Considering buying Superior Drummer 2.0

[dbjp]

Originally Posted by thedommer

they definitely sound different. s2.0 has a bit more of a sheen to me. I do like BFD2 sounds also though. S2.0 feels a bit more real. I can sit there all day tapping toms and going "wow". In terms of reliability I think S2.0 is better. however I have not spent a lot of time with BFD2. I find the S2.0 choice to split up kit and midi editing plugin very logical and way more intuitive.

overall I think S2.0 is the better product. however if you are just using it as a trigger for your e-drums then you might not notice much of a difference. Its the midi editing where S2 jumps ahead.

Really? Gotta try it out.
I've got the latest version of BFD2 with about 340GB of samples from the expansion packs. I've got so many options, maybe too many, but it works great. Midi has been good, too, though I usually do mine on the host sequencer.

Love it. One major issue I have with it however is that the overheads keep panning the snare too far to the left or right, depending on whether 'drummer's perspective' is turned on or not. I've tried to fix this but it's never worked. Very annoying.

[JPeters86]

I really like it. I'm thinking about using it for recording the drums on the next album of my band. It sounds very professional, the Avatar room is awesome.

[kirkbross]

Originally Posted by chrisso

...
This can be extremely taxing on your computers functionality.
It's fine while you are working on the drums, but if you then want to start adding plug-in fx on other instruments, plus virtual synths, your computer is going to collapse under the strain.

Just to note... I have an 8 core Mac Pro (2x2.8GHz, January 2008) with 8GB of RAM and have no problem running Superior 1.0, plus a few Hybrid plugs and 50+ Waves plugs on a 48 track session at 88.2. I have my Superior samples on a Raptor which probably helps, but I'm sure with an older computer it would "definitely" be troublesome.

[feck]

S 2.0 plays WAY better for me with v-drums than any other drum software, especially in the hi-hat department. For the price especially, it really is a great product. I am really looking forward to the other kits/rooms.

[symplectiq]

Does SD2 come with grooves? I can't see any word about it on their page. And it's the first thing that burned my eyes about the EZ. There is also no info about how many grooves these expansions hold.

[s_sibs]

Originally Posted by chaoticz

Does SD2 come with grooves? I can't see any word about it on their page. And it's the first thing that burned my eyes about the EZ. There is also no info about how many grooves these expansions hold.

From the S2 product page:

Superior Drummer® 2.0 has been re-developed for optimized use with e-drums with more effective use of sample layers and much improved loading times. It will include custom MIDI played by Nir Z accessed through the all new customized MIDI engine and arranger EZplayer® pro...

There is about 1,500 MIDI groove that ships with S2.

[feck]

I don't understand what the big deal with grooves is - jeez, map the drums to a keyboard and make some of your own! How difficult is it? You have unlimited undo's, all the time you want, and it doesn't cost a thing to re-record. Isn't the point of making music to MAKE music?

[Rockin*Gio]

I just posted this in another thread here . . . but this one seems more relevant as it is specifically directed at Drummer Superior 2.0. I've been using it for about a week and so far have found it to be quite versatile.

I programmed some groves from the keyboard and just added some loops and live keys over top if anyone wants to hear SD2.0 in action. There are 10 files on my SoundClick page here: SoundClick artist: Rockin' Gio - page with MP3 music downloads

[357mag]

Using grooves that are already there simplifies things. You can listen to some grooves and find one that is kinda close to what you need. If it doesn't fit exactly, you can edit it so it does.

Grooves...are groovy.

[ziegenh5]

Maybe you guys know the answer to this. Can you sample replace with Superior 2.0 like you can with Drumagog? If not and you have Drumagog, can you use samples from Superior 2.0? I'd like to be able to create drum tracks from scratch and also sample replace from existing live drums and am trying to figure out what I need to purchase in order to do so. I've been looking at Superior 2.0, Steven Slate Drums, Drumagog or any combination of the above.
Thanks,
Sean

[fontenele]

how do the sonalksis stuff sound on it?
do you guys like it?

[DRC]

SD 2.0 has a really good sounding library. It did piss me off that it took a month for this to show up at my door from the day I bought it and I didn't know it was distributed by Waves which is a little scary. I hope I don't get WUPed!

The one thing I would warn a would be buyer of is that although EZplayer and all the MIDI loops ship with SD 2.0, it doesn't mean you can use them. You have to purchase a license for them separately. I didn't know this when I bought it. Not good if you are looking for a quick, simple pattern to write over but although SD 2.0 doesn't come with many midi files, I will say the kit sounds really, really good.

[ZenKen]

Originally Posted by DRC

It did piss me off that it took a month for this to show up at my door from the day I bought it and I didn't know it was distributed by Waves which is a little scary. I hope I don't get WUPed!

The one thing I would warn a would be buyer of is that although EZplayer and all the MIDI loops ship with SD 2.0, it doesn't mean you can use them. You have to purchase a license for them separately. I didn't know this when I bought it. Not good if you are looking for a quick, simple pattern to write over but although SD 2.0 doesn't come with many midi files, I will say the kit sounds really, really good.

That's weird.
I installed SD2 Avatar and (sort of accidentally) all the other EZX kits that came on the disks. I couldn't use the EZX kits (the earlier kits) but I can use all of the midi files from those kits and obviously what came with SD2 (Nir Z, who's amazing and a great starting point for a lot of pop stuff).

