Best Budget Drums - Steven Slate vs EZ vs KitCore

[partyofone]

Ha ha hey Mark thanks! I'm afraid we're about to owe ourselves too, and plus the house we weren't able to sell and thus had to rent is without a renter! But gosh darn it I think these deals are too good to pass! Yeah was talking to Bill in a PM and he said he preferred their sound too. If Steven Slate stuff didn't sound so good than I might NOT do any more thinking! I'm a natural over-thinker anyway, ugh!

[southpaw]

i see AD has already been added to your list of considerations. As i was reading your initial post, i was thinking... MAN, Adrummer would be GREAT for what he's looking for! Own it, and it is very nice. As mentioned, for 100 beans... whatta steal..! For midi drums, i really dont use EZ anymore. Neither of them is gonna replace great samples or a great drummer, but i really dig the AD interface and tonal shaping parameters it allows you to control.

[crs7string]

Patrick,This could have been a topic we discussed at Ted's yesterday!!I have EZ Drummer, Addictive Drums and Drumcore for "real drums"Each has it's strengths and weaknesses. All are very useful.One of the things I do like about EZ Drummer is the commitment Toontrack has made to expansion packs. Each adds drum kits and midi files. The midi files are not expansion pack exclusive. Hence, you can trigger the Nashville drum kit with Funkmasters midi files. (patterns and fills)I think the Nashville expansion pack is awesome. Harry Stinson playing the patterns and engineeering by Chuck Ainley. This was done at Sound Kitchen in Cool Springs. I have used it for everything BUT country ( smooth jazz, acoustic guiitar underscore)Fortunately, everything is getting so inexpensive and if you watch for sales and promotions even more so, I don't think these choices need to be mutually exclusive. As I'm known for saying "You can never have too many options for drums"ChuckBTW It was good to meet you and Holly yesterday.

[mojobone]

I'm a bit of a bear for realism, and Addictive Drums has 24-bit cymbals, yay-us. I'll probably get KitCore as well, if only for the MIDI files, but if you can score AD for less than a C-note, that's a total no-brainer, though I'll admit I haven't heard, nor heard of, Steve Slate.

[k o star]

I simply Love Addictive Drums!-K

[partyofone]

Hey Southpaw, Mojo, Chuck and Kel thanks for weighing in... Jamie I'm sure your right about a real drummer. My friend is a great drummer and I would definitely use him to cut a record in the studio but for these demos I want to keep my budget low. Chuck ha ha yes this would've been a great topic! You make a great point on the expansion packs... that's awesome about the Nashville pack and I remember thinking they sounded really great too. And you're probably right about getting them all too... I remembering reading about that guy who wrote that book about outsourcing your life.. he says he limits himself to 3 options and will allow so much time for decisions under $100. I try to go by this by it's tough so thus here I am stewing over this choice! lolMojo, I didn't realize the 24-bit cymbals but good to know!For those not familiar with Steve's stuff: http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/He got his start making drum replacement samples for top engineers like Tom Lord-alge. His stuff sounds amazing.

[mazz]

I really don't think you can go wrong, sound-wise with any of the packages you mention. If you know how to mix, you can get a big fat sound out of anything anyway. They all have mixers where you can tailor the sound at the source. Matto has mentioned that AD is a bit quicker to load than EZ drummer which may or may not be an issue in your case. I'm not familiar with AD but I've heard it's quite good as well. I don't know if the cymbals in EZ drummer are 24 bit or not but they do sound good. I've used EZ drummer for a lot of things and I've done some processing in the mix to make it punch even more and I've had lots of people ask me what the drums were from. It appears they all include MIDI grooves and third parties like GrooveMonkee sells some really excellent grooves that will map to just about anything.EZ drummer has a lot of expansion options available and if you ever want to upgrade to the full Superior Drummer, the expansion packs will load in to it as well, which is a pretty cool way to maximize your investment. You can't make a wrong choice here and again, if you know what you're doing in the mix, you can tailor the sounds from any of them to fit the style you're working on. They all seem to be committed to upgrades and expansions. It's a great time to be alive and making drum tracks.Mazz

[keithl]

All great points.to add to that (I can only add Toontrack info, because I own it)Toontrack's EZDrummer's sounds are more pre-processed than their flagship product Superior 2.0 (which is INCREDIBLE)So the EZ stuff is cool to drop in, if you are not looking to tweak drums for days. I am sure others are like this also, but just wanted to add to it. If I have a project that needs to be turned around very quickly (like hours!), EZ is the first thing I grab. The fact that they have so many expansion packs that fit different genres....more paint on the palette!And I recorded 2 cds with live drums and after recording with Toontrack, I honestly will say that I will probably never record live drums at my place again. Nothing against live drums. but I will NEVER reproduce the pro sound that one can get in a studio. I am a guitarist at heart, but spend most of my time with drums (wanted to play that first!).For the first couple months, I tried to say. "Yeah, but it ain't live drums"....but I recently re-recorded a song off my last cd with toontrack drums and it just outshined it. Nothing fake sounding at all. It's a good time for drum sampling technology.(and I do play the tracks on an e-kit, so I am not TOTALLY cheating!)

[mazz]

I don't think using MIDI loops played by a pro drummer is cheating any more than triggering samples yourself from an e-kit or a trigger finger or whatever. If I had the budget, I'd be hiring Hugh McCracken or one of those other guys that do drum tracks online, and maybe some day I will. There's nothing like a real, great drummer (or any other instrumentalist for that matter). But for the day in and day out, down and dirty quick needs of production music, there's nothing like these new drum software instruments. Again, if you know what you're doing putting the MIDI files together and during the mix, you can get really incredible drum tracks that will totally work musically. Listening and studying (and playing with) great drummers certainly helps when putting the MIDI grooves together. None of these things will replace musicianship chops, but if you have good ears and skills, it's completely do-able.Hurray for technology,Mazz

[southpaw]

^l l -- What he said.