Best Drum Software for Live Drum Sounds (SONAR)?

[Sqye]

.

i was using session drummer 2, mixed in with a whole lot of sample collections,
loops, and soft synths, etc. i dig the drum sounds in dimension pro and rapture.

i need something better. phatter. more natural. with a much bigger library of sounds.

i need something REALLY live sounding, and easily editable...with PHAT sounds,
and lots of different drum and percussion sounds.

any favs? plugs? good for sonar?

or would you use 3rd party SW / sampler to do your drums?

.

[Sqye]

.

so, what is the best sampler, and best acoustic drum sounds that load fast, and are easiest to use?

i like SD2 - it's just limited. i need more sounds, and better hat, crash and ride sounds.
i like nice natural dry fat sounding snares, sidestick and rim shots, and lots of different kicks.

the steven slate samples sound 80s rock-ish, lots of reverb, and too compressed for me -
are they all like that? it maybe not be really accurate listening to the sample page at their site.

are there better natural sounding kits? like country and pop rock kits in natural or dead rooms?

i was looking at the sonar producer forum - here: ....which are the most compatible with sonar?

Drumagog
BFD2
Addictive Drums
Superior Drums
EZD
Battery 3
KitCore, DrumCore
SmartLoop Pro Drum works vol. 2
Jamstix 2
DR-008
Stylus RMX

Steven Slate Drums
Supersonic sample
Beta Monkey

...all seem to be decent options. are any of them great? i'm doing pop rock stuff.

.

[theblue1]

Session Drummer has some OK sounds as far as they go -- but they're not very layered. It always bums me out when I turn up the velocity on a given drum kit component and, instead of changing the timbre dynamics of the sound, it just changes the volume...

I have BFD 1.5 and may yet pop for BFD 2 -- but, frankly, I was hoping I'd got a lasting solution when I plunked down the not inconsiderable purchase price for BFD, only to find out just how limited the sample set was (in breadth, if not depth)... it kills me, utterly kills me, that there are no brushes and that all the drum kits were recorded in the same overly bright room. (Fine if you're going for that late 90s live in the studio sound, I guess.) The addition of "damping" controls in 1.5 helped some.

I guess BFD2 addresses some of the room issues but you still need to buy a quite expensive add-on pack just to get brushes, as well as some other percussion instruments and hit-techniques.

While I like BFD 1.5 as far as it goes... I'm somewhat uncomfortable pumping more money into a system that seems designed to limit its usefulness and drive the consumer to buy more expensive add-ons.

That said, I haven't been all that impressed by some of the more affordable competition. EZdrummer, especially, sounds very limited. I don't know if I can spot any EZdrummer use easily -- but I hear a lot of self-recorded rock where the EZD parts are painfully easy to spot.


I don't use any of the so-called groove components of BFD, so that feature is of little or no interest -- but dang, I sure wouldn't mind some dryer rooms, different kits -- and brushes!

Maybe I'll just have to belly up for another expensive round... but if I get the BFD 2 upgrade -- which costs more than half what I paid for the original package -- I still would have to buy the add-on just to get friggin' brushes. It just seems like being bled.

[Sqye]

.

hey, thanks, tb1.

yes, i share your misery.

why don't drummers and producers think about this OBVIOUS stuff?
i mean, i guess it IS a PITA to do mutliple room recordings -
they should record in mostly dead rooms, andlet us add our own rooms.

room are IMPORTANT. as are DYNAMIC timbre shifts...ah well.

have you tried kitcore / drumcore, drumagog, superior drums, battery 3, etc.?

i know some of these things are expensive, but it might be worth the cash...

and, yes, i'm already tired of the SD2 sounds...i've used them so much
i feel like i need more varied and dynamic cymbal tones, and a bigger library of kits.
i like NATURAL sounding drums - SD2 definitely has a few nice kits - i need MORE

.

[Randy]

i'm using Superior Custom & vintage with Sonar.
The samples sound dry & natural to me, but there are only 4 kicks & 3 sets of toms, so you might call it limited.
I like it.

[Sqye]

.

thanks, randy. good to know. i think i need LOTS of kits...ok, maybe that's just silly.

