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Superior Drummer 2.0
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Superior Drummer 2.0 - Press Reviews |
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| Reviewed by: Music Tech Magazine
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| September 2008 |
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Toontrack has led the way in the development of sample-based drum modules, with its EZdrummer and dfh Superior modules finding fans in all sectors of music production. Initially conceived as an add-on for the original dfh, these drum sessions, recorded in top-end studios in New York, quickly became too big for that purpose and instead served as the foundation for a new version of the instrument.
Described as a ‘multi-microphone drum sampler’, it comes in VST, AU and RTAS plug-in formats for Mac and PC, spread across 5 DVDs. You have a choice of four custom install modes that eat up 4-20GB. The larger installs include the complete sample set and the full range of ‘bleed’ options, which we’ll look at in a moment. Authorisation is via challenge-and-response online.
Kitted Out
The instrument’s interface is well designed and easy on the eye, defaulting to the Construct window on launch. This is where you view your kit, but you can switch to Classic view if you prefer an old-school pads-style display. Kits are loaded from the upper toolbar (SD 2.0 can read earlier soundbanks if you set up their locations in the Preferences).
You’re initially presented with a full kit set up for you, but click on a drum and you can select an alternative, choosing from clear or coated tom heads and various cymbals. Clicking on a drum will cause it to sound, so you don’t have to use MIDI keys as triggers when building a kit. From the Tool Settings menu you can choose what you’re actually hitting your virtual drum with; options include sticks, rods, brushes and carious types of bass drum beater.
Many of the hits are multi-sampled, with some having up to 25 hard and 25 soft hits plus 15 gradient hits, so a tremendous degree of expression can be achieved by playing at different velocities. Helpfully, the sound engine is able to randomise samples based on velocity ranges and ensure that the same sample is never played back twice in a row (unless you want it to). This prevents the ‘machine gun’ effect that can be a shortcoming of drum samplers.
Take control
Along the bottom of the main window are several boxes for managing various settings. The Memory & Status section displays the current RAM load as well as enabling you to toggle between 16- and 24-bit modes and manually flush the memory. The EZ Mixer box enables you to select a mic and alter its level/ pan and bleed parameters, while the Voices and Layers section is used to control the strain on your system. Finally, an Instrument box enables you to switch between articulations for any given drum – bell or ride for a cymbal, centre, roll or rimshot for the snare and so on.
The kits recorded for the sessions are top-notch and Envelope and Pitch controls are provided for each should you wish to adjust them.
The mixer in SD 2.0 is considerably more flexible than those in previous versions and now enables you to fully sub-mix a kit before it leaves the plug-in. Each mic has a dedicated channel strip and can be routed to any of 16 outputs or 16 busses. Channels can also be grouped, and although the mixer has a lot of controls, they’re well labelled and easy to follow.
Interestingly, SD 2.0 has built-in effects powered by Sonalksis, including an EQ, filter, gate, compressor and transient designer, up to five of which can be applied to any channel. Better still, there are channel presets for quickly applying multiple effects chains.
Let it bleed
Anyone who has recorded real drums knows that bleed between mics is inevitable, but it’s also a fairly key part of getting a good drum sound. If you install the relevant sound set, you have the ability to control this bleed. Unlike recording real drums, though, you can specify which drums leak into which other drums (and by how much). When you factor in all of the available channels, the result is an unprecedented level of control over the effects of leakage on the sound of the kit.
Drum it out
The graphical representation of a drum kit on display may initially suggest that this is somehow a toy rather than a serious instrument, but nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, SD 2.0 is a very powerful drum sample playback module, with a well-designed interface and in-depth controls. It’s geared towards acoustic drums, of course, and implements clever ways of capturing human variations in feel and velocity. For maximum playability you’ll probably want to hook up a MIDI drum kit rather than a keyboard, but that’s minor issue. For a live drum sound and feel with great flexibility, it’s hard to beat.
Summary
Why buy
Great Sound
Easy to change playback style, drum types and implements
Very playable
Mix and match with other Toontrack sound libraries
Powerful onboard effects and mixer
Well-designed and easy to use
Replicates the functionality of a full drum studio
Comes with EZ Player Pro
Walk on by
No built-in reverb
Verdict
A very authentic-sounding, playable and powerful drum sampler that’s about as close as you can get to real drums without recording them yourself.
Rating: 9/10 |
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| Reviewed by: Computer Music
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| September 2008 |
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It’s been four years since Toontrack released their original dfh Superior drum ROMpler. Since then, other similar instruments have appeared (BFD2, Addictive Drums and Strike, for example), and Toontrack have even released their own affordable, more intuitive alternative: EZdrummer. However, there have been no major changes to the original plug-in, and it’s fair to say that it definitely lost its edge somewhat. So maybe it’s appropriate that Superior Drummer 2.0 not only marks the first phase of Toontrack’s New York Studio Legacy Series library, but also the release of a completely overhauled program.
