What drums library to choose (EZ? SD2? SSD4?)

[kocio21]

Hi all!

I know this is kind of thread that keeps returning but everyone has different needs, so I guess it's not bad to ask.

I'm looking for best drums I can possibly get for my needs. I know, that it's subjective in lot of cases and depends on one's need, so I'll try to write some background.

I used EZDrummer in the past with few expansions and it's wonderful piece of work but I begin to feel it's not enough for me for few reasons.

1. It can be hard to achieve THE sound that I imagined, because EZX drums are usually heavily processed already, so my own layer of extensive processing squishes the sound a lot.

2. To little sound shaping abilities - only one mic for all toms, no way to tune drums, no envelope control, very few mics at all (only one for room, one 'snare' instead top/bottom), very limited bleed control.

3. And this is the biggest - I'm not quite satisfied with amount of round robin and velocity layers. This usually is not THAT big of a problem, because EZXs are not that bad with this but if you start to do lot of ghost notes and snare rolls, it becames clear that eg. for snare you have only about 3-4 layers of velocity so there is no good way to do naturally sounding snare rolls, tremolos etc becasue at 49 vel it can sound like barely touched and at 50 vel like a blast.

For music choice, I mostly make progrock/progmetal, think Haken, Pain of Salvation, Karmakanic, Flower Kings, Devin Townsend, Kansas, Arjen Lucanssen's works etc. these kind of stuff require drums that can sound well in heavy riffing as well as spacey ballads and almost jazzy parts sometimes.

Thing to add - I really DON"T care about included midi patterns, things like song creator in EZX etc. because I'm used to writing everything by hand via piano roll anyway.

So there is Superior Drummer 2, Steven Slate Drums 4, Addictive Drums 3 and BFD3. Each of them is highly praised by developers and have many expansions.

Based on what I told you, wchich one (and wchich expansions) would you recommend to me?

[rod_zero]

Addictive drums 2 has a nice balance of features for sound shaping, the samples doesn't come precooked and it has a moderate use of CPU and RAM, veru efficient compared to others. The packs provide a good range of options.

BFB3 and SSD4 are great too, the former is way too big and requieres more resources of your machine, SSD4 samples are more processed and sound ready, but if you don't like how they sound as they are you are going to find hard to fit them in your style.

[JJ_Jettflow]

Hi all!

I know this is kind of thread that keeps returning but everyone has different needs, so I guess it's not bad to ask.

I'm looking for best drums I can possibly get for my needs. I know, that it's subjective in lot of cases and depends on one's need, so I'll try to write some background.

I used EZDrummer in the past with few expansions and it's wonderful piece of work but I begin to feel it's not enough for me for few reasons.

1. It can be hard to achieve THE sound that I imagined, because EZX drums are usually heavily processed already, so my own layer of extensive processing squishes the sound a lot.

Can I ask which expansions you have tried? From the music you are doing, it may be you need to try an EZX with a sound more you are looking for to start with. Then you do not have to add so much to get the sound you want.

I have ED2 and SSD4 and I have still to decide which I like best.

[Daimonicon]

Well SSD4 is like EZ, very processed. I have never used EZ but SSD4 is like a machine gun. Not enough velocity to make it sound more realistic. I purchased AD when it came out. No bleed except from OH. Sold it and since then I'm stuck with good old Superior. The last SDX, Progressive Foundry is the SDX I had awaitet for a long, long time. So I do recommend it. BFD I have no experience of but it sounds really good too so either SD or BFD i would say.

[stacev]

Native Instruments Studio Drummer and Abbey Road series can be worth checking.

1. They are not heavy processed.
2. Sound shaping is better, but not the most detailed. Each tom has direct mic, there is tuning and envelope for each kit piece. But bleed is only for snare bottom mic and there are limited possibilities to mix pieces between different drumkits. Most kits include additional room and/or overhead channels.
3. Sampling is detailed enough. For example snares have 6 roundrobins and about 20-25 velocity layers.

[SparkySpark]

Perhaps a bit late and unrelated, but you wrote that you program drums in piano roll. The best computer audio investment l have done myself is probably Jamstixx. I let it play and then tweak its output to my liking. It has really improved my tracks!

[EzVidz]

Personally i would go for Addictive drummer because like it's already mentioned, it's lite on the cpu and it's not that heavyly processed.

[newmanmichael]

I really like SSD4 but as you guys have discussed they are already processed.

[Apratim]

have you tried Mdrummer / Mdrummer small(free) could be a bit complex but has some insane power under the hood and have near 6 gig of drums if i am not wrong and 500 meg for the free version

[PeteAtkins]

For my own use I am a fan of EZX (especially the alt-rock expansion) but seeing and hearing good things of Superior Drummer

[Armagibbon]

Bfd3 does it for me. It's just drums the way drums should sound. If I want over-processed shit I grab a vengeance sample pack or whatever.

[generaldiomedes]

I own EZ and SD2 .. SD 2 gives you the kind of control you are looking for. Samples are also very dry. Personally I end up using EZ a lot because I have decided the tweaking usually isn't worth the time.

[studjo]

Maybe try Perfect Drums. Altough it's really punchy. They'll add a lot of new drum samples with softer music in mind. Probably in June.

https://theperfectdrums.com/

[In The Mix]

I just love BFD 3. I know NI drums have their own character, but I deleted them as soon as I installed BFD 3 . It is a big library but it does sound like a real acoustic drum set to me.