How do You like steven Slate drums 4.0?

[BERFAB]

If your looking for sometning that has a UI with Compression/EQ FX ala Addictive, BFD, Superior Drummer maybe you shouldn't bother with SSD4. But if your looking for a simple, easy to use drum sampler that packs a punch where it matters (sound quality) then look no further. IMHO SSD4 is the best sounding Acoustic Drum sampler out of the bunch. As for the lack of built in FX, don't most of us use our goto comps/EQs etc. anyway?

Its true that SSD 4.0 is still in beta-pre-release mode but just look what you get for around the same price as SD or BFD. Platinum comes with IMO all the acoustic drumkits you'll need & even a few Elctro ones too. How much would you have to spend on expansion packs for the other main Drum samplers to match whats in Platinum? (a lot me thinks) There's a LOT of samples in platinum & the kits sound real nice requiring minimal processing (something I cant say about the others mentioned)

I was initially put of with the GUI but believe me SSD 4.0 really does shine where it matters. Steven's been very responsive to most of our demands so I'm hoping for a new & improved SSD4 to come very soon.

Is there a MIDI groove library that's integrated with it? I thought there was, but someone on another thread said the early version didn't have this.

What's the story?

[Peevy2000]

Is there a MIDI groove library that's integrated with it? I thought there was, but someone on another thread said the early version didn't have this.

What's the story?

There is but there's not much in it yet & it still need a bit of work as the groove player doesn't sync properly with your host. But these & most of the issues will be addressed hopefully very soon.

I can understand why some people could be a bit pissed at the way SSD4 was released sort of unfinished but Steven did make it clear in the beginning that this was a pre-release. I think the introduction offer should be extended though.

[Lux Delux]

I'll just pop in and say this is absolutely worth every penny Especially if you've upgraded from full 3.5 like me.

There are still some kinks in the player but for my workflow it's already waaay better than Kontakt's shitty multi-out system and what not. The SSD4 player makes routing out stuff for further processing a breeze now.

But what's really important is the sound, and as many have already mentioned, this library is jaw dropping.

Now I was already satisfied with individual instruments in 3.5 (never used the kits) but these new additions... oh man, put a grin on my face


This stuff really sounds great even without further processing, mix in some of those included electric stuff under their acoustic counterparts and wow wow wow!

Haven't been this happy a long time

[bill45]

Bought the upgrade.It's a 9 gig download!
Should've paid the extra 100 for the boxed version!!

[bill45]

Just finished downloading!

[musicdoc]

Next step.. Take the compressor from the fg-x, the eq from the upcoming slate plugs and put a lite version into this plugin. This would eliminate all lot of post processing as the vst is only a sample player with no effect capabilities. C'mon Slate, you already got the technology, just integrate it.

Either that or allow kits to load in the current out config without loading only into a stereo buss.

[bill45]

Testing is going well.The player is easy to use.The old presets do sound better in the new player.
I didn't know slate was coming out with a new eq.I knew about the tape plugin.
Good point regarding the multi outputs. guess we'll have to save user kits for now.

[AjD]

Bumping this thread... what's the word lately on SSD 4? Still buggy, or are we finally out of pre-release? Seems like it's been a long road here.

Thinking about buying the $199 download version of SSD 4 Platinum but I'm not interested in reporting a list of bugs or having to wait months before it's usable with clients at my elbow,

Fyi, I'm running Cubase 6.5 32 bit on a Win7-64 box with 8gb RAM.

Aj

[Arglebargle]

Do the drum kits in v4 all sound the same like in v3?

[BERFAB]

I've had the smaller version of SSD4 for quite a while (didn't need all the extra kits). I like it, with a few caveats. First of all, my personal favorite kit is the default kit. To my ear, it just sounds the best.

Load time is very fast, and the player itself is very easy to use to get to everything you need to get to.

The promised groove library is still very small. I'm not sure what the hold up is, but just a couple of weeks back Steven Slate sent an email around saying that major upgrades and grooves were coming. Since then, nothing.

Fortunately for me, Groovemonkee is supporting SSD4 now, and my entire Groovemonkee folder of midi files is now directly accessible in the SSD4 player.

