Battery users please help!

My guitarist and I are getting ready to record an acoustic version of an original of his. The problem is, I need to make a drum track, but I completely suck at arranging drums. If anybody uses Battery to make their drum tracks, and wouldn't mind helping me out a bit, I'd sure appreciate it. Feel free to reply here, send me a PM, or message me on msn messenger.

Ya.. I can help.
Do ya have any midi drum files you can work with or are you starting right from scratch?

Right from scratch. All I have to go by is the original recording of the song. I'm still kinda new to the midi thing, but I do know how to set up a midi track, and use the "piano roll view" to map out the drums.

hmm.. that might make things a little tough.
This is gonna be real tough to explain too.

Basically the way I go about doing drum tracks from scratch is to first get a visual idea of what the song looks like on paper. In other words, divide the song up into:
Intro/Verse 1/Verse 2/Chorus/Verse 3/Chorus/Bridge/Chorus/Repeat

Then map out what bar each section starts on. That way, if I want to edit a particular part of the song, I can just refer to my notes.

Next is to find the right kit to load up into Battery and then figure out what keys on the keyboard trigger specific parts of the kit. (basically using masking tape above the keys, I'll write in what each key plays.. snare/kick/hihat etc...

Then I'll do a scratch drum track of a basic 4/4 beat that I'll just copy and paste throughout the entire song. To do that I'll vary between using the onscreen editor and using a midi keyboard to physically play the sounds.
After I have the basic beat down, I'll record some scratch instrumental and vocal tracks to use as a guide. Then go back to the drums and work on each section of the song. A lot of it is just copying and pasting... ie, the 3 verses are going to be pretty much identical with the exception of a few drum rolls or added percussion. Same thing with the chorus.

I take each part of the drum kit separately... like starting with the hihat, I'll listen to the original and program in any variations in velocity to match what the original drummer was doing. The snare and kick will be pretty static through the whole song. Lastly, I'll add crashes and drum rolls... then kinda think like a drummer so that it sounds like a real player with only two hands.

All this is kinda dependant on knowing how to play drums to a certain extent tho.

Basically the way I go about doing drum tracks from scratch is to first get a visual idea of what the song looks like on paper. In other words, divide the song up into:
Intro/Verse 1/Verse 2/Chorus/Verse 3/Chorus/Bridge/Chorus/Repeat

I started doing this last night, as a matter of fact. I also started placing markers in Sonar, to divide the sections as well.

think like a drummer so that it sounds like a real player with only two hands.

All this is kinda dependant on knowing how to play drums to a certain extent tho.

That's where the problem is. The drums is one thing I've never been able to get a grasp of. I think I'll get the hang of it the more I play with it and get used to it. Like I said before, I'm still fairly new to midi, and very new to Battery, so it's all a learning experience for me. I guess I'm eventually going to have to get a midi keyboard, because I despise dragging out each note/hit/whatever.

Thanks for the advice!

Another thing ya can do is use midi drum files that are already prewritten.
Just basically go in and tweak them. At least that way ya aren't starting from scratch.
I've got about 3000+ files if ya want em. I'll PM the link to ya.
They're in .exe format but if you want a Mac version no problem.

PM replied to....

.exe should be fine, as I'm on a PC.

Any suggestions for a decent midi keyboard at a reasonable price?

I got mine off eBay for $100. Roland PC-200.
There's also M-Audio 'Oxygen' usb midi controllers in various sizes.