5 ways to use EXS24 for programming drums

[Channel10]

This short tutorial will describe 5 different ways to use EXS24 for programming drums in Logic Pro X:

1. Basic;
2. Heavy;
3. Multi;
4. Groups;
5. Ultimate.

 

We will use this kick-clap-hat pattern for our examples.

 

http://i66.tinypic.com/1zbgqo2.png

 

1. Basic

The Basic way is to load our samples into a single instrument in one instance of EXS24, we call this instrument Tutorial.exs. This is the easiest and the quickest way. However we do not have much control over our individual drum sounds. For example: we cannot apply a compressor to the clap only, or change the attack of the hats only.

 

This is how the arrange and the mixer look:

 

http://i66.tinypic.com/2j5kqw6.png

 

This is how the instrument in EXS24 looks:

 

http://i66.tinypic.com/6z31nr.png

 

2. Heavy

The Heavy way gives us plenty more options to change the sound of our drums. We need 3 EXS24 software instrument tracks for this:

• one for the hats;
• one for the claps;
• one for the kicks.

Note that all 3 EXS24 tracks can use the same Tutorial.exs instrument we created for the Basic solution in this tutorial. That is because each instance of EXS24 will only play back one lane of drum hits.

 

We now can independently apply effects to all our single drums as well as giving them their unique amp envelopes. However this comes with some serious drawbacks. We have much more regions to manage and our drum hits are scattered over multiple regions as well.

 

This is how the arrange and the mixer look:

 

http://i64.tinypic.com/8zn1bn.png

 

3. Multi

The drawbacks at the Heavy solution where we had to deal with many regions can be overcome by making some minor changes to the loaded instrument in our Basic solution. Change the instance of EXS24 to Multi-Output. Now go to the Instrument Editor and change the outputs for each zone. We set

• the hats to 3-4;
• the claps to 5-6;
• the kicks to 6-7.

It looks like this:

 

http://i67.tinypic.com/50mnx3.png

 

To watch the outputs in our mixing window we press the + button at the EXS24 channel strip (just below the level meter) multiple times. We will now see 3 extra channel strips:

• EXS24 3-4;
• EXS24 5-6;
• EXS24 7-8.

Feel free to label these channel strips and call them Hat, Clap and Kick.

 

This is how the arrange and the mixer look:

 

http://i67.tinypic.com/2i92xiu.png

 

4. Groups

Our Multi solution is great. But we do not have control over the envelopes for each lane of drums. We can fix this by applying an Enveloper at each channel strip but we would like to present a different solution which is one where we use Groups in the Instrument Editor.

 

Go to the Groups section of the instrument editor for the instrument we used at our Multi solution and create 3 new groups called:

• Hats;
• Clap;
• Kick.

After that is done drag all zones to the appropriate group. Each group has its own independent offsets to the amp and filter envelopes in the EXS24 main window. Give these offsets the desired values (milliseconds for time, % for sustain). These groups should have outputs 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8. Do not forget to change the output of the zones, this need to be set to Group.

 

This is how the Groups section of the Instrument Editor looks:

 

http://i64.tinypic.com/4oxeu.png

 

5. Ultimate

The Ultimate solution might be the best solution:

• Easy;
• Everything together into 1 region;
• Full control over each lane of drums. We do not only control independent envelopes and independent effects but also all the other settings at the EXS24 main screen like both halves of the attack slider and both halves of the velocity level slider.

It only comes at the cost of having a single instrument for each drum sound.

 

The trick is to use Track Stacks. First step is to create a single EXS24 instrument for each drum sound. So we have:

• Hat.exs;
• Clap.exs;
• Kick.exs.

Make sure each instrument spans the right key range. Likely we want a range of just one key for each instrument. This is for example how the instrument Kick.exs looks:

 

http://i64.tinypic.com/4tlm69.png

 

Now create 3 EXS24 software instruments and load the 3 created instruments in each of them. When that is done create a track stack for the 3 instances of EXS24 and pick the Summing Stack option.

 

Now we place our drum region in the summed lane in the arrange window. The drum data will be send to all our 3 instances of EXS24. Because each instance will only playback one sound we will, after summation, hear the complete output of our drum pattern.

 

This is how the arrange and the mixer look:

 

http://i64.tinypic.com/33wukpv.png

 

 

 

You might want to apply Track Stacks to the 2nd solution as well. In that case it is best to use Folder Stacks. For the 3rd and the 4th solution you can also use track stacks just to minimize the number of channel strips in the mixer. Select each channel strip which does not have a lane in the arrange window yet and press CTRL-T. They will now show up in the arrange window where you can apply Track Stack to them.

 

(disclaimer: if the rules of the forum permit then feel free to grab any desired part of this tutorial for your own (commercial) purpose)

[Jfever]

Hi Thanks for this. It's great.

 

Doesn't the setting up of groups for round robin in EXS fit into this tutorial? I didn't see any screenshots configuring exs.

 

Thanks.