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Best Drum software?


uz3r

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Hi All,

 

Didnt really know if this should go in recording, or software or drum forum but i ended up posting here.

 

I just wanted to get recommendations for good drum software. I am about to purchase an M-Box to write with (i play guitar) but I want to write my own drums using software, I play hard rock / metal and I will be using pro tools 7. I have been recommended BFD (Big Fat Drums) - I have seen this in action and it looked ok. I just want to know if you guys have any other reasonable priced alternative recommendations. I will probably be drawing the drums manually, but there is a chance I could be triggering via MIDI down the track.

 

Cheers in adance!

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BFDII is fresh out, with some good deals around. You've not said what kind of music you're producing - you might want to check that the kits in BFD are suitable or else you may need to buy some additional expansion pack(s).

 

I've not used BFD, DFHS or EZDrummer, which are together probably the market leaders. I'm a happy, lucky owner of the ns_kit7 sample set and use it with Kontakt2 (not a cheap combination as I don't use K2 for anything else).

 

Basically, audition for the sound of the drums you're after. Once you've got that sound, then see what your options are.

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BFDII is fresh out, with some good deals around. You've not said what kind of music you're producing - you might want to check that the kits in BFD are suitable or else you may need to buy some additional expansion pack(s).


I've not used BFD, DFHS or EZDrummer, which are together probably the market leaders. I'm a happy, lucky owner of the ns_kit7 sample set and use it with Kontakt2 (not a cheap combination as I don't use K2 for anything else).


Basically, audition for the sound of the drums you're after. Once you've got that sound, then see what your options are.

 

 

Im producing hard rock / metal. Ive also heard about EZDrummer which you mentioned. A sales guy at the local store also told me that a program called Stalker (by digidesign) was really good to use with pro-tools.

 

My problem is that I cant sample the drums sounds before hand (no stores have this software setup and running). I just want a big solid drum kit, nothing out of the ordinary, its probably more important for me for the software to be user friendly.

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Unfortunately I don't know anything about Stalker but considering who makes it it's probably pretty good. Toontrack doesn't have demos. If you want to see/hear any of these programs your best bet is YouTube. Toontrack has a bunch of product demo videos on there. I'm sure FXPansion and Digidesign will too. Or there is always Google...

 

Closest price/feature wise would probably be closeout copies of Drums From Hell Superior and XLN Audio's Addictive Drums. I use EZ Drummer and Addictive Drums and I like both. I know some others have used EZ Drummer with triggers successfully but I use it EZ and Addictive solely on my PC. To sum it up real plainly, IMHO, ordered by price and feautres/flexibility...

EZ Drummer, Addictive Drums, BFD, DFHS, BFD 2 / DFHS 2

 

I've used the first four though each one less than the next. If you're going to trigger the sounds and you want to be able to mix/master the individual sounds to your EXACT taste I'd suggest BFD/DFHS or better. Addictive and EZ Drummer would probably work but both are somewhat limited as far as total sound control, EZ Drummer more so than Addictive.

 

Just my $0.02

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EzDrummer is pretty straight forward. If you go with that route you definitely want to get the Drumkit From Hell plug-in, aka: ezx_dfh. EZD has good visuals of the drumkit, which I think helps and it has a humanize option, and a built-in mixer to control the levels of the snare in two areas, toms, kick, overhead, compression and room.

 

I use to use this with Fruity Loops 7 XXL Producer Edition, it was pretty easy to figure out and use. Keep away from Drumkit From Hell 2 by East West, I have it and thought that the samples were pretty bad.

 

I kept on hearing..err, reading it, but if you can get a real kit some day it's a much better option.

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I'm not a drummer so take this with a grain of salt. If your going to be enetering the drums your self manually then it sounds like a soundfont solution may work for you.

 

You can download SFZ (free) which allows you to play soundfonts as a VST. There are some great soundfonts at Hammersound like jd_rockkit1. And although it's no longer available for download at naturalstudio.co.uk you can find the SF version of ns_kit7 if you search around a bit.

 

I also bought EZ drummer despite the lack of trial software and have to say I am impressed. Simple to use. Lots' of good basic patterns and it sounds great.

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  • 1 year later...
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Honestly if you want the best real sounding software then you have basically two choices. BFD2 or Superior 2.0 (ezdrummer's big brother). Nothing else even comes close.

 

I have BFD2 triggered through a roland td9 and it is simply amazing. I posted a thread here recently with a clip of me playing and nobody knew they weren't real drums. If it can pass the test here then it will pass the test with anyone.

 

Superior (from the clips I've heard) is, in my opinion, nearly as good. I went with BFD cause they have way more expansion packs with TONS of different drums. Superior is a little more restricted at this point. Also BFD has a more complex interface in terms of sound production...mixing etc. Some say it's harder to get your head around because it's so detailed but I don't mind the experimenting.

