Best virtual drum software for DP

[Armageddon]

For pop rock tracks, I get great results with BFD2. I've not tried the others though (but am curious). I'm a drummer, and program my own beats with V-Drums.

I believe both EZDrummer and Superior Drummer have V-Drum maps -- I've been planning on using a real drummer and his Alesis electronic kit for some tracks, so it'll be interesting to see how the articulations work with a ten-trigger (non V-Drum) setup. The articulations are so spread out on a regular keyboard that I wind up laying down a drum track, then having to move certain notes around or adjusting velocities to take advantage of them. Not quite an organic process, but the results are worth it.

I'm extremely happy with BFD2 and see no need to get another drum VI. That doesn't mean it's "the best", just that it sounds great to me, and works for my purposes.

That's how I feel about EZDrummer. Interestingly, BFD was going to be my first choice, since it was technically the "first" drum VI, but 55 GBs of samples seemed like overkill just for my drum section (I won't even go into Ocean Way). I get decent results from EZDrummer and haven't felt the need for anything better, even just an upgrade to Superior.

[labman]

We use one of the larger V-drums rigs with Superior. Absolutely love the combination. And the C&V kit in Superior I wouldnt want to be without.

[SixStringGeek]

No love for Addictive Drums? They're kind of pre-produced with effects but if you're in a hurry and just want decent rock/pop drums right now without fiddling they're pretty darn good sounding.

There's no 'best' - it depends what you want. As a serial drum VI purchaser I have and occasionally use BFD2 (with various pieces and add-ons), Addictive Drums, samples of some of my old machines and even odds and ends from Stylus RMX.

I just picked up Superior 2 - looking forward to playing with it later today. I guess I'm just never totally happy with any drum sound I get - so I do it differently every time.

[mhschmieder]

Right -- for me, the main point of buying another drum program would be to extend the drum library to include stuff not covered by BFD2.

It's harder for first-timers, because the top programs are on fairly equal footing in many respects at this point, and even the workflow isn't as different as it once was.

In a sense, you can't go wrong with any of them. But I definitely recommend BFD2 over Superior 2 for those more inclined towards world music, latin, jazz, etc., simply because the available expansion packs for BFD2 better cover that material.

Whereas Superior 2 might be a no-brainer for the metal or country crowd, simply due to the available expansion packs.

This is where I've been hoping to use Kontakt-based libraries to "fill the gaps", so to speak, but as I mentioned earlier, the Kontakt interface isn't ideal for working QUICKLY with drum sets and customizing the kit pieces. Yet many of the newer Sonic Reality offerings are truly excellent.

Needless to say, East/West has disappointed with their drum offerings overall, except for the specialty library SD2 (which is primarily "unusual percussion"). I doubt many people will bite on the Ministry of Rock near-full-price "upgrade offer". And especially it would be unwise to spend so much money as a primary drum offering, given the equivalent price of the rather excellent drum-dedicated programs on offer these days.

One more to consider, depending on work style, might be the KitCore series (and its variants, which have different levels of features). They took a "drummer" vs. "drum set" perspective, in the sense that they focused more on recording top drummers than putting the emphasis on the kit itself or the room (as near as I can gather from reviews and product lit). Some of the audio demos sound quite good.

I seem to remember downloading a demo to try though, and finding it hard to work with (either visually or workflow-wise), in the sense of not being as linear as I like. Due to the drummer-based content though, it is still pegged as a possible future purchase (or at least the MIDI loops).

[Tim]

I went with BFD (from the very first version) after
hearing it at a NAMM show. Since then I've gotten BFD2 and every single
fxPansion add-on pack for BFD except B.O.M.B.

Same here (but I have BOMB too).
I have AJ and JB from Platinum Samples. I like the JB set a lot, but the AJ is too hyper eq'd for me.

[haim]

For me.. Ocean Way and Mixosaurus

Best,

J. R. Haim

[David Polich]

I have AJ and JB from Platinum Samples. I like the JB set a lot, but the AJ is too hyper eq'd for me.

For a long time I thought the same thing about Andy Johns drums, but found
that they work really well in some pop-rock-country tracks, as they were
recorded onto tape. The AJ drums are probably the most "tape" sounding drums
I've found. Dip some of the high-mids off the snare (using a bell EQ) starting at 4.5khz and then use a shelving filter to roll off highs starting around 7khz. They also respond well to compressors if you're going for that Nashville pop-country snare. If you have UAD's dbx160 plug, putting that on
one of the AJ snares will really give you that classic rock vibe.

Joe Baressi Evil Drums are a must-have. Awesome kicks.