As a quick aside, I recently did back to back A/B listening tests for several of my drum vsti's using the same grooves along with my favorite acoustic kits. Included were Superior Drummer, BFD2, SSD4, Studio Drummer and Addictive Drums. I like and use all of these programs, but I have to say that the best quality (to my ears at least) was Studio Drummer. Rounding out my rankings were BFD2, SSD4, Addictive and, lastly [and ironically], Superior.

Each excels on its own terms, of course, and I have to say that when I'm looking to fill out a straight rock track, SSD4 is my first choice as it has just the right punch for the job and usually fits right into the mix with little or no tweaking.

YMMV of course.

Cheers
-B

[AjD]

Thanks for the great reply. This is a tough decision. On my end, I'll be using SSD (or another similar program) for...

1) Drum replacement on acoustic drums I record (mostly kicks/snares & cymbals)
2) Programming full-on "realistic" acoustic drums for my own compositions (using Cubase 6.5 for the MIDI end)

I don't care about eq/effects capability. I take direct outs straight into Cubase 6.5 and do my own processing there.

I definitely sometimes need the big rock sounds (which I know SSD excels at), but I also do a lot of more traditional drum stuff, and need those sounds too. I'm talking drum tracks for folk-rock songs; old-school country tunes; rockabilly; '70s style singer/songwriter drums (think an old Jackson Browne album); traditional jazz (occasionally); Americana stuff and also indie rock (would love a Beck-style Sea Change kit).

I'm looking for versatility, and I'm a heavy tweaker - so the 100 kits in SSD4 Platinum, along with the ability to layer multiple samples is key. I also often use my own wav samples - does any other virtual drum instrument offer that? - and I'd say that's a must-have feature for me.

I am a bit worried about how much SSD leans on metal sounds. But it seems like the rest of the virtual drummers require expansion packs to get anywhere near SSDs sample-count anyway. (Correct me if that's no longer true - it's been a while since I looked into Superior Drummer, for example.) Either way, I'll be bound to mix/match custom kit pieces and tweak them a bunch on my end no matter which package I get.

Am I on the wrong track? Is there something better suited for me? Sure wish there was a demo for SSD.

Aj

[BERFAB]

Actually, the SSD drum library excels in the period drum kit category IMHO, if that's what you are looking for. There are several excellent kits specifically made to emulate the 70's 80's and 90's, and each period gets a few kits to get slightly different sounds.

The 'Zep kit gets entirely too much attention, if you ask me. I mean it's nice to be able to emulate the storied medieval castle acoustics from Bonzo's heyday, but how often does your mix call for that one? I think the fact that this is one of several kits from that period is a stronger sell.

As I said before, I mainly use the default kit, so someone else might want to chime in on the overall quality of the period emulations. But what I've seen is very good.

Cheers
-B

[BERFAB]

Re-reading your last post, I actually have 2 other suggestions.

1. Addictive Drums is a very good all-rounder with an excellent interface and a very nice groove library. They do sell expansion packs, but because their programming philosophy is that they can emulate a ton of different kits just using the basic samples with various effects, you can really tweak almost any sound you want right out of the box. And if you google around, there are loads of presets available for a variety of kits.

2. With all the whiz-bangery going on with vsti development, NI's Battery is getting lost in the shuffle. You can buy this baby pretty cheap now, and there are over a hundred (way over actually, with various specialty kit presets available) excellent kits in an amazing array of styles (from Chinese gongs to military ordnance). The pieces are also easily indexed by type if you just want to, say, audition 60 different snare hits. If you are a tweaker (and you say you are), this is really some of the best raw material you can own. And, there are a ton of period kits to get you started in whatever decade you want.

Downside to Battery has always been the lack of a sequencer. And the variety of kits means that it's sometimes tough to shoehorn a basic General MIDI groove into your sequencer without further tweaking. I've actually had quite a bit of luck using the included MIDI library from NI's excellent Studio Drummer with Battery kits, but, obviously that's a whole different kind of financial commitment.

Note also that to deal with this particular issue with Battery, Groovemonkee doesn't make grooves for the Battery format. Instead, they have actually re-assembled Battery presets for most of the included kits which re-map the kits for use with Groovemonkees standard GM format. Clever, but it shows the extent of difficulty you may encounter just using the kits out of the box.

Hope you find this helpful.

Cheers
-B

[Amberience]

How big is SSD4 once installed to the hard-drive?

[paterpeter]

How big is SSD4 once installed to the hard-drive?

9GB