 

Either would be the best choice, but affordable and high end drum software are two things that don't go together. If you want the most real sound possible then you're going to have to pay for it.

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I have BFD Lite, BFD2, EZdrummer (with ALL of their expansions) and Superior 2.0 (with their new update and expansion) and have owned Addictive, but since it wasn't stand-alone app. too, got rid of it......That being said, it depends on what you are looking for.

 

BFD2 is GREAT in terms of samples/sounds. I love the drum and cymbal sounds of it an don't think you can beat them, BUT it requires a lot of patience to get to work and possibly even some computer updates....I was having all kinds of problems with it....had to increase my RAM, buy a 7200rpm external drive for the samples and a good external sound card and still had pops. If you've got a big system to run it on 4 gig of RAM at least you're probably okay.

 

Superior 2.0 is my choice product. It has some great sounding kits, is easy to operate (much like EZdrummer, but more control). What sold me on the product was the fact that I could run a larger kit than BFD2, with ZERO problems!!

 

Jkater, yes, you can use your DD-55 with the software, as long as it has MIDI out. You'll need a MIDI to USB (I use the M-Audio Uno, which you can get at Radio Shack now) and an ASIO driver (http://www.asio4all.com/ is a good freebie if you don't have one)

 

Brian

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Jkater, yes, you can use your DD-55 with the software, as long as it has MIDI out. You'll need a MIDI to USB (I use the M-Audio Uno, which you can get at Radio Shack now) and an ASIO driver (
is a good freebie if you don't have one)


Brian

 

 

Hi Brian, thanks! I have an audio interface with midi connections (echo gina 3) that connects to the computer via a PCI slot. I suppose I can just use midi cables to plug into the A/I, right? Are midi to USB cables for those without midi soundcard?

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I used to use addictive drums. They have a free demo version for download that's fully functional, so it's worth trying out. Excellent program, but like most (well, all) the samples sound too polished/over-produced for my liking. For the most part, my record collection fizzles out somewhere in the early 1970s and the drums on a lot of smaller label jazz/blues/R&B/funk etc was recorded using one or two condensers in front of the kit. Now that's the sound of a drum kit! (to me, at any rate).

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I used to use addictive drums. They have a free demo version for download that's fully functional, so it's worth trying out. Excellent program, but like most (well, all) the samples sound too polished/over-produced for my liking. For the most part, my record collection fizzles out somewhere in the early 1970s and the drums on a lot of smaller label jazz/blues/R&B/funk etc was recorded using one or two condensers in front of the kit. Now
that's
the sound of a drum kit! (to me, at any rate).

 

 

See that's why I like BFD2 so much. Total control over micing. It's recorded with everything but you can drop all of them out at will. And a lot of vintage drums were recorded. Actually too many if you ask me. They could do with some more modern stuff.

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See that's why I like BFD2 so much. Total control over micing. It's recorded with everything but you can drop all of them out at will. And a lot of vintage drums were recorded. Actually too many if you ask me. They could do with some more modern stuff.

 

 

You can do the same with Addictive drums, but it still doesn't sound 100% to my ears (which are getting to be vintage themselves!)

 

I listened to the demo of BFD2. Pretty impressive, actually, but it still lacks that homogenous blending (as do all modern recordings IMO)...that interaction between all the parts of a kit. Partly to do with isolation, but also the panning I should think.

 

One of my favourite recorded drum sounds is on the live Ramsey Lewis stuff, recorded in a little club in the mid 60s. Probably only one or two mikes, but the kit was captured perfectly and sounds like it's in your front room...excuse me while I wipe clean the mist from my rose-tinted specs...that's better. Mono is the new Stereo (or rather, it should be!)

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  • 3 years later...
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 the best drum software allows you to export the sounds you create in 16 bit 44.1 WAV files, which are standard for the music industry. With this program you can amaze all DJs. In addition, the program is easy to use and the video tutorials about it can help this experience even more pleasant. http://www.bestdrumsoftware.org/who-can-buy-best-drum-software/

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uz3r wrote:

 

Hi All,

 

 

 

Didnt really know if this should go in recording, or software or drum forum but i ended up posting here.

 

 

 

I just wanted to get recommendations for good drum software. I am about to purchase an M-Box to write with (i play guitar) but I want to write my own drums using software, I play
hard rock / metal
and I will be using pro tools 7. I have been recommended BFD (Big Fat Drums) - I have seen this in action and it looked ok. I just want to know if you guys have any other reasonable priced alternative recommendations. I will probably be drawing the drums manually, but there is a chance I could be triggering via MIDI down the track.

 

 

 

Cheers in adance!

 

 

For Hard Rock: 

NI Studio Drummer

 

For Metal: 

Big Fish Audio The  Black Kit

 

 

 

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