# List of albums with programmed drums?



## StewartEhoff (Feb 21, 2014)

Hi SSO, I'll make this as short and sweet as possible,

My dissertation is all about modern metal drum production (at it's simplest). I'm looking for some sort of comprehensive list of albums with programmed drums!

Any responses would be great, if there isn't, just list as many as you know and i'll do the rest of the research - even off of your suspicions.

Cheers!

Link to the doc if anyone is interested: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YOspCaDbYwts8T1EdvkiKm2jhFqp46uX3TRXxM1P45g/edit (still very much in construction stages)


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## Rosal76 (Feb 21, 2014)

I couldn't give you a whole list because I only know of 2 bands who have used programmed drums on their album(s).

Necrophagist founder/guitarist/vocalist, Muhammed Suicmez used programmed drum tracks for the bands first album, "Onset of Putrefaction".

Another band, Mortician, did the same thing on many of their albums.

Link to article about Mortician using drum machines.

Mortician - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives


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## DLG (Feb 21, 2014)

Crimson Glory - Transcendence


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## fps (Feb 21, 2014)

Meshuggah - Catch 33
First Strapping Young Lad I believe.


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## lewstherin006 (Feb 21, 2014)

Keith merrow's solo albums are and a few of ola englunds are.


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## GiveUpGuitar (Feb 21, 2014)

Vildhjarta - masstaden


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## Ed_Ibanez_Shred (Feb 21, 2014)

Ziltoid the omniscient 
Humanity's last breath self titled, I believe 
Cloudkicker I think?


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## Nats (Feb 21, 2014)

Everything on Sumerian records.


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## mgh (Feb 21, 2014)

most of the one man djent acts such as Chimpspanner. 

most of the one and two man black metal outfits eg Falkenbach, Anaal Nathrakh, Summoning etc.

Ziltoid is the biggest metal album I can think of.


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## asher (Feb 21, 2014)

The first AAL album was programmed, yah?


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## TheFerryMan (Feb 21, 2014)

how about Planetary Duality and AutoTheism

also Fellsilent's "The hidden words"


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## kamello (Feb 21, 2014)

Skyharbor - Blinding White Noise
Sithu Aye stuff
David Maxim Micic stuff


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## bhakan (Feb 21, 2014)

So what do you define as programmed? For example on Periphery I Matt played on a vdrum set and then the midi was put into SD2.0, does that count as programmed?


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## jonajon91 (Feb 21, 2014)

Take a look at Slice the Cake (really the only deathcore band I have found that are worth giving two shits about).
Both of their albums have absolutely phenomenal programmed drums, but the real pointer here is that they have said that there are parts that are *technically impossible for a real drummer to play, *like hitting three drums at once or whatever.

Also didnt someone win a best drummer list for his programmed drums? It was on metalsucks or something.


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## Necris (Feb 21, 2014)

bhakan said:


> So what do you define as programmed? For example on Periphery I Matt played on a vdrum set and then the midi was put into SD2.0, does that count as programmed?



I would not consider that programmed nor would I would consider a performance on a triggered acoustic kit programmed.


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## bhakan (Feb 21, 2014)

That's how I normally define it but I'd figure I'd ask. He may have just been looking for bands who could get good sounds out of Superior or something.


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## TauSigmaNova (Feb 21, 2014)

DLG said:


> Crimson Glory - Transcendence



No, as far as I know the only thing on Transcendence was that they recorded the cymbals separately. Pretty sure Dana Burnell played the drums. Did t hey even program drums at all in 89?

E; Operation Mindcrime II's drums are programmed and Scott Rockenfield does not perform on the album, though it's a terrible album I wouldn't recommend you listen to anyway.


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## TedEH (Feb 21, 2014)

Necris said:


> I would not consider that programmed nor would I would consider a performance on a triggered acoustic kit programmed.



I'd call that a grey area since it's very possible to use triggers as a base and then quantize, edit, add parts you didn't actually play, etc- I'd be surprised if many recordings done with electronic drums were mixed/edited/treated as an acoustic performance and left as-is, mistakes and all.


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## Darknut (Feb 21, 2014)

Sorry if these are already listed, I only know a few.

Ziltoid the Omniscient by Devin Townsend

Onset of putrefaction by Necrophagist

The Cuckoo Clocks of Hell by Buckethead had both a real drummer and programmed drums listed in the credits.


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## lukeshallperish (Feb 21, 2014)

FellSilent - The Hidden Words


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## brector (Feb 21, 2014)

Evan Brewer - Your Itinerary

-Brian


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## fps (Feb 21, 2014)

Darknut said:


> Sorry if these are already listed, I only know a few.
> 
> Ziltoid the Omniscient by Devin Townsend
> 
> ...



