Let's talk about Drum Plug-ins baby...

HarrySound

Power User
So currently I have Native Instruments Studio Drummer which is my go to plugin. It sounds good, really really good but I've always thought the cymbals were the weak point. It's also perhaps not best suited to heavy music which is perhaps illustrated by all the samples on their website.

I also have Addictive Drums which I only use for it's loop library as I hate it's compressor and I've never heard a demo or preset that sound close to what I like.

I own 60s, a 70s,80s, and modern Drummer plugins by Native Intruments. I use 60s for my acoustic tunes and it's suits that perfectly.

I also have Steven State Drums 3.5 along with Steven Slate Drums 4.0
3.5 is a obviously just bare bones Kontakt samples while I find the actual plugin aspects of SSD 4 extremely disappointing and verging on amateur, also the cymbals are disappointing. SSD has THE best kick drums though.

Just recently though, I have downloaded the demo of Ezdrummer and have found it to be very promising so i'm looking at Superior Drummer and perhaps the Progressive add-on SDX.
The thing that turned me on was how well it slotted into the mix if I can even call it that. It seemed even sounding and the UI was pretty simple.

I suppose my question (if there is one) is what are you guys using and what do you recommend.Do I have anything to gain from dumping a bunch of money on Superior Drummer and making that my goto plugin in terms of UI, Sounds, loops all in one place rather than the hodgepodge of things I have going on right now.
 
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I'm using EZDrummer 2 and it sounds pretty damn good to me. I'm not a wizard at programming drums, but I am getting better. I am not totally sure what the main differences in the SD and EZD programs are outside of SD having more flexibility in sound due to their samples being more raw and not mixed. I could be wrong, but that was how I understood it. I don't think you can go wrong with either of them. I bought the metal edition which came with 2 metal ezx kits. I recently bought the Nashville ezx because Larry Mitchell mentioned he likes that one quite a bit and uses it the most. I can tell you it sounds really nice for the not so hard rock stuff. I've grown quite fond of it in the last few weeks. I'm not sure if this really helps you, but hopefully it will.
 
Well from the EZ drummer demo I've got I don't see any option for changing mapping for example. Also there is no option for humanisation that I can see (is that even a word?) I'm made to believe those kinds of things are available and tweakable in the full Superior release.
I"d also need thing like mic bleed for example and control over top and bottom mics on say the snare.
I do have electronic drums as I own a Roland HD-1 but I can't play anything other than the most simple of simple beats because I had to stop due to a persistent hand strain injury (life stuff) so programming all the way for me unless I break it out just for some custom fills and make my own little library' to play with.
 
EZDrummer 2 is the best I've used. It's simple and EZ (lol) to use for writing. The thing is you need as many loops as possible though. The sound is really good and it has presets from dry to mix ready. The kits in the "2" version are way better than the original. I have quite a few of the EZX add on kits but the "Metal Machine" EZX done by Andy Sneap is phenomenal (played by John Tempesta from Testament). I find it sounds and works great with pretty much any type of music. Anyway that's my 2 cents. I think the things you are missing is maybe because it's a demo version. I do recall there being a humanize type function in EZD 1 I can't remember if it's in version 2 but it has a section "talk to your drummer". Also the top & bottom snare and bleed are definitely there in the mixer section
 
I have and like EZD2/Superior2, Addictive, also have used Slate, Battery (never bonded w those 2), but my fave for realism/feel is Drumasonic2 - especially for eDrums. D2 editor is very powerful and feels pretty intuitive to me. Also really like Oddgrooves midis w any of those when I'm not feeling inspired to create the drum track my self - very natural, non-machine...YMMV
 
EZDrummer 2 is the best I've used. It's simple and EZ (lol) to use for writing. The thing is you need as many loops as possible though. The sound is really good and it has presets from dry to mix ready. The kits in the "2" version are way better than the original. I have quite a few of the EZX add on kits but the "Metal Machine" EZX done by Andy Sneap is phenomenal (played by John Tempesta from Testament). I find it sounds and works great with pretty much any type of music. Anyway that's my 2 cents. I think the things you are missing is maybe because it's a demo version. I do recall there being a humanize type function in EZD 1 I can't remember if it's in version 2 but it has a section "talk to your drummer". Also the top & bottom snare and bleed are definitely there in the mixer section
Yes there is a Humanize option in the EZDrummer 2. I agree that the Metal Machine is outstanding and I use it the most.
 
