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David Polich wrote:

Babz wrote:
Why are you not interested in BFD3? I've actually been thinking of doing that upgrade. Seems like you get some cool new kits and other new features.

Babz

Easy question to answer, for me. I can't stand BFD3's interface. It's the worst of any of the big drum VI's.

I'll have to take a better look at BFD3. It would be hard to come out with anything that wasn't an *improvement* on BFD2, which was itself one of the most cumbersome UIs of the big drum VIs, albeit a vast improvement over BFD1.

David Polich wrote: I'm most concerned with a drum VI that features really well-recorded drums. Not interested in "pre-processed" or "baked-in" drum sounds, I prefer to do the processing myself. I don't need
grooves because I roll all my own beats, and so MIDI grooves aren't important to me. So Superior Drummer looks like the choice to me.

Superior is definitely, well, "superior" to EZDrummer. I too don't use the groove engines and (being originally a drummer) mostly record my own drum parts w/ an electronic kit. But I do find myself relying on some of the MIDI grooves, at least as idea builders, if I can happen to run across one quickly and at the right moment. And if you use it at all, that is one area where EZD is "superior."

As for "baked in," "pre-processed," "well-recorded" ... Most everything is well recorded these days, but they are recorded in a rather raw, unfocused way, with the idea that you HAVE to do all the processing later. In the classic days, it was all about getting the good drum sound upfront, mostly by mic placement, damping, etc. Why, for all their GBs of multisamples do none of these products sound as good as classic Steely Dan records? The immortal Roger Nichols told me, he used no compression, and very little EQ. It was all about getting the drums sounding good via tuning, damping, and mic placement. For once, I wish someone would take that approach. Closest thing to that I've seen is something like the Ken Scott Collection from Sonic Reality, which I am seriously looking at and trying to justify budgeting, even though I already have too many drum choices as it is! To me, "well-recorded" means I don't HAVE to do much processing myself.

Having babbled on too long as usual ... Superior is a great choice, and it will give you more processing options than EZD. But you still only get a few kits and to my ear they don't sound much better than EZ kits, even though the use much more data. To get the best results from either product, you need to explore the expansion library ... and do a lot of tweaking. Processing definitely makes a huge difference in these products. I have also found that even with doing no processing, the same kit (EZ Drummer Vintage expansion for example) sounds better as a preset in Superior than in EZD.

Babz wrote: I'll have to take a better look at BFD3. It would be hard to come out with anything that wasn't an *improvement* on BFD2, which was itself one of the most cumbersome UIs of the big drum VIs, albeit a vast improvement over BFD1.

BFD3 dropped the kit view, there's WAY too much white in the gui and some of the features don't work as they're supposedly intended to. The best I can say is that if you intend on going to BFD3 you should unlearn anything you learned from previous versions of BFD.

Give the demo version a shot and see what you think thereafter. But realize that the demo is severely limited.

The thing I really like about BFD2 and 3 is that you get control over sounds that have not been overly manipulated. It is like being presented with a great recording that you can change to suit your vision.
Other programs give you more instant gratification but less ultimate control.
As far as the GUI goes I don't care about its appearance one bit.
I find routing all outputs to DP and processing there produces better results for me.


Cheers, Bolla.

bolla wrote:The thing I really like about BFD2 and 3 is that you get control over sounds that have not been overly manipulated. It is like being presented with a great recording that you can change to suit your vision.
Other programs give you more instant gratification but less ultimate control.
As far as the GUI goes I don't care about its appearance one bit.
I find routing all outputs to DP and processing there produces better results for me.


Cheers, Bolla.

Agreed on routing everything outside of BFD2 or 3 into DP for processing. Makes it just like working with real acoustic drums properly recorded.