The big news with SD2.0 is that it follows the now industry-standard layout, with separate drum kit and mixer views. If you do feel nostalgic for the original version, the ‘main’ super-pad screen or ‘classic view’ can be selected instead, though they’ve done away with the convoluted construction pages. All kit-building now takes place in the main interface, with microphone bleed levels handled on a fader-by-fader basis in the mixer window – clicking the Bleed selector next to a fader opens up an additional Levels tab.
In terms of kit construction, SD2.0 includes a few basic layouts, and beyond that you can also augment kits with so-called X-Drums. These are essentially extra instruments that you define and allocate samples and mics to – they then appear in the main kit window with a graphic. You can have a total of 45 kit positions, including those in the presets list, which is pretty impressive and enables truly monstrous designs.
New York, New York
SD2.0 ships with the first volume of Toontrack’s New York Studio Legacy Series library, which was recorded at NY’s Avatar Studios (formerly The Power Station) by Pat Thrall, Neil Dorfsman and drummer Nir Z. It’s a 60GB library, reduced to 20GB on disk using lossless data compression. There are also three slimmed down installs available, 4GB being the smallest.
With the full install, you get to choose which sticks (sticks, brushes, rods or mallets) and kick beater (wood, plastic or felt) to use. The basic kit comes from US company GMS, but is augmented by additional pieces. You get three kicks, seven snares (including a Ludwig Black Beauty), three hi-hats, four rides, five cymbal sets, two types of tom and cowbell. For added variety, the kit sample recordings include some additional microphone options. These were processed at source to retain phase coherence, and include an 1176-processed snare mic and another with Sure Green Bullet-recorded room ambience, processed via a Boogie amp.
Finally, as well as overheads, there are five room mic options, recorded with Coles, U67 and C24 mics, among others. However, given the additional memory required, not all of these load automatically, even when you fire up the full kit. Once we got the hang of this, the level of variety available – even before we reached for the onboard effects – became apparent.
Tub thumping
In use, although the window itself is dominated by either the drum kit or the mixer, the bottom quarter of the screen remains constant at all times. Here you’ll find memory status, master volume, and detailed parameters for each instrument, including velocity parameters and key assignments. The instrument section in the right corner is the best place to audition kit sounds, as it’s context-sensitive – alas, the main kit graphics aren’t.
SD2.0 is fully compatible with previous Toontrack libraries, including dfh Superior and EZdrummer, although you can’t mix and match kits freely. You can, however, add X-Drums to combine elements of different libraries.
Out of the box, SD2.0 is as easy to program as any other drum ROMpler, and with extra snare and hi-hat articulations on separate notes, in time, you’ll learn to create convincing drum parts from scratch, However, if speed is of the essence, the included EZ Player Pro plug-in instrument includes a large library of MIDI grooves. It also has its own multi-layer arranger, and it will even convert its MIDI mapping to match other popular drum ROMplers, such as BFD and Addictive Drums. Its drag-and-drop functionality enables you to simply import grooves onto SD2.0 instrument tracks for instant results.
In addition to being used from programming realistic percussion tracks, drum ROMplers are also employed as instruments to be triggered live by drummers playing electronic drum kits. Although designed primarily as a plug-in, SD2.0 includes a standalone host app called Toontrack Solo, and this is your best bet when using an electronic kit. Select the E-drum preset from the MIDI/controller list and you’ll get mapping suited to most mainstream digital drum hardware. If you have electronic hi-hats, you can even fine-tune the response with the CC offset option.
Operationally, SD2.0 is much slicker than its predecessor, and this isn’t just down to the more logical workflow – the engine also seems to have been improved. With instruments of this type, shifting such large amounts of data sometimes results in the odd buffering click or pop, but we experienced none of that with SD2.0.
Ultimately, if we do have any criticism, it’s that there is a ‘sameyness’ to the sound of the library, no doubt imparted by the studio room itself. Even so, with Volume 2 available next year, you’ll be able to add the sound of Allaire and the Hit Factory to the mix. Overall, then, SD2.0 is considerably better than its predecessor, and arguably the best in its class.
Verdict
FOR
Slick performance
Library sounds fantastic
Useful included MIDI library
Top quality mixer and effects
Good standalone option for e-drummers
AGAINST
Library sounds a little samey
MIDI patterns not integrated into plug-in
Easy to use, slick as you like, and with a ‘superior’ sound, SD2.0 has beaten back the competition to claim its place as perhaps the best drum ROMpler going.
