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Drum tracks can be put together in a few different ways. The main two categories are single hit samples and loops.
Single hit samples are most often found as a large library of sounds. These libraries include the individual sound of each drum saved to seperate audio files. This will usually be done at a variety of velocities and with a few different articulations to provide the ability to create versitle or lifelike performance. Sample libraries are almost always used in conjunction with a sequencer and a software sampler plug-in that launches as a "mini-program" from within the sequencer. Recently some of the larger libraries have included customized sample players with the sounds. Of course there are hardware samplers as well.
The way these libraies work is that you program your drum performance as midi in your sequencer, and the sequencer sends the midi data to the sampler plug-in (which has your drum kit loaded) and the plug-ins audio outputs are routed into your sequencer, where you can capture the performance to your hard drive as an audio file.
These type of sampled libraries are the most flexible way to get a custom drum track into your compositions, without actually hiring a drummer. They are also much more difficult to get a convincing performance from than their alternative (loops). If you don't understand how a drummer thinks, you will have trouble writing a convincing part from scratch.
Loops is the other alternative. There are thousands of loop libraries on the market. Loops will be 1 bar, 2 bar, 4 bar, or more of a complete drum beat. They are usually found in a single audio file for the whole kit. Some loop libraries break a loop into seperate audio files, to allow for processing of the individual tracks, for example, if you wanted to apply a reverb to the snare drum but keep the kick drum dry. Loops are very easy to place in your songs. Usually just drag and drop for most hosts. Many loops will automatically lock to your sequencers tempo. The problem with loops is that they are repetitive. They can get tiresome very quickly if you don't find creative uses for them.
Hope this helps!
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