Virtual Drum Software

[DanLuedke]

Any recommendations on virtual drum software for a first-timer? I am leaning towards Addictive Drums but thought I should hear from people who have used others.

Thanks in advance!

-Dan

[kclements]

What kind of music are you writing? That would help me make a recommendations.

I use Stylus RMX all the time and I just picked up Addictive Drums, and liking it very much so far. I also have an older version of DrumCore - which i don't use anymore, but it was useful for a while.

You may also want to check out BFD Eco - which I think is still on sale for $29 - might be the perfect place to start and see how it works for not much money. See Andy's thread here.

A lot of it depends on what you are looking for in drum software.

Cheers
kc

[DanLuedke]

Thanks kc,

I mostly write rock/indie/acoustic but I want to be able to make drum beats for any genre.

-Dan

[eeoo]

I can't recommend AD highly enough, it's a really great instrument. That said, any of them will sound great if you know how to use them. But to me, AD right out of the box kills.

eo

[Len911]

Many people like them. $179.95 for 3 kits 2gb, sounds pretty expensive. Meanwhile the BFD eco is 6.64GB of samples, for $29, just sayin'.

[marcblack30]

Addictive Drums is truly awesome, the stock kit is great, comes with many useful presets and you can dig really deep if ya wanna.

Marc

[kclements]

I think you would be happy with Addictive Drums.

You can usually pick it up at Sweetwater, or other online sources for about $149. ADPaks are about $50

But right now, AudioDeluxe is having a summer sale and you can get it for $120. Also, XLNAUdio is having BOGO free on all their ADPaks. I think both these deals end 6/30

http://audiodeluxe.com/search/apachesol ... ve%20drums

FYI - I had to wait about 24 hours to get my license emailed to me from AudioDeluxe - so don't expect an instant download, but I did save about $30

Where ever you get it, it's a great program. I'm just getting into it and there is a lot to discover.

Cheers -
kc

[mazz]

I think Addictive Drums is the best "out of the box" that I've used. Superior Drummer is more expensive and has some things about it that are more versatile but for rock/pop/indie stuff, Addictive just has that punchy vibe that you need.

Once you get going, consider adding some third party MIDI grooves. I really like Groove Monkee for loops, and they come laid out for the different major drum libraries including Addictive. There are a few others out there that I know of that also provide MIDI grooves of high quality. Most can be found with a google search and most have some loops that can be downloaded for free as demos.

Another vote for Addictive.

[Kolstad]

I don't have addictive drums, but as bang for the buck Toontrack EZ Drummer is hard to beat, Imo. You get a lot of midi in the package, easy to tweak and also very light on the CPU. It's very flexible to use, can easily be upgraded, and very very stable. So that's my vote.

[Len911]

"out of the box". Hmm. Just for an experiment, I assembled a groovemonkey midi track, and randomly selected a kit from each of three drum libraries. The only adjustment might have been the master volume.

Addictive Drums_Free
https://soundcloud.com/huck-sawyer-finn ... ms/s-mzqLg

BFD_Echo
https://soundcloud.com/huck-sawyer-finn ... ms/s-C1jdr

Ocean_Way_Drums
https://soundcloud.com/huck-sawyer-finn ... ms/s-mq3rM

Maybe the most important thing is the choice of instruments you like better, because they all can be tweaked, tuned, mixed.