Rating: 9/10
Awarded Computer Music’s Performance Award |
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| Reviewed by: iDJ magazine
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| September 2008 |
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Plug-in drum sounds can often sound flat and cold. With no modelled sounds whatsoever, and a wealth of recorded live drums courtesy of Pat Thrall, Neil Dorfsman and Nir Z at some of New York’s finest studios, Superior Drummer 2.0 intends to put this right. Ostensibly seeming like the best all-encompassing drum plug-in of all time, this package is loaded with some of the fattest drum sounds you’ll hear on any plug-in. Let’s take a closer look…
Packed with over 150,000 sound files, including three kickdrums, eight snares, four hi-hats, five toms, five cymbal set-ups, four rides and cowbells, this is one comprehensive drum kit. And that’s just for starters!
The software features two windows: construction and mixer. The construction window is a graphical display of your drums and cymbals, and allows you to quickly audition sounds and kit set-up options before you mix and match instruments from the Toontrack libraries. Envelope, pitch and humanize all have their own windows within the construction window, and allow you to customise all your individual drum sounds. The advanced mixer offers 12 routable buses with 16 stereo outputs as well as a wealth of mixer presets to get you set up with ease. There are also five built-in effects: filter, gate, EQ, compressor and transient filters. What’s more, you have complete control over the instrument bleed levels in the mics. Toontrack have also included the MIDI engine EZplayer Pro. Ideal for multi-track arranging, with simple drag and drop functionality into any sequencer, this is a multi-track MIDI arranger with unlimited layers. For standalone operation, Toontrack Solo is also included.
Whether you’re a beginner or pro, Superior Drummer 2.0 has something for everyone. Possibly the most powerful drum sample plug-in you will ever buy, it will add that big live drum sound you would normally have to pay a fortune for if you had to book a live studio and drummer. Highly recommended.
Verdict
Sound Quality: 19/20
Build Quality: 17/20
Ease of Use: 16/20
Value for Money: 17/20
Feature Set: 18/20
IDJ Rating: 87% - Beginner or pro, this library has something for everyone. If you’re looking for a serious drum sampler then your search ends right here! |
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| Reviewed by: Music Planet
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| September 2008 |
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For most musicians, getting a great drum track for their recordings is one of the trickiest production tasks they face. Even if you have (or are) a great drummer you’re going to need a big mic collection and a superb-sounding room just to get your drums in the right ballpark to compete with professionally produced recordings. To make things easier Toontrack has been sampling drums in one of the most incredible studios in the world. They also provide you with the tools to manipulate these samples into your recordings, so that they not only sound great, but also natural as if played by a real drummer, live in the studio.
Superior Drummer 2.0 builds on the unprecedented level of control provided by its predecessors, providing you with a huge selection of drum pieces to play, and the ability to control exactly how the kit sounds in your recordings, as well as providing a means to compose and arrange you drum tracks, either using pre-supplied MIDI drum loops played by Nir Z, or by playing in your own drum parts with a MIDI controller or e-Drums kit.
Total Control
Subtitled The New York Studio Legacy Series, the tracking for the Superior Drummer 2.0 samples was done at Avatar Studios in New York by producer Pat Thrall (Black Crowes, Beyoncé), and engineer Neil Dorfsman (kiss, Bruce Springsteen, Dire Straits and Sting) with session drummer Nir Z (Genesis, Joss Stone and Chris Cornell). The collaboration of these three individuals with Toontrack has brought some of the finest sampled instruments we’ve ever heard. However, the final say on how the instruments sound is entirely down to you, and controlled from within the Superior Drummer software.
The mixer engine has a staggering amount of mic’ing options for each instrument. There are four direct mics on the snare drum, including both top and bottom, a side mic and a separate channel for the top mic through a Neve 1176 compressor. You can also control how much bleed from other instruments comes through into each microphone, as well as routing the channels in the mixer through their own busses and adding effects either directly to the channel or to busses. One of our favourite discoveries from the mic’ing options was the Bullet Mic, a Shure 520D placed about a metre from the kit running through a Messa Boogie amp, which gives a crunchy, filtered sound without any of the phasing issues commonly associated with post-processing through distortion.
Mixing Down
Within the mixer you have five effects from Sonalksis alongside the traditional five-band EQ. These include High-pass and Low-pass Filter, Gate, Compressor and Transient Designer, which enables you to emphasise or hide the attack phase of each instrument. The effects have a great sound all of their own, and are far more advanced than many of the built-in effects we’ve seen in other plug-in instruments. While the EQ and Compressor don’t have quite the flavour of an SSL or Neve desk, we’d be happy to mix the drum sound on one of our recordings entirely within the Superior Drummer environment.
Tweaker’s Paradise
With so many different options to choose from, Superior Drummer 2.0 can be a little overwhelming for anyone new to drum mixing. If, however, you have the time to invest in learning your way around it, or you already know your way around a professional studio, SD2.0 offers the flexibility to produce everything from incredibly clean, tight drums, to big, pounding roomy sounds or dirty, biting hits.
