alright,
ive always struggled with this when starting a track i always start with drums. sometimes a loop just to get a feel and sometimes midi, when using midi i seem to chuck in a 4/4 kick 2 snares/claps and a off cl hat, which gets boring a fook!
when listening to other peoples tracks i can hear all the percs and everything really grooving along but cant for the life of me, see them on a piano roll:crying:
i really like all the kind of dirty bird stuff CVS, Justin martin, worthy, j phlip etc
ive trawled to web looking for midi patterns etc cant find sod all.
any body point me in the right direction or could we have a little tut on it?
ive discussed this with a mate who finds this hilarious 
cheers andy
have a loop go of what you have drum wise already
then create another track for like toms or a cowbell(whatever you want), set it to 1/16 mode then throw a cowbell or tom on every note at c4 or c3 (very common to set them on c ) then delete some, make a pattern. If you don’t like it, repeat the process until you find something groovy.
then once youve found a pattern add some swing to it (Ableton has an absolutely phenomenal selection of swings)
then after youve found something you like start with another track and repeat the process.
also premade percussion loops from sample packs are a great addition to a mix. I know Ableton has a phenomenal sampler/slicer/editor that can really bring out percussion loops
hope you found this helpful!
cheers ill try that. i saw some guy on YouTube think he was from dubspot playing a drum loop then where a hat hit or perc in the loop he put a warp marker then sliced to midi choosing warp markers (individual for each sound) then you can see where the midi note lies:)
i havent seen that video. thanks for pointing it out! I’m pretty sure when i work with loops i use a similar process but mostly its just turning down the volume in certain slices, transposing others, EQing another. I never have used warp. 
Also defintely use swing on the drums too. Its a pretty imperative step to making a track move. Make sure its a different swing than the one for percussion
had a go at using clip envelopes on loops but always sounds to obviously chopped up!
got a nice groove going on atm lovely
I often struggle to make interesting drums as well. When I use pre made loops they always have far more interesting sounds and grooves than I can make myself. Maybe a tech tip on programming drums for scratch would be good rather than using loops. Saying that maybe the loops in sample packs are just put together from other loops anyway!
[quote]andybez (20/11/2011)[hr]had a go at using clip envelopes on loops but always sounds to obviously chopped up!
got a nice groove going on atm lovely :D[/quote]
dont delete the volume too much or you get that chopped up feeling, my advice have about 6-12 percussion tracks… i usually have 2 percussion loops, where i chop the volume of a slice in one i dont in the other so they play off each other
I’d also watch the first 3 or 4 videos in the Tech House Tutorial. It’s all about sampling and slicing existing drum tracks and then “randomizing” loops to create completely new high-hat/percussion loops. It was definitely spot-on for what you’re talking about.