Drummers who use technology without attending college

Deciding I wanted to do it, and going for it. Buy a few triggers and a module. plug it into a powered speaker. That's a good way to get your feet wet. All you need is a trigger or pad, a TM2 (or any module) and speaker and you are good to go. It gets more complicated with VST's, but YouTube will help you. For me it was trial and error. I wanted the result, so i put in the work.

I think you need to know your end goal so you know where to start. For me I wanted that clicky death metal sound so I did what I could to achieve it. It's all about putting in the time. Playing around on a computer with recording software and VST's still counts as practice, it's just a different type.

For recording, just grab a zoom or something EASY to start. if you are wanting to get more advanced I recomend a 2 mic set up (google or youtube it) or a cheap mic pack and Reaper or free software. Learn to navagate around it before you sink thousands into it.

Going cheap is USUALLY the best option, then pay when you want to record your band in a decent space. If you are looking to do youtube videos etc, you also need to learn the video aspect.
 
To move a little off topic.
What is it that you’re looking to achieve?

Learning of a new technology typically only happens for me when there’s something I want to do, but can’t achieve with my current set of tools.

This approach will guide you to incrementally learn the tech that will help you with your goals.

Recording was my first desire to need tech. It started with a 4 track and a couple of mics. Then it went to 8 tracks and protools.

Then it was composing. That inspired switching from ProTools to Ableton, a Push 2 and a midi keyboard with 22 tracks.

Each time I hit a spot in the process where I couldn’t do what I wanted, I research that one thing and learn and move to the next.

They key is focusing on the next thing you want to do, keeping some sort of mind on what the few things after that one thing might be and doing it. Having a broad goal of learning tech can be quite intimidating and might prevent someone from making that very first step.
That applies to pretty much every technology in my case, When I was interested in learning Photoshop, I messed around with the menus, then figured some things and tools, when I had ideas about what I wanted but I couldn't figure out how to do it I used to look at books and after the internet was more developed i looked for tutorials and eventually I was doing a lot of things that made it seem as if I was an advanced user but never really having taken any formal training. Sometimes magazine articles had tutorials, and i would follow them to learn the techniques, then applied that knowledge to things I was creating. It was one thing at a time for me as well, I never went on a search for a course or a book with the intention to learn everything, usually what I learned was used to help me solve a step that I was missing. So in other words I am not an expert, but I know enough to be able to do what I need. You also have to understand that there are people who make it a career to learn a specific thing (such as audio recording, or becoming a video director) those people of course are going to have a lot more knowledge than someone who learned by doing a few things. Sometimes you have to send work their way and have them deliver a professional product. (Recording drums in a professional studio with proper gear vs you at home with an interface and some mics). Unless your goal is to become a professional at ONE of those things...
 
If I understand it correctly, the current connectors Thunderbolt is for Macintosh and USB is for PC Windows.
 
If I understand it correctly, the current connectors Thunderbolt is for Macintosh and USB is for PC Windows.
I have Thunderbolt on a PC, so there's that.

And isn't the word Lightning bolt?
Thunderclap is what I think of.
 
For those of you who use tech. in a professional setting, such as laptops, i.e.m.,click, triggers, samples pads, recording equipment etc...
How and where did you learn to become proficient at their use without attending college or technical schooling?

For me...

In the 90's, I got an entry level support job at a big company...
The company would send all of their old hi-end equipment to the recycler.
I'd head off the trash collection and borrow (with managers permission) the trash
I'd then set up the trash in my basement and build my own supercomputers and enterprise networks.
This was the 90's, so I was receiving last-gen SGI, Cray, HP, Cisco gear for free to experiment with.
The downside is that the power/utility bill became my tuition.
 
Jeremy, my son built the PC and put a thunderbuns card in it.

Commercially, I don't know if they are offered on a PC or not.
 
I started producing my own music from scratch on my computer using Reason 5 about years ago. I was just curious to see if I could figure it out myself. I think of you're curious and patient enough, you can make it work. It definitely helps to have a good ear.

I started using a Sample pad in one of the bands I play in a year ago and have figured out through trial and error how to program samples and loops. Nothing too fancy, but very useful nonetheless. I recommend it. I've also made backing tracks for the band for times such as these when we're not able to rehearse.
 
, I got an entry level support job at a big company...
The company would send all of their old hi-end equipment to the recycler.
I'd head off the trash collection and borrow (with managers permission) the trash
I'd then set up the trash in my basement and build my own supercomputers and enterprise networks.
Is your real name Tom Scholz?

(For those who don’t read liner notes, this is how Boston started.)
 
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