And if all this does seem a bit too much for you, Toontrack’s EZdrummer has a similar amount of quality in a less-advanced and easier-to-use package. EZ also offers a great way in SD2.0 at a later date.
Verdict
Incredible-sounding drums
Massive creative potential
Flexible mixer
Great-sounding effects
If you like to stay on top of your drum sound, this is the software for you. Superior Drummer 2.0 gives you control of every facet of your drum track, from the rhythm itself to the kit used and the tone of each piece. |
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| Reviewed by: Phil Heeley, Teaching & Learning Manager for Music Technology & Youth Culture
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| September 2008 |
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Full installation requires a recommended 25gig hard drive space, modern G5, Intel or AMD multicore CPU with 2GB RAM or more. It wasn’t long ago when this meant selling your granny and investing in the latest greatest memory monster but these days we barely bat an eyelid, armed as we inevitably are with 500 gig internal hard drives and a plethora of external ones. But if you’re a bit too fond of said elderly relative you have the opportunity to choose between four (4) different custom installations - from the 4 GB basic install to the full 20 GB Sound Library.
When you load SD2 there is a 25 second wait whilst the 580mb drum kit is loaded. This was probably made longer by the fact that mine was installed on an external drive. Mmm... what should I do while I wait – read the PDF manual?
Greeting you is a 6 piece kit comprising Kik, snare, two toms on the kik drum and two floor toms. There are five different cymbals not including the hi-hats. All the drums and cymbals have a triangle which when clicked on reveal a choice of different makes and sizes including the type of head. Attention to detail is what SD2 is all about. On closer inspection there is a ghost tom on the kik drum. Clicking on the triangle reveals Tom 3 14” GMS coated heads. Another triangle reveals a cowbell. There are also five ghost cymbals. When you have gone click crazy you are surrounded by a seven piece drum kit, cowbell, hats and eleven cymbals. Well that should keep us going for a bit. Our ram count has now gone up to a whopping 905mb. As well as this you can add X-drums from the library of sounds.
The sounds are what we have come to expect from Toontrack – awesome. (More can be added from Toontrack libraries as well as the ability to read and combine all dfh Superior and EZdrummer sound libraries.) This is thanks to amongst other things Automatic Velocity Mapping. Hits are separated into three categories for velocity mapping purposes: soft hits, gradient hits and hard hits The intensity levels for all soft and all hard hits are the same in their respective categories. They’ve sampled up to 25 soft hits and 25 hard hits on selected instruments and around 15 groups of gradient hits, increasing gradually from soft to hard, each populated with up to 25 hits. Through the unique system developed by Toontrack Music the sampler automatically maps these hits to the appropriate velocity range. By default all soft hits are mapped between MIDI velocities 1 and 20 and played in a random manner. Hard hits are triggered by a MIDI velocity of 127, again in a random manner. Finally gradient hits are triggered between velocities 21 and 126. This can, of course, be changed to suit your taste.
The SD2 is full of features that eliminate the dreaded “machine-gun effect”. For example, while playing or programming, the same sample will never be played twice in a row, unless you want them to. All hits can be randomized which makes it impossible to hear a certain hit sequence or pattern... just like a real drummer never hits the drum exactly the same way twice.
The SUPERIOR instrument not only gives you full on leakage, but will also let you specify which drum leaks into which microphone, a feature useful to keep memory usage low while programming or previewing sounds. In addition, the SD2 goes one step further with its unique “Mic leakage control”, allowing you to set the exact level you would like to hear for each drum in any one microphone. You can just select the microphone that you wish to edit and lower the level of the drum that is causing you trouble. And since this operation can be performed with any microphone in relation to any instrument in the drumkit, the net result is unprecedented flexibility over your virtual session.
The default standard view is that of a drum kit from a slightly elevated viewpoint as roles out in the first endeavour EZ drummer. This is also known as the construction window. But for the die hard traditionalist used to Superior Drummer 1 there is the classic view revealing 19 square boxes not dissimilar from small black and white TV sets. They have exactly the same functionality but just don’t look as appealing and doesn’t software have to look good as well as sound good these days?
Gone is the rather nice midi player from EZDrummer and in its place the excellent new EZPlayer Pro – billed as a multi track MIDI arranger with unlimited layers. This comes as a separate application but loads into your DAW and is far more flexible. You can drop in any midi file you wish and layer one upon another. It comes with a pile of midi files played by Nir Z amongst others. With the loop feature you can decide exactly which section you want to loop resulting in some amazing multi-rhythmic mayhem. You can also drag your own midi looks directly into any of the tracks. The creative potential is enormous.