Yeah Cuckoo Clocks is so a Boss Dr Rhythm, think I even recognise the presets. Still a great album!


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## RoRo56 (Feb 21, 2014)

Tesseract - Altered State
Periphery's self titled


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## abandonist (Feb 21, 2014)

Everything recorded after 1991.


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## Nats (Feb 21, 2014)

TedEH said:


> I'd call that a grey area since it's very possible to use triggers as a base and then quantize, edit, add parts you didn't actually play, etc- I'd be surprised if many recordings done with electronic drums were mixed/edited/treated as an acoustic performance and left as-is, mistakes and all.



Agreed. The only difference between programming the drums on a piano roll by hand or playing them through an e-kit into any drum program only to have them quantized and edited out the ass is the latter probably makes the drummer feel semi-relevant.


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## Nats (Feb 21, 2014)

Genghis Tron programs drums. It's a shame they don't use a real drummer because their beats are awesome. But seeing them live with no one behind a kit going insane is extremely boring.


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## oompa (Feb 21, 2014)

TheFerryMan said:


> how about Planetary Duality and AutoTheism
> 
> also Fellsilent's "The hidden words"



Don't think the Faceless albums are programmed, pretty sure Lyle is playing. They're triggered though I am sure.


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## BusinessMan (Feb 21, 2014)

Wow I'm surprised no one has listed fear factory's the industrialist.


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## Zalbu (Feb 21, 2014)

Does Cloudkicker count? http://blog.cloudkickermusic.com/post/2061800916/equipment


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## feraledge (Feb 21, 2014)

TedEH said:


> I'd call that a grey area since it's very possible to use triggers as a base and then quantize, edit, add parts you didn't actually play, etc- I'd be surprised if many recordings done with electronic drums were mixed/edited/treated as an acoustic performance and left as-is, mistakes and all.



Strongly disagree. On one end of the spectrum you have Darren Cesca (ex-Arsis) who absolutely relied on triggers live and crazy editing in the studio and then you have a ton of folks who triggering is more like reamping. But the mere presence or use of triggers doesn't mean they aren't playing our could just be using a midi controller. So obviously, some grey area, but the presence of triggers shouldn't throw someone like Adam Jarvis in a pit with folks who clearly couldn't play what they're "recording".


Back on point, Anaal Nathrakh is my personal favorite for programmed drums. I'm amazed that they could find someone who could play their stuff live and even more bummed that I didn't see them in Maryland...
Decrepit Birth - ...And Time Begins


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## asher (Feb 21, 2014)

Another thread sparked this.

Didn't Haake actually program drums for Koloss, and not play them?


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## Splinterhead (Feb 21, 2014)

Greg Howe - "Uncertain Terms"
Great job programming!


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## avinu (Feb 21, 2014)

oompa said:


> Don't think the Faceless albums are programmed, pretty sure Lyle is playing. They're triggered though I am sure.



Sons of Belial was programmed but everything else on the album was Lyle.


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## Vhyle (Feb 21, 2014)

I programmed the drums for both albums from my solo project, Algarothsyum.

Algarothsyum

/shamelessplug


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## AryaBara (Feb 22, 2014)

Nice thread


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## vilk (Feb 22, 2014)

There are like a million billion black metal bands with programmed drums that you could use as examples of how much they can absolutely suck. One band I used to listen to was Mütiilation (who actually did a split with Deathspell Omega). I'd say they're a (of course relatively) famous and good specimen from the insurmountable mountain of bullshit black metal bands with programmed drums.


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## goldsteinat0r (Feb 22, 2014)

Memphis May Fire's record "The Hollow" was entirely programmed. Some badass riffage on that record, as much as I hate to admit it. Horribly mixed.


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## TheFerryMan (Feb 22, 2014)

avinu said:


> Sons of Belial was programmed but everything else on the album was Lyle.



i learned something new today. I thought it was all programmed.


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## Baelzebeard (Feb 22, 2014)

Godflesh, except the "Hymns" album was drum machine.


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## avinu (Feb 22, 2014)

TheFerryMan said:


> i learned something new today. I thought it was all programmed.



Well some guy on another forum who supposedly knew Keene personally said that's what happened. Something about he was on a time crunch with the label and Lyle was not present and that was the last song he had to track drums on so he just programmed it. Honestly it could be completely false and the whole album could be programmed. I've never heard any comment from anyone actually in the band saying whether it is or not.


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## Vairish (Feb 22, 2014)

James Labrie - Elements of Persuasion. I'd be shocked to find out that the drums in that weren't programmed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7FXeNerHg8


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## Baelzebeard (Feb 22, 2014)

Nailbomb.


