Steven Slate 2.5

[vtone]

Just curious if anyone's received there SSD 3.0 yet. I ordered mine a couple weeks ago and I'm still anxiously checking the mailbox...

[CaliTone]

Mine came in today!

Haven't played around with it much, but I was impressed with just the few minutes I had with it. I'm soooo stoked that I was an early user and got the killer upgrade deal. I hope Steven releases a BFD 2 version as I'm not really liking the Kontakt 2 player. Works great in Logic but not so great in Pro Tools. Not sure if any other Pro Tools users are having much luck with Native Instruments. I have Acoustik Piano, Kontakt 3, and Kontakt Player 2 and they're all really buggy in Pro Tools. Sweet as Aunt Jamima's syrup in Logic though. Weird!

[kittonian]

I've been using it and I've got to say it's amazing. What Steven has done with this package is nothing short of incredible. The choices of snares and kicks, the flexibility of the software and all the tools it provides, etc. makes it so you really don't have to do much of any processing at all to get a mix quality drum sound.

I had so much going on with Superior 2.0 to get it to sound good (i.e. splitting every drum out to a separate Aux track and processing with both outboard gear and plugs-ins) and with SSD 3.0 the only thing I did was parallel compress the kit and add my usual AltiVerb room and I was all set.

Incidentally, I did a print of my Superior 2.0 drum mix and then compared it directly to the SSD3 drums. Let's just say I'm not using Superior 2.0 for rock/pop mixes anymore.

[bing81]

Originally Posted by CaliTone

Not sure if any other Pro Tools users are having much luck with Native Instruments. I have Acoustik Piano, Kontakt 3, and Kontakt Player 2 and they're all really buggy in Pro Tools. Sweet as Aunt Jamima's syrup in Logic though. Weird!

Have you upgraded to PT 8? Seems a lot more stable. I have a batch of RTAS plugs that didn't want to play ball, but all seem fine now.

B

[uncle duncan]

Originally Posted by kittonian

I've been using it and I've got to say it's amazing....

For C&W pop and roots rock/blues (John Mayer type stuff), are the Nashville kit and Meat and Potatoes kit worth the extra $130, compared to just getting LE?

[Rednose]

Steven is a very talented cat!
Great drum tones and he even fronts a band to boot.
I've been using vol I samples for a few months now and they get worked into a large amount of my mixes.
Its good to see he is coming out with some more laid back samples because some of my band can't use the extreem puncy samples on vol I.

Originally Posted by Bang

Hi there. So far the reviews have been stellar. We are working out last minute kinks but the beta testing is going very well.

Steven Slate Drums 2.5 will have 40 drumkits... yes 40.. with two different room options per drum and cymbal.. styles include everything from vintage 70s Steely Dan to modern metal..

Here are some demos of 2.5... Official Release date is mid January. Keep in mind that if you order 2.0 which is available now from our website, then 2.5 is FREE.

Steely Dan:
http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/demo4/steelydan2.mp3

http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/demo4/steelydan3.mp3

http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/demo4/steelydan1.mp3

Radio Hit Kit:
http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/demo4/blackline.mp3

and some more presets:

Perfect Rock Kit:
http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/demo4/perfectrock.mp3

Vintage Kit:
http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/demo4/vintage.mp3

Chunky Rock Kit (anyone know the song?):
http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/demo4/chunky.mp3

Some metal stuff:
http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/demo4/drymetal.mp3

http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/demo4/crackymetal.mp3

Here's me messing around on the "nice crack" kit:
http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/demo4/nicecrack.mp3

Two more demos:

http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/demo4/vdrum1.mp3

http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/demo4/vdrum2.mp3

screenshot:

[kittonian]

Originally Posted by uncle duncan

For C&W pop and roots rock/blues (John Mayer type stuff), are the Nashville kit and Meat and Potatoes kit worth the extra $130, compared to just getting LE?

It's not just the preset kits that are worth it. I went through all the snares, kicks, toms, hats, etc. and actually made my own kit. Tweaked it out and made myself my own preset (you can do this in Kontakt by saving a multi). Sounds great and sounds exactly like what I need for my music.

Additionally, you have the ability to adjust the tuning for each drum/cymbal and generally you get a lot of artifcats when you try to do something like this. I don't know how they did it but there are no artifacts I can hear when doing it with SSD3. I have my cymbals tuned down a bit and they sound fantastic. There's also an envelope section for each drum which is sort of a transient designer effect. It was great to take off a bit of the punchiness of the snare drum and the toms, as well as reduce some of the tom decay when things got a bit too boomy for the mix.

Seriously, spend the money. It's worth every penny.

[uncle duncan]

Originally Posted by kittonian

Seriously, spend the money. It's worth every penny.