...a few really good ones might do the trick. what kind of music do you do?

.

[Blenn]

I have been hearing excellent things from this:

MIXOSAURUS | Expert Virtual Drums for DAW Music Production | Berlin, Germany

Hope this helps!

Paul

[feck]

Originally Posted by Blenn

I have been hearing excellent things from this:

MIXOSAURUS | Expert Virtual Drums for DAW Music Production | Berlin, Germany

Hope this helps!

Paul

It is awesome - definitely the most expressive, realistic set out there. Only 1 kit though, so you know.

[stratton]

There's Ocean Way Drums:

::::: OCEAN WAY DRUMS :::::

EZD's new sample set looks promising, too.

[Sqye]

.

hey, thanks, dudes. checking it all out...

i'm thinking of teaming up with a local kickass drummer (and great friend & collaborator),
http://www.artbernstein.com/ ...and doing my own sample collection.

he's quite a few gear endorsements, including audix, sabien, vic firth and ayotte.
his custom ayotte kits are SICK. and, he's already set up with the new audix kit mics.

hmmmmm....could be a killer project...and i could get the sh8t i REALLY WANT,
instead of having to use other people's pre-packaged sh*t.

i've done this before - i co-engineered one drum / percussion sample a CD while back:
tribal mutations, with latin drummer / percussionist, walter gonzalez -
for some tasty world grooves and freaky synchopated stuff...
...19 mics on a beautiful yamaha kit with some percussion instruments mixed in,
in a lovely burled maple recital hall in nyc - it was sick. i gotta get that stuff online.

i gotta talk to him about it...

.

[chrisso]

Originally Posted by Randy

i'm using Superior Custom & vintage with Sonar.
The samples sound dry & natural to me, but there are only 4 kicks & 3 sets of toms, so you might call it limited.
I like it.

Thanks.

The 'ADD-ON' pack adds another two bass drums and two sets of toms, actually three because one set of toms was sampled damped and undamped.
Also, both C&V and 'ADD-ON' were recorded in a drier room and with brushes and hot rods.
Some drummers don't forget the obvious.

[ewegogetemtiger]

Live drum sounds? Here's a crazy idea: actual drums as in a real drum kit and a drummer

[chrisso]

Originally Posted by ewegogetemtiger

Live drum sounds? Here's a crazy idea: actual drums as in a real drum kit and a drummer

Like it or not, many people don't have access to a good drummer and a very good studio to record them in.

[Sqye]

Originally Posted by ewegogetemtiger

Live drum sounds? Here's a crazy idea: actual drums as in a real drum kit and a drummer

dude - i can track killer drummers any time i want...been there, done that.
and like i said, one of my best friends, and best drummers i've ever played or recorded
with lives 10 minutes from my house. when i need him, i can track him in a minute.

this is entirely different - it's about writing, arranging, and producing good sounding stuff
quickly...w/o dealing with scheduling, egos, communication, gear set-ups, etc.

and believe me, many songwriter producer drummers have the same perspective for their
own projects - with regard to tracking guitarists, and other musicians, etc.

they'd rather buy it / sequence it, or play it themselves...way less hassle.

my current purpose isn't necessarily to record great musicians all day -
i've spent a hUGE part of my life doing that already.

i'm just trying to write, arrange, play, sing and produce my own stuff.

if a song gets picked up, or needs a re-record - i'm HAPPY to track drums -
you frikkin' kiddin' me?!

hey, if i was trying to make a finished product to play for, or sell to, MUSICIANS -
believe me, i'd be tracking everyone i know all day long...

but, after years of tracking drums, the charm wore off, and it turned into inconvenience -
it's a lot more tracks to deal with, and all the mixing and monitoring...

and in the end, the tracks don't ALWAYS come out the way you want them to, anyway...

frankly, i'd rather be doing something else - LIKE CREATING MUSIC, harvesting vegetables,
working on my house, or surfing gearslultz

.

