Hello
For those of you that have this new collection of NI what are your appreciations as a collection of drums for everyday work? are they versatile?
I was thinking of buying new drum vsts as im a bit weak in that category with the vst I already have
Thinking of Ezdrummer 2 or SSD5 but this picked my interest
I only need something that I can work with in everyday work as I compose primarily Pop, Rock, MAYBE some jazz at one point so im looking to a versatile option. Addictive drums didn't connect with me
Thank you
Abbey Road drums collection?
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 112 posts since 15 Jun, 2011
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- KVRAF
- 4433 posts since 15 Nov, 2006 from Hell
these aren't new AFAIK. they've been around forever. can't comment on their sound though.
BFD3 maybe? DrumDrops libraries are awesome for what you have mentioned. in fact, check out DrumDrops, they do have libraries for samplers other than BFD.
BFD3 maybe? DrumDrops libraries are awesome for what you have mentioned. in fact, check out DrumDrops, they do have libraries for samplers other than BFD.
I don't know what to write here that won't be censored, as I can only speak in profanity.
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- KVRAF
- 1530 posts since 17 Sep, 2002
The NI Drummer series are pretty decent. I find them to be pretty responsive for finger-drumming. It's nice that you can just load it up and play, and it sounds pretty good.
However, I think the presets are pretty limiting in terms of tone, and I think you get a lot more options opened up to you if you load up the blank/unmixed preset and route everything multichannel out to your DAW. This will sound bad out of the box (as unmixed recorded drums almost always do), but lets you get a bit more mileage out of them in terms of tone if you are willing to put a bit of work in. I even used to play with building "frankenstein" kits, like using the 70s hi-hat with the 60s kick, the Modern crashes, etc, but that gets to be a bit of a pain if you want to swap out a kit piece. I wouldn't recommend this workflow with these libraries, but it is possible with a bit of patience and a basic understanding of Kontakt.
The mapping system is pretty easy to use, which is nice. It took about a minute to program in my own custom key map, although I had to do it once for each library/kit.
The hi-hats across the line have a pretty nice amount of detail. The cymbal chokes are realistic too, in that they don't just abruptly cut off the cymbal; it sounds like they actually sampled a "choke" noise. You also get two or three different snare options per kit, and can often choose between felt/wood beater for the kicks too.
I used the 60s, 70s, Modern, and Vintage libraries for years. The 70s kits are nice and versatile (probably my favorite of the bunch, but I'm partial to the era of music that inspired the tones they were after). The Late 60s kit has a nice "hidden" tea-towel feature that I only found after many years of using it.
Ultimately, however, I replaced them all with BFD3 and never looked back. BFD3 is way more flexible, and the tone is much more "open" for lack of a better word. I'm a drummer, and BFD3 just feels the best to me. It's not without its problems, and it takes a fair bit of work to get a template set up, but in my opinion it comes the closest to "high quality raw drum tracks recorded in a high end studio." But this rawness means it can sound like garbage if you don't know what you're doing.
The main gripe I have with BFD3 is that the expansions don't always play nicely together when you start mixing different kit pieces that were recorded in different rooms, with different gear/mics, by different teams, with different sticks and a different drummer. It's immersion-breaking for me to hear, for instance, a ride cymbal played with a thick wood-tip stick while the rest of the kit sounds like nylon tips. But I think for most people, this stuff just isn't important.
So I'm hesitant to recommend BFD3, even though it's my favorite, unless you're willing to spend a few hours wrapping your head around its idiosyncrasies.
edit: I still have 60s and Modern in my account if you wanna buy them cheap, PM me
However, I think the presets are pretty limiting in terms of tone, and I think you get a lot more options opened up to you if you load up the blank/unmixed preset and route everything multichannel out to your DAW. This will sound bad out of the box (as unmixed recorded drums almost always do), but lets you get a bit more mileage out of them in terms of tone if you are willing to put a bit of work in. I even used to play with building "frankenstein" kits, like using the 70s hi-hat with the 60s kick, the Modern crashes, etc, but that gets to be a bit of a pain if you want to swap out a kit piece. I wouldn't recommend this workflow with these libraries, but it is possible with a bit of patience and a basic understanding of Kontakt.
The mapping system is pretty easy to use, which is nice. It took about a minute to program in my own custom key map, although I had to do it once for each library/kit.
The hi-hats across the line have a pretty nice amount of detail. The cymbal chokes are realistic too, in that they don't just abruptly cut off the cymbal; it sounds like they actually sampled a "choke" noise. You also get two or three different snare options per kit, and can often choose between felt/wood beater for the kicks too.
I used the 60s, 70s, Modern, and Vintage libraries for years. The 70s kits are nice and versatile (probably my favorite of the bunch, but I'm partial to the era of music that inspired the tones they were after). The Late 60s kit has a nice "hidden" tea-towel feature that I only found after many years of using it.
Ultimately, however, I replaced them all with BFD3 and never looked back. BFD3 is way more flexible, and the tone is much more "open" for lack of a better word. I'm a drummer, and BFD3 just feels the best to me. It's not without its problems, and it takes a fair bit of work to get a template set up, but in my opinion it comes the closest to "high quality raw drum tracks recorded in a high end studio." But this rawness means it can sound like garbage if you don't know what you're doing.
The main gripe I have with BFD3 is that the expansions don't always play nicely together when you start mixing different kit pieces that were recorded in different rooms, with different gear/mics, by different teams, with different sticks and a different drummer. It's immersion-breaking for me to hear, for instance, a ride cymbal played with a thick wood-tip stick while the rest of the kit sounds like nylon tips. But I think for most people, this stuff just isn't important.
So I'm hesitant to recommend BFD3, even though it's my favorite, unless you're willing to spend a few hours wrapping your head around its idiosyncrasies.
edit: I still have 60s and Modern in my account if you wanna buy them cheap, PM me
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- Banned
- 2288 posts since 24 Mar, 2015 from Toronto, Canada
I have them. As stated, this is not a new product. I can't really comment on how much better or worse they are compared to other drum products as I have limited experience with only the stuff I do have. But I will say, I use them mostly for stuff that needs a regular old school soul/pop/rock sound. They sound fine to me.
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