I'm sold on the software, I'm just trying to decide whether to get the full version or the LE version based on the importance of those two kits - Nashville kit and Meat & Potatoes kit (?) which only come in the full version. I have no need for a Green Day kit or a Pearl Jam kit. I'm too old to work with that kind of music. (It hurts my ears!)

[Bang]

I really like the Nashville and Meat N Potatoes, but the LE has some great old school kits as well.. including the Steely Dan kit. Remember, you can always upgrade to Platinum at a later time.

[uncle duncan]

Originally Posted by Bang

I really like the Nashville and Meat N Potatoes, but the LE has some great old school kits as well.. including the Steely Dan kit. Remember, you can always upgrade to Platinum at a later time.

That's good to know. I couldn't find that info on your website.

Have you considered two different LE versions, a "mellow" collection and a "in your face" collection? I'm sure there are many customers like me who are more genre-specific, needing either no nashville stuff or no hard rock/metal stuff. Still, it's such a good price/quality ratio, I suppose I shouldn't be complaining.

[Bang]

We've considered all types of things... even a metal pack, vintage pack... but all these do is try to suck more money out of you. Eventually I realized that a lot of engineers today are recording a metal band one week, and a folk rock band the next.. So we organized it to be versatile and cost effective.

I think you'll be really happy with LE, it has 20 unique kits of all shapes sizes and flavors. And that Steely Dan kit is a winner. I spent months studying that drum sound before being able to create it.

BTW PT8 users, new update coming out shortly to fix the PT8 bugs. All other DAW softwares have been working great.

[Shai An]

Originally Posted by uncle duncan

I'm sold on the software, I'm just trying to decide whether to get the full version or the LE version based on the importance of those two kits - Nashville kit and Meat & Potatoes kit (?) which only come in the full version. I have no need for a Green Day kit or a Pearl Jam kit. I'm too old to work with that kind of music. (It hurts my ears!)

Man, the Meat & Potatoes kit is a staple for me... For Jon Mayer type music, I would say yes you need it. That fat, lower pitched snare is perfect.

[uncle duncan]

Originally Posted by Shai An

Man, the Meat & Potatoes kit is a staple for me... For Jon Mayer type music, I would say yes you need it. That fat, lower pitched snare is perfect.

Thanks. I ordered the full version yesterday.

[breg1]

Originally Posted by Marty Long

Both have the SSD Virtual Instrument, both have the same kick ass groove library, both have all the VDrum mappings, and both have Drumagog and Raw Wav files at your disposal.

The Le has:
Absolute Rock Kit
Beefy Dry Kit
Black Kit (Metallica)
Chilli Kit (Chilli Peppers)
Chunky Rock Kit (Foo Fighters)
Classic Pop Kit
Classic Vintage Kit
Cracky Metal Kit
Crisp Rock Kit
Dan Steel Kit (Steely Dan)
Deep Rock Kit
Dream Kit (Dream Theater)
Fat Radio Rock Kit
Jimmy Kit
Metal Dream Kit
Modern Rock Kit
Perfect Rock Kit
Ringy Hit Kit
Slate Custom Kit
Tommy Kit (80's Tommy Lee/Motley Crue)

The Platinum adds:
Angry Rock Kit
Ballad Kit
Big Fatty Kit
Cracky Metal Kit
Deep Rock Kit 2
Dry Metal Kit
Green Kit (Greenday)
Highway Kit (AC/DC)
Jimmy Kit
Meat n Potatoes Kit
Modern Zep Kit (Modernized Led Zep sound)
Nashvile Fat Kit
Never Kit (Nirvana Nevermind)
Nice Crack Kit
Old Zep Kit (Led Zeppelin)
Panty Kit (Pantera)
Perfect Rock Kit
Radio Hit Kit
Radio Hit Kit2
Radio Rocker Kit
Reggae Ska Kit
Sizzle Kit
Step Child Kit
Thick Metal Kit
Thick Rock Kit
Tonedef Kit (Deftones)
Vintage Fatty Kit

Marty

Hi Marty,

I'm curious what the corresponding wavs are for the Chunky Rock Kit (Foo Fighters) ?

I dont use the Player - just manually use the wavs.

Thanks so much.

[joeydego]

will this be 3rd party expansion to BFD2?

[uncle duncan]

Originally Posted by breg1

Hi Marty,

I'm curious what the corresponding wavs are for the Chunky Rock Kit (Foo Fighters) ?

I dont use the Player - just manually use the wavs.

Thanks so much.

Couldn't you just open the Chunky Rock Kit in the SS player and see? As I recall, the individual drums are all named, but I don't have the player open at the moment.