If you’re familiar with EZDrummer you’ll be aware of the mixer. SD2 has a far more advanced mixer with the ability to add 5 FX on each channel or drum/cymbal. Effects are provided by Sonalksis and have the usual high quality associated with the name. They include EQ, fliter, Gate, Compression and Transient designer with the last two offering the ability to sidechain. These come with some interesting presets to get you started.
I tried triggering the software from the keyboard, the Korg Kontrol pad and the Roland V-Drums and I have to say you cannot distinguish this from a real kit. The end of the session drummer is nigh! |
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| Reviewed by: Drummer magazine
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| October 2008 |
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Although a recent development, sample-based virtual drum programs (or ROMplers as they’re often known) have developed into more and more sophisticated and realistic pieces of software. Toontrack’s Superior Drummer was in the first wave of these programs, and the time has come for a much-needed update to version 2.
Spanning five DVDs, installation is nice and simple but be aware that you’ll have to install the standalone version of the plug-in (if you need it) separately. Loading the hefty sound library is always a drag with these programs, but thankfully Toontrack has made the job as automated and pain-free as possible, This includes the option of choosing between four installation of differing sizes, from the basic 4Gb install to the full-monty 20Gb – which tool around half an hour on my test PC.
New Interface
Fire the program up and the first thing that’s noticeable is the new user interface, split between two main screens: a kit view, seen from the drummer’s perspective and loosely based on Toontrack’s other, simpler, drum ROMpler EZ Drummer; and a mixer screen. It’s a vast improvement on the first version of the program and brings the program graphically up to date with its competitors. The kit view screen is used to select and build your kit from the supplied sample library – the first part of Toontrack’s snappily named New York Studio Legacy Series.
Choices, Choices
The majority of these samples are based around a GMS kit, with cymbals by Sabian and some additional snares. With the full 20Gb install the final kit tally is three kicks, seven snares (including a 70s Slingerland and a Ludwig Black Beauty), three hats, four rides, two tom sets, five cymbal sets and a cowbell. Also there’s a choice of sticks, brushes, rods, mallets or kick-drum beater – in wood, felt or plastic. Kit selection contains a few basic presets, but extra pieces can be added using the X-drums feature to customise a virtual kit.
The mixer screen is also logically laid out and straightforward to use, even if it may look a touch daunting to first-time users of this type of software. In addition to faders for each piece of kit, the mixer screen contains overhead controls as well as five additional room mic options, multiple outputs and mixer busses.
Five good-quality effects are also included: gate; filter; EQl; ‘transient processor’ with compression; and Toontrack’s microphone bleed system. This basically allows complete control over how much (if any) microphone spill you wish to include, like the kick being picked up by the snare mic, for example. Again, this might all be a bit much for novice users but there are some useful presets to get going with.
Icing on the cake
The icing on the cake comes in the shape of EZplayer Pro, a separate MIDI player and arranger that comes with a large library of ready-to-go grooves, courtesy of drummer Nir Z.
From a programmer’s point of view I settled into SD2.0 very quickly indeed. The new interface is much more user-friendly and it’s easy to get good-sounding results quickly and with minimal fuss. Spend some time to delve deeper into all of the routing, microphone and other options and you’ll be rewarded with much more control over your drum sound.
Moving on to a drummer’s perspective, I found Superior Drummer equally enjoyable to use – even with my limited chops. Triggering the program from a Drum Kat MIDI controller (with kick and hat pedals), SD2.0 responded well and, once again, sounded great to my ears.
Conclusion
Toontrack has upped its game in the production of SD2.0 It’s easy to use while having some heavyweight sound options to tweak under the bonnet. Although the stock sounds may be slightly restricted in number, they sound great and more sound libraries are currently in development.
In a market already containing some heavyweight contenders, SD2.0 easily holds its own and could well become your next drum ROMpler of choice. |
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| Reviewed by: Sound on Sound
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| December 2008 |
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Toontrack’s Superior Drummer 2.0 essentially represents a second generation of DFH Superior and, when Paul White reviewed the original release back in March 2005, he was very impressed by the realism of the sound and the extraordinary level of detail in the sampling. However, it is probably true to say that some potential users were put off by what was perceived as a somewhat complex user interface. To their credit, Toontrack responded with EZ Drummer, based upon a narrower range of drum sounds than DFH Superior but with a much more user-friendly interface. With SD 2.0, Toontrack are attempting to marry the best of both these earlier products – the meticulous sampling and user control found in DFH Superior with a more accessible user-interface based on EZ Drummer. SD 2.0 comes hot on the heels of its obvious competitor – BFD2 – so how does Toontrack’s latest offering shape up against FXpansion’s flagship product?