Ezdrummer 2 is lot better than 1. The samples in 1 fell apart if you tweaked them at all. Like jpg versus raw from digital camera world. On the other hand, superior has raw captures plus tools to tweak them. Its more tweakable, but as a result requires more time/skill versus ready presets from ezdrummer. I like both. The most important will be the drum playing or programming, the sound themselves are great.
 
So I gave the EZ drummer 2 demo more of a look last night.
Tap 2 Find is a genius feature. Even if you don't have the midi packs to can search and demo the cloud ones which would at the very least be very good for getting ideas when you run out of your own.
Generally it looks like a really good plugin but I do need more tweaking options that's for sure. It dosnt sound "real" to me but I think that more down to it being mix ready and perhaps is a good thing in the end.

I guess all I need now is some kind of bone. Even a coupon for 10% off would tip me over into a purchase right now.

If I bought EZ drummer then upgraded to SD would I still be able to use EZ for it song writing capability?

They really need to roll both things into one package along with a resizable plugin window built for today's high red displays and call it Superior Drummer 3
 
If I recall you can set them dry and raw with no processing (to sound more real?) in the top right area where it says "original mix" that's a drop down menu to select different things like big room, dry, etc. if you haven't looked at that, give it a try
 
I tried addictive drums 2 both with edrums and mouse clicking and loved it !
There are enough options for it to be more complicated than an axefx
 
Yeah Addictive drums is pretty amazing for Edrum players. I tried Addictive Drums 2 demo last week and found that it offered me next to nothing I didn't already have with the original addictive drums though....
 
I've been testing stuff all morning and with all the projects I tested I was able to get a drum sound I couldn't find immediate fault with within 5 seconds with EZ drummer. Every time it was light years ahead of what I was using before. More of the brightness you actually want. no abrasive cymbal hits, no deep dark awkward sub bass. I don't have to touch the snare to actually hear it or turn it down even.
I really am very impressed indeed.
Purchase time!
 
Congrats on finding something you like! EZ Drummer 2 has been great so far for me with no complaints at all. I think you made a solid choice. It is very flexible IMO and there are tons midi files on the market for it to give you something to work with. You can also copy and paste certain parts such as kick, hi hat, snare into the creator and add your own parts into it to make it a work all your own. I usually copy the double kick stuff and modify it, then add the other parts in for my heavier work. If my uneducated about drums self can do it, you can lol. Enjoy the purchase dude!
 
I have ez drummer 2; I have no idea how to program drums in midi files. Does everyone just cut and paste loops?
 
I have ez drummer 2; I have no idea how to program drums in midi files. Does everyone just cut and paste loops?
A lot of what I do is loops. But I also copy certain parts out of the loops and past them, then add onto that midi file to create my own beat. I also use the on screen midi keyboard inside of EZ Drummer 2 and program from scratch (which by the way is a pain in the ass because I am not very familiar with how to do that efficiently lol). There are tons of videos and tutorials on it all and it really helps. I bought the mega pack from groovemonkey.com to have more midi loops and its insanely good. I also have the Metal, Metal Machine!, and Nashville EZXs from Toontrack so I have tons of sounds available. I'm really starting to dig this stuff! I spent 3 hours today just jamming along with drum loops.
 
I've Still not committed myself yet but I'm 95% certainI'll be making a purchase in the next day or two.
I have hit a stumbling block though.....for years now my own music was made exclusively from (I made the decision to do it years ago) Addictive Drums loops. I would ,in many cases ,heavily edit them to the point they are no longer Addictive drum loops but the problem is I've stuck to what I thought was the industry standard Addictive Drums mapping all this time.
As far as I can see EZ drummer does not have an option or a work around for this outside of purchasing something to go in and convert each loop.
It's the only real flaw so far but it's a bit of a big one.
 
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I remember quite a few years back when I bought the first version I got a bunch of different drum maps from the toontrack forums. Im sure I still use a default map for "drum kit from hell". So I'm pretty sure you can use different maps with them in your DAW. I'm pretty sure they are also maps pretty close to the general midi editors in most DAW's
 
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