I’m a user of Toontrack SD2 than SD3 since 2009 and nothing can’t be compared to in all aspects .. this been said .. the thing that I retained the most of this video is that this guy plays drums with his fingers better than a lot of drummers lol .. his skills and musicality are just outstanding
02:01 Groove Agent 05:46 Hertz Drums 07:35 Modern 80's Drum Kit 09:18 Superior Drummer 12:00 SSD 14:15 Addictive Drums 16:11 Drums of St. Paul 17:13 Studio Drummer 18:08 AbbeyRoad Vintage Drummer 18:56 Circle Drum Samples
People are sleeping on Studio Drummer!! I'm so glad you mentioned it! The flams and rolls alone caught my interest but I swear there's some magical element to them that makes playing live feel better than every other drum program. When I'm tracking virtual drums with a keyboard/MPC I always use Kontakt.
XLN Audio - Addictive Drums 2, absolutely incredible sound, with almost unlimited possibilities to combine kits (also includes percussions), parameter settings and a very extensive MIDI library, it's the best, what I don't like are the 808 and 909 type drums, I think that's its weakness, the rest is supreme.
Whats wrong with the XLN 808 and 909 ? I got them and others and really , its digital drum sampling. Those things didnt have many velocity layers when they were invented - I cant see how XLN of all ppl have dropped the ball there. If you dont like how they processed the kits - then turn off the FX
@@CFox.7 I tried it but it doesn't convince me, especially the bass drums, the cymbals seem impeccable to me and I use them a lot, but as for the kicks 808 and 909 I prefer emulations or other more specific plugins.
@@LokoTheChannel you're not being specific enough. Maybe the XLN is the one that is true to form. If I disable all FX I cant tell the difference bt my XLN 808 kicks and my Battery 4 samples or any other sample I use. There are so many variables.
@Producer Mind you mean the reel machines or all the adpacks? That's just wrong. The rooms are rather the best. Big rooms of the Blue Oyster as you heard in the video or ocean way studio or fairfax.
I have used EZDrummer 2 for years, and now EZDrummer 3. I really don't need all the options that Superior drummer provides. EZDrummer 3 is AWESOME with all the new features and new kits! 😍
Fully agree. It's fairly easy to use without all the details of Superior Drummer, which is a bit over the top for most users. And it has lots of patterns to use too and there is so many different sets to use your money on to cover whatever sound and style you prefere. Toontracks is really great. I look forward to see the Hertz video. I loved those tom sounds without the hard attacks many acoustic libraries have.
January 2021 I purchased Superior Drummer 3. Hmmm. Primarily because of the velocity remapping and MIDI remapping features and the positional sensing on the snare and now EZD3 has all that included expept the snare pos sense(?) :( . Anyway since I am using it for VST edrumming, I really appreciate the large variety of articulations of the SD3 libraries. Together with the Audiofront eDRUMin10 module. It works like a dream!
@@PublicSchwing I would say it depends on your set. I got the Lemon 15" 3-zone cymbals and I use the bell and bow articulations. If you're like ... 2 zones and crash articulation is ok. Go for EZD3. I bought SD3 before EZD3 was out and EZD2 had no detailed midi remapping and velocities remapping. That was anoying. But please keep in mind the other drum libraries: BFD3 is available right now at Audio Plugin Deals for $49. ML Soundlabs ML Drums, Hertz Drums ... There is a channel called "eDrums and VSTs", this guy knows them all.
SD3 e drum user here. If you want to turn off aftertouch for cymbals its easy to do in SD3. Just click on the cymbal so its highlighted then in the boxes to the right turn off after touch in the choke trigger box
Using all Addictive Drum libaries through my drummset for years. For me its the only one that sounds natural. When I recorded with AD no client ever said "sounds fake". Love them. Using Slate only for replacing when needed. Great video as usual 🤘
@@sevchyk I guess you're more discerning than the rest of us. We like things that suck, and with your superior ears and brain, you know better. Good job.
Alright, I admit it, I write almost almost all drum parts with the pencil tool in Cubase. You have finally driven me to utter madness with your wonderful hand-playing of drums & I will give it a serious try! I have about half of the libraries you showcased, & I was embarrassed by your demonstration. I bow to your mastery; Great Video!
Same here...the magic drum-stick in cubase-drum editor..but dom made me start finger drumming. This is so damn usefull and brings tons of fun. i suppose a some point it even will be faster than point&click... i am working t o get there...caugh,caugh...😆
I use Addictive Drums 2 exclusively. It’s a program that has many unique, distinctly different libraries plus multiple alternate kit pieces you can plug into each kit. It’s the most versatile, comprehensive drum plugin I’ve found.
Id love to see an example of exactly HOW you go about layering in Cubase 12. I just Finished my first project doing some drum " reinforcement" in cubase w/SSD5, hitpoint detection, and sending the individual "outs" to faders so I could blend them in the mix console. I feel like I may learn a thing or two watching you do it as I ended up spending ALOT of time trying to line up SSD5 w/ the audio, despite using hitpoint detection.
I worked with AD long time ago. Then I bought NI Komplete. Therefore I often use Studio Drummer or the other Abbey Road Libraries. Best compliment I got from a drummer in a band: "Did I play this or did you programm it?" (was some 1-2 years old demo) ... it was Studio Drummer. Nice. But as I said - I worked with Addictive Drums 1+2 years ago and I was really fine with it. I changed only because I got the "Komplete Package" - with tons of cool stuff. My guess - I just use 10-20% of Komplete - but it's cool to have everything available. And sometimes cool to just "try out some of the unknown plugins" ...But I think you can get great sound with all systems... Thanks and liked, Stefan
You are a talented musician and I enjoy your Cubase instructional videos. But today you blew me away how good you are playing virtual drums on a keyboard.
Over the last few years I've tried some different bass, guitar and synth plug-ins but on drums I never felt the need to try anything other than AD2. Super versatile and doesn't need a shit ton of gigabytes, unlike SD3.
I have most of those kits...I like Modo Drums..very customizable and easy to use..and many kits to choose from...you play drums very well on the keyboard..wish i had that talent
I used Addictive Drums 1 & 2 for many years, now I work mostly with Superior Drummer 3 (I love the Hansa expansion) and Studio Drummer. I will soon get the Abbey Road complete which is very nice too.