Bundle of Fun
SD 2.0 comprises five main components: the drum sample playback engine itself; a 60GB sample library; the EZ Player Pro MIDI loop manager ad sequencer (including a library of MIDI loops); a bundle of five audio plug-ins; and Toontrack Solo, which is designed to allow stand-alone operation of any of Toontrack’s drum instruments. While SD 2.0 can be driven by a standard MIDI track, the separate EZ Player Pro plug-in provides additional options for managing, auditioning and sequencing MIDI loops, and this serves a similar function to parts of the Grooves page within BFD2. EZ Player Pro doesn’t include a MIDI editor – this still has to be undertaken within your host sequencer – but many users may prefer to do this sort of editing in a familiar environment rather than having to learn a new set of tools anyway.
Via some clever compression technology, Toontrack have managed to get 60GB of detailed drum sampling into 20GB of hard drive space. Installation does take a little time, but both that and the challenge-and-response authorisation process proved otherwise painless on my test PC. I tested the VST version within Cubase 4.5.2 but AU and RTAS hosts are also supported, as is the stand-alone mode mentioned earlier. All the documentation is supplied in PDF format.
Shiny new kit
SD 2.0 includes an EZ Drummer-style drum-kit view in the Construct window and this provides an attractive means of auditioning (simply by clicking on the drum graphics) and loading samples (clicking on the small arrows produces a drop-down menu of kit pieces). For existing DFH Superior users, a ‘classic’ view is also provided, where each drum item is represented as a drum pad. The right-hand side of the Construct window allows the Envelope, Pitch and Humanise settings to be adjusted for the currently selected (highlighted in blue) kit piece, while the topmost box allows X-drums (you guessed it, extra drums) to be added to the kit. If you own other Toontrack drum libraries, such as the Latin Percussion library, X-drums can be used to build a full percussion section around the basic drum kit.
Along the base of the main window are five ever-present control sections. The Memory & Status section provides information and control over SD 2.0’s RAM needs, while the Master Volume section does exactly what you would expect. The other three sections all refer to the currently selected kit piece, and particularly useful are the EZ Mixer controls, which mean that the full Mixer window doesn’t have to be opened just to make a quick level adjustment to one element of the kit.
Perhaps the most significant development in the GUI is the Mixer window. This features separate channels for each virtual microphone, and, as there are multiple mic positions for the kick and snare as well as the overheads and ambient mics, this gives a very detailed level of control over how the kit sounds. Mixing the sampled drums of SD 2.0 provides an experience very similar to mixing a real multi-miked drum kit. Each channel features slots for insert effects, although you are limited to the selection of EQ (five-band), Gate, Compressor, Transient and high- and low-pass Filter supplied with SD 2.0. That said, these all sounded very good to my ears.
As well as a standard master output, SD 2.0 supports up to 16 stereo output channels if you wish to do further processing in your host DAW. Clicking on the Output button towards the bottom of each channel strip allows a mic to be routed to a particular output pair or to one of the 16 buses. The Bus Send Bleed and Bleed Control knobs allow the user to specify the degree of microphone bleed from each kit piece into other microphones. Clicking on the Edit button under a channel’s Bleed Control knob allows the amount of bleed to be specified on a drum-by-drum basis. I suspect that this degree of control may be over the top for the needs of most users, but if you do want ultimate control for an ultra-realistic sound, SD 2.0 can certainly oblige.
Playing like a pro
The SD 2.0 engine can, of course, be triggered from a standard MIDI keyboard or a set of MIDI drum pads. However, if you have a collection of suitable MIDI drum loops the EZ Player Pro plug-in provides an alternative approach to building your drum parts. Toontrack supply an excellent collection of MIDI loops in a variety of styles and time signatures, and users can specify the paths to any other MIDI loop libraries they may have installed on their hard drive. To use EZ Player Pro, the plug-in is simply loaded into the Cubase VST Instruments rack (detailed instructions are given in the PDF manual for a number of popular hosts), after which it can be selected as the MIDI in source for the MIDI track allocation to SD 2.0.
The EZ Player Pro window is divided into two areas: the upper section simply provides a Browser window where MIDI loops can be searched and selected; and underneath is the multi-track Arranger window. In between these two is a strip of controls that include a playback option for auditioning the currently selected MIDI loop within the Browser. Having auditioned a loop, you can drag and drop it onto a MIDI track in the host DAW or onto one of the tracks in the Arranger window. While many users might prefer to do their loop arranging in their DAW, the Arrange window does offer some interesting possibilities. For example, each track can have multiple Layers, and a different loop can be placed in each Layer, with options to play all layers, cycle through them or select one at random with each playback pass. As the MIDI output from EZ Player Pro can be recorded into your DAW, there are also some excellent creative possibilities to be had by offsetting the loops within different tracks to create new performances. This would work particularly well with tracks containing percussive parts.
Hit it!