[ewegogetemtiger]

it's sad you spent that much time responding to an off-the-cuff comment that was supposed to be obviously tongue-in-cheek. ditching the drum kit is obviously saving you a lot of time

sorry.

anyway, the serious part of my comment was that I think, for me, I'd rather just throw a drum kit down the stairs and hit record than listen to any more software drums

ymmv

yee haw

but seriously, no ill-will intended

[Sqye]

Originally Posted by ewegogetemtiger

it's sad you spent that much time responding to an off-the-cuff comment that was supposed to be obviously tongue-in-cheek. ditching the drum kit is obviously saving you a lot of time

sorry.

anyway, the serious part of my comment was that I think, for me, I'd rather just throw a drum kit down the stairs and hit record than listen to any more software drums

ymmv

yee haw

but seriously, no ill-will intended

dude, it's not sad - never sad.
one can often learn something new, re-processing old boring rationalizations...
it's all good. and whatever floats yer boat...

that's why i brought up tracking a sample collection myself -
this way i can track what I WANT to hear.

and btw, speaking of throwing drums down the stairs (through a 1073),
we destroyed an acoustic upright with sledghammers last year - THAT was frikkin' AWESOME!!


i'm in a good mood, because i finally got some slammin' jangly tele tone today...
after being an idiot for about 24 hours...(probably the shortest idiot period for me)

cheers.

.

[ewegogetemtiger]

Originally Posted by Sqye

dude, it's not sad - never sad.

one can often learn something new, re-processing old boring rationalizations...

it's all good. and whatever floats yer boat...


i'm in a good mood, because i finally got slammin' tele tone today...

cheers.

.

Cool! Gimme a link to that new track some time and I'll give it a spin my man.

[Sqye]

Originally Posted by ewegogetemtiger

Cool! Gimme a link to that new track some time and I'll give it a spin my man.

dude, i'm releasing my software guitars collection tomorrow,
so you can throw all my guitars down the stairs and record them next week...

.

[Randy]

Originally Posted by Sqye

.

thanks, randy. good to know. i think i need LOTS of kits...ok, maybe that's just silly.

...a few really good ones might do the trick. what kind of music do you do?

.

i would call it...rock.ish?
if you want to pm me your email address, i'll try & email you a mp3 of the project i'm working on now.

also see chrisso's post about the add on.

[Randy]

Originally Posted by chrisso

Thanks.

The 'ADD-ON' pack adds another two bass drums and two sets of toms, actually three because one set of toms was sampled damped and undamped.
Also, both C&V and 'ADD-ON' were recorded in a drier room and with brushes and hot rods.
Some drummers don't forget the obvious.

did not know about the add-on. sometimes i think i live in a cave. i will check it out.

also, good work on C&V. thats good stuff.

[Rockin*Gio]

I've been working with Toontrack's "Superior Drummer 2.0" for a couple days now and I think it smokes most of the other drum samplers I own. (BFD 2 / Battery 3) Out of the box, I've been able to coax many types of sounds out of it . . . from "tight and punchy" to "big and boomy."

I programmed some groves and threw 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

[Sqye]

.

hey man,

thanks. i'll check it out...

.

[pigcat]

Originally Posted by Sqye

.
i need something better. phatter. more natural. with a much bigger library of sounds.

i need something REALLY live sounding, and easily editable...with PHAT sounds,
and lots of different drum and percussion sounds.

Originally Posted by stratton

There's Ocean Way Drums:

::::: OCEAN WAY DRUMS :::::

You seems to ignored that one. Although not the biggest collection of cymbals (in fact it's limited), you'll be delighted with that PHAT sounds.

In fact I can imagine it's the best tool for you for writting and arranging musics, it's pre processed but not overly so like Steven Slate Drums. So no worries on mixing part, just a touch of compression or EQ and you're set.

However, no percussions, no hot-rod, no mallets, hand hits. Just pure wooden stick library with excellent quality.

Based on Kontakt Player 2, so any platform shouldn't be any problem at all, effecient on RAM (whole kit no more than 200MB with some tweaks).

Biggest downside is, it's very expensive.

Or, with that price, get yourself BFD2.0 and a few expension, plenty for whatever you want to write.