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## StewartEhoff (Feb 23, 2014)

Hey guys, just a quick response, thank you for all your help! I'll be mentioning SSO briefly in the document, for sure. This is really important to me as it's my leading research proposal for a PHD, so thank you all, i'll maybe share the final document here on the forums when I submit it at the beginning of May.


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## pestilentdecay (Feb 23, 2014)

There's a shit ton of goregrind/pornogrind that has drum machines (a lot of those bands are one man bands)


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## troyguitar (Feb 23, 2014)

DLG said:


> Crimson Glory - Transcendence



I came in to post this, was happy to see it already posted. Awesome album.

That's the oldest example I can think of - were there programmed drums on any of the old sequenced Zappa tunes?

Also, does post-accident Def Leppard count?


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## GunpointMetal (Feb 24, 2014)

Nats said:


> Genghis Tron programs drums. It's a shame they don't use a real drummer because their beats are awesome. But seeing them live with no one behind a kit going insane is extremely boring.



I thought they put on a hell of a show with just three people.... which is even harder to say, since I saw them open for DEP


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## GiveUpGuitar (Feb 24, 2014)

oompa said:


> Don't think the Faceless albums are programmed, pretty sure Lyle is playing. They're triggered though I am sure.



Akeldama had like 4 differernt drummers, Planetary Duality was all programmed by Michael Keene, and from what I understand there is a serious amount of sampling on Autotheism.


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## lucasreis (Feb 24, 2014)

BusinessMan said:


> Wow I'm surprised no one has listed fear factory's the industrialist.



Came here to list this album, which is outstanding in my opinion. Left pleased 



Also... what's the best noob friendly drum programming software to use for home recordings? Could anyone help me with this? I'm having lots of ideas lately and I could use one for a one man band.


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## JosephAOI (Feb 24, 2014)

Meshuggah's Catch 33 is the only one I know off the top of my head.


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## Dwellingers (Feb 24, 2014)

Newest Fear Factory...


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## goldsteinat0r (Feb 24, 2014)

jonajon91 said:


> *Also didnt someone win a best drummer list for his programmed drums? It was on metalsucks or something.*



Scott Hull - Pig Destroyer and the always amazing Anal .....


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## CreptorStatus (Feb 24, 2014)

TheFerryMan said:


> how about Planetary Duality and AutoTheism
> 
> also Fellsilent's "The hidden words"




I think people are mixing up the difference between "programming" out drum parts (as in first writing the parts then learning them) and using completely programmed drums on a record.

Planetary Duality was played by Lyle and mic'd except the kick. No doubt Keene wrote and programmed the drums first for him to learn.

Koloss was played as well but the drums were programmed first, as in written out and then learned.


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## Kwert (Feb 27, 2014)

Anaal Nathrakh and Limbonic Art both use programmed drums.


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## Abaddon9112 (Feb 28, 2014)

Type O Negative's October Rust, World Coming Down, and Life is Killing Me were all recorded with a drum machine. 

The Berzerker used a drum machine on all of their albums except Dissimulate. 

And pretty much any industrial metal band.


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## ddtonfire (Feb 28, 2014)

mgh said:


> most of the one man djent acts such as Chimpspanner.



Paul actually plays drums with his fingers on his keyboard, though I couldn't say if he does that for all his tracks.





Vairish said:


> James Labrie - Elements of Persuasion. I'd be shocked to find out that the drums in that weren't programmed.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7FXeNerHg8



That would be a robot named Mike Mangini.


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## lucasreis (Mar 2, 2014)

ddtonfire said:


> Paul actually plays drums with his fingers on his keyboard, though I couldn't say if he does that for all his tracks.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I want to do exactly this... play drums in my keyboard (the computer keyboard). Is there a way for me to have a software where I can play in my computer keyboard and record as opposed to programming drums beat by beat? I remember I used to have a really old midi software in my computer back in the 90's and it let me do that, but the drums were really crude, at least I had a lot of fun creating some midi stuff. If anyone can advise me with a software like this, easy to use, where I can just type my beats and record them, I'll appreciate it deeply


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## Splenetic (Mar 2, 2014)

I know you're asking about modern bands, but if you by any chance don't know, and are curious about some of the roots as well as purposeful distinction of programmed drums/loops within metal, look up Godflesh. Their earlier albums didn't have a drummer in sight, and they're better for it!


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## mithologian (Mar 2, 2014)

mgh said:


> most of the one man djent acts such as Chimpspanner.
> 
> most of the one and two man black metal outfits eg Falkenbach, Anaal Nathrakh, Summoning etc.
> 
> Ziltoid is the biggest metal album I can think of.



Can you confirm Anaal? Trying to solve an argument with a friend.


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## All_¥our_Bass (Mar 2, 2014)

Berzerker did for at least some of their albums

EDIT: Beaten to it


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