The Best Drum Sample Library!

[hephaestussounds]

I've listen to better drum kits. The drummer is good, but it's a poor demonstration. You've to do a screen recording of Kontakt interface with a real-time playing.
And, excuse me, but...20GB...you've sampled 30 drum kits, or your samples quality is 192KHz 32-bit Stereo with infinite decay on crashes, or you've samples 95 dynamic layers!
No info about your kit? Standard MIDI mapping or not? Kontakt version? Wave-cycling? Recording hardware?

[Compyfox]

Only 145 GB, one drum kit. Comes on its own HD. I doubt anyone has done better sounding kit than this since including this thread's kit. Listen to the audio examples.

More samples doesn't mean better sound.
With the possibilities nowadays, you can even create a 1GB sampleset and model the nuances of soft to hard play with envelope shapers.

Realivox demonstrated that gracefully with their Acoustic Guitar.

And take a look at Addictive Drummer. Up until this day, it's still valued as an excellent drumkit. It barely needs any space compared to (say) BFD. Slate is in the middle-field. And if we cound Rayzoon's Jamstix as well (considering you know how to handle EQ's and Compressors), that thing also barely eats HDD space.

Speaking of which:
Other sample providers come to mind, like WavesFactory (10quids for their TeaTowelDrum) or even Sennheiser (Drummic'A - free!). Even though the latter one can't do pitching of the individual kit pieces, it comes with a tons of presets! And why not also throw the REALDRUMS Tonemaster Grande and N&C CD-Maple in there? 30 EUR, and the sound shaping is also handled through EQ and compression.

[Tubeman]

Only 145 GB, one drum kit. Comes on its own HD. I doubt anyone has done better sounding kit than this since including this thread's kit. Listen to the audio examples.

More samples doesn't mean better sound.
With the possibilities nowadays, you can even create a 1GB sampleset and model the nuances of soft to hard play with envelope shapers.

Realivox demonstrated that gracefully with their Acoustic Guitar.

And take a look at Addictive Drummer. Up until this day, it's still valued as an excellent drumkit. It barely needs any space compared to (say) BFD. Slate is in the middle-field. And if we cound Rayzoon's Jamstix as well (considering you know how to handle EQ's and Compressors), that thing also barely eats HDD space.

Speaking of which:
Other sample providers come to mind, like WavesFactory (10quids for their TeaTowelDrum) or even Sennheiser (Drummic'A - free!). Even though the latter one can't do pitching of the individual kit pieces, it comes with a tons of presets! And why not also throw the REALDRUMS Tonemaster Grande and N&C CD-Maple in there? 30 EUR, and the sound shaping is also handled through EQ and compression.

We just have to agree to disagree on this. I've never heard as realistic and good sounding sampled drumkits as the mixosaurus kits. Addictive Drums is ok but has it's limitations. All the Slate kits I've heard have the machine gun effect. This all of course depends what are your expectations, how trained your ear is and what kind of music you make. I have Drummica it's quite good and is about 8 GB.

[V0RT3X]

Fxpansion BFD 2 and soon to be 3 is probably the best I've heard so far. I have not heard anything else except the Native instruments stuff which is good too but I really like the BFD better..

[Compyfox]

We just have to agree to disagree on this. I've never heard as realistic and good sounding sampled drumkits as the mixosaurus kits.

Are we talking full dynamic jazz or squashed to sh*t Metal here?
Because, frankly, it doesn't matter in a mix, especially if it's the latter!

[elxsound]

We just have to agree to disagree on this. I've never heard as realistic and good sounding sampled drumkits as the mixosaurus kits.

Are we talking full dynamic jazz or squashed to sh*t Metal here?
Because, frankly, it doesn't matter in a mix, especially if it's the latter!

Was just going to say the same thing... In a mix, it doesn't matter.

After years of drumming I can add that there are many nuances not captured in most sampled kits, but in a mix many of those nuances are irrelevant.

As for the 9 positions of a hi-hat... well, that sounds excessive, but I can also add that there are multiple places to hit any cymbal and get a different sound. This is an area where I wish more sampled libraries took the time to capture it, because the sound can definitely cut through a mix. Keep in mind that I'm talking about all cymbals, not just the hi-hat.

[jancivil]

so '9' 'positions'[/img]

it's a competitive field so the developer has some work on the presentation to look at.

It can also mean different positions of the drum stick. All cymbals give different sound depending how and where you hit it.

obviously, and I guess you could go nuts with that but unless the application is very special I wouldn't find most of it useful, and I make some real quiet and intricate drum parts out of a jazz approach. I don't see Vinnie Colaiuta being terrifically cute moving all around the hihats, you know. In a solo one could get really cute with cymbals, however and I would like to see more scrapes and brush articulations which I kind of expect a bit of from BFD3.

for instance some of the Evil Joe Barresi hihats... [edit = 'the hihat in'] EJB Kit 6 is 4.65 GB, quarter shank is 133 samples. So there is a lot to be gotten out of velocity with a library like this. In the editor I think I don't want 9 stick positions. I think that's past overkill.

I checked out the Mixosaurus demos, they sound very very good. The cymbals are very detailed. I think I would not be into Kontakt {3} as an interface though. There is a notice from ~one year ago alerting the product has been taken over 'by a major player you know' with a drastic 'closing sale' price, $399.

[Compyfox]

But one question:

If you have an edrum kit, does it even SUPPORT placement recognition for hihats? IIRC, only Roland's drum brain (and certain software for Windows) does recognize where the stick hits on the pad. And then even only for the snare (at least hardware wise).

Certain Ride systems offer 3 zones as well, but still no placement recognition.


