Impact Soundworks

warfighter67 · Post by **warfighter67** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:29 pm

I currently use EZDrummer DFH Expansion, which sucks for metal. Is there anything such as a kontakt library or VST that does metal drumming really well?

What I'm looking for -- the MUST HAVE's:
Velocity samples
Right and Left hand hits for really fast passages
Wide array of cymbals commonly seen used in metal

What I would like:
The ability to multi-track the drums to EQ/mix them independently.

That's really it.

Sorry for asking this here, but I figured those in love with Shreddage -- a metal-based rhythm guitar library -- would know good drums for metal as well.

As a side-note:

If you happen to have FPC samples for drums, those will at least work temporarily.

Maybe this is something ISW can come up with

A metal-oriented kontakt drum library!

DocAtlas · Post by **DocAtlas** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:58 pm

Toontrack has the Metal Foundry SDX, but it would require Superior 2.0.

XLN Audio has a Metal ADpack; it requires Addictive Drums 1.5.2.

Platinum Samples has some good stuff in BFD format. You might also want to check out the expansions at the FXpansion website. Naturally, they all require BFD 2.

Sonic Reality has a lot of good drumkits in Kontakt format; the Neil Peart kit is also available in BFD format. I believe the iMap layout has separate left and right hand hits.

Hope this helps a bit. There's a lot of stuff out there, it can take some time to check it all out and listen to the demos.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:26 pm

I use and adore XLN Audio Addictive Drums.

warfighter67 · Post by **warfighter67** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:51 pm

Wow, I never knew toontrack had EZX Metalheads. I've bought that for now. The youtube videos as well as the demos from the site sound promising!

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 10:36 pm

I didn't want to buy into Toontrack hype, their samples are way overused and I can always pick them up. No originality there, just the same sound over and over again... no matter how you process those samples.

Addictive Drums is on the other hand a lot more versatile, from my experience.

warfighter67 · Post by **warfighter67** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 12:27 am

You have some points there, but EZX/Toontrack is a lot less RAM heavy, and for a 17-year old kid using his personal PC (I built it myself, it's got some nice specs), I try to save anywhere I can. Otherwise, I'd be using EWQL Symphonic/Vienna Symphonic for orchestral.

soundoutsource · Post by **soundoutsource** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 4:16 am

Agree with EvilDragon, Toontrack samples are highly overused, and there sound is very specific not generic enough. Addictive Drums new Metal adpack is really really awesome, better than any of their other expansions, the kit is so amazing as it suits almost all of my compositions. Plus you can control the transients now with the new trig instrument/channel (don't know what else to call it).

If you want out of the box goodness then Steven Slate might be your choice as it is a Kontakt library and has many signature kits from famous Rock and Metal records.

warfighter67 · Post by **warfighter67** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 12:57 pm

I do agree. I will probably get Addictive Drums in the future when my paycheck is bigger

For the time being, though, EZX Metalheads isn't bad.

Go to my soundclick page and hear the latest song (What Lies Ahead) to see what I did with the drums.

The only thing I really don't like about EZX Metalheads is that there don't seem to be different L/R Kick samples. That's fine, because in metal, there really isn't much of a difference anyways, but a lot of people reviewing my music tell me about my machine-gun kick drum.

Moeb · Post by **Moeb** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:22 am

Steven Slate Drums all the way! Best samples I have tried so far and the Ex library is enough for some metal. Cost? $99, can't beat that. Check out the samples on their website

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 6:14 am

SSD is good if you want to copy a sound from a particular band/album. Not very flexible. Also I found its velocity response and feel damn unrealistic.

AD is much better and more flexible.

Tansunn · Post by **Tansunn** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 9:18 am

Personally, I've used NS_Kit7 (now Natural Drum Kit) for years. Never really bothered with anything else since it covered pretty much everything I needed. It fits pretty much all the requirements - multiple velocity layers, left and right hits, and HALion and Kontakt presets for each individual part of the kit that can be mixed and matched and routed to separate mixer tracks. I'm going to have to claim ignorance as to what would be considered "metal" cymbals, but the library includes 3 splash cymbals, 2 crash cymbals, 3 ride cymbals, 2 hihats and a china cymbal.

Here's an example of NDK being used with a custom Battery preset (the stock presets generally adhere to GM standards with left-hand hits two octaves lower where applicable) -

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 10:32 am

No round-robin on that kit? Damn, that's a fail.

Would've liked another china and a spock cymbal, as well.

PerunZG · Post by **PerunZG** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 8:17 pm

want something else from superior drummer for metal?

why not try Joe Barresi Evil Drums SDX?

zircon · Post by **zircon** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:55 pm

There's also Steven Slate Drums EX, which also has a metal version.

warfighter67 · Post by **warfighter67** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 4:12 am

I caved in and got myself Addictive Drums with the Metal ADpak, and holy shit, I am impressed!!

Impact Soundworks

KVR Audio

Any good metal drum VSTi's/sample libraries?