Sound quality in sample playback: Reason vs. Battery

[DoryLobel]

Hey guys! This one's for the golden ears out there-

I've been using Reason's Redrum via rewire as my main drum sample player. I love how you can browse samples as it's playing and the convenience of all the controls. Recently, I've been hearing people raving about the audio engine of Battery 3 (which I own but haven't used much). I've heard that even if I run the exact same sample through Redrum and Battery, it would sound punchier and overall better in Battery.
Casual tests do show that Battery punches out a bit more, but it's hard to say if that's just a volume level issue. I also tried to run the same sounds through both programs as well as just dropping the samples right into protools, and flipping the phase on different combinations, trying to get them to null each other out but couldn't do it.
It definitely seems like each software does a little something to the samples it runs.

BTW- I have checked the "High Quality Interpolation" on redrum, so that shouldn't be the issue.

Have any of you found this to be true or had any experience with either program?

On a related issue- is there a reason why Battery 3 won't autoplay the samples as you're browsing through them in the "Add Sample" browser? That's the only thing stopping me from using battery.

Thanks for the help!

[kriscain]

hey dorey,

there should be a tab you can click in the browser area of battery 3 that will allow you to autoplay the samples.

I am a heavy battery user, and i agree that it wouldnt be the same without a auto-play feature. That should be standard in most DAWs, let alone vst samplers.

as far as your question... I can't really help you seeing that I've never used Reason.

[locadia]

I'm a reasonfreak and my cousin showed me Battery last month. It really sounded more snappier and punchier than Reason. I use them both now as a Rewire plugin to Protools and I have to admin though that the standard output level of Battery is a bit louder.

Bushido Brownie

[MERC476]

I've been using Reason since 1.0 and have been rewiring it with cubase/nuendo for the past 3/4 years and now i'm using Reason 4 and rewiring with Nuendo and Redrum does not compare at all with Battery 3 as far as sound quality. IMO, Battery has much more punch and it just staight out sounds crisper to me. Dont get me wrong, reason rewired with Nuendo sounds WAY better than reason without rewiring to anything. But that's another subject for another thread that's been covered a million times

[B-Muzik]

well battery sounds better because of the samples...I believe they are recorded at a better quality and with the Interface that it uses NI just created a way for the drums to be punchier but they are punchier cuz of the efx that are on each drum channel...I love battery drums and wouldnt use anything else unless i had to...THUMBS UP TO BATTERY...now reason is good too but I think as far as the drums are concerned I would say the battery is better...

Attached is a track I did with Battery 3 drums...I think it sounds really nice as well as live...Let me know what u Slutz think...

[PettyCash]

Originally Posted by B-Muzik

well battery sounds better because of the samples...

What I was wondering while going through this thread is whether or not the guys commenting where using the same set of drum samples in both.

You gotta give each a fair chance at least so your comments will be more fact than opinion.

Try opening up some drum wav. samples in both and see what results you get. Be sure to shut off all processes in Battery, and level match the sample coming out of both.

[smoke]

I have Battery 1 and thinking of upgrading to 3, but my concern is the way Battery pumps the volume on the samples. When I want to sample a sound by clicking the pad at default level, it always meters me out. It does this for any sample I load.

So the drums sound loud, but otherwise thin and the high end is somewhat too crispy. NOt warm and sweet at all without processing. Maybe the Battery 3 samples are better? I assume there's no comparison... all the other features I've seen in Battery are extremely nice, especially the section that can take your snare or rim and roll it like a marching band. That's really what I want it for.

[mix-it-well]

Well I think that's really the last thing I would waste my time on.
Workflow is way more important.

I don't know ,but a software sampler shouldn't add punch at all.
It just replays a sample ,no magic involved. Don't think that the programmers are idiots ,they know what they do and the "replay a sample"-part is not the hardest one to code.
Or are you using any buildin-effects on the samples?

That would make a difference for sure.

[Methlab]

Weird..when i got battery, first thing I did was delete all of those samples and use my own. I hated those battery sounds. I make drums punch by using the battery filters and processing further in the channel.

If your sounds are overloading in battery its because they were tracked too hot or you have a setting messed up. It's a pretty easy program to use once you use it for a few weeks..its very easy to set up and get going with.

As for the autoplay and battery thing..I still use battery 2. It just seems like the best one for me....and yeah it autoplays, and I love that feature.

[Lowas]

Redrum vs DR008, I don't have Battery.

Miditrack with full velocity programmed in Sonar, no swing or anything.

Drumsounds are from the TR808 Akai kit Dor posted somewhere else on this board, the kick I used was the BD2550, no effects, Decay, Length etc is used.

I used monotracks for each drum in Sonar 7, Redrum rewired(mono, each drum to its own "hardware" channel) DR8 uses the Ultrasampler with the gain at "0", levels for kick and clap adjusted to peak as close to -0.2dB as possible in Sonar.

On the Redrum the master level is at default and the kick and the clap levels are adjusted the same here til they peak as close to -0.2dB as possible in Sonar.

The monotracks are sent to a stereobus and the inputtrim to the bus is adjusted so everything peaks around -0.2dB.

24bit, 88.2kHz

[smoke]

the upgrade from B1 to B3 was $119, so I've got to go with the cheapest option! Have to wait 6 days though (coming from germany). Hope it's not a problem to transfer projects over that used B1.... I really don't use Battery for drums, I use it for percussive effects, and random aiff sound effects.

I use an old fashioned LM4MKII for drums, all I need is ADSR, tone, and level and everything else is taken care of afterwards.

[Lowas]

I installed the Battery demo so here is a Battery version, similar procedure except that I dunno Battery that well.

[JDN]

Originally Posted by Methlab

As for the autoplay and battery thing..I still use battery 2. It just seems like the best one for me....and yeah it autoplays, and I love that feature.

I actually liked battery 2 better than battery 3, the beauty of battery to me was the simplicity and useability. I understand what they were going for with 3, but for what i use it for, i liked 2 better also