Why why all the fuzz in terms of wasting HDD space for even more realism?

[pljones]

Position sensing is something I wish I had on my TrapKAT -- it's about all it's missing. (On a good day, I can coax 127 velocity levels out of the pads and hi-hat pedal, so that's those covered.) Bell/bow/tip and rim/centre positions are covered by different pad hits, rather than positional sensing but it's got 24 (plus kick and hihat pedals), so I get by with most kits still.

To a degree you can hide behind a mix with any instrument but I'd prefer not to have to -- if I can have a kit that sounds better, I'm interested. (I've never heard a modelled kit that I'd feel comfortable playing, to be honest - although the very latest top end Roland was not bad in the demo I heard. I'll keep the several thousand pounds, though...)

[jancivil]

further evaluating the Mixosaurus library: the hats there use five actual positions, tip, shank, crash, pedal and pedal splash. then there are three approaches to the first three, locked, closed opening up, and open closing up. they call that 29 which buffaloes me completely.
then CC1 provides 7 ranges of foot pressure and they say that is continuous, just made into ranges in order to visualize it.
That seems workable. I still don't know how they get one 14-pc kit to that size looking at the manual, but whatever. This goes back to Kontakt 2 and 32-bit.

[Dean Aka Nekro]

Speaking of which:
Other sample providers come to mind, like WavesFactory (10quids for their TeaTowelDrum) or even Sennheiser (Drummic'A - free!). Even though the latter one can't do pitching of the individual kit pieces, it comes with a tons of presets! And why not also throw the REALDRUMS Tonemaster Grande and N&C CD-Maple in there? 30 EUR, and the sound shaping is also handled through EQ and compression.

REALDRUMS and Drummic'A! are both excellent if a user has Kontakt or doesn't mind using it for drum stuff. The Noble & Cooley Maple kit in particular can handle ANYTHING thrown at it to do, It is perhaps one of my favourite kits available

Can't comment on TeaTowelDrum/WavesFactory but yeah agree that the more samples available doesn't make for the best sounding drum kits. So if you've got Kontakt the 30 euro's for REALDRUMS kits and Senny's free Drummic'A! is no brainer territory, Especially Drummic'A! of course

Best and to all as always

Dean

[Tubeman]

We just have to agree to disagree on this. I've never heard as realistic and good sounding sampled drumkits as the mixosaurus kits.

Are we talking full dynamic jazz or squashed to sh*t Metal here?
Because, frankly, it doesn't matter in a mix, especially if it's the latter!

Was just going to say the same thing... In a mix, it doesn't matter.

After years of drumming I can add that there are many nuances not captured in most sampled kits, but in a mix many of those nuances are irrelevant.

As for the 9 positions of a hi-hat... well, that sounds excessive, but I can also add that there are multiple places to hit any cymbal and get a different sound. This is an area where I wish more sampled libraries took the time to capture it, because the sound can definitely cut through a mix. Keep in mind that I'm talking about all cymbals, not just the hi-hat.

I just have to disagree on the "doesn't matter in a mix" part. Listen to bands with good drummers and you'll hear a worlds difference. Bad drummers get buried in the mix with drum samples. That is assuming you used ear plugs during those years of drumming?

Some examples: Danny Carey (Tool), Tim Alexander (Attention Deficit), Sami Kuoppamäki (Kingston Wall), Matt Zebroski (Alex Skolnick Trio), Stef Broks (Textures) or even oldies like John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) and Ian Paice (Deep Purple).

I agree with you on the cymbals part. Toms are under captured many times too which makes very fast tremolos sound silly. I think it's essential to sample both left and right hands with enough round robins. Since you're a drummer I suggest you listen to the Mixosaurus samples and tell me what you think.

[Tubeman]

so '9' 'positions'[/img]

it's a competitive field so the developer has some work on the presentation to look at.

It can also mean different positions of the drum stick. All cymbals give different sound depending how and where you hit it.

obviously, and I guess you could go nuts with that but unless the application is very special I wouldn't find most of it useful, and I make some real quiet and intricate drum parts out of a jazz approach. I don't see Vinnie Colaiuta being terrifically cute moving all around the hihats, you know. In a solo one could get really cute with cymbals, however and I would like to see more scrapes and brush articulations which I kind of expect a bit of from BFD3.

for instance some of the Evil Joe Barresi hihats... [edit = 'the hihat in'] EJB Kit 6 is 4.65 GB, quarter shank is 133 samples. So there is a lot to be gotten out of velocity with a library like this. In the editor I think I don't want 9 stick positions. I think that's past overkill.

I checked out the Mixosaurus demos, they sound very very good. The cymbals are very detailed. I think I would not be into Kontakt {3} as an interface though. There is a notice from ~one year ago alerting the product has been taken over 'by a major player you know' with a drastic 'closing sale' price, $399.

Yeah, I'm wondering what major company it is. My guess is it's Native Instruments or maybe Steinberg... That 145 GB is nothing these days when you can put it on one SSD for fast load times.

[Compyfox]

Again, is there currently an eDrum set (affordable) other than Roland's TD-12 (and up) series that does position sensing?

Even then, there is no L/R sample trigger, it's just one trigger. So why that much wasted HDD space just for "more detail" if you do not even use it!

[budweiser]

Yeah, I'm wondering what major company it is. My guess is it's Native Instruments or maybe Steinberg... That 145 GB is nothing these days when you can put it on one SSD for fast load times.

Probably steinberg. From their web site :

"Groove Agent is currently not available for sale. Please have a little patience until the next iteration of Groove Agent is brought to completion"