The drums sound pretty great to me. The midi files (for Avatar) may get used up, but they are really good and give good ideas.

[DRC]

Originally Posted by ZenKen

That's weird.
I installed SD2 Avatar and (sort of accidentally) all the other EZX kits that came on the disks. I couldn't use the EZX kits (the earlier kits) but I can use all of the midi files from those kits and obviously what came with SD2 (Nir Z, who's amazing and a great starting point for a lot of pop stuff).

The drums sound pretty great to me. The midi files (for Avatar) may get used up, but they are really good and give good ideas.

Were did you find them and how did you import them into the session? I didn't find many files that would import into a MIDI track in PT. None of the Nashville loops would.

[ZenKen]

Originally Posted by DRC

Were did you find them and how did you import them into the session? I didn't find many files that would import into a MIDI track in PT. None of the Nashville loops would.

I was using Logic, I haven't used it with PT yet. (My mobile rig is Logic based (logically)).

I had a channel with SD2 as a plug-in and another with EZ Player pro as the plug-in and then I would browse the MIDI files in EZ Player Pro. When I found one I liked, I just dragged and dropped it into a midi track in Logic. Super-easy.

If it didn't work in your version of PT, check if it works in later versions. I'm guessing it'll work in PT8 considering it's Logic-a-fied.

[jamwerks]

Originally Posted by feck

I don't understand what the big deal with grooves is - jeez, map the drums to a keyboard and make some of your own! How difficult is it? You have unlimited undo's, all the time you want, and it doesn't cost a thing to re-record. Isn't the point of making music to MAKE music?

You're right. I'm sure (put the names here of world class drummers) can't do anything rhythmically that I can't. And loops are no good for inspiration either!

[feck]

I understand the usefulness of loops, I just think that a professional, flexible individual drum sample set such as S2.0 being used as a loop player seems a bit like driving a Ferrari down the driveway to get your mail - if you know what I mean. It's strength, in my opinion of course, is in creating lifelike, realistic drum performances. Not necessarily in doing the playing for me. To each their own, of course. It really is a great piece of software. It plays so well with V-Drums that it is the only software that I use to play realtime with - I just sub into BFD/Mixosaurus/etc. if S2.0 isn't the sound I am looking for. But the fact that it all loads into RAM, plays effortlessly and sounds great makes it the only drum software I pull up when getting behind the v-kit anymore. Definitely worth the purchase.

[grandaddy]

Originally Posted by DRC

The one thing I would warn a would be buyer of is that although EZplayer and all the MIDI loops ship with SD 2.0, it doesn't mean you can use them. You have to purchase a license for them separately. I didn't know this when I bought it. Not good if you are looking for a quick, simple pattern to write over but although SD 2.0 doesn't come with many midi files, I will say the kit sounds really, really good.

Not true...Ezplayer pro is S2's MIDI engine - you don't have to purchase a separate license

[nas]

Originally Posted by feck

I don't understand what the big deal with grooves is - jeez, map the drums to a keyboard and make some of your own! How difficult is it? You have unlimited undo's, all the time you want, and it doesn't cost a thing to re-record. Isn't the point of making music to MAKE music?

Oh c'mon... there are lots of reasons why grooves are useful. Sometimes you need to get a mockup/demo out to clients under a tight deadline before you hire live musicians and you don't have "all the time you want".

Others are writers/producers who don't necessarily have the depth of knowledge in groove writing and programming that a world class drummer can bring even to a simple MIDI groove and prefer to at least use the grooves as a starting point for ideas and inspiration before they get into tweaking things out.

Still others may actually want to improve their programming chops by learning some of the subtleties and various techniques of a particular style from the templates and grooves in the library before creating their own grooves.

You do what you can to get the job done and I think that an extensive library of grooves in various styles from world class session players is an invaluable tool.

[Dysanfel]

I would never want to have to spend 20 minutes programing a hi hat part so it sounds realistic, especially when a groove has parts that are actually played by a person. For somethings a preset groove just makes more sense than drawing the part by hand.

[The MPCist]

Originally Posted by s_sibs

I do understand that bouncing including effects is important for some users but definitely not for all users and the effect do work great in quite a number of user setups. So to say that "it's a bit dishonest of them to advertise functionality that doesn't actually work" I think is a bit unfair IMHO.

I disagree.

For users of VI' and especially for something like Superior 2, most of the users will be using it in their studios for composition/arranging and the majority will be bouncing.

To be able to tweak the EQ and effects only to not be able to utilize them in mixing doesn't make sense.

Why would I even bother with the EQ/FX tweaking if they're not going to be there in the final mix?

If such a functionality is advertised, it'd better work as such. Any other reason for not being able to do so is considered false advertising.

[soundsundergroun]

tried it out at a friends house.

the room sounds great. Samples not much so. i noticed the snare samples particularly the black beauty snare at high velocities are clipped. Toms' phase are inverted.

[DRC]

Originally Posted by grandaddy

Not true...Ezplayer pro is S2's MIDI engine - you don't have to purchase a separate license

I meant EzPlayer (not pro) and the additions that ship with SD2.0. Like the Nashville, Vintage Rock, etc. Sometimes you just want something quick and easy to use as a click till you find a pattern yourself or let someone with a pair of V-Drums.