I love IK's MODO Drum, when paired with MODO bass they're incredibly efficient plugins for guitarist/singer/songwriters, plus the modelling nature allows some unique customisation options.
And I would like to add IK Multimedia MODO Drum (these are modelled drums so you have the option to muffle or tune the drums, use mallets, wood or nylon tips - pretty impressive) GetGoodDrums and Drumforge and BFD3 - now complete?
Holy smokes! This guy drums better with his fingers than most real drummers out there! I was gonna say forget these drum vsts and go with pro drum loops but after hearing his playing and how far these vst's have come I have to rethink ...
Thanks Dom. How about a video where you build up a drum kit sound for a tune from start to finish, including blending libraries, additional processing, or whatever you find works well.
Thanks for sharing your expertise . The way technology moves I try to keep up with a recent trends. And with so many different types of software out there it's hard to find the right one to get. That's why videos like yours are invaluable to musicians that are trying to put a package together. Thanks again for your time.
I'm a SD3 user since the library came out. I used SD2 before that, so the jump was mandatory. But actually, I'm looking forward to put my hands on Get Good Drums libraries.
Just pick one and get the most out of it ! I got on the XLN train years back and cant see any reason to change. They all multi velocity sample. All drums in pop tracks are slammed through the compressor to within an inch of their life anyway. NOTE ! That choke function on SD3 DOES look annoying - lol
It's probably worth mentioning Superior Drummer's little brother EZ Drummer. Not as extensive as Superior, EZ Drummer 3 has some great Superior sounds and features.
Nothing's better than Superior Drummer 3 out there so far. The level of detail one can achieve by exploring the samples to separate tracks, including multiple layers of rooms, microphone bleeds and drum micing combinations. I used Addictive Drums for years and SD3 blows it out of the water.
Hi Dom, thanks for that overview! But I know why I am a Toontrack guy through and through. :-) I really love their love for that detail. Woooow. Primarily I am a drummer, hobby musician rock, metal, prog drummer. Somehow a got to edrums in combination with those VST libraries and the quality of those sounds blew me away, even with a low priced edrum set it was such a beautiful experience... Xmas 2019. My wife wanted my to buy an ekit for the kids and was like .... WHAT! NO WAY. That's not METAL! Anyway I saw a few guys on TH-cam using their edrums with EZDrummer2 and I ordered ED2, Cubase Elements 10.5 and the Millenium MPS-850. Hahahah! And that was it... with: for the kids. Daddy was freaking out!!! You know, as a hobby musician you won't here yourself playing a 5000$ Gretsch or TAMA or Ayotte kit in beautiful studio acoustics through 4000$ Neumann mics mixed by a fabulous, famous engineer. Really, I alway start to grin over the whole face when hearing the stand toms ringing out. The guys from Tonntrack know how to rip my wallet: A nice making-off with a true little story about a mic and, yap. Maybe you know the Making-of the last SD3 SDX Hitmaker. Me, as a kid of the 1980 could not hold on grabbing the drums sound of Phil Collins. They actually used the same overhead mic, producing that compressed sound of In The Air Tonight! Anyway: What I wanted to say...It's awesome what can be done with the todays drum libraries. You can switch off the Aftertouch feature at Choke/Mute trigger settings in SD3. Many edrum kits send a AT message when you choke the cymbal.
Thanks! Great review! I've been a recording engineer since 1972 recording real drummers and drums and just now getting into samples doing my one man band thing in retirement. There's a million different sounds to get from a single drum set and drummer. I can see how one could get lost in there options.
i think more people should know of Jamstix (by Rayzoon). It's not a simple midi loop reader, it allows you to tweak some in depth parameters of what a drummer would do. The result is some TRULY UNIQUE beat that you can arrange in song structure. It takes a little bit of learning if you're not into drums (like me) but when you get there (it's not rocket science either), you have a true professional drum playing ... that you can route, via midiout, into any sample library (i.e. Jamstix plays and EZDrummer sounds). It has samples too but there are better sounds out there.
Why is no one talking about BFD Drums? They are one of the pioneering developers in virtual drums. His latest product, the BFD3, despite being a few years old (although it has an update) is one, if not the most powerful drum software... If you haven't tried it I recommend it... thousands and thousands of groove packs , dozens of expansions, a console just as powerful as Superior Drummer's, allows you to import and create your own multi-layer instruments, combines modeling elements with sampling... In short, a blast especially in unprocessed sounds, that's right, It is not suitable for beginners and it takes work to get a good sound in the mix, because it is the closest thing to mixing a real drum set. Everyone, check BFD3!!!!
Interesting and informative as usual. Surprised EZ drummer 3 isn’t there. Much cheaper than Superior Drummer and less disk space needed but still sounds superb and lots of expansions available. I use it a lot along with various Groove Agent kits. I also use some of the NI kits, like Studio Drummer and of course I use your excellent Modern 80’s Drumkit.
EZ Drummer 3 has drastly improved their sound quality from its previous 2nd version and is now on par with its premium Superior Drummer in sound quality. Also improved its song creator editor and improves the sound quality from that of older EZD2 libraries. However, I mix and layer several libraries together for metal music to which my top 3 libraries that I prefer over EZD3 are Ugritone Kvlt (I own all 17 of their libraries, 3 of which are no longer available), Bogren Digital Krimh, and Spectre Digital ELE. I have been considering purchasing MDrummer from Melda Productions as well as it is insanely and massively detailed with dozens of easy randomizations but is also one of the most advanced library.
Dom is a damn legend. I only came across his channel when I got into music as a hobby and I decided to go with Cubase as my DAW. Damn I learn so much from his content. Thanks Dom!
Thank you for your fabulous presentation!👏🙏 I’ve been using Addictive Drums 2 for years but their brushes are limited to just their Jazz Brushes pack which doesn’t cut it for ballads. Thank you for bringing the Abbey Roads library to my attention!🙏 I’ll be listing you in the credits of my next album. Once again thank you so much!🙏🙏
Great video, Dom. Thank you! You showed some libraries I was not aware of. SD3 is my favorite for acoustic drums. Prism Retro Pop Drums by AVA Music Group is another good one for 80s retro sounds.
