# Free Drum program for Mac?



## horacexgrant (May 1, 2011)

Hey guys,
I just switched to Mac, so my Acoustica Beatcraft won't work on this. So are there any suggestions out there for a free drum program for Mac? And if need be, any suggestions for cheap drum programs for Mac? 

Thanks!


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## controversyking (May 2, 2011)

Garageband.

It has a couple of decent kits. It's not superior drummer but it sounds better than beatcraft.

Making midi tracks in there is kinda weird and cumbersome so make them in whatever program you prefer (I for one use guitar pro) then just drag em in.


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## Bradd (May 2, 2011)

hydrogen is ok, available for mac and pc, you can download some diff kits and stuff for it. basically have to make your song in hydrogen, then export as a song into garageband, then record your riff over it. its not great but its free and pretty simple to use


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## MatthewK (May 2, 2011)

I have a copy of EZDrummer Lite I don't need if you want it. I've never used the Lite version, I'm guessing it's pretty limited. But musiciansfriend.com has the upgrade from lite to full version for 70 bucks, so you'd save 80 bucks if you wanted the full version of ezdrummer.


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## horacexgrant (May 2, 2011)

Bradd said:


> hydrogen is ok, available for mac and pc, you can download some diff kits and stuff for it. basically have to make your song in hydrogen, then export as a song into garageband, then record your riff over it. its not great but its free and pretty simple to use



That sounds exactly like how I was planning on doing it with Beatcraft, had that worked for the Mac. 

I was trying to make drum patterns with Garageband, but I think the concept of it is completely different than what I was used to with Beatcraft.

I actually was trying to download Hydrogen yesterday ,but I guess the site was down. I'll try again tonight at home. Thanks man.
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## horacexgrant (May 2, 2011)

MatthewK said:


> I have a copy of EZDrummer Lite I don't need if you want it. I've never used the Lite version, I'm guessing it's pretty limited. But musiciansfriend.com has the upgrade from lite to full version for 70 bucks, so you'd save 80 bucks if you wanted the full version of ezdrummer.



Hey, if you can somehow send me your copy of EZDrummer, that'd be awesome! i'd be so grateful for that, especially since I'm a relative newb to many aspects. Wow, thanks for the offer, and yeah, I'm ready when you are! Please let me know, much thanks.
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## MatthewK (May 2, 2011)

horacexgrant said:


> Hey, if you can somehow send me your copy of EZDrummer, that'd be awesome! i'd be so grateful for that, especially since I'm a relative newb to many aspects. Wow, thanks for the offer, and yeah, I'm ready when you are! Please let me know, much thanks.
> <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="if(typeof(jsCall)=='function'){jsCall();}else{setTimeout('jsCall()',500);}" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">



No problem dude. I'll PM you the serial, then I think you will have to go to Toontrack.com and make an account, then enter the serial and it will let you download it.


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## horacexgrant (May 2, 2011)

MatthewK said:


> No problem dude. I'll PM you the serial, then I think you will have to go to Toontrack.com and make an account, then enter the serial and it will let you download it.



Your generosity knows no bounds. You are a good man, and this forum has been nothing but helpful. Much respect. Thanks. I'll compare this one with Hydrogen and see which one is better!
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## ElRay (May 2, 2011)

horacexgrant said:


> I actually was trying to download Hydrogen yesterday ,but I guess the site was down. I'll try again tonight at home. Thanks man.
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I just grabbed it; however, there's only 0.9.5 beta 1 available (they haven't packaged a Mac official release yet) and the 64-bit version just crashes on open. Ditto with the vanilla x386 code.

Ray


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## horacexgrant (May 3, 2011)

ElRay said:


> I just grabbed it; however, there's only 0.9.5 beta 1 available (they haven't packaged a Mac official release yet) and the 64-bit version just crashes on open. Ditto with the vanilla x386 code.
> 
> Ray



Yeah, I just downloaded it and have no idea how to open the program given all the documents that I see when I open it up. So i guess it's not supposed to work yet?


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## Bradd (May 3, 2011)

Hydrogen - Mac freeware at Freemacware.com - Download Hydrogen Here

tried that one fellas? i cant remember where i got mine but i just googled hydrogen for mac?


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## ElRay (May 5, 2011)

Bradd said:


> Hydrogen - Mac freeware at Freemacware.com - Download Hydrogen Here
> 
> tried that one fellas? i cant remember where i got mine but i just googled hydrogen for mac?


That's the one. The freemacware page redirects to the official Hydrogen site.

Ray


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## themike (May 5, 2011)

MatthewK said:


> No problem dude. I'll PM you the serial, then I think you will have to go to Toontrack.com and make an account, then enter the serial and it will let you download it.


 

Thats nice of you dude


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## ElRay (May 5, 2011)

horacexgrant said:


> Yeah, I just downloaded it and have no idea how to open the program given all the documents that I see when I open it up. So i guess it's not supposed to work yet?


