Looking for a real fun and easy way to spice up your beats?

Welcome to iLL DRUMS!

As mentioned in this review, iLL DRUMS is now Drum Weapons; the same thing, but Drum Weapons comes with a few new features, more sounds, and a new look to it!

So what do I think?

I think the idea and concept behind Drum Weapons is great, I also think they have matched up to what they are saying with providing high quality sounds in each patch.  Obviously some patches are going to hit harder than others, but have still given tons of flexibility on the sound you’re going for!

Easy to install,

iLL DRUMS / Drum Weapons is super easy to install, and also comes with an activation key.  Simply double click the .zip file, open the install file, and you are good to go!

Then it’s just a matter of opening it up as a regular VST synth etc.

Upgrades to iLL DRUMS,

When using iLL DRUMS, I found myself wanting to have a few more features, which they have now come out with Drum Weapons. (Such as the reverb, drive, pitch bend, plus that ADSR which is essential!).

I found that iLL DRUMS took control of the screen in FL Studio, and would not give it back.  I don’t like when plugins do this as your spacebar does not work to stop and play your music! I’m not sure if they’ve fixed this in the upgrade of Drum Weapons, but still, an overall great product.

Just like playing a Drum Pad,

One awesome thing to mention is that when you play/record your sounds in FL Studio, you have to do them one by one, but with iLL DRUMS, it’s just like using the FPC with already pre-assigned sounds to the pads. Load up a patch, if doesn’t suite you, just click the next button!

Never know what you’re going to get!

It’s kind of cool switching through the sounds never knowing what you’re going to get.  Sometimes you’re provided with 2 drums, sometimes just 1, sometimes open hats, sometimes just closed hats.

Each patch makes your beat sound incredibly different from what you originally had.

Overall,

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

iLL DRUMS was great by itself; this version however had a few things I did not like such as no ADSR and how it takes control of the FL Studio screen, but besides this, they have now upgraded with new features, and hopefully fixed the space bar window focus issue.

Great sounds, lots of fun, and big bang for buck considering it’s a VST, and the amount of sounds provided. (And as they say, updated monthly with new sounds!).

–GratuiTous

Purchase iLL DRUMS / Drum Weapons at MusicWeapons.com

SoundPackFlyer.com is Launching May 17, 2013!

It’s been a long stretch, but it’s coming to an end! The release of SoundPackFlyer.com is finally here!

Featuring some of the world’s best sound designers and sound design companies!:

• Xclusive-Audio
• SoundsinHD
• TheProducersChoice.com
• Anno Domini Beats

Be confident knowing that these are sounds that I acutally use. I stand strong behind them, and recommend all these products 100%.

The amazing thing is how I am able to sell them at such amazing prices.

No more searching for good sounds. SoundPackFlyer.com is THE PLACE to find INDUSTRY STANDARD KITS at HUGE DISCOUNTS.

– GratuiTous

Sign up to the SoundPackFlyer Newsletter

If you sign up, you will receive an extra 10% off coupon, PLUS, free sounds by Xclusive-Audio.com!

These are not your ordinary sounds. They were specifically made for the SoundPackFlyer.com Newsletter; you won’t even find them on Xclusive-Audio’s website!

What Xclusive-Audio has done, is create 7 different folders, each being 7 different genres, all mapped out for you to play on your MIDI Drum machine such as Maschine, the FPC in FL Studio, plus your Reason Refills.

Sign up here!

Here’s a video going over the Newsletter Kit, you have to sign up to get it! (It’s free to sign up).

SPF is officially launched, you can sign up to the SoundPackFlyer.com Newsletter here:

Lately I’ve been determined to get organized.

I’ve been doing some research on products such as the Rode PSA-1 to help clean up the studio, and make things a bit easier when it comes tutorial time!

Once set up, I was pretty impressed with how it worked. Very smooth, full 360 degree motion, and actually stayed where you put it!

At first, before I had my microphone in there, the stand kept jumping up on me; once the microphone was in, I was amazed how it stayed where I wanted it to go!

I may have a review on this in the future to let you know how it holds up.. but I’m not sure if it needs one haha, I’ll tell you right now, once I plugged it in to the table mount, screwed my shock mount, and pop my microphone in the shock mount, it performed great instantly!

Really looking forward to doing some new videos with this!

Also on the way are some new silent Noctua computer fans.. I’ll show you the before and after once I replace them; wow one of mine is loud at the moment! (This will help when it comes time to record vocals, trying to keep it as silent as possible!).

Beatstruggles Social Media!

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Hey everyone!

So lately, I’ve had a lot going on..  I’ve been learning about websites!

Nowadays, websites are such an important thing to know and understand, especially if you’re wanting to take your music career to the next level.

Why don’t I just hire someone to do it for me?

Well sure, you can go that route!  But the more things you can do yourself, the more knowledge you have, the more understanding, the more money you save, plus it adds that little extra, wow, look how far I’ve come!

So what Have I Been Up to?

