KVR Audio

Dewdman42 · Post by **Dewdman42** » Tue Nov 06, 2018 7:22 pm

SSD5 just hit the shelves. $79 upgrade price this month. Instant buy for me, downloading now.... I am very happy to report that they also upgraded all my SSD4 expansions to SSD5.

alonl6 · Post by **alonl6** » Tue Nov 06, 2018 7:28 pm

Sounds very good.

donkey tugger · Post by **donkey tugger** » Tue Nov 06, 2018 7:34 pm

Mr Slate seems to be the devil incarnate for some people. I do like his drums though, great sounding for the rokk and indie. There's a free version with one kit here;

http://stevenslatedrums.com/ssd5/#SSD5FREE

Dewdman42 · Post by **Dewdman42** » Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:06 pm

The blackbird expansion is great for other styles too it’s not just a rock and indie drum sound. His original concept definitely excelled at that sound though

Kraznet · Post by **Kraznet** » Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:17 pm

It's a shame the GUI isn't resizeable like Superior Drummer 3.

donkey tugger · Post by **donkey tugger** » Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:51 pm

Dewdman42 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:06 pm The blackbird expansion is great for other styles too it’s not just a rock and indie drum sound. His original concept definitely excelled at that sound though

Indeed, that's what sold me on it initially. I got the custom version and Blackbird expansion, then there was some ludicrously cheap upgrade to SSD4 platinum. There are some nice other types of kits in that too (60s, quite a nice brushes kit, a few electronic things) but SSD4 itself does lean more towards the rokk you say. Does it really well so can't complain!

Dewdman42 · Post by **Dewdman42** » Tue Nov 06, 2018 11:44 pm

Kraznet wrote: ↑Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:17 pm It's a shame the GUI isn't resizeable like Superior Drummer 3.

Indeed.

I think the upgrade is well worth the $79 I paid for it and I'm glad I got it. The new SSD5 drum samples do sound better, more detailed and nuanced, much less processed, which ironically is the reason I bought SSD4 to begin with, his genius processing for "that" sound.

I will say, the GUI is improved over the old one, but they could have gone further with that, they really didn't do that much that matters. A resizable gui for example, as you said. Its very similar to the old GUI though..not a super big improvement.

Also, in this day and age, and with all the stuff SS has been doing with effects, I would have hoped to see some scaled down FX built into the mixer and available for creating drum kit presets with different kinds of processing like I can do with Addictive Drums. If they had done that, along with presets from Steven and some of the other producers he has worked with, I think it would have become a top seller.

I didn't buy SD3 and don't plan to because of the disk space requirement more than anything, but my initial impression is that SD3 made huge progress over SD2. I think SSD5 made some progress over SSD4, but not huge. I think worth the $79 upgrade price this month. But truthfully I am a little underwhelmed....after all this time..

Examigan · Post by **Examigan** » Wed Nov 07, 2018 12:30 am

This is not a huge deal, but I noticed when he switches between kits in the video, the setup looks the same in the display. I thought maybe it would change to reflect the different drums in that kit.
For example, Addictive Drums 2 shows other drums and cymbals if you switch to another kit.

Anyway, I think it sounds great.

rod_zero · Post by **rod_zero** » Wed Nov 07, 2018 2:00 am

Horrible GUI, looks like windows 95

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Wed Nov 07, 2018 3:17 am

donkey tugger wrote: ↑Tue Nov 06, 2018 7:34 pm Mr Slate seems to be the devil incarnate for some people. I do like his drums though, great sounding for the rokk and indie. There's a free version with one kit here;

http://stevenslatedrums.com/ssd5/#SSD5FREE

I think this is very generous of him. Just installed.

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Wed Nov 07, 2018 3:30 am

I take back what I said. The most user unfriendly thing I've ever used.

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Wed Nov 07, 2018 4:08 am

Yeah, I remember that. Kind of just a nightmare. I'm still on their mailing list, and now I remember why.

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Wed Nov 07, 2018 4:21 am

jancivil wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 4:08 am Yeah, I remember that. Kind of just a nightmare. I'm still on their mailing list, and now I remember why.

And it doesn't even sound all that great. Certainly nothing to write home about. Sorry I even wasted my time installing it.

donkey tugger · Post by **donkey tugger** » Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:34 am

wagtunes wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 4:21 am
jancivil wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 4:08 am Yeah, I remember that. Kind of just a nightmare. I'm still on their mailing list, and now I remember why.
And it doesn't even sound all that great. Certainly nothing to write home about. Sorry I even wasted my time installing it.

I do seem to recall that you gave me 9.56783431 for a song that used SSD4. Perhaps there is a malfunction in the rating system?

On a serious note, I'd agree that the included new free kit isn't the most inspiring - a bit middle of the road and polite for my tastes.

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Wed Nov 07, 2018 7:58 pm

I don't know how good it sounds (except for the example, which doesn't translate to me using it), the free thing was ridiculous to even install, it's not free anything.

I was mildly curious and it was supposedly free. I have BFD3 for years, and I have zero need for the product.
It did turn me off to "Steven Slate" whoever he is.