1. Create a new Software Instrument track in your DAW and load SSD5 ( For this instruction guide we will be using the free version of SSD5, the link to download it can be found here – https://stevenslatedrums.com/ssd5/?fbclid=IwAR0kGVnz8L8JbdzcAdYty6BOwyyvSVPI3tN6b6kWVg2WfZhmTsVCtq3M6_A#SSD5FREE )

2. Load your preferred drum kit preset within the sampler.

3. Right click in the arrangement window on the Software Instrument track and click ‘Create Empty MIDI Region’

4. Double click the region created to open up the Piano Roll, alternatively highlight the region and press ‘E’ on the keyboard.

5. Within the piano roll editor change the right click function to the ‘Pencil’ tool.

6.  Proceed to draw in your drum beat using the notes that correspond with the different parts of the drum kit, generally speaking C1 is the kick drum and D1 is the snare etc.

7. A list of all the corresponding midi notation can be found within the SSD5 Sampler under ‘Map’.

8. It is important to note that in the piano roll window as standard the measure of a bar is divided into 16th notes meaning that if you were to draw in a typical 4 to the floor drum beat you would put the kick note every 4 notes.

9. To make the drums sound more like they were performed by a human make sure you vary the velocity slightly using the slider to the left-hand side of the piano roll window.

10. You can also add some further tweaks to the midi notation to make it sound more human by selecting Functions > MIDI Transform > Humanise 

You can download the MIDI shown in this guide and load it into your DAW to practice on here: Drum MIDI Example