There's just one Hydrogen.app file. If you're seeing a lot of files, my guess is that you grabbed the source code. Did you click the "Hydrogen 0.9.5-rc1 released" link?

The one you want is the "Hydrogen App" page under the "Downloads" menu: Download | Hydrogen

Ray


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## horacexgrant (May 5, 2011)

I appreciate all the help, but is there a program similar to Beatcraft for Mac, in which you can plug in the beats you want played, and it'll play it out for you? 

Thanks.


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## Xiphos68 (May 5, 2011)

Could anyone help me?

I would love to program drums in Garageband but I don't know how, make my own patterns and what not. 

I have Drum Superior 2.2. Does anyone have any tips or a easy way to do so?


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## setsuna7 (May 6, 2011)

Xiphos68 said:


> Could anyone help me?
> 
> I would love to program drums in Garageband but I don't know how, make my own patterns and what not.
> 
> I have Drum Superior 2.2. Does anyone have any tips or a easy way to do so?


GarageBand does not have AU or (Window's equivalent) VST...SD 2.0 can only work with logic Pro/Express.


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## MatthewK (May 6, 2011)

setsuna7 said:


> GarageBand does not have AU or (Window's equivalent) VST...SD 2.0 can only work with logic Pro/Express.



Definitely not true. 



Xiphos68 said:


> Could anyone help me?
> 
> I would love to program drums in Garageband but I don't know how, make my own patterns and what not.
> 
> I have Drum Superior 2.2. Does anyone have any tips or a easy way to do so?



I think most people use the piano roll. Another popular choice seems to be making your drum track in Guitar Pro and then exporting the midi file, but I don't think there is any advantage in doing that unless you happen to be using it already to compose your song.


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## horacexgrant (May 9, 2011)

Sorry for being annoying, but is there actually a drum sequencer like Beatcraft that allows you to input the beats and then you press play, and it'll play it out for you? And then you go on to design the whole song like this. All this for the MAC and not the PC. I literally, cannot for the life of me, get all those other drum programs to work. Hydrogen, EZDrummer, Garageband, etc. They have me completely lost and sad at myself. 

Beatcraft was what I was good at... And I don't want to have to buy a Windows OS to run Beatcraft again. Unless, it's a last resort.

Thanks. 
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## MatthewK (May 10, 2011)

horacexgrant said:


> Sorry for being annoying, but is there actually a drum sequencer like Beatcraft that allows you to input the beats and then you press play, and it'll play it out for you? And then you go on to design the whole song like this. All this for the MAC and not the PC. I literally, cannot for the life of me, get all those other drum programs to work. Hydrogen, EZDrummer, Garageband, etc. They have me completely lost and sad at myself.
> 
> Beatcraft was what I was good at... And I don't want to have to buy a Windows OS to run Beatcraft again. Unless, it's a last resort.
> 
> ...



Don't get discouraged, dude. Look up some tutorials on youtube, you'll get the hang of it. A lot of this stuff can seem overwhelming at first, but as you get familiar it becomes second nature.


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## horacexgrant (May 10, 2011)

MatthewK said:


> Don't get discouraged, dude. Look up some tutorials on youtube, you'll get the hang of it. A lot of this stuff can seem overwhelming at first, but as you get familiar it becomes second nature.



Yeah, it's just tough to learn new things when I'm working full time now. Thanks for the encouragement. 

So you're saying there's no Mac version of something similar to Beatcraft?
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## ElRay (May 10, 2011)

horacexgrant said:


> Yeah, it's just tough to learn new things when I'm working full time now.


Just a bit of Googling shows some promising pages: making drum loops in garageband - Google Search


horacexgrant said:


> So you're saying there's no Mac version of something similar to Beatcraft?


There might be, but since it's non-Mac, you'll have to rely on another convert who's used Beatcraft and found something similar. What's unique about Beatcraft?

From what I can gleen from the websites:
ORDRUMBOX: Java Software Drum Machine. Audio Sequencer with Drum Kits and Automatic Composer
Zygoat Doggiebox: The Beat Sequencer for Mac OS X (not free)
http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/idrum/ (not free)
seem pretty close.

Ray


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## iRaiseTheDead (May 15, 2011)

MatthewK said:


> I have a copy of EZDrummer Lite I don't need if you want it. I've never used the Lite version, I'm guessing it's pretty limited. But musiciansfriend.com has the upgrade from lite to full version for 70 bucks, so you'd save 80 bucks if you wanted the full version of ezdrummer.



hey do you still have that? I've been looking for ezdrummer forever =/


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## ElRay (Sep 26, 2011)

ElRay said:


> I just grabbed it; however, there's only 0.9.5 beta 1 available (they haven't packaged a Mac official release yet) and the 64-bit version just crashes on open. Ditto with the vanilla x386 code.
> 
> Ray



Semi-necrobump, but for those who find this thread, it seems that Hydrogen need to have Jack OS X installed: Jack OS X - a Jack implementation for Mac OS X

Haven't had a chance to try it yet.

Ray


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