The trick with Addictive Drums is to go beyond the presets and customise from scratch, gainstaging a raw sound then save that etc Then play with layering. Studio Drummer is beautiful
I love when toms sound a lot like a snare. Otherwise they sound too fake. Superior Drummer has some amazing toms. I paid for Perfect Drums & recorded one song with them, but I think I might change to SD.
Great breakdown! Totally agree with you that Superior Drummer is amazingly detailed but also the most complicated to create a "radio ready" treatment. Personally, I think the Blackbird Expansion for Slate 5 is incredible, less processed and sonically solid. I'm working on another expansion for Slate with Al Sutton of Rust Belt Studios which should be out early next year. Our pack is more vintage with some truly funky snares but also some big 70's rock instruments.
@@eDrumsandVSTs Hey! Yes, it is!! All editing is complete and Slate is importing the library into their systems and programming it for use. Then we just create the kits and release it!! Can’t wait!!
@@eDrumsandVSTs Hey! Yes, it is!! All editing is complete and Slate is importing the library into their systems and programming it for use. Then we just create the kits and release it!! Can’t wait!! 1 Reply
@@eDrumsandVSTs Absolutely! Would love to hear you demo it. I'm in a holding pattern waiting for Slate to complete their part of it. When they do, it will only take us a couple of weeks to create the kits and off we go!
I don't have a lot of drums VST's but i do have MODO drums which i love. Since i can't really compare to other VST's i wonder if all the VST's in this video are better? Because MODO is not even mentioned?
MODO Drum’s sound quality didn’t quite cut it for me. It’s an awesome concept and I hope IK continues to develop it but I keep going back to my sampled drums libraries…which is mostly Superior Drummer.
Loved the blind test in the beginning! Really helps with finding what kits you actually think sounds good. I already own SSD but don't even have it installed (I have some of the others on the list installed though...) and it won out for me, at least with these presets... More blind preset tests please! Very cool
I really enjoy watching your content and I appreciate your insights into this subject, so please keep up the awesome work and I promise to keep coming back for more and sharing your video's with as many people as I possibly can because you definitely deserve it and I hope your channel will continue to grow because so many people need you in their live's and they don't even realize it...🤟😉👍
Superior user for years. Made my first commercial production in 2008 with Toontracks Dfh and EZ-drummer, right before SD2 was released I think. Of course you should do a video where you deep dive into SD3. It’s almost an unlimited world of drums. Let’s get nerdy 😊
Which one was #5? It's my preferred one. I would like it if you labeled them in the description with the order number you played them in the intro. The drums I personally like to use are: Musical Sampling's Boutique drums Renegade for very hard hitting drums, also Heavyocity Ensemble Drums (cinematic), Get Good Drums Architects and just got 8Dio Blackbird kit on sale for $20 and it is a very detailed, realistic and impressive kit.
I love everything Toontrack to be honest (and yes, I'm biased) but you taught me something new! Never knew the aftertouch choked the cymbals! Next to playing on my e-drums, I use the keyboard a lot too and never have I accidentally ran into choking the cymbal! Good to know tho! Oh, and I love your Modern 80s Drum Kit too! Use it quite often for writing Synthwave!
Have you tried IK's Modo Drums? For me the Abbey Road kit gets used a fair amount but I also use the 3 free Labs kits from spitfire audio to great results.
Using superrior drumer 3 since it came out. Amazing tool. Can you make a video when you show how to mix drums from supperior? I find sometimes it difficult to receive a sound that I am happy with, and since you have a lot of experience it might be usefull for many people that are watching your channel.
Superior has a choke feature in the settings. Other wise all Yamaha Keybeds have a super sensitive pressure sensor. So I use my I connectivity software to filter that
I'm glad I came across this video, as I am going to be buying the latest version of Cubase Artist for my new PC I will stick with the SE version of Groove Agent which will be a big step up from Groove Agent One SE. I'm thinking about buying Superior Drummer 3 maybe next year and one of the Metal or Rock themed expansions. I also find the drums in Halion 6 usable ( I'm hoping it will work on my new computer as it has many sounds from the Yamaha Motif series plus a few from Tyros but I don't particularly want a Yamaha Tyros as they are quite big even though I did consider a Tyros 4 or 5 but they are not really suitable for music production ). But I an seriously considering buying a Roland Integra 7 in place of Cakewalk and the suite of Edirol VSTs I downloaded from one of those dodgy sites, I do also still do entire backing tracks on my various sound modules and I have some pretty solid drums in my Roland JV-1080 and the Roland R-8 and Alesis SR-16 drums are still usable in my opinion. As for Native Instruments I have only been using Kontakt 6 for 2 years and I also have Abbey Roads Drummer Collection which I an still going to use for many years to come and eventually I will but Studio Drummer ( maybe I might buy it in this year's Black Friday deal ). Or maybe if Kontakt 6 won't run on my new PC I might treat myself to Komplete Standard ( I can't go back to using Kontakt Player and Kontakt is a bit expensive on it's own even though I did buy Kontakt 6 on it's own but that was only because I was new to the world of Kontakt, the Band Library drums? they are OK and work well in 70s reggae and they are fine in low budget productions but not the sort of thing I would overuse. Spitfire labs also has a nice drum kit.
Superior Drummer 03 and BFD Drums!!!! I´m a drummer, and play all the sounds using a Roland VDrum kit. I liked some of the kits you reviewed. Maybe I´ll add a few.
DOM, always like your Videos and I wonde how you manage your time to handle all these tools you are explaining very well in your videos. I already learned so mich from you. I‘m using SD3 and EZD3 with some additional packages. I‘m using also the Toontrack pattern libraries. l‘m not a drummer and these things are very helpful for me to get ideas for groves of appropriate rythms for my productions. E.g. I like the way to find patterns by tapping the basic rythm and search
I use Superior Drummer 3, mainly the Bob Rock pack, I also have Hitmaker which I'm mixing in with it. I've also got various others but the Native Instruments Drummer series is still one of the best sounding....I just have trouble mixing them
I liked the Groove Agent 'Nobody Else Can Do it' sound the best, really nice toms too. I've found the Groove Agent kits to be good since Cubase 5 ! Inspiring to use for production. SD3 is no doubt incredibly detailed, and the way to go if you want convincing realism.
