when you get a bit better, drop the volume further. when you get even better remove that practice loop entirely. remember that this loop can just be hi-hats, or some dudes clapping or whatever. YOU are adding the boom bap.

use kicks and hats at different volumes. that way you can get around pads that are not velo sensitive and still place accents and emphasis.

finally, practice jamming with friends. get someone to play a bassline or whatever, and try to create the pocket.

good luck mans.

id recommend getting a pad-type midi controller.. velocity sensitive pads adds alot of expression, and they always will trigger (sometimes you hit the SP pads and dont push hard enough to trigger them)

Yeah, I noticed that for sure, especially when you wanna go fast.