Given the DFH Superior pedigree, it should come as no surprise that the sophisticated functionality provided by the combination of SD 2.0 and EZ Player Pro is matched by the quality of the drum sampling. When you consider that there are approximately 150,000 individual samples in the library and that these are spread across a relatively small number of individual drums and cymbals, the word ‘detailed’ probably doesn’t do the sampling strategy justice. The library includes three kicks, seven snares, three hi-hats, five toms, six cymbal setups, four rides and a cowbell. In almost all cases, multiple articulations are included (for example, seven different types of snare hits) as well as a variety of sticks, brushes and mallets.
Compared with the slightly more expensive BFDs, there is probably not quite as much variety in the SD 2.0 library but, as with FXpansion’s line, Toontrack already offer a number of add-on kits, with more in development. That said, what is included here sounds absolutely great. Given the control over individual microphones, the ability to pitch-shift the individual kit pieces and to adjust their transients, it is possible to conjure a huge range of acoustic drum sounds from SD 2.0 and they would suite many different musical genres. I’m not sure I’d find myself delving into the various bleed options too often, but the ability to blend the close mics’ bleed with that of the overheads and room mics allows you to add as much or as little ambience as required.
One might expect all this realism to come at something of a cost in terms of computer resources but, in basic use, SD 2.0 didn’t seem to put a significant strain on my test system. CPU load only really seemed to pick up when I inserted more instances of the various effects plug-ins into the mixer. RAM use is perhaps more of an issue as the ‘full’ version of the default kit requires almost 1GB to load. However, options such as the system ‘cache’ (which only loads samples as they are used), 16-bit mode and the ability to limit the velocity layers can all be combined to reduce this quite dramatically while composing, and can then be switched off again when it comes to the final mix. Alternatively, SD 2.0 includes its own Bounce window, where its outputs can be bounced down to audio. This bouncing is done at the highest quality and, as well as just creating a standard stereo mix, can be used to create audio tracks for each virtual microphone. In essence, this will generate a multitrack audio performance – just as if you had recorded a real drum kit – ready for mixing with the rest of the audio in your project.
Summary
It’s difficult not to be impressed by what SD 2.0 has to offer. Toontrack have managed to strike a sensible balance between very detailed control of your drum mix and an interface that is relatively easy to use. And as the samples themselves sound excellent, the only limits to your creativity are your programming ability and your host computer – unless you have a reasonably well-endowed one.
The obvious comparison is with FXpansion’s BFD2 and, having used both products, I have to say that choosing a favourite is a very difficult call. In terms of control over your drum mixing, I think SD 2.0 and BFD2 are pretty evenly matched, and I suspect that both products actually offer more features than most of us would find ourselves using on a routine basis. The attention to detail in the sampling in both products is also excellent. While there are some differences between the two in terms of the approach taken to certain features, probably the most obvious difference is that BFD2 is supplied with a somewhat larger variety of drum types, while SD 2.0 comes in at a lower asking price. Without wishing to sound as though I’m sitting on the fence, if price is not a primary consideration, this really is a case where potential purchasers will need to audition for themselves. Like BFD2, Toontrack’s superior Drummer 2.0 is an excellent product. |
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| Reviewed by: Rhythm magazine
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| December 2008 |
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Toontrack released the popular Drumkit From Hell sample library in 2002, followed up by DFH Superior, which used the same samples wrapped up in a pug-in with a graphical interface. Superior Drummer 2.0 is the latest percussion package from Toontrack and it works as a plug-in or a standalone program. The team recorded the library at Avatar Studios, New York with session wizard Nir Z atop the throne. Like its esteemed predecessors, the software uses many thousands of samples of individual drum hits, recorded with multiple mics.
Build
Fire up SD2.0 and you’re greeted with the Construction screen where you can easily cobble together a kit from the available drums and cymbals. You can drop in extra pieces using the X0Drum feature – since SD2.0 can import libraries from other Toontrack percussion products, you can use this to mix and match elements.
Each drum/cymbal has its own settings, including tuning and an amplitude envelope. You can choose from sticks, rods and brushes, felt and plastic beaters, engage a ‘no snare’ option for certain drums and utilise numerous playing techniques (sidestick, rim shot, flam and so on).
The other main screen is the Mixer, with channels for every mic, bus and output. You can also apply effects (EQ, compression, gating, filters and transient-shaping), set bleed levels and configure sends.
Toontrack’s EZplayer Pro MIDI arranger/organiser is also included, which scooped a four-star rating in a review last issue (page 98) and comes with many MIDI grooves.
Hands on
SD2.0 sounds great right out of the box. Drummers will enjoy switching around snares and cymbals – it’s a neat way to ‘try out’ cymbals (all Sabian, by the way) to hear how they sound in a full kit context.
