MIDI Drums - What Are They and How Can They Make You A Better Producer

What Are MIDI Drums?

MIDI drums are pre-recorded rhythmic patterns or sequences of drum and percussion notes created using the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) protocol.

Think about them as modern day sheet music. You know how sheet music tells you what, how, when to play notes to create a song? It’s like that. But it’s a digital file and it tells the computer what to play.

Oh and you can easily edit them and arrange them out you see fit. So they’re customizable.

These midi drum loops are designed to be used with MIDI-compatible drum instruments, drum machines, software synthesizers, and digital audio workstations (DAWs) to provide ready-made drum patterns that can be integrated into music compositions or performances.

Basically you can drag and drop them into FL Studio, Ableton, Logic or pretty much any DAW.

Simply Drag and Drop MIDI Files Into Your DAW

Here's an overview of MIDI drum loops and their benefits:

Characteristics of MIDI Drum Loops

1. Digital Format: MIDI drums are digital format that consists of data representing musical notes, their timing, and other performance parameters rather than audio recordings. This format allows for easy editing and customization.

They're usually in a pattern format or a loop.

2. Versatility: MIDI drum loops can cover a wide range of musical styles and genres, from hiphop and pop to rock. They're versatile and can be adapted to suit different musical contexts.

At MIDI Mighty, we cover most hiphop genres (boombap, modern hip hop, trap, lofi, drill etc) and pop.

3. Pattern Variety: MIDI drum loops often include a variety of drum patterns, including basic beats, fills, grooves, and more complex rhythms. This variety makes it easy for musicians and producers to find suitable patterns for their songs.

Benefits of MIDI Drum Loops

1. Customization: One of the key benefits of MIDI drum loops is the ability to customize them to suit your specific needs. You can edit the individual notes, change drum sounds, adjust the tempo, and add your own creative touches. This level of control allows you to make the drum patterns fit seamlessly with your music.

2. Consistency MIDI drums offer a level of consistency that can be challenging to achieve with recorded audio drum loops. Because they are digital and sequenced, MIDI drum loops maintain a consistent timing and feel. This is great for genres that need precision accuracy like electronic music or even trap.

The best part about MIDI drums are they can be customized. So even if you have a loop where all the notes are perfect, you can edit to make it more human sounding.

3. Efficiency: MIDI drum loops save time and effort in music production. Instead of programming drum patterns from scratch, you can quickly audition and integrate pre-made loops, which can be especially helpful during the songwriting and arrangement phases.

MIDI Drums also help with creativity as it allows you to experiment and explore  a number if patterns and ideas in a short amount of time.

4. Experimentation: MIDI drum loops encourage experimentation and creativity. Musicians and producers can use them as starting points and then modify, layer, or combine multiple loops to create unique drum parts.

We’ve seen a lot of our customers come up with new patterns they would never have done without MIDI drum loops.

5. Compatibility: MIDI drum loops are compatible with a wide range of MIDI-capable hardware and software, allowing you to use them with different drum instruments and DAWs.

This compatibility makes it easy to incorporate these loops into your existing setup.

6. Learning Tool: MIDI drum loops can serve as valuable learning tools for drummers and producers. They can help musicians study different drumming styles, dissect intricate rhythms, and practice playing along with professionally crafted patterns.

One of the most consistent pieces of feedback we hear from our customers is that they learned so much using our MIDI Drums.

7. Live Performance: Musicians can use MIDI drum loops in live performances, triggering them from electronic drum pads or MIDI controllers to provide backing rhythms while performing other parts of a song.

How To Make MIDI Drums Sound Real

Using MIDI can sometimes make things feel robotic and not like human played them. But there's few techniques you can use to tap in to that human feel.

• Varying the velocities of your notes.
• Use swing so not every note is perfectly on the grid (we humans are not perfect!)
• Randomly add and remove notes
• Add in ghost notes
• Get slightly off tempo at times
• Play the midi drums yourself
• Don't forget to add in your drum fills

For more on making MIDI drums sound real, check out our article on how to make midi drums sound real.

MIDI Drums Helps With Beat Block

A common issue with creatives is this idea of block. A common term in the writing world is "writers block". For musicians, it's Beat Block. You get stuck and have a hard time creating.

It happens to the best of us.

The value of MIDI Drums is you can drag and drop midi drums into your DAW and all of a sudden you're unstuck. You have a nice drum pattern to start off. And once that happens it's like greasing the wheels. From there idea's will flow.

MIDI Drums - Fade Out

In summary, MIDI drums are versatile, customizable, and efficient tools that offer numerous benefits in music production and performance. They provide a creative and time-saving solution for adding drum patterns to your compositions while maintaining precise control over the final sound and feel of your music.

If you're looking for MIDI Drums and guides to help you become a better producer, check out our popular bundles page.