[Armageddon]

That's also a factor for me -- I don't want to have to spend as much time tweaking EQs and compression as I would have to on an actual kit, but I also don't want drum samples that are produced to the point where you don't have any options when it comes to EQ, compression or room interaction.

This leads to my second question, and I've already answered this one for myself, but I'm interested to hear what the pros have to say: is it really necessary to add EQ, and, especially, compression to sampled drums? I realize a lot of VIs feature "raw" samples that are designed to be able to go through these processes like "real" drums, but if you can already control velocity and volume with MIDI, and if most sample sets are tweaked to sound good out of the box (Superior Drums and Ocean Way, for example, were all recorded in stringent studio environments through top-of-the-line gear), how much more should be done with them? I say that I've answered my own question here, because, after years of experimenting, I've learned not to run any drum machine or sampled drum tracks through a compressor, even a light bus, and that aside from a little bump on the snares to bring out that "snap" (if necessary), the only EQ that sounds right to me is the usual 80-120 Hz low cuts and shelving that get rid of the low end on anything that doesn't need it (pretty much everything but the kick).

[stephentayler]

I treat all samples as other people's recordings, and as a mixer nearly always feel the need to adjust EQ, compression etc. to fit my vision of the mix. Sometimes there will be one instrument or sound that just seems perfect to begin with, so I will then sculpt other sounds around that.

When I am recording anything myself, I don't obsess about what the individual sounds are like, but I try to make them appropriate for the music, arrangement, style etc. and how they need to fit.

Stephen

[Armageddon]

I treat all samples as other people's recordings, and as a mixer nearly always feel the need to adjust EQ, compression etc. to fit my vision of the mix. Sometimes there will be one instrument or sound that just seems perfect to begin with, so I will then sculpt other sounds around that.

Well, that goes back to what I was saying: I can pick from a variety of kits recorded in many different ways just inside of EZDrummer and find the one best suited to the music I'm working on. Once I find the proper sound, I can then adjust velocities to get a consistent level, or an accent where needed, or even a crescendo, a flam, whatever and wherever. If I don't like the overheads, I'll pull them from a different kit. With consistent levels and the right tones, and by virtue of being able to simply bring up the levels or drop them back ... is it necessary to add compression to sampled drums? For me, I'd say "no" -- it seems like even a subtle drum buss brings them too far forward in the mix, and with the addition of mastering compression, you have a deal where the drums are very prominent, particularly the kick and snare, and the other instruments are set further back. I always assumed compression was used on acoustic drums to bring consistency to the kick and snare, as well as to bring up the overheads and the room, none of which are theoretically factors with sampled drums that are already consistent to begin with. You even get the meaty crack of compressed snares and kicks, depending on which kit you're working with.

Bear in mind, up until EZDrummer, I was using sounds from two different drum machines: a DR-660 and DR-770. The 660 had great overheads but very synthetic-sounding acoustic drums and the 770 had serviceable drums but terrible overheads. Even by taking the best of both machines just to get one semi-decent drum kit, I still had to notch the EQs up on the snares, hats and overheads and cut a lot off the low end, then run the whole thing through a Waves Renaissance Compressor to glue it together. Not the best solution, but the best I had at my disposal at the time.

As for EQ, VIs like EZDrummer seemed designed to sound good with minimal extra fuss, so EQs and pre-amp sounds have already been added. If you've picked the right samples for the job, you already have the voice you're looking for without having to adjust the EQ to get there (though I still like shelving if the situation warrants, but that's more of a personal preference). But then again, the allure of getting a VI like EZDrummer is not having to be your own drum engineer; you just drop in the style and type of kit you want and it's done. In this case, tinkering may even do more harm than good.

I see what you're saying, however, and I think it particularly applies to a lot of the sampled drum kits that are recorded "raw" to allow you to still apply your personal compression and EQ settings. A lot of them even include snare top and bottom mics, variable placement and adjustable sympathetic rattle and bleed. This goes back to the OT and should factor heavily in what kind of drum VI to look for.

[ironchef_marc]

Some features of the gui I really like in both BFD2 and SD. After a bit of listening on youtube and research online I find SD quite appealing with for all the expansions and kits you can get.

I wish Spectrasonics would come in with the killer app for this too!

[cbergm7210]

SD 2.

[dado]

I am the only one that use Addictive Drum?

[mhschmieder]

I think Addictive Drums came along after a majority of people had already committed to Superior or BFD. I'm not even sure how it has progressed since its inception. It seems to get almost no press at all.

[mhschmieder]

SOS seems to think the new drums in MOR2 are the best out there:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may11/a ... rock-2.htm