[hackenslash]

Addictive Drums. Check out the demo at XLN Audio

[YellowMatter]

Hi there. I've never heard anyone say the Steven Slate stuff is 80s... infact prior to the release of Steven Slate Drums 2.0 which features a lot of vintage kits, they were considered the most modern drum smaples... Keep in mind that you can completely control the ROOM sound on any drum, shutting it completely off, and turning down the room mics. Here is a completey dry kit sample that you must have missed:

www.stevenslatedrums.com/demo3/BeefyDryKit.mp3

any of the other mp3s on the page can sound just as dry. another misconception is that they are overlly processed... they are not... you'll find they sound just right with little need for tweaking so you can program your part, and it'll sound finished.

The Steven Slate Samples are some of the most used samples in modern rock, country, and pop, and metal... listen to P.O.D, Josh Kelly, The Click 5, any of the newer metal records by Andy Sneap, some of the newer Chris Lord Alge mixes...etc.

Email me at marty@stevenslatedrums.com and I'll send you some drier stuff.

Thanks!
Marty

[chrisso]

Originally Posted by Randy

also, good work on C&V. thats good stuff.

Thanks.....much appreciated.

C&V and ADD-ON are going to be re-released in native 2.0 format in due course.
The original version of both already works just fine in 2.0 of course.

[PlatinumSamples]

While you're at it, you may as well check out our samples in BFD:

https://www.platinumsamples.com/JoeBarresi.html

We also have a new fully processed single kit option:

https://www.platinumsamples.com/Glam...QuickPack.html

Tracked at Sound City Studios (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Metallica, NIN, Tool, Rage Against The Machine, ....) and Grandmaster Recorders (Tool, No Doubt, Foo Fighters, RHCP, ...)

Rail

[Sqye]

Originally Posted by Randy

i would call it...rock.ish?
if you want to pm me your email address, i'll try & email you a mp3 of the project i'm working on now.

also see chrisso's post about the add on.

cool - will do...i'm goin to sleep now - gotta get up REAL early...i'll pm you
over the next few weeks when i have a minute...

hey, guys - thank you all very much for your responses. i've been busy today,
and will be pretty slammed possibly for the next few weeks.

i will return to this thread as soon as a have a minute.

i've already begun pre-production talks with a few people about doing another
drum sample collection.

thank you all - marty, chrisso, randy, platinum samples, pigcat, hackenslash, blenn, feck,
rockin*gio, ewegogetemtiger, stratton, theblue1, and everyone -
i appreciate all the feedback, and i'm very serious about trying to get this happening.

i want killer drum sounds. i NEED killer drum sounds...

.

[brian_delizza]

I use BFD2 and I think it sounds amazing, is very easy to use, and pretty flexible.

I think it is well worth the money.

my $.02

[Sqye]

Originally Posted by YellowMatter

Hi there. I've never heard anyone say the Steven Slate stuff is 80s... infact prior to the release of Steven Slate Drums 2.0 which features a lot of vintage kits, they were considered the most modern drum smaples... Keep in mind that you can completely control the ROOM sound on any drum, shutting it completely off, and turning down the room mics. Here is a completey dry kit sample that you must have missed:

www.stevenslatedrums.com/demo3/BeefyDryKit.mp3

any of the other mp3s on the page can sound just as dry. another misconception is that they are overlly processed... they are not... you'll find they sound just right with little need for tweaking so you can program your part, and it'll sound finished.

The Steven Slate Samples are some of the most used samples in modern rock, country, and pop, and metal... listen to P.O.D, Josh Kelly, The Click 5, any of the newer metal records by Andy Sneap, some of the newer Chris Lord Alge mixes...etc.

Email me at marty@stevenslatedrums.com and I'll send you some drier stuff.

Thanks!
Marty

hey, man - thank you for you generous offer. obviously, i mean no disrespect,
and often it's hard to tell quality from an online mp3, anyway. besides, my ears
were fried from tracking super trebly teles for 2 days - yikes.

so all disclaimers aside, i'll pm you when i have a minute in the next few weeks.

it certainly sounds like a lot of people like the steven slate stuff.

again, thank you for your feedback, and helpful offer......very cool of you.

.