@@njm20music I wish i knew. If it's not there then it must come with the full edition of Groove Agent, or it's an exapnsion. Not sure if you can use expansions with SE.
I have used Addictive Drums 2 before i got EZdrummer 3 and the latter is so much better, the drums sound real and also much less work required to get the drums sounding good in your mix, none of the presets of Addictive Drums 2 sound as real but yes there are so many presets though which may make it more versatile but i would definetly pick EZdrummer 3 and there are expansions available if you need drums for other genres than what’s included. Superior Drummer is awesome but also takes up a lot of space and that’s why i went with the lighter EZdrummer
Being a drummer that loves Jazz, Funk, some non misogynist/racist hip hop and Cuban jazz of course so that last one was worth waiting for to me. Thanks again for some valuable information that can save folks like me time and money we dont' have. (I'm old, so time, yeah) Love the info you share, thank you for posting.
Superior Drummer is the best and has the best selection of libraries. If you can't afford it, EZ Drummer is a 2nd best choice. Many of the libraries are from the same sessions/studios.
Just in time! Thanks Dom! I have GGD Modern & Massive and want to jump and try out SD3 with SSD 5.5 kicks and snares. I hope I'll be able to map those nicely so switching between those 3 and mixing in different sounds from them is easier than harder. Lol. Thanks for the insights! As always great stuff man!
I really love the Abbey Road stuff for old school very vintage type, but the ST. Paul is very intriguing, it sure is Different, hopefully it is adjustable a bit less Roomy. Very nice Demo!!!
I mainly use Superior Drummer 3 with custom kits and layered snares and kicks. It's so easy to get really punchy bite sound with them. But real acoustic drums anyway sound so better than any drums library. You can't really replace them. Not one sample library sounds like real drum kit. They sound kinda, but not really.)
I also find the IK Multimedia drums great. But what still surprise me after all these years that so few - actually just really one I know (Superior drummer) - have a meter configuration. So e.g. if I want to customize patterns and select one by meter etc. But, of course, if you are a professional drummer, forget about patterns you know them yourself 😄
Would be good to hear drums that make hip hop, especially the Dilla style. Dead 1975 comes close, but the samples sound rough. Maybe it's just the same libraries, but different presets.
I am a huuuuge fan of SD. Have about 2TB of library's .😊 Anyway , your ambidextrosity with hands is on next level.🤙 Tnx for posting this cool content. ✌️
29 Min Jupiter preset in Groove Agent is viable for a lot of stuff. If not as a draft, many times I use it all the way to a final song without much modification.
Best drums beside supiriour drummer specially when it comes to rock are the ones from mixwave....their sevenfold, mangini, weinberg libaries and almost all their other drums are amazing...but also amazing ecpensive^^
I missed BFD3 here, which for me sounds the best even when it definitely needs a lot more tweaking to get a recording sound out of it but it's really flexible and sounds very natural
BFD3 has garbage support though, if it has any at all. After the inmusic migration it was unusable in my projects for like a year, at which point I dumped it and moved on to something else.
Fxexpansions bfd3 drums is the best for acoustic kits in my opinion. They were taken over by inmusic and black friday deals means you can get bfd3 for 49.99 (supposed to be 349.99!)
I’m a user of Toontrack SD2 than SD3 since 2009 and nothing can’t be compared to in all aspects .. this been said .. the thing that I retained the most of this video is that this guy plays drums with his fingers better than a lot of drummers lol .. his skills and musicality are just outstanding
Absolutely! I am amazed how he can play drums on keyboard like that.
@@AgimLubonja I used to just draw my drum patterns in 😭. I’m glad I broke that habit
02:01 Groove Agent
05:46 Hertz Drums
07:35 Modern 80's Drum Kit
09:18 Superior Drummer
12:00 SSD
14:15 Addictive Drums
16:11 Drums of St. Paul
17:13 Studio Drummer
18:08 AbbeyRoad Vintage Drummer
18:56 Circle Drum Samples
@@jason14693 thanks
People are sleeping on Studio Drummer!! I'm so glad you mentioned it! The flams and rolls alone caught my interest but I swear there's some magical element to them that makes playing live feel better than every other drum program. When I'm tracking virtual drums with a keyboard/MPC I always use Kontakt.
XLN Audio - Addictive Drums 2, absolutely incredible sound, with almost unlimited possibilities to combine kits (also includes percussions), parameter settings and a very extensive MIDI library, it's the best, what I don't like are the 808 and 909 type drums, I think that's its weakness, the rest is supreme.
Whats wrong with the XLN 808 and 909 ? I got them and others and really , its digital drum sampling. Those things didnt have many velocity layers when they were invented - I cant see how XLN of all ppl have dropped the ball there. If you dont like how they processed the kits - then turn off the FX
@@CFox.7 I tried it but it doesn't convince me, especially the bass drums, the cymbals seem impeccable to me and I use them a lot, but as for the kicks 808 and 909 I prefer emulations or other more specific plugins.
the room sound is very average. Its weakness for sure.
@@LokoTheChannel you're not being specific enough. Maybe the XLN is the one that is true to form. If I disable all FX I cant tell the difference bt my XLN 808 kicks and my Battery 4 samples or any other sample I use. There are so many variables.
@Producer Mind you mean the reel machines or all the adpacks? That's just wrong. The rooms are rather the best. Big rooms of the Blue Oyster as you heard in the video or ocean way studio or fairfax.
I have used EZDrummer 2 for years, and now EZDrummer 3. I really don't need all the options that Superior drummer provides. EZDrummer 3 is AWESOME with all the new features and new kits! 😍
EZ drummer is the sweet spot!
Fully agree. It's fairly easy to use without all the details of Superior Drummer, which is a bit over the top for most users. And it has lots of patterns to use too and there is so many different sets to use your money on to cover whatever sound and style you prefere. Toontracks is really great. I look forward to see the Hertz video. I loved those tom sounds without the hard attacks many acoustic libraries have.
January 2021 I purchased Superior Drummer 3. Hmmm. Primarily because of the velocity remapping and MIDI remapping features and the positional sensing on the snare
and now EZD3 has all that included expept the snare pos sense(?) :( .
