I imagine the critical differences lie in the way each single hit was played; the guy who plays for Meshuggah is probably going to hit the drum a bit differently than the one who plays for Jimmy Buffett, Neil Diamond, and Dolly Parton. Then, of course there is the difference between Atlantis Studios and Sound Kitchen to consider.

Imagine using Metal Foundry with the MIDI loops from Music City or the loops from Music City with Metal Foundry and processing them appropriately. It seems the processing is going to be what determines a kit's suitability to a certain style of music. Certainly a simplistic way to illustrate my question but you get what I mean.

Opinions?

+1 on this.

So I own several of Toontrack libraries including
FunkMaster Clyde
FunkMaster Jab'O
N.Y. - Allaire
N.Y. - Avatar
N.Y. - Hit Factor
Nashville
The Metal Foundry
Americana
The Classic

Even if you're song isn't metal, if you want nice stand out drums to help the sound of your song, use The Metal Foundry.
What I do is use MIDI loops from N.Y. Allaire because they were played by Nir Z. I love his style of playing and your right, it's like telling Nir Z, hey, switch drum kits now.

Just my 2 cents.

How would you compare the NY libraries to Metal Foundry?

With this youtube link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3COBSZI8R-Y

I was going to try to describe it but I thought a short video with a music piece might be better.
I love all the kits, but the NY ones have a soft hard hit but the Metal Foundry has a hard hard hit.

I only added a compressor on it, I normally put a midnite plate reverb on it.

I've got New York 2 and Metal Foundry, I find I can get a beefier tone out of NY2 (Not hit factory... the other kit)

I'm puzzled as to why Metal Foundry doesn't have a black beauty (the're my fav'), It's what Lars used on the Black album after all.

Not really what we're talking about... but there you go, a couple of tired post work thoughts.

Gabe, man, that was really nice of you to post. "... the NY ones have a soft hard hit but the Metal Foundry has a hard hard hit.", perfectly sums it up and is about what I expected. The Metal Foundry hits are noticeably more aggressive. So nice to hear it in the context you provided.

How well do Nashville, Americana, and The Classic, compliment each other? Seems one could get those three for the price of Music City and be a bit more well rounded.

I'm wondering about my original DFH library because, as I recall, before S2 and all the expansions DFH was geared toward heavier stuff. I've also been wondering if the C&V kits wouldn't cover some of the same area as Music City and Americana. As you can tell I'm trying to avoid spending money for what I don't need. At the moment I have the original DFH library, C&V with the add on, all the NY stuff and Twisted Kit. I'm hoping to lock down my DAW before the end of the year and not add anything else for the next few years.

Thanks again, Gabe. Very cool.

On the contrary, it's good to know you're able to tweak the Allaire library for a "beefier" sound. Any audio examples?

Ok, a bit later I'll stick something up... watch this space

From Toontracks website

The Drumkit From Hell and Metal Foundry story
Toontrack Music was originally started as a production company for composing game and movie soundtracks. In 1999 producers Fredrik Thordendal of Meshuggah and Mattias Eklund of Toontrack Music decided to design a sample library for their own use. They called Tomas Haake drummer of Heavy Metal band Meshuggah to record the drum samples. The library was called Drumkit From Hell.

Roots are with Meshuggah not Metallica.

No problem, I like making those videos.

You're right on Nashville, Americana and The Classic. Although I totally forgot I have Custom & Vintage SDX.
I bought that after The Classic and when there was that one special. So I really didn't need The Classic.

If you want to widen your library, yes, Get Nashville, Americana and The Classic.

This is just my opinion.
Nashville is great for any type of ballad songs.
Americana is great for indie type of music that are like local bands that play on Austin City Limits, which I love that show.
The Classic is 70's Jam/improv music.

Toontrack does thier homework and the results are these great libraries.

Since I'm not a drummer I like thier MIDI files as well in fact I notice they have a new MIDI library called Session Drums, having a look at that now.

It's a little late/early now but if you'd like a video demo of those 3 libraries you mentioned, let me know.

This seems to answer my question about the original DFH library. It seems it could be considered a sort of prototype for Metal Foundry. Of course, I could just be reaching.

Thanks, I'll check in tomorrow; it's past bedtime in my part of the world.

Right try these (A couple of part finished songs)

I originally tried metal foundry but wound up using NY2, I found it punched more:

http://soundcloud.com/anelectricheartmusic/virtual-reality-s nip

This is metal foundry, even though the tracks not super heavy:

http://soundcloud.com/anelectricheartmusic/streets-drink-blo od-snippet

Thanks again, that would be great and I think there are others who would benefit from the comparison as well. Like I said earlier, the context you present them in is perfect. It's difficult at times to compare differences when the music surrounding the drums isn't the same. It's late here as well. I'll check in tomorrow.

I know, I'm just saying it's a classic metal/rock snare, I'm pretty sure not all the drums sampled were Tomas Haake's personal drums, I'm sure some were borrowed from elsewhere to get a broad "metal" spectrum (I think they have a classic Kiss kit?... but don't quote me)