Creating realistic MIDI drums

Start with a great drum sample library.¹ Something with a bleed control is key.²

Drumming on the keyboard, instead of programming by hand, can help add a human touch. Some kits have redundant mappings, making 16ths easier to play in both hands.³

For snares, vary center hits and rim shots, especially for rock.²

Hi hat and ride cymbal velocities can really help something sound more realistic.⁴

Bring down kick velocities at the end of the pattern to essentially make it into a ghost note.⁴

Don’t quantize things too hard.¹ If a real drummer hits two things, the will be a flam.² You can also use Humanize (see Reaper MIDI editor).

Record ghost notes and don’t quantize them.⁵ Ghost notes can be written in 32nd notes.⁶

Learning how to drum will help. For instance, don’t program crashes and hi hats on the same beats.⁵ Remember, if you’re playing real drums, you only have two hands.⁷

Disable the processing on the inside of the virtual drums so you can you your own processing.⁸ In my experience, MIDI drums can often sound over-processed, which takes away from the realism.

Compress the drum room track—if your drum software has it—to add liveliness.⁵ You can also add room samples for each drum after the fact (see Drum replacement and augmentation).¹

For more inspiration, see Records that have used programmed drums.

Programming Realistic Drums with Nolly from Periphery - YouTube