Anyway since I am using it for VST edrumming, I really appreciate the large variety of articulations of the SD3 libraries.
Together with the Audiofront eDRUMin10 module. It works like a dream!
@@eDrumsInANutshell for edrumming- any reason to go with SD3 over EZD3? Nothing pro, just basement fun, but I do appreciate quality!
@@PublicSchwing I would say it depends on your set. I got the Lemon 15" 3-zone cymbals and I use the bell and bow articulations.
If you're like ... 2 zones and crash articulation is ok. Go for EZD3.
I bought SD3 before EZD3 was out and EZD2 had no detailed midi remapping and velocities remapping. That was anoying.
But please keep in mind the other drum libraries: BFD3 is available right now at Audio Plugin Deals for $49.
ML Soundlabs ML Drums, Hertz Drums ...
There is a channel called "eDrums and VSTs", this guy knows them all.
SD3 e drum user here. If you want to turn off aftertouch for cymbals its easy to do in SD3. Just click on the cymbal so its highlighted then in the boxes to the right turn off after touch in the choke trigger box
Using all Addictive Drum libaries through my drummset for years. For me its the only one that sounds natural. When I recorded with AD no client ever said "sounds fake". Love them. Using Slate only for replacing when needed. Great video as usual 🤘
Same here. I really love their Jazz Kits.
Addictive Drum is simply awesome !!!
Same here.
Addictive Drums suck. NI Drummer is the best of all of them. Most realistic sounding drums.
@@sevchyk I guess you're more discerning than the rest of us. We like things that suck, and with your superior ears and brain, you know better. Good job.
Alright, I admit it, I write almost almost all drum parts with the pencil tool in Cubase. You have finally driven me to utter madness with your wonderful hand-playing of drums & I will give it a serious try! I have about half of the libraries you showcased, & I was embarrassed by your demonstration. I bow to your mastery; Great Video!
Same here...the magic drum-stick in cubase-drum editor..but dom made me start finger drumming. This is so damn usefull and brings tons of fun. i suppose a some point it even will be faster than point&click... i am working t o get there...caugh,caugh...😆
besides the libraries...that fingerdrumming is simply fantastic. 👏🏽👍🏽
I use Addictive Drums 2 exclusively. It’s a program that has many unique, distinctly different libraries plus multiple alternate kit pieces you can plug into each kit. It’s the most versatile, comprehensive drum plugin I’ve found.
I really like the sound of Hertz Drums. Great overview ❤️
Yes me too, and also the SSD5
Been using Hertz Drums for a few months! love how easy they cut through the mix!!
My fave is XLN Addictive Drums Fair Fax Vol 1, Modern Jazz Brushes , Modern Jazz Sticks
I prefer Addictive Drums as well. The sounds are better indeed!
All of these are amazing libraries! Some other great libraries I've used are Naughty Seal's "Perfect Drums" and Soniccouture's "Moonkits". :D
yea perfect drums is perfect :)
I use EZ Drummer and i like it. For me they are enough and sound great. Your 80s drums are also great, especially for synthwave and synthpop style. 🎶🥂
Id love to see an example of exactly HOW you go about layering in Cubase 12. I just Finished my first project doing some drum " reinforcement" in cubase w/SSD5, hitpoint detection, and sending the individual "outs" to faders so I could blend them in the mix console. I feel like I may learn a thing or two watching you do it as I ended up spending ALOT of time trying to line up SSD5 w/ the audio, despite using hitpoint detection.
I worked with AD long time ago. Then I bought NI Komplete. Therefore I often use Studio Drummer or the other Abbey Road Libraries. Best compliment I got from a drummer in a band: "Did I play this or did you programm it?" (was some 1-2 years old demo) ... it was Studio Drummer. Nice. But as I said - I worked with Addictive Drums 1+2 years ago and I was really fine with it. I changed only because I got the "Komplete Package" - with tons of cool stuff. My guess - I just use 10-20% of Komplete - but it's cool to have everything available. And sometimes cool to just "try out some of the unknown plugins" ...But I think you can get great sound with all systems... Thanks and liked, Stefan
You are a talented musician and I enjoy your Cubase instructional videos. But today you blew me away how good you are playing virtual drums on a keyboard.
Over the last few years I've tried some different bass, guitar and synth plug-ins but on drums I never felt the need to try anything other than AD2. Super versatile and doesn't need a shit ton of gigabytes, unlike SD3.
I have most of those kits...I like Modo Drums..very customizable and easy to use..and many kits to choose from...you play drums very well on the keyboard..wish i had that talent
BFD3 is stil one of my favourites and de ride/ cymbals paiste 602 from EZdrummer 3 are stunning!
I used Addictive Drums 1 & 2 for many years, now I work mostly with Superior Drummer 3 (I love the Hansa expansion) and Studio Drummer. I will soon get the Abbey Road complete which is very nice too.
I love IK's MODO Drum, when paired with MODO bass they're incredibly efficient plugins for guitarist/singer/songwriters, plus the modelling nature allows some unique customisation options.
Modo Drum is excellent. I hope they expand to more jazzy and dry/vintage stuff in the future.
And I would like to add
IK Multimedia MODO Drum (these are modelled drums so you have the option to muffle or tune the drums, use mallets, wood or nylon tips - pretty impressive)
GetGoodDrums and
Drumforge and
BFD3 - now complete?
WE need a part 2! Out of these Drums i choose addictive Dr. and Slate! Thanks for your content!
Holy smokes! This guy drums better with his fingers than most real drummers out there! I was gonna say forget these drum vsts and go with pro drum loops but after hearing his playing and how far these vst's have come I have to rethink ...
GetGood Drums all the way! All of their libraries and their recent One Kit Wonder series are out of this world.
I really like the sound of Hertz Drums and Addictive Drums 2, absolutely incredible sound .
Thanks Dom. How about a video where you build up a drum kit sound for a tune from start to finish, including blending libraries, additional processing, or whatever you find works well.
Thanks for sharing your expertise . The way technology moves I try to keep up with a recent trends. And with so many different types of software out there it's hard to find the right one to get. That's why videos like yours are invaluable to musicians that are trying to put a package together. Thanks again for your time.
