Custom drum track for beat programming

I know people have requested this type of thing before, but it has to be said again.

HookPad devs, please add a new type of instrument in which the user can program percussion the same way we program melody. Like a drum track in any basic DAW, each note would correspond with a particular drum sample. So C1 would be one type of kick, C#1 would be a different type of kick, D would be one type of snare hit, etc. I realize we would be limited to monophonic drum programming (it wouldn’t be possible to trigger a kick and a snare at the same moment, for example, at least on a single drum track), but this really wouldn’t be a big deal. Perhaps you guys think this feature would complicate things too much for the average user, but it could be exclusive to paying subscribers as a value add.

I realize the main purpose of this web app is creating chord progressions, but as anyone who has spent enough time with the paid version knows, it’s quite capable for creating full mockups. Using it for this has helped me accelerate my production workflow and come up with songs that I probably wouldn’t have in Cubase alone. But when the song I’m working on is centered around a particular rhythmic groove that isn’t achievable with any combination of the pre-made drum loops (or the very limited selection of drum elements), it really limits Hookpad’s utility for these songs. Often I just need one kick or clap in a spot that none of the drum loops or drum elements happen to land.

Bonus request: Please make it possible to play any of the current drum loops at a 1/2 or 2x relative tempo. This would be so helpful. I often use triplets in my melodies, which forces me to work at double the actual intended tempo (since we’re limited to 16th notes). But at these high tempos, most of the drum loops are unusable.

Loving Hookpad, btw. Keep up the good work.

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Hi, and thanks for your request!

Playing patterns in Halftime or double time is something I’ve been planning for a long time, I just didn’t have the time to implement that yet.

I’m also planning to create some programmable drum instruments. As we can’t use any velocities, micro timings etc and are monophonic I think the best way would be to provide individual instruments like, kick, snare, hats etc you can then use with the existing drum tracks together.
For example, if you don’t like the position of the snare, just use the patch without the snares and use one of the four voices to program the snare yourself. Or create HiHat patterns yourself etc.

I think this would be a good middle way between simplicity and control. Also this would be relatively straight forward to implement. Would this help you?

Regards!
Dennis

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perhaps expand the number of “melody” rows from 4 to 10 and let folks use that for individual instruments. with perhaps a check box option to merge to a given output (so melody rows 1-4 are my string section, melody rows 5-10 are my percussion section - so 2 outputs of converged audio or MIDI)

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Still hoping to see this one day:

Dennis, thanks for taking the time! Great to hear these on on the roadmap.

Sounds like your planned solution for custom beats would strike a good balance. I feel like most new users, even people who’ve never programmed drums in a DAW, would find that pretty straightforward. And it would fit nicely within the app’s monophonic nature, avoiding the situation where new users can’t figure out how to place multiple drum samples on the same beat.

And at risk of being greedy, a few more melody tracks (as Fossile brought up) would be awesome as well… assuming it’s feasible without destroying the app’s stability/performance. It kind of blows my mind that this thing runs in my web browser.

Looking forward!

I’m not really sure about those melody tracks. I understand the need to write more custom tracks, but at the same time it wouldn’t be a great experience. The melody region is already pretty crowded when there are just four melodies at the same time and so is the band browser. Perhaps we’ll find some better solution in the future but for now I think I’ll keep those four voices.

maybe then a “hide unhide” set for percussion only?

I can see where you’re coming from. I can work with 4 tracks, and in some cases the constraint probably forces me to make better creative choices anyway.

I’ve been waiting for this since 2020!

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I’m lovin’ this. This is going to make Hookpad my main place for coming up with new lyrics over specific grooves. Thanks for all your hard work!

Jeremiah

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Loving this. Boomwhacker coloring + possibility for custom perc tracks was the only two things on my list to make Hookpad near perfect for my students. It sounds like this will be implemented soon. Great!

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I really hope we get this someday soon. My current work flow is 1.) Make a beat in my DAW, 2.) Export to another program where I can create a midi melody and work out lyrics over the recording, 3.) Put that back in my DAW and draw out section markers, 4.) Put the markers in Hookpad and work up the chords.

I feel this could all be done in Hookpad if there was some super simple way to sync wave files to the timeline (but we’re working with a browser, so I wouldn’t expect that), so the ability to get the exact beat into Hookpad with some super simple drums as a lead-x instrument would be the next best thing!

I really hope this can happen soon. Going a bit crazy bouncing around between programs all the time… and I feel this would add a ton of value to the already powerful Hookpad platform!

All the best,
Jeremiah

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Yes, I’m starting working on this right now. Might take a couple of weeks as it’s not that straight forward as it seems.

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Yeeeaahh! You’re the best! Thank you!

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Hi Fossile,

I’ve been thinking about this and it seems to me the solution is:

  1. Get your track laid out with a few strings and a few drums.
  2. Save another copy of your project
  3. In the copy project, swap out old instruments for new options
  4. Export and put them together in your DAW
  5. Repeat as needed

Interested to hear your ensembles!

J

Great news, thank you!

most times, if the default percussion isn’t working beyond being a reference - i’ll simply use a program (e.g. toontrack EZ Drummer, or beats from Addictive Drums, etc) to create the percussion in a project. i don’t think i’d try to keep overlaying HP drums beyond whatever i can do with one or two drum instruments in the project.
and for me, no project percussion survives simply on import :slight_smile: i’ll definitely go in and edit things to help improve the humanization - removing excess cymbals, tweaking rolls, tweaking beats, and using humanization MIDI plugins to tweak levels slightly and perhaps some dequantinization…

I just came across this post, which I think also benefits this conversation:

I wasn’t aware that these were around (the guys are always working hard to roll out updates) but once I found them, I realized how this will really fill out the need for creating custom beats.

I believe this, along with one or two custom snare hits here are there, and a couple well placed kicks and high-hat hits, will all of us a ton of creative freedom and flexibility.

Just wanted to share so everyone could take advantage of it too!

J

P.S. Check out this song from last year. You can hear all kinds of Hookpad instruments all over: Unsupported browser

Thank you very much for the last update !

Hey @DSchwachhofer I love what you did! This is really awesome because it gives us some options for a nice sonic vibe with the drums, as we’re working on fitting the lyrics into the pocket!
When I first discovered Hookpad, it helped me write my first complete song. Now, this is going to make matching the melody to the groove so much easier. Thank you!