SoundPackFlyer.com is LAUNCHED!

Check out the huge discounts here: http://www.SoundPackFlyer.com

Want a website?

A website is very important with how the world works at the moment.  If you are an artist, or beat maker, and someone asks you “How can I find out about you?”.. Where are you going to send them?

Soundcloud might work, or soundclick.. but you may not retain them as customers, or.. keep them coming back.

The benefits of a website,

With a website, you can have anything you want on it:

• A beat store
• Reviews of your products
• Information about you
• Your beat prices
• A newsletter signup
• Have advertisements to make money off your blog etc.

Those are just the bare minimum things about your website.

Keep in mind, a website is a lot of work, especially if it’s your first time round, but you can always email me at GratuiTous [@] Beatstruggles.com for more info if you’re interested!

Already have a website, but your website is slow?

Have a browse around Beatstruggles, if you think it’s faster than what your website is at the moment, you can email me on how to get a faster website!

More updates,

SoundPackFlyer.com,

It’s so close everyone, sooo close! lol

It’s here! SoundPackFlyer.com is here!

Check out the huge discounts: http://www.SoundPackFlyer.com

A lot of work has been put into SoundPackFlyer.com, and what I’ve learned has been invaluable.  My leanings will stick with me until I die!

Some big name companies are in the sound pack flyer, and hopefully this is just the start to what could be an amazing store for you as customers to save some BIG MONEY!

You can also get a 10% off coupon for SoundPackFlyer by signing up to the newsletter.

ItsGratuiTous.com,

I’m actually working on a website for myself as well!  It’s also very close to being done, so I’ll let you know about that upon release!

As mentioned above, having your own website is so important nowadays, and surprisingly, websites aren’t too expensive as one may think!

Let the Lord Lead me!

I pray the Lord continues to fill me with ideas that could only come from Jesus.  I ask my Father in heaven for creativity and ideas; He answers those that ask.

Stay Tuned for More!

As I showed in the video, I still got a bunch of ideas for FL Studio tutorial/beat making tutorials, so be on the lookout for those; you can sign up to the newsletter to get it to your email every saturday morning!

Beatstruggles Social Media!

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Being restricted by Export Times!

Hey everyone, since the release of FL 11, I’ve had some troubles with the exporting of my beats/songs!

No matter what my settings, bit rate, or anything I’ve tried has fixed it..  And sadly, the support on forums has been surprisingly poor this time around.  Usually they are quick and responsive, but it feels as if they’re letting this one go..

I do see others with the same problem, and I feel that their response to most of the support questions are “What are you experiencing”, rather than understanding others are having the exact same problem.. to me it feels as if they’re playing dumb instead of saying “Others are having this problem too, we are trying to find the bug, thanks for your patience”, or at least fill the user in with some more information..

FL Studio 11 is looking good,

Overall, the whole look of FL 11 is looking good!   The interface is a bit updated, almost a futuristic look to it.

The new VSTs they’ve thrown in for free are a double bonus for sure.  If you haven’t tried BassDrum yet, it’s absolutely great! — This is a kick maker pretty much for free if you already own FL Studio.

Be aware.

But sadly.. until this bug gets fixed, it’s really limited me on what I can achieve out of FL 11. If I want to export.. I’ll probably have to export at night before I head to bed.. lol Maybe I can get away with exporting 1 song a day!

So hopefully this makes you aware of the bugs that are happening right now in FL 11 (May 9, 2013), as exporting times for me.. are not doing too good!

Are you experiencing any bugs?  Leave it in the comments!

**EDIT**

This was recently reported:

So it looks like a fix is coming soon! Alright!

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If I have a helpful tip for you, it would be CTRL + Z,

Well, actually 2 tips.

1. CTRL + Z
2. CTRL + ALT + Z

Now, CTRL + ALT + Z allows you to go back how ever long you’ve set your undo knob levels for. I usually have mine set pretty high, just in case I want to go back in time a bit!

The Benefit of Ticking off Undo Knob Tweaks,

So, without ticking the undo knob tweaks check box, you won’t be able to undo changes on your mixer sliders, pan knobs, VST knobs etc.  Just stuff on your playlist and sequencer.

But for me, many times going back in time with my VST changes, or mixer changes, is a must!  It’s been so helpful towards me and my workflow; we’re all humans and make mistakes, so a nice little CTRL + ALT + Z always comes in handy!

Since we’re on the topic of going back in time..

FL Studio also has the option of auto-saving your projects.  I’d take advantage of it if I were you, cause there will be a time something happens; either your FL Studio crashes, or you saved something awhile back and wish you didn’t!

Open FL studio and you can find this in:

F10 > File > Backup

It may seem simple, but wow is it helpful!

Alright, so I hope this little, but HUGE trick, helps in your work flow!

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Have you ever wanted to get your FL studio in top performance?

Here’s a bunch of little tricks to get some extra smoothness out of your FL Studio.