I've been using SD2 for awhile now. I was impressed by the SSD CLA and Studio Drummer session kits.
I'm a SD3 user since the library came out. I used SD2 before that, so the jump was mandatory. But actually, I'm looking forward to put my hands on Get Good Drums libraries.
Still on SD2 myself and loving it. Although I use it almost entirely for just kick and snare replacement.
Just pick one and get the most out of it ! I got on the XLN train years back and cant see any reason to change. They all multi velocity sample. All drums in pop tracks are slammed through the compressor to within an inch of their life anyway.
NOTE ! That choke function on SD3 DOES look annoying - lol
The sound of Hertz drums is really good
It hertZ
I was just thinking the other day which one I should get from all the different ones out there. Perfect timing!
Ezdrummer 3 it´s all I need, plus some vsti for EDM or trap, TRIAZ (Kontakt) is great too for modern loops.
It's probably worth mentioning Superior Drummer's little brother EZ Drummer. Not as extensive as Superior, EZ Drummer 3 has some great Superior sounds and features.
Nothing's better than Superior Drummer 3 out there so far. The level of detail one can achieve by exploring the samples to separate tracks, including multiple layers of rooms, microphone bleeds and drum micing combinations. I used Addictive Drums for years and SD3 blows it out of the water.
BFD3 can compite side by side with SD3... I think this only wins on the GUI
@@ramonlorenzovaldavia1306 the amount of control as well.. sd3 is better.. it is what it is
Hi Dom, thanks for that overview! But I know why I am a Toontrack guy through and through. :-)
I really love their love for that detail. Woooow.
Primarily I am a drummer, hobby musician rock, metal, prog drummer. Somehow a got to edrums in combination with those VST libraries and the quality of those sounds blew me away, even with a low priced edrum set it was such a beautiful experience... Xmas 2019. My wife wanted my to buy an ekit for the kids and was like .... WHAT! NO WAY. That's not METAL!
Anyway I saw a few guys on TH-cam using their edrums with EZDrummer2 and I ordered ED2, Cubase Elements 10.5 and the Millenium MPS-850. Hahahah! And that was it... with: for the kids.
Daddy was freaking out!!!
You know, as a hobby musician you won't here yourself playing a 5000$ Gretsch or TAMA or Ayotte kit in beautiful studio acoustics through 4000$ Neumann mics mixed by a fabulous, famous engineer.
Really, I alway start to grin over the whole face when hearing the stand toms ringing out.
The guys from Tonntrack know how to rip my wallet: A nice making-off with a true little story about a mic and, yap.
Maybe you know the Making-of the last SD3 SDX Hitmaker. Me, as a kid of the 1980 could not hold on grabbing the drums sound of Phil Collins.
They actually used the same overhead mic, producing that compressed sound of In The Air Tonight!
Anyway: What I wanted to say...It's awesome what can be done with the todays drum libraries.
You can switch off the Aftertouch feature at Choke/Mute trigger settings in SD3.
Many edrum kits send a AT message when you choke the cymbal.
Thanks! Great review! I've been a recording engineer since 1972 recording real drummers and drums and just now getting into samples doing my one man band thing in retirement. There's a million different sounds to get from a single drum set and drummer. I can see how one could get lost in there options.
i think more people should know of Jamstix (by Rayzoon). It's not a simple midi loop reader, it allows you to tweak some in depth parameters of what a drummer would do. The result is some TRULY UNIQUE beat that you can arrange in song structure. It takes a little bit of learning if you're not into drums (like me) but when you get there (it's not rocket science either), you have a true professional drum playing ... that you can route, via midiout, into any sample library (i.e. Jamstix plays and EZDrummer sounds). It has samples too but there are better sounds out there.
You can feel this man loves what he's doing. Immediate sub.
Increíble Dom, nunca había visto tocar así en directo con un teclado.
Why is no one talking about BFD Drums? They are one of the pioneering developers in virtual drums. His latest product, the BFD3, despite being a few years old (although it has an update) is one, if not the most powerful drum software... If you haven't tried it I recommend it... thousands and thousands of groove packs , dozens of expansions, a console just as powerful as Superior Drummer's, allows you to import and create your own multi-layer instruments, combines modeling elements with sampling... In short, a blast especially in unprocessed sounds, that's right, It is not suitable for beginners and it takes work to get a good sound in the mix, because it is the closest thing to mixing a real drum set. Everyone, check BFD3!!!!
You make all of them sound great! Finger drummer of the year 💙🏆
Interesting and informative as usual. Surprised EZ drummer 3 isn’t there. Much cheaper than Superior Drummer and less disk space needed but still sounds superb and lots of expansions available. I use it a lot along with various Groove Agent kits. I also use some of the NI kits, like Studio Drummer and of course I use your excellent Modern 80’s Drumkit.
Honestly ez drummer is all I ever dreamed of. Especially that post rock ezx is criminally underated in my opinion.
EZ Drummer 3 has drastly improved their sound quality from its previous 2nd version and is now on par with its premium Superior Drummer in sound quality. Also improved its song creator editor and improves the sound quality from that of older EZD2 libraries. However, I mix and layer several libraries together for metal music to which my top 3 libraries that I prefer over EZD3 are Ugritone Kvlt (I own all 17 of their libraries, 3 of which are no longer available), Bogren Digital Krimh, and Spectre Digital ELE. I have been considering purchasing MDrummer from Melda Productions as well as it is insanely and massively detailed with dozens of easy randomizations but is also one of the most advanced library.
The drums are all amazing, but your keyboard drumming is at another level! Great playing!!!!
Dom is a damn legend. I only came across his channel when I got into music as a hobby and I decided to go with Cubase as my DAW. Damn I learn so much from his content. Thanks Dom!
So good to hear my friend ♥️♥️♥️
Thanks Dom! I love Slate Plugins, have to try the drums 🥁...
Thank you for your fabulous presentation!👏🙏 I’ve been using Addictive Drums 2 for years but their brushes are limited to just their Jazz Brushes pack which doesn’t cut it for ballads. Thank you for bringing the Abbey Roads library to my attention!🙏 I’ll be listing you in the credits of my next album. Once again thank you so much!🙏🙏
Circles stuff is fantastic. Bought several of their libraries. Use em all the time. (Dropped some .wav onto my Roland kit too)
Great video, Dom. Thank you! You showed some libraries I was not aware of. SD3 is my favorite for acoustic drums. Prism Retro Pop Drums by AVA Music Group is another good one for 80s retro sounds.
