Superior Drummer 2

[bigbluebarry]

While there are many great options available for sampled drums, you'd have a hard time finding a better one than Superior Drummer 2. At the time I'm posting this, it's on sale for $149.99 at Musicians Friend. If you've got EZ Drummer, you can crossgrade up for $99.99. It's definitely worth the investment.

Any expansion pack that you have from EZ Drummer is able to be used within SD 2.0 as well as they continue to release new expansion packs for SD 2.0 itself (EZX Packs) with the most recent one being the Music City Expansion. It's based off of the Nashville expansion pack that they did for EZ Drummer, which in all honesty, sounded better than the EZ Drummer kit did. They also have the Metal Foundry Kit which is just wicked for anything in the hard rock and metal genres.

In addition to just having great sounding drums, the flexibility and power that the software gives you when it comes time to mix your drums is just top notch. You can mix them all within the plug-in itself (which is the method I choose to use) or you can route all of the individual drums out to their own bus and send those to individual tracks within your DAW so that you can apply whatever plug-ins, FX settings of your own to them as well.

If you're looking for great sounding drums and you want as much flexibility as possible with them, then I would highly recommend using Superior Drummer 2.

hth,
- Big Blue

[rnrmachine]

Don't forget the anti-machinegun deal they have in that. It is amazing!!!

Rob

[mazz]

If you want to hear SD2 in action, I suggest you check out Big Blue Barry's rock stuff. You'd be hard pressed to find a better example not only of how SD2 sounds in context, but also what top notch rock music for production libraries sounds like!

Rock on BBB!!!!

[rnrmachine]

Heck yea BBB,

You rock dude. I am striving to get my music to that level of professionalism. I am not that good of a drummer though so even though I play a lot of parts out I have to fake much of it too. I will get there though, because I understand what practice is and what it means for the end result.

Rob

[wickedsmaht]

I actually just ordered this from MF over the weekend!

Barry, how do you usually record your drum parts -- trigger SD2 with an electronic kit or pads? Tweak MIDI loops? Enter with the pencil tool?

[bigbluebarry]

Awww, thanks Mazz and Rob... appreciate the kind words

Jonathan... Typically, I pick a groove from within SD2 that's close to what I want and then tweak it with the MIDI pencil tool.

- Big Blue

[fullbirdmusic]

+1 that Barry's a badass
+1 that SD2 rocks!

I used EZD for a while and just didn't have the flexibility I wanted and realized that SD2 was where it's at so I did it. I do NOT regret it. Only thing is, I wish I could replace some samples within the plugin - does anyone know if that's possible? I haven't researched it too deeply, but I'm guessing NO.

Also - Barry, is Metal Foundry really that cool? I write rock stuff, but far from metal and I'm thinking that some of the standard sounds in SD2 need to be layered with other kits. In fact, almost all of my songs use 3 kits at the same time - I don't know if it's my lack of mixing ability or that I'm just a perfectionist and find my sound at all costs! Cheers,

[raymy]

Anyone know how SD2 compares with Addictive Drums?

[mojobone]

I have AD; don't know of anyone that has both, and I think there's good reason for that. (they're each a pretty complete drum/drum replacement solution on their own) Addictive's realism is stunning, it's extremely simple to use and flexible; you can really stretch and shape the sounds quickly and easily, and it integrates very well with my MIDI trigger pads, it's also a little cheaper than SD2. Downside is it comes stock with only three kits, though you can buy add-ons, of course. I think AD's brushes kits are among the best available. I also have the equally realistic Larry Seyer drums for Gigastudio, some Submersible DrumCore stuff-better than okay, but a little plastic-y, (their MIDI loops are excellent and well-organized) Oceanway and Drum Masters for Kontakt-great sounding, but take almost a minute to load, and not near as easily and quickly tweakable as AD.

[bigbluebarry]

+1 that Barry's a badass
+1 that SD2 rocks!

I used EZD for a while and just didn't have the flexibility I wanted and realized that SD2 was where it's at so I did it. I do NOT regret it. Only thing is, I wish I could replace some samples within the plugin - does anyone know if that's possible? I haven't researched it too deeply, but I'm guessing NO.

Also - Barry, is Metal Foundry really that cool? I write rock stuff, but far from metal and I'm thinking that some of the standard sounds in SD2 need to be layered with other kits. In fact, almost all of my songs use 3 kits at the same time - I don't know if it's my lack of mixing ability or that I'm just a perfectionist and find my sound at all costs! Cheers,

LOL... thanks Wes

You get a several kits with Metal Foundry, some of them are definitely geared towards metal, but there are some that are geared more towards hard rock a la Kiss for example.

Anyone know how SD2 compares with Addictive Drums?

I don't think there is a comparison between the two. That being said, Addictive drums is more than adequate to deliver a strong performance for a drum track but your options are limited. If you really want more flexibility, then between those two, this is no comparison, SD 2 is... Superior... please excuse the pun

I have AD; don't know of anyone that has both, and I think there's good reason for that. (they're each a pretty complete drum/drum replacement solution on their own) Addictive's realism is stunning, it's extremely simple to use and flexible; you can really stretch and shape the sounds quickly and easily, and it integrates very well with my MIDI trigger pads, it's also a little cheaper than SD2. Downside is it comes stock with only three kits, though you can buy add-ons, of course. I think AD's brushes kits are among the best available. I also have the equally realistic Larry Seyer drums for Gigastudio, some Submersible DrumCore stuff-better than okay, but a little plastic-y, (their MIDI loops are excellent and well-organized) Oceanway and Drum Masters for Kontakt-great sounding, but take almost a minute to load, and not near as easily and quickly tweakable as AD.

Actually Mojo, I've got them both. As our good friend crs7string says, you can never have too many options for drums If you're on a tighter budget, then AD is a great option. If you're not, then I would recommend SD 2.

hth,
- Big Blue