Superior Drummer 3

[JTyson]

Wow!
Just got this up and running, and at least for the honeymoon, this has blown my socks off. Easy to navigate and run with V Drums, the tracker section is fantastic, the options are massive, as is the Core sound library, onboard mixer and effects are really nicely done, and the drum sounds themselves are the best Ive ever heard.
I'm a bit used to being disappointed, but this has not done that at all... My drummer who is really picky about electronic crap, was blown away. You can literally get any drum tones you've ever heard and it sounds like you are in the room with them. ( A really, really fantastic room too BTW)
Highly recommended!

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Very interesting... i am somewhat hunting for a software drummer right now as my drums won't see the light of day for a while. I thought maybe i would go the EZ drummer 2 route but then i think for a couple hundred more should i just go to SD3? EZ definitely does sound too perfect and fake to me but i think using it will motivate me to just use it as a click track and rerecord everthing at a later date. Does SD3 have a midi editor drag and drop etc.. similar to EZ? I am thinking it does? Room tracks are essential in making the drums sound like a unit rather than a bunch of samples IMO.

 

[JTyson]

Very interesting... i am somewhat hunting for a software drummer right now as my drums won't see the light of day for a while. I thought maybe i would go the EZ drummer 2 route but then i think for a couple hundred more should i just go to SD3? EZ definitely does sound too perfect and fake to me but i think using it will motivate me to just use it as a click track and rerecord everthing at a later date. Does SD3 have a midi editor drag and drop etc.. similar to EZ? I am thinking it does? Room tracks are essential in making the drums sound like a unit rather than a bunch of samples IMO.

Well, the drag and drop is as easy to use as any of them, the bank of files to choose from is massive and covers any style, but the tracker section is really cool, you can drop an analog drum track in, let tracker scan it, and it will convert it to a midi file that you can convert to anything in the Core library, or a third party sample if you wish. Super easy to use. The biggest thing by far is how good the sounds are, they are much better than EZ2, and I honestly can't tell its not a real drum. They really got the sounds right, and that was actually my biggest concern. My drummer was stunned by how NOT fake it sounds. It sounds like the real thing. They can be as dry and tight as you wish, or you can get a fantastic smaller room sound, or you can go as huge and massive as you want to. We tried to find something to not like last night for several hours, and we were amazed at how accurate it all sounded. I'd pay the extra for this in a nanosecond now that Ive actually heard up up close and in my own setup. Its pure badass

 

[JTyson]

I would add that my drummer is really familiar with the 2 version, and he says 3 is on a whole different level from any angle. The layout is better and easier to navigate, the options for tweaking to taste are endless, and its much easier to take something you have already tracked and use it within this program. We don't use the drag and drop side of things, we use it as a alternate sound source for v drums

 

[Shawn Lutz]

damn...I watched the video of where they recorded the drums...pretty cool. Sound samples also sound really good https://www.toontrack.com/product/superior-drummer-3/

 

[Vrad]

I've had it for several weeks. It's amazing... A huge improvement over EZDrummer 2 and SD1.0 both of which I've used for a long time.

 

[timeroo]

I have been toying with it while finishing another album I am working on. I used SD2 forever until I found GetGoodDrums and they absolutely CRUSHED SD2 but they took a lot of tweaking, remapping and VSTs etc, different type of deal. I was skeptical about SD3 but so far I am blown away to say the least. The only thing I am pretty unhappy about is not being able to use user VSTs inside the SD3 mixer, they were said to be working on that as an option which had me stoked but instead they improved their own onboard VSTs I guess. So far, I am very impressed and believe me, I have tried every drum software out there. The Bob Rock pack comes out soon and that's also exciting but the Bob Rock presets that came with SD3 are not very good so that doesn't have me too optimistic.

 

[timeroo]

If you don't have a lot of money for drums and you want incredible quality, check out GetGoodDrums because they are afforable and they sound extremely good. There's a really good facebook group for any and all help needs with the software. There are also maps that allow you to use toontrack midi files. To me, the quality is on par with SD3 or better but you won't get the conveniences of SD3 or the vast array of presets. There are tutorials on youtube. Not trying to derail the thread but a lot of people don't want to or can't pay the price for SD3 and GGD is an incredible alternative.

 

[errrrrl]

I have never tried the EZ or Superior drummer products at all... I went with Addictive Drums 2 right off the bat cause of a promo with Sonar a few years ago. Ditched Sonar some time ago for Reaper but still use Addictive Drums 2 as a standalone with my Roland kit or as a VST for home recordings. Curious if anyone has used both AD2 and SD3? Just wondering if it is worth switching? Honestly I get great sounds from AD2 but I never hear people ever mention it though lol. Just wondering if their marketing sucks or is SD superior?

 

[JTyson]

We had used Addictive Drums first version, Im sure the second is even better but Ive not heard it, but SD3 crushes the first version, plus using it with v drums, the options in the program are much better and go a lot deeper for getting what your after if you are not happy with the kits as is. Its capable of anything you want to do recording with v drums all within the program, and the on board effects actually do what you expect them to

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

With V drums I get it because you will still have a human performance. What about the human feel for someone that is programming? Have they built the subtleties into the midi performances or program? One thing I recently saw in jamstix 3 is that separate to velocity , there is also an algorithm that will off set the timing of the hit so that you don't have robotic quantized drums.Can/ Does SD3 do this?

 

[RevDrucifer]

With V drums I get it because you will still have a human performance. What about the human feel for someone that is programming? Have they built the subtleties into the midi performances or program? One thing I recently saw in jamstix 3 is that separate to velocity , there is also an algorithm that will off set the timing of the hit so that you don't have robotic quantized drums.Can/ Does SD3 do this?