The trick with Addictive Drums is to go beyond the presets and customise from scratch, gainstaging a raw sound then save that etc
Then play with layering.
Studio Drummer is beautiful
I love when toms sound a lot like a snare. Otherwise they sound too fake. Superior Drummer has some amazing toms. I paid for Perfect Drums & recorded one song with them, but I think I might change to SD.
Great breakdown! Totally agree with you that Superior Drummer is amazingly detailed but also the most complicated to create a "radio ready" treatment. Personally, I think the Blackbird Expansion for Slate 5 is incredible, less processed and sonically solid. I'm working on another expansion for Slate with Al Sutton of Rust Belt Studios which should be out early next year. Our pack is more vintage with some truly funky snares but also some big 70's rock instruments.
Dan, is that expansion still coming out?? Sounds cool and it would be great to see a new expansion for SSD 5.
@@eDrumsandVSTs Hey! Yes, it is!! All editing is complete and Slate is importing the library into their systems and programming it for use. Then we just create the kits and release it!! Can’t wait!!
@@SonicArtist313 VERY cool. Great to see something new from SSD. I'd love to demo it on my channel as well. Plus it's my favorite era of music.
@@eDrumsandVSTs Hey! Yes, it is!! All editing is complete and Slate is importing the library into their systems and programming it for use. Then we just create the kits and release it!! Can’t wait!!
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@@eDrumsandVSTs Absolutely! Would love to hear you demo it. I'm in a holding pattern waiting for Slate to complete their part of it. When they do, it will only take us a couple of weeks to create the kits and off we go!
I don't have a lot of drums VST's but i do have MODO drums which i love. Since i can't really compare to other VST's i wonder if all the VST's in this video are better? Because MODO is not even mentioned?
I'd be interested to see how these stack up to ModoDrum. I've used SSD5 but am really happy with the flexibility you get with MODOdrum.
MODO Drum’s sound quality didn’t quite cut it for me. It’s an awesome concept and I hope IK continues to develop it but I keep going back to my sampled drums libraries…which is mostly Superior Drummer.
Loved the blind test in the beginning! Really helps with finding what kits you actually think sounds good. I already own SSD but don't even have it installed (I have some of the others on the list installed though...) and it won out for me, at least with these presets... More blind preset tests please! Very cool
Was curious how someone could own such libraries and not even install one of them... then realized this was Roomie 😅
I really enjoy watching your content and I appreciate your insights into this subject, so please keep up the awesome work and I promise to keep coming back for more and sharing your video's with as many people as I possibly can because you definitely deserve it and I hope your channel will continue to grow because so many people need you in their live's and they don't even realize it...🤟😉👍
Superior user for years. Made my first commercial production in 2008 with Toontracks Dfh and EZ-drummer, right before SD2 was released I think.
Of course you should do a video where you deep dive into SD3. It’s almost an unlimited world of drums. Let’s get nerdy 😊
Really appreciate you showing the samples before getting into drawn out long explanations. Cheers
Which one was #5? It's my preferred one. I would like it if you labeled them in the description with the order number you played them in the intro. The drums I personally like to use are: Musical Sampling's Boutique drums Renegade for very hard hitting drums, also Heavyocity Ensemble Drums (cinematic), Get Good Drums Architects and just got 8Dio Blackbird kit on sale for $20 and it is a very detailed, realistic and impressive kit.
I love everything Toontrack to be honest (and yes, I'm biased) but you taught me something new! Never knew the aftertouch choked the cymbals! Next to playing on my e-drums, I use the keyboard a lot too and never have I accidentally ran into choking the cymbal! Good to know tho! Oh, and I love your Modern 80s Drum Kit too! Use it quite often for writing Synthwave!
Have you tried IK's Modo Drums? For me the Abbey Road kit gets used a fair amount but I also use the 3 free Labs kits from spitfire audio to great results.
Using superrior drumer 3 since it came out. Amazing tool.
Can you make a video when you show how to mix drums from supperior? I find sometimes it difficult to receive a sound that I am happy with, and since you have a lot of experience it might be usefull for many people that are watching your channel.
Superior Drummer looks like something to be invested in. That's a lot of memory. Really want to try out Drums of St Paul.
Superior has a choke feature in the settings. Other wise all Yamaha Keybeds have a super sensitive pressure sensor. So I use my I connectivity software to filter that
I'm glad I came across this video, as I am going to be buying the latest version of Cubase Artist for my new PC I will stick with the SE version of Groove Agent
which will be a big step up from Groove Agent One SE. I'm thinking about buying Superior Drummer 3 maybe next year and one of the Metal or Rock themed
expansions. I also find the drums in Halion 6 usable ( I'm hoping it will work on my new computer as it has many sounds from the Yamaha Motif series plus a
few from Tyros but I don't particularly want a Yamaha Tyros as they are quite big even though I did consider a Tyros 4 or 5 but they are not really suitable for
music production ). But I an seriously considering buying a Roland Integra 7 in place of Cakewalk and the suite of Edirol VSTs I downloaded from one of those
dodgy sites, I do also still do entire backing tracks on my various sound modules and I have some pretty solid drums in my Roland JV-1080 and the Roland R-8
and Alesis SR-16 drums are still usable in my opinion. As for Native Instruments I have only been using Kontakt 6 for 2 years and I also have Abbey Roads Drummer
Collection which I an still going to use for many years to come and eventually I will but Studio Drummer ( maybe I might buy it in this year's Black Friday deal ).
Or maybe if Kontakt 6 won't run on my new PC I might treat myself to Komplete Standard ( I can't go back to using Kontakt Player and Kontakt is a bit expensive
on it's own even though I did buy Kontakt 6 on it's own but that was only because I was new to the world of Kontakt, the Band Library drums? they are OK and
work well in 70s reggae and they are fine in low budget productions but not the sort of thing I would overuse. Spitfire labs also has a nice drum kit.
