Best Drum Software?

Ok guys....I have heard good things about Spectrasonics RMX. What about some other choices?.....what are the good drum and percussion software packages out there? I would be using it in conjunction with SONAR. Any recommendations?(Nothing too expensive please..)

Beatcraft is what I use. Very easy to work with and you can add your own or downloaded samples. It also only sells for about $38.

http://www.acoustica.com/beatcraft/

Depends on what you are looking for. If you want something that's basically the equivalent of high quality draw drum samples that you mix as you would mix real drums, then something like BFD is a good choice. If you want something much more canned, the maybe something like EZDrummer might be a better choice.

I am looking for something that is the equivalent of "high quality drum samples".....what is BFD? I don't want them to sound canned....definitely want them to sound as natural as possible.

BFD is from Fxpansion (www.fxpansion.com). The new version 2 allows definitely caters a little more to the 'quick and easy' crowd than the version version did. But it still allows you to just use their high quality samples as is and mix them yourself. You can get very realistic results, though generally you need to also buy one or more of the expansion packs which have the really high velocity layer samples.

I would just go with Sony Acid. However, you'll then spend more money on loops in the genre you create in.

Native Instruments Battery 3 is another to consider.

DFH Superior 2.0.....out in June???

RMX is essentially a big, easy to mutate collection of loops. It's very high quality. Problem is, you hear bits and pieces of it all over the place, mainly in commercials. I know you can import your own loops, or just use the sounds. But the bottom line is that it's very hard to be unique or truly creative with the product, and it's particularly ill-suited to rock. I use it to start stuff sometimes, but RMX almost never makes it to the finished track. Given what I know now, I wouldn't buy it again.

Sonar makes seesiondrummer2. best I have seen and is made for your product.

Check out EZ Drummer. It sounds great.

Thanks very much for all the responses...lots of useful information here. What I want to ask now is....what is/are the cost(s) of these programs?, and, more to the point, which one(s) are free?

EZDrummer in particular looks perfect for what I want to do. However, I am a little confused as to which is the latest version of the software. Can you all educate me a little more on this particular product, any and all expansions, and where I might get a good deal if/when I want to purchase it? Thanks in advance for all responses.

By the way, I am using SONAR....does this software integrate easily with it?....even a "crusty" old version of the software?,(2.2...*embarassed grin*)

Bump...

I have sonar 7 and ezdrummer..

and for the life of me--can't figure out how to use the ezdrummer with it.

however...fruity loops on the other hand........

EZDrummer works incredibly easily in Sonar 7 for me. It takes like 3 steps...

Insert - soft synth - EZDrummer

Load MIDI source into the MIDI track, and press play!

Sorry to sorta hijack but can you use DFH superior to mix samples as you would real drums?

Do you think it will work just as easily with "crusty" old version 2.2? I just can't afford to get EZDrummer and a new version of SONAR all at once. I want to get started recording, and wanted drums first...whaddya think?

I downloaded and tried out the Addictive Drums demo from XLN audio. It installed ok, and I could get the program up "visually" in my version of SONAR, but couldn't get any audio going I have the sinking feeling that it would/will be that way with any drum program I try to install with my ancient version of SONAR. Looks like I am going to have to upgrade SONAR, and I am not sure if my computer will have enough CPU power or RAM to handle the newer versions of this software package.

I could be looking at a complete DAW upgrade before I can even think about getting these cool drum programs up and running. Any of you guys out there have experience with upgrade paths and problems, and any possible solutions,(cost effective) to my problem?

I also have Sonar (PE 7) and have had very good success (in loop based recording) with smartloops.com and ACID. There's no "re-wiring" or any complicated setup whatsoever!! It's as easy as drag & drop (or double-clicking) the desired loops into your project. (You can also preview a loop while your main project is playing to see if it fits in with the scheme...while capale of effortless editing). SmartLoops have very high quality loops (rock, jazz, hip-hop,funk, blues etc...) and are played by real drummers. ACID has all the other genre's of music with the same capabilities.

Good luck,

P

Hi,

I would suggest Archibald. It has a great interface for programming your patterns, and a basic sound bank (multi sampled sounds) included (250 mo). You can extend this bank with any sound. You may also add some randomness to your patterns: this make them sounding really more natural (very impressive). May be synchronized to any soft via ReWire.

Cost: 38$

It is shareware, and so you can test before buy.

http://www.polyrythmic.org/en/archibald.php

*also included is something that creates drum patterns automatically. Could be interesting, but it doesn't work so fine for me.

Cheers,

Philemon.

For four dollars less you could hire me and have real drums with something you can never program..."feel"

Just because you use a drum synth doesn't mean you program them. I, and many others, really play them, and sounds are real drums at 127 velocity layers in my case (mostly, some of somewhat less.) So they don't lack feel by any means.

BFD without question, but seeing as you said not too expensive then I'd suggest Ez Drummer.. the preset mix of the drum kit makes it sound awful to me but you can get some good sounds out of it if you spend a little time with it.

The problem I seem to be encountering here is the rather ancient version of Sonar that I use (2.2 XL). Bottom line is that I am on a VERY limited budget....I can only really afford to purchase the drum software itself, and then only a reasonably priced program. If being able to record some good drum tracks entails having to buy a whole other Recording program, or worse, a whole DAW upgrade...then I think I am dead in the water already.

My computer is a Pentium IV 2.8 Ghz with 1.25 Gigs of Ram. Is there a program out there...in the vein of an EZ drummer or BFD that will work with my current "setup"? As it stands now, I can record guitar and bass with no problems. I am happy with the results, and my system doesn't experience latency issues, dropouts or crashes. Its only drum tracks that are stopping me from being able to record more "complete" music...as it were. Thanks for reading all this babble, and hope you can give me some advice.