Dual Drummer Setups (i.e Grateful Dead, Genesis, Crimson)

[apesma_1]

enesis, Crimson)', 'Hi All,

Not sure I saw this asked in the forums, so here goes:

Has anyone tried simulating the interplay of 2 drummers playing on one composition? Is it possible to use 2 instrument tracks on a DAW, with an instance of Jamstix 4 running on each one, to emulate 2 drummers playing together? For example, Chester Thompson & Phil Collins on "Los Endos"?

[Azimuth (Archive)]

You could run separate instances of JS without issue. The trick would be emulating some semblance of "logic" between the 2 "Drummers" performances. It could be done but would take some planning I think. Otherwise it would probably sound more like 2 drum kits falling down an elevator shaft. That's my take on it.

[Knopf_]

...Otherwise it would probably sound more like 2 drum kits falling down an elevator shaft...

Hahaha, good one. I am stil laughing. Another expression would be “it would sound more like Knopf playing the drums”.

[jas_lan]

Otherwise it would probably sound more like 2 drum kits falling down an elevator shaft. That's my take on it.

Yes. Hilarious!

Personally, I always felt like two drummers was a gimmick thing and that’s why it never stuck. Drummer and percussionist, yes, but two drummers is like two metronomes.

[Azimuth (Archive)]

Personally, I always felt like two drummers was a gimmick thing and that’s why it never stuck.

That was the way I felt about the whole Country Rock thing back in the 70's. Why have 2 Drummers if they're pretty much just playing the same thing, which was usually the case? Don't get me wrong, I liked a lot of the Country Rock bands back in the day I just never quite understood that aspect of it.

[apesma_1]

You could run separate instances of JS without issue. The trick would be emulating some semblance of "logic" between the 2 "Drummers" performances. It could be done but would take some planning I think. Otherwise it would probably sound more like 2 drum kits falling down an elevator shaft. That's my take on it.

LOL. Totally agree about the planning! That's the part the would be a lot of fun for me to experiment with. Set up one track to do the simple groove, the other track for accents and fills. Back off the timing offset on one of them ever so slightly so you know which one is drunk, etc.

I just did a quick test and it works a treat. Panning each kit instrument for Drummer 1 left and Drummer 2 to the right gives a real nice stereo spread.

Thanks for the input all!

[Knopf_]

Personally, I always felt like two drummers was a gimmick thing and that’s why it never stuck.

That was the way I felt about the whole Country Rock thing back in the 70's. Why have 2 Drummers if they're pretty much just playing the same thing, which was usually the case? Don't get me wrong, I liked a lot of the Country Rock bands back in the day I just never quite understood that aspect of it.

Well, I went to Tortoise in 2012 (missed them in 2016, I must drive 120 km to Santiago on work day, where this kind of things take place): two drummers in many songs and I found it great. I went to King Krimson in October 2019: three (!!) drummers. Great, too.

[pro_fusion]

Personally, I always felt like two drummers was a gimmick thing and that’s why it never stuck. Drummer and percussionist, yes, but two drummers is like two metronomes.

The Allman Brothers made it work because Butch Trucks kept the solid beat while Jaimoe sort of knitted his drum parts more freely around that. The bassists had a challenge because they couldn't lock onto either guy--they had to sort of fit into the middle of the groove between them.

In Jamstix, I think you could replicate that by going with a solid, straightahead drummer, such as Will, Tony or Charlie, restrained settings, and then using a radically different drummer in the second Jamstix instance--someone with a looser sense of groove. You'd also want to dynamically vary the groove sense in that second drummer.

[E_V]

enesis, Crimson', '

Hi All,

Not sure I saw this asked in the forums, so here goes:

Has anyone tried simulating the interplay of 2 drummers playing on one composition? Is it possible to use 2 instrument tracks on a DAW, with an instance of Jamstix 4 running on each one, to emulate 2 drummers playing together? For example, Chester Thompson & Phil Collins on "Los Endos"?

I do this all the time to emulate my old band from the 70s, that had - of course - 2 drummers. Not only no problem to have to instances of Jamstix play with 2 drummers brains, it works exactly as the original line-up.

"2 drummers-thing doesnt stick"... wrong. Sticks absolute. I have with the exception of a few years always played with 2 or more drummers/percussionists. The groove-carpet that is layed by 2 drummers cant be beaten. Everything swings...

So, yes, 2 drummers of Jamstix works like a charm. And I have them both playing the exactly same kit, a little bit adjustment to get them to the same volume, and spread them in the stereo-fiels out L-50%L and 50%R-R to have the middleground free for bass and vocals and solo-instruments.

[Jae.Thomas]

yeah the dual drumkit thing in real life works because they work with each other in real time. I would think you would need very similar players in this scenario.

Putting Steward copeland w danny carey would be a bad move