Superior Drummer 03 and BFD Drums!!!! I´m a drummer, and play all the sounds using a Roland VDrum kit. I liked some of the kits you reviewed. Maybe I´ll add a few.
DOM, always like your Videos and I wonde how you manage your time to handle all these tools you are explaining very well in your videos. I already learned so mich from you. I‘m using SD3 and EZD3 with some additional packages. I‘m using also the Toontrack pattern libraries. l‘m not a drummer and these things are very helpful for me to get ideas for groves of appropriate rythms for my productions. E.g. I like the way to find patterns by tapping the basic rythm and search
I use Superior Drummer 3, mainly the Bob Rock pack, I also have Hitmaker which I'm mixing in with it. I've also got various others but the Native Instruments Drummer series is still one of the best sounding....I just have trouble mixing them
I liked the Groove Agent 'Nobody Else Can Do it' sound the best, really nice toms too. I've found the Groove Agent kits to be good since Cubase 5 ! Inspiring to use for production. SD3 is no doubt incredibly detailed, and the way to go if you want convincing realism.
Hi Bon, I have Cubase12 installed with Groove Agent SE is that why I don't have Nobody Else Can Do it loaded
@@njm20music I wish i knew. If it's not there then it must come with the full edition of Groove Agent, or it's an exapnsion. Not sure if you can use expansions with SE.
@@bontempo1271 cheers for the response Bon👍👍
@@njm20music no problem ;)
I'm mostly using NI Studio drummer. The LogicX drumkit designer kits are good too. Now I just need to practice a lot 😄
I have used Addictive Drums 2 before i got EZdrummer 3 and the latter is so much better, the drums sound real and also much less work required to get the drums sounding good in your mix, none of the presets of Addictive Drums 2 sound as real but yes there are so many presets though which may make it more versatile but i would definetly pick EZdrummer 3 and there are expansions available if you need drums for other genres than what’s included. Superior Drummer is awesome but also takes up a lot of space and that’s why i went with the lighter EZdrummer
Colaiuta is fearing for his job. Dom's finger drumming is insane!
I am a drummer and Mr. Colaiuta is the GOAT. What are you talking about?
@@scentline Along with your paradiddles, you should learn to understand jokes ;)
Being a drummer that loves Jazz, Funk, some non misogynist/racist hip hop and Cuban jazz of course so that last one was worth waiting for to me. Thanks again for some valuable information that can save folks like me time and money we dont' have. (I'm old, so time, yeah)
Love the info you share, thank you for posting.
This is one of the best drum vids I’ve seen in a long time.
For acoustic realism - SD3 For Electronic - UVI Falcon Beatbox Anthology 2 For unique colored drum sounds - The old Sampletank XL Can NOT be beat.
Superior Drummer is the best and has the best selection of libraries. If you can't afford it, EZ Drummer is a 2nd best choice. Many of the libraries are from the same sessions/studios.
8Dio Blackbird is quite good, Zeus is as well by them. Forge Drummer is quite useful for certain styles.
I'm surprised that people don't talk about the Navy seal's drum. it sounds amazing and cuts through any given mix.
Just in time! Thanks Dom! I have GGD Modern & Massive and want to jump and try out SD3 with SSD 5.5 kicks and snares. I hope I'll be able to map those nicely so switching between those 3 and mixing in different sounds from them is easier than harder. Lol.
Thanks for the insights! As always great stuff man!
I really love the Abbey Road stuff for old school very vintage type, but the ST. Paul is very intriguing, it sure is Different, hopefully it is adjustable a bit less Roomy. Very nice Demo!!!
I love the way u Manage to play Drum with all your fingures Can u make A tutorial of toplay i need to play My Grooves like U
I mainly use Superior Drummer 3 with custom kits and layered snares and kicks. It's so easy to get really punchy bite sound with them. But real acoustic drums anyway sound so better than any drums library. You can't really replace them. Not one sample library sounds like real drum kit. They sound kinda, but not really.)
I also find the IK Multimedia drums great. But what still surprise me after all these years that so few - actually just really one I know (Superior drummer) - have a meter configuration. So e.g. if I want to customize patterns and select one by meter etc. But, of course, if you are a professional drummer, forget about patterns you know them yourself 😄
great video! if i want to make pop romantic song like lionel richie, endless love song what the best vst that i can to use sir ?
Would be good to hear drums that make hip hop, especially the Dilla style. Dead 1975 comes close, but the samples sound rough. Maybe it's just the same libraries, but different presets.
Man that Modern 80’s Kit is 🔥🔥OMG❗️
I love all the Dry punchey Kits as well
These are great libraries. I love also BFD3 and NI Battery.
BFD is so good. Just horrible to work with haha. But my favourite. Since it’s taken over, I think there will be no development an more unfortunately.
so...APPARENTLY Dom is a god at playing drums on a keyboard! Informative video- great content. THANKS!
I am a huuuuge fan of SD. Have about 2TB of library's .😊 Anyway , your ambidextrosity with hands is on next level.🤙 Tnx for posting this cool content. ✌️
29 Min Jupiter preset in Groove Agent is viable for a lot of stuff. If not as a draft, many times I use it all the way to a final song without much modification.
GA, SD3, occasionally Jamstix engine using other sounds, Drumlab.
Great video as always. Thanks!
Best drums beside supiriour drummer specially when it comes to rock are the ones from mixwave....their sevenfold, mangini, weinberg libaries and almost all their other drums are amazing...but also amazing ecpensive^^
Hi Dom I use EZ Drummer 3 with expansion I am into Pop music and it sounds Gr8
I'm doing a mix with kick and snare, crash, cymbals from Slate SSD5.5 and hi-hat and toms from Toontrack.
I missed BFD3 here, which for me sounds the best even when it definitely needs a lot more tweaking to get a recording sound out of it but it's really flexible and sounds very natural
BFD3 has garbage support though, if it has any at all. After the inmusic migration it was unusable in my projects for like a year, at which point I dumped it and moved on to something else.
@@mandu9520 Agree. It is a shame.
I've got a few of these plugins but at the moment my favourite is MODO Drums.
Fxexpansions bfd3 drums is the best for acoustic kits in my opinion. They were taken over by inmusic and black friday deals means you can get bfd3 for 49.99 (supposed to be 349.99!)