Your favorite drum software

[Phoenix]

Which drum software do you like best and why?

[dsound]

I have DRUMKITS FROM HELL SUPERIOR and love it but I've actually gone back to
using Reason Drumkits Refill and I wire it up directly into the interface and route that to Protools. I think those kits sound great and it's easier to use. For quick writing and
getting a vibe I use Drums on Demand loops...real player = real energy...

[Tantrum The Cat]

Originally Posted by dsound

I have DRUMKITS FROM HELL SUPERIOR and love it but I've actually gone back to
using Reason Drumkits Refill and I wire it up directly into the interface and route that to Protools. I think those kits sound great and it's easier to use. For quick writing and
getting a vibe I use Drums on Demand loops...real player = real energy...

Reason Drumkits seconded. Great sounds for rock grooves - I just did some rock programming on some demos where they didn't have the budget for a real drummer.

With some creative use of groove quantizing (I was sequencing from Logic Pro), nobody complained that it "sounded like a drum machine".

[nikki-k]

BFD + AFJ (Andy Johns Classic Drums) pak...

'Cause it is the best sounding for most of the music I do (prog rock).

(oh- i should have mentioned...i own DFH, DFHS, C&V, and a few others. I will use some of the percussion stuff from the others, but otherwise they are simply gathering dust)

[halcyo]

I own quite a few of Toontracks products, including DFHS, DFHS Custom and Vintage, EZ Drummer, and the EZ Drummer Vintage expansion pack. I honestly think they are ridiculously realistic when programmed well. I am intrigued by the Reason Drumkits though, as well as their new Piano Refill, but that is another story I suppose. I don't even have Reason, but the demos of these two Refills has made me consider purchasing the whole thing!

EZ Drummer is VERY simple, and fairly powerful for getting pretty quick, 'tastefully pre-processed' sounds. It's not quite as nuanced as the bigger DFHS libraries, but it's a great drum library. You could definitley produce a wide range of Rock/Pop stuff with no problem.

If you are comfortable with drum programming (and I mean really getting down deep into the nuances of a part), then the Drums from Hell Superior and its Custom and Vintage expansion are quite honestly as REAL as you can get without being REAL. When you render the audio from the plugin, you can have the REAL bleed of all the drums in every mic. It is EXACTLY like mixing a REAL kit, no shit...(but mixing a real kit is not easy, or cheap sometimes, which is a pro or con depending on your experience)

halcyo

[Oroz]

Another vote for DFHS!!!!

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by nikki-k

BFD + AFJ (Andy Johns Classic Drums) pak...

'Cause it is the best sounding for most of the music I do (prog rock).

(oh- i should have mentioned...i own DFH, DFHS, C&V, and a few others. I will use some of the percussion stuff from the others, but otherwise they are simply gathering dust)

I have heard great things abou the Andy pack. Is it much different from the original BFD's?

[mark mcg]

In addition to DFHS and BFD there is a new drum program called Addictive Drums which also from Sweden like Toontrack which is apparently very good.

Mark

[Tibbon]

Realistic drums, or synth sounding drums?

[trock]

I use and love Drums on demand

i use acid to build the songs and use DOD for the loops and build incredible songs in minutes

www.drumsondemand.com

[Stevil]

i got hooked on acid a few versions back & havent found anything i like better.
i love the way it builds loops. great place to work out ideas before building the song architecture.

[George Necola]

ezdrummer

[Oldone]

I have EZ and DFHS and halcyo nailed it. If you want a quick mock up of a song use EZ. If you want a track that could fool about anyone, including other drummers, then use DFHS. However, it's a lot of work to get DFHS going, as mentioned.

You have to have some experience building a drum buss with parallel compression and more importantly doing radical EQ which is sometimes required with real drums. Also you have to know how to deal with excessive ambiance and the occasional gate to reel things in.

As with all drum software you really need to have a decent midi track, the key to authenticity, to make it seem real.

If you want to take the time to build all this, the results are convincing. This is a lot of production work however, which can suck the life out of a creative moment, so that's why I keep EZ handy. It's up and running in a few minutes and you can dial in a decent pulse while the creative juices are still running.

[Dr.Wu]

For real sounding programmed drums
EZdrummer and Addicitive Drums
for everything else
Stylus RMX

[Eide]

For Logic/EXS24 - do check out drummEAR

[Deacon Daniell]

This has a great demo http://www.xlnaudio.com/index.php?page=home