Newbie: Drums. What options are there for drums?

Question

Hi there,
I'm having fun with Logic Express. I can play most instruments I need, but not drums. I've never played drums.
I don't have much money to spend of it.
Searching through previous threads, I found references to the following drum loop companies:
Drums on Demand:
http://www.drumsondemand.com/
BetaMonkey:
http://www.betamonkeymusic.com/
Drums from H*ll (Hehee, the forum edited that word!):
http://www.drumsfromhell.com/homeofdrumloops.html
I already purchased Apple's Jam Pack Rhythm Section. I was a somewhat disappointed in it, because it contains a little bit for everyone, and one or two loops for every style in the world, but not much of what I want.
I guess I want more slow-tempo rock. But not necessarily "soft rock". I like things to rise and fall in volume in a dramatic way, but not stay soft like a ballad, nor head-banging fast.
I haven't listened to Drums On Demand, but I'm a bit afraid their "soft" disk might be full of soft dreary ballads, and their "heavy" disk might be full of really fast head-banging stuff.
Maybe I'll still go with something like Drums On Demand. But the problem with loop disks seems to be that you will buy many loops that you will never use. And maybe, hopefully, find a few that are good. Pity they're not previewable online, and downloadable online.
What about MIDI loops? Is it possible to purchase MIDI loops and then just apply them to a standard drum kit in Logic Express?
I figured a MIDI file would be more editable. I could use an existing beat, and then add some extra drum or cymbal smashes to make it fit my music better.
Or should I just learn to make my own MIDI loops? I have a good sense of rhythm for other instruments. Would it be possible to apply this to drums easily, and play them on a keyboard? Having not played real drums, I am afraid I would not know how to get the feel of a real kit.
Thanks for your info.
G5 2x2GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)
G5 2x2GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)
G5 2x2GHz   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

Answer 1

Tofu Mouse, if you ever do consider the more expensive options, take a good and hard and long look at EZdrummer. My band is using it to avoid having to pay for studio time every time we want to record drum tracks (we record the rest of our instruments + my vocals in our own studio, with very good results, but we don't have the equipment to record our own drums), and even without our drummer present, we are able to lay down our drum parts quickly.
I should mention that the drum arrangements our drummer composes and plays are extremely advanced (he is a schooled jazz, rock and metal drummer, so he is both very technical and very varied in his playing), but thanks to EZdrummer and Logic's brilliant hyper editor, we can usually replicate him even if he isn't present just by listening to low quality live recordings of him playing the actual songs. So far, the only people who have been able to hear that our drums are digital, are the ones who know that our own drumset could never yield so good sound quality as the EZdrummer samples do (The "Human Playing" button in EZdrummer is everyone's friend, ensuring that the drum beats never sound to artificial or perfect)
And this is probably one of the most advanced ways to use of EZdrummer. If all you want to do is lay down drum parts for home-written material, the included drum loops and the hyper editor will make that extremely easy for you.
Good luck, whatever peculiar drum tool you end up with