They're own MIDI's are quite dynamic regarding the velocities, at least they have been in the past. I have thousands of MIDI's saved on my hard drive and I can always tell when one isn't one of theirs, because every hit is at 128 already, anything I've gotten from ToonTrack has been a nice colorful display of varying velocities and they don't always sit directly on the grid. With MIDI's I write on my own or have gotten somewhere else, it doesn't take very long to adjust the velocities to get them feeling 'right'. In the context of writing/recording/mixing a song, it's minimal work and if you really pay close attention, you can get some really realistic sounding drum tracks.

I'm definitely going to check out SD3. I've used EZD2 for a while now and write with it, once I'm done writing the drum track, I open up Chocolate Audio's Black Album drums, import the MIDI in that, then bounce it into individual audio files, so I can have a separate track in Logic for every drum/room mic. The room mics are really the only thing that keeps me doing it this way. With EZD you've only got 1 ambient track, with Chocolate Audio's you've got 4 room mics and then the individual kit mics. I'm thinking with SD3, I can eliminate this two-program jumping back and forth and just use SD3 for everything.

 

[JTyson]

With V drums I get it because you will still have a human performance. What about the human feel for someone that is programming? Have they built the subtleties into the midi performances or program? One thing I recently saw in jamstix 3 is that separate to velocity , there is also an algorithm that will off set the timing of the hit so that you don't have robotic quantized drums.Can/ Does SD3 do this?

Im not sure if it has that or not, we are not using it to build songs. Id be really surprised if there was not something in there to address that, they seem to have covered everything from what we've seen so far.
Using it as we are thats a non issue

 

[stratjacket]

I like a finished sound on drums, meaning I don't like tweaking the drum sounds. I have used Steven Slates drums for many years and love the ready made good drum sounds it has. Have you ever used Steven Slate drums, if so how would the sounds compare?

 

[JerEvil]

I am hoping against hope that they do a $99 cross grade for SD2 owners for Black Friday! LOL! I have spent so much money on my studio upgrade and new guitar my "financial advisor" will not approve a $200 spend before Xmas! LOL!

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I am hoping against hope that they do a $99 cross grade for SD2 owners for Black Friday! LOL! I have spent so much money on my studio upgrade and new guitar my "financial advisor" will not approve a $200 spend before Xmas! LOL!

I hear ya.. especially with a bun in the oven set to drop in 2018, the purse strings are suddenly tightening and I feel an audit will take place soon to see how the company's money is really being spent!

 

[JerEvil]

I am hoping against hope that they do a $99 cross grade for SD2 owners for Black Friday! LOL! I have spent so much money on my studio upgrade and new guitar my "financial advisor" will not approve a $200 spend before Xmas! LOL!

I hear ya.. especially with a bun in the oven set to drop in 2018, the purse strings are suddenly tightening and I feel an audit will take place soon to see how the company's money is really being spent!

LOL! Fortunately after 2 successful expansions, our bakery has been shut down!

I just head tell that SD2 and EZD2 licenses can be "transferred"... maybe I will do that with my SD2 license after upgrading.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I am hoping against hope that they do a $99 cross grade for SD2 owners for Black Friday! LOL! I have spent so much money on my studio upgrade and new guitar my "financial advisor" will not approve a $200 spend before Xmas! LOL!

I hear ya.. especially with a bun in the oven set to drop in 2018, the purse strings are suddenly tightening and I feel an audit will take place soon to see how the company's money is really being spent!

LOL! Fortunately after 2 successful expansions, our bakery has been shut down!

I just head tell that SD2 and EZD2 licenses can be "transferred"... maybe I will do that with my SD2 license after upgrading.

Part of me also refuses to get a be all and end all drum program because if i remove the need to keep my real kit stacked in the corner, the next organizational move will be to put it into "storage" a.k.a- you never play it, maybe you should sell it? Pfffft, gotta stay one step ahead Jer!

 

[JerEvil]

I am hoping against hope that they do a $99 cross grade for SD2 owners for Black Friday! LOL! I have spent so much money on my studio upgrade and new guitar my "financial advisor" will not approve a $200 spend before Xmas! LOL!

I hear ya.. especially with a bun in the oven set to drop in 2018, the purse strings are suddenly tightening and I feel an audit will take place soon to see how the company's money is really being spent!

LOL! Fortunately after 2 successful expansions, our bakery has been shut down!

I just head tell that SD2 and EZD2 licenses can be "transferred"... maybe I will do that with my SD2 license after upgrading.

Part of me also refuses to get a be all and end all drum program because if i remove the need to keep my real kit stacked in the corner, the next organizational move will be to put it into "storage" a.k.a- you never play it, maybe you should sell it? Pfffft, gotta stay one step ahead Jer!

LOL! I like the way you think man!

 

[Ventura]

I am hoping against hope that they do a $99 cross grade for SD2 owners for Black Friday! LOL! I have spent so much money on my studio upgrade and new guitar my "financial advisor" will not approve a $200 spend before Xmas! LOL!

I hear ya.. especially with a bun in the oven set to drop in 2018, the purse strings are suddenly tightening and I feel an audit will take place soon to see how the company's money is really being spent!

LOL! Fortunately after 2 successful expansions, our bakery has been shut down!

I just head tell that SD2 and EZD2 licenses can be "transferred"... maybe I will do that with my SD2 license after upgrading.

Part of me also refuses to get a be all and end all drum program because if i remove the need to keep my real kit stacked in the corner, the next organizational move will be to put it into "storage" a.k.a- you never play it, maybe you should sell it? Pfffft, gotta stay one step ahead Jer!

LOL! I like the way you think man!

Ya, but, don't ya have to have both so you can always compare plug-ins versus the real deal acoustically?? That's being smart...being prudent. You owe it to yourself to have both - so there are no lies.