I currently upgraded to FL 11.. but still have FL 10 installed on my computer.  I’ve found FL 11 to be buggy when it comes to export times..  I may make a video regarding that to show you what I’m talking about!

Now, when I go back to FL 10 to work on the same beat.. I can’t cause the playlist looks horrible! (Be on the look out for that video).

So, to the point!

Open up FL Studio, hit F10, and check out the GENERAL tab.

Inside here is a bunch of goodies to get some extra performance/smoothness for you!

A few changes in FL Studio 11,

So I recorded this video before the release of FL 11, and have noticed a few of the options are not in FL 11, since this video was recorded in FL 10.  But you can still take advantage of a few of the options!

Ultrasmooth Visual Feedback,

This one is real cool.  I’ve never seen a software go so smooth!

Try it out and be impressed!

Alternate Meter Scale,

I’ve found this option awhile back.. it’s been great ever since I’ve clicked it!

Before I found the big meter on the side of the mixer for the individual tracks just too crammed.  Click that Alternate Meter Scale, and give your meter some breathing room!

Definitely helps in your mixing!

Small Scrollbars in Editor,

This one does give you just that little extra working space, especially if you don’t have more than 1 computer monitor, which I’d highly recommend at least 2 computer monitors!

A couple cool tricks to get around FL Studio’s playlist better are:

• ALT + Scroll Wheel (Moves height taller and shorter)
• CTRL + Scroll Wheel (Moves width wider and smaller)

Also, here’s that video about FL Studio’s Helpful Hand, this one is a real nice trick; such a cool add-on by Image-Line (Makers of FL Studio):

Go over the options yourself,

Click and check out what the options do!

One thing I’d suggest though, is take a screen shot and save it, in case you forget what settings you had!!

Hope this helps smoothen our your FL Studio + gets you tweaking into FL Studio’s goodies!

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Where did this come from?

Out of no where, these past few days have been spent on teaching about hi-hats.

I guess there really is a lot to say about them!

Things from:

• Layering
• Lowering the volume on some hats to simply fill the space up
• Using open hats to bring back in the loop

Hats are real powerful, and it’s actually amazing how such a short, but sharp sound, can really have so much power in one’s beat!

For myself, hats many times are my special sauce.  Combining a bunch of layers and random hat-loops turns a moderate beat, to a real catchy, and full-sounding production!

– GratuiTous

So what I’ve done in this post, is embed all the videos on this page.  If you’d like to read more about a certain part of the series, I have included a link above each video.

Video #1 — Layering Your Hats,

Read more about Layering Your Hats:

Video #2 — Cool Live Hat Technique,

Read more about Cool Live Hat Technique:

Video #3 — Grouping Hats + Creating Shakers,

Read more about Grouping Hats + Creating Shakers:

A bunch of tricks about hi-hats!

So there you have it!  Hope these tricks help in your beatmaking process!

If you’d like to get updates about videos, you can subscribe to Beatstruggles on YouTube!

The final touches to your hats,

Here’s a video I wanted to make to complete this little quick series Beatstruggles had on hats.

Grouping your hats in Sub GROUPS,

This doesn’t just work for hats either, it works great for percussion, or any other kind of loops of the similar!

Also, panning can add something extra.  Like pan 1 hat to left slightly, maybe 30 percent, and the other center, and the other to the right 30%.

– Xavier, from Xclusive-Audio.com

Anyways, check out the video.  I’ve got a lot of  info in here regarding not just hats, these tricks apply just in general, and will help cut down on your mixing time!

Mixing with Sub Groups,

Just in general, sub groups will help you have easier control over your track.  Instead of turning down 4 sliders, you turn down 1 .

Another bonus to the sub groups is that the loop stays the same.  In other words, when you bring down the volume, you are bringing them all the sliders down evenly.  If you’ve ever tried bringing down sliders individually and keeping that balanced level, I’m sure you’ve lost the balance quite a few times .

Mini-Hat series complete!

This video was a bit more to take in than the average, so feel free to watch a few times .

If you’d like to watch the other videos from the other mini-series, you can watch #1 and #2.

 Here’s something I missed in that last “Layer Your Hats” video,

I also didn’t add that sub-group trick to allow you to EQ, compresses, and easily mix them all at once.. I would like to make a video regarding that, so be on the look out for it!

If you didn’t check out the last video about Layering your Hats, you can check it out here.

So this is a cool trick I find myself doing when I play live hats, yes I do play some things live, not every thing I click in.  That is just because of live recording; makes things simple .

Make your Hats sound like shakers,

A cool trick here with playing 2 different keys on your hats is you can easily make some shaker kind of sounds.

Do this by lowering the volume of the second hit, therefore allowing you to almost get a sidechain like sound, yet sounds real cool with hats!

Spice up your track with different pitches,

Playing your hats up higher and lower I guess you can say you’re playing different pitches.

By doing this, it gives your beat a bit more human-like feel to it, and not so repetitive with the same sounds.  Throwing in hats up higher and lower gives your beat some extra flavor!

And again,

Don’t forget to layer your hats!