Drum VI Question for Songwriting by Non-Drummer

[RyanC]

Originally Posted by darbyclash34

Hey everyone,

I have EZdrummer which I like due to the included and expansion MIDI grooves. I'm not a drummer myself, and I'm not fantastic at playing drum pads or sequencing. I'm a songwriter and I am trying to get my demos as close to the finished product as possible.

So I am considering upgrading to Superior Drummer, Audiodeluxe is having a ridiculous sale on it currently. I was just wondering before I purchase if any of the other high end Drum VI's had the same kind of groove functionalities? I have SSD 3.5 and don't find it all that useful aside from Sample Replacement purposes. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

The NI drummer series has grooves. Drag and drop to midi is cool too so you can adjust them.

[Bill@WelcomeHome]

Originally Posted by darbyclash34

Hey everyone,

... upgrading to Superior Drummer, .... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I just made that upgrade myself. There are a couple of guys who use Samplitude who also use Superior. You could probably ask Kraznet (who also has a great youtube series of videos, mostly on Samp but there is something about Superior there too. I'm about to chase it down myself.)

[Ron Vogel]

Being that these are for demos, you have limited drumming knowledge, and you are handing many duties already with the songwriting; I'd suggest you stay with EZD.

It can produce very good results...and it's has fewer things to futz with than the other programs mentioned. Sometimes.....wait for it...."less is more"

Superior and SSD are better programs all around, but you can tweak yourself into a straightjacket if you already haven't.

I do the singer/songwriter/one man band thing...and EZD was how I started on the DAW...but I have already a few years (decades) of drum machines under my belt.

I'd stick with it for a while before you upgrade while you work out your own programming.

[Webb]

You might want to check out Addictive Drums as well. Very easy to use and comes with a HUGE groove library that you can just drag and drop into your session.

[markham]

Originally Posted by Ron Vogel

Being that these are for demos, you have limited drumming knowledge, and you are handing many duties already with the songwriting; I'd suggest you stay with EZD.

It can produce very good results...and it's has fewer things to futz with than the other programs mentioned. Sometimes.....wait for it...."less is more"

Superior and SSD are better programs all around, but you can tweak yourself into a straightjacket if you already haven't.

I do the singer/songwriter/one man band thing...and EZD was how I started on the DAW...but I have already a few years (decades) of drum machines under my belt.

I'd stick with it for a while before you upgrade while you work out your own programming.

I think Ron has a point here. Personally, I'm a big Superior Drummer fan, and I think it's a great program, but from the way you're describing yourself, it might make more sense for you to stick with EZD. You could take the $ you would have spent for the upgrade and get several EZX expansion packs, all of which come with new grooves of their own. You could also pick up the Songwriter MIDI expansion packs.

Having said that, if you're really interested in the upgrade, and if you're trying to learn more about drums and how to mix them, I think Superior is a great way to learn. It's a deep program, which is both its strength and its weakness for people. For me, it's a strength, but for someone with different goals? Hard to say.

Hope that helps in some way!

[darbyclash34]

Well, mixing drums isn't too much of a concern, I've been recording ad mixing live drums for the past 12 years both professionally and on my
Own. I've just never gotten to into the programming side but i am now that I'm working on a solo record.

So for the price I think it may still make sense to do the upgrade. Plus those midi groove packs work with superior drums as wel right, not just ez? And does superior on its own have more grooves than ez?

[Jus]

Yes, yes. Go upgrade. (Audiodeluxe price is ridiculous indeed.)

Personally, Superior is not my fav *soundwise* (I prefer Epik Drums & Drum Masters 2), but it's easy to program and far better than Ez as you are already very familiar with mixing drums. And there is more of those midi grooves.

[skira]

Originally Posted by Ron Vogel

Being that these are for demos, you have limited drumming knowledge, and you are handing many duties already with the songwriting; I'd suggest you stay with EZD.

It can produce very good results...and it's has fewer things to futz with than the other programs mentioned. Sometimes.....wait for it...."less is more"

Completely agree!

Don't spend the money until you know that EZD is limiting you, how it's limiting you, and how spending money on a specific replacement will solve your problem. FYI these specials come up again late November/early December and usually continue through the beginning of January.

Not a very SLUTty answer I know, but you just may find that digging in a bit on EZdrummer you've got all you need right now.

[samicide]

it's worth the upgrade.

[ivansc]

Another alternative would be to buy some MIDI grooves.
Seems to me that what you are looking for is more in the way of rhytms, fills et, which you could do pretty well by buying some pre programmed MIDI stuff from the likes of Groove Monkey.
Tons of stuff out there and most of it you can demo or it is cheap to buy.

P.S. In case you are wondering I have EZD SD2 SSD4 BFD Eco Battery 3 and a bunch of other Drum romplers, so I am speaking from experience across a broad sweep of the available products.

[loveofjazz]

The MIDI grooves are good to look in to, IMHO.

OddGrooves and GrooveMonkee both make good & useful MIDI grooves for EZ Drummer & Superior Drummer, as does Toontrack. These are worth investing in, especially from a songwriter's standpoint. Less for you to worry about when it comes to establishing your rhythm tracks. GrooveMonkee has everything separated by style, as does Toontrack (even though they don't offer the variety that GrooveMonkee does). OddGrooves has interesting stuff of their own, including a pack of Reggae grooves.

I've got EZ Drummer and Superior Drummer. I've tried Addictive Drums, and they sounded great...just couldn't afford it at the time. I've purchased most of the groove packs offered, and I haven't been let down yet.

Learning to play the drums...or at least, understanding the relation of the bass drum, snare, and hi hat as rudimentary rhythm functions in regard to the music you're writing...will help a lot.

[darbyclash34]

Thanks for the help guys! I quickly realized the sound of the drums in ezdrummer were not was I was looking for, but usable. On audiodeluxe I was able to get superior plus a sdx expansion for the price of two ezxvexpansions, so I bit the bullet. So glad I did. The sound is killer. I may still start things in ez, and then switch to superior later in the project. But overall way happy. Also got one groove monkey pack. I'll let you know how it goes.

[PlatinumSamples]

We offer Toontrack compatible groove libraries too... played by world famous drummers like Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers), Brooks Wackerman (Bad Religion), Bobby Jarzombek (Halford)

https://www.platinumsamples.com/index.php

Rail

[Steersbc]

A