Levels are adjustable via the Construction screen and there are mixer presets for various styles and eras. You’ll be at home with the Mixer screen as its’ exactly like mixing a live kit, with multiple mics where appropriate – for example, top and bottom on the snare. The effects are simple yet highly effective.
As you’re no doubt aware, when recording, each mic picks up other drums too. Because Toontrack recorded each hit coming through every mic, this characteristic is preserved, so the results are eerily convincing. Best of all, you can change the bleed levels – such as the amount of hi-hat coming through the snare mic – which you certainly can’t do in the real world!
Verdict
SD2.0 is a highly impressive package and possibly the best in its class – the only real grumble might be that you don’t get more kits included in the package. Thanks to the flexibility sound-shaping features, though, the tone can be made to suit practically any genre of music requiring a drum kit. The sound is incredibly lifelike, the interface is as streamlined as can be and the kits load up quickly too, which could be vital on stage. Value-wise, for the price of a low-end snare drum, you can enjoy the sound of a high-end, expertly tuned kit recorded in a great room using expensive studio equipment.
Rating: 5/5 |
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| Reviewed by: Keyboard Player magazine
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| November 2008 |
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When you are recording songs and instrumentals one of the most important elements for success is a vibrant drum track. Fortunately nowadays musicians are spoilt for choice with a range of excellent technology products. One of the companies leading the way has been Toontrack who, some four years ago, released their original dfh Superior drum player to great acclaim. This was followed by the hugely popular EZDrummer which, as its name suggests, is a simple application designed to achieve a great drum sound with minimum fuss. Next Toontrack launched a series of EZDrummer expansion packs, including ‘Latin Percussion’, ‘Vintage Rock’, ‘Nashville’ and ‘Claustrophobic’, designed to produce the ideal drum sounds for different musical genres. Now they have launched their totally redesigned premier drum sampler as dfh Superior Drummer 2.0 which I am reviewing.
Installation
Superior Drummer 2.0 operates from within practically any virtual instrument host sequencer such as Cubase, Sonar or Logic and requires a reasonably fast computer with either Windows XP or Vista or Apple Mac OS X 10.4 or higher. The product comes on a set of four DVDs allowing you to choose from four different custom installations ranging from the basic 4 GB version to the full 20 GB installation. Initial install takes some time since there are so many samples to copy onto your hard disc. Next you need to through the straightforward registration and authorization of the product with Toontrack which also enables you to keep up to date with any future changes and updates to the product.
The Drum Instrument Sounds
When you call up Superior 2.0 you see a full graphic representation of the drum-kit where you can construct your personal choices from a wide range of different kick drums, snares, toms and cymbals and clicking instrument plays back the sound. You can also call up the ‘Tools’ setting to specify drumsticks, brushes, rods or felt mallets. You can even choose between felt or plastic beater for your bass drum. In addition the X-drums feature enables you to extend your kit with additional sounds from any Toontrack sound libraries. Since the drum kit samples were painstakingly recorded at New York’s famous Avatar Studios and played by drummer NirZ the sounds are astonishingly convincing and a genuine full-bodied acoustic drum-kit leaps from your speakers. Naturally you can operate all the sounds from a MIDI keyboard and record your own drum tracks or, even better, play the sounds from a MIDI drum-kit. Alternatively of course you can use the superb sounds to output your MIDI drum grooves and Superior 2.0 comes supplied with a generous selection of grooves. The software also includes the excellent MIDI organizer EZPlayer Pro and ‘Toontrack Solo’ which enables you to operate Superior 2.0 as a stand alone product without requiring a host sequencer.
Mixer, Controls and Effects
At the bottom of the Superior 2.0 window there are essential functions always on view. ‘Memory and Status’ indicates how much RAM has been used and there is the option to switch from standard 24-bit to 16-bit to save RAM usage. There is also the ‘EZMixer’ which is a simplified mixer with quick access to a single microphone for volume level adjustment, panning and overall bleed setting. Next is a ‘Master Volume’ section which controls the overall sampler volume output and a ‘Voices and Layers’ section dedicated to optimising the sampler’s demand on computer resources. Finally there is the ‘Instruments’ section where the relative volumes of each instrument from the drum-kit can be adjusted and also where MIDI mapping may be user specified if desired. To the right of the window there are controls for ‘X-Drums’ selection, an envelope shaper and a pitch control which allows you to alter the instrument’s original pitch in real time and apply changes. Finally there is a ‘Humaniser’ section with controls specifying how even a single instrument responds by varying and adjusting as if played by a real human drummer. The Superior 2.0 samples have been recorded at numerous different velocities since the drum timbre changes along with the loudness. The ‘humanise’ feature replicates the way that a real drummer never hits a drum exactly the same way twice and this results in a supremely natural sound.
As you can see without even opening the full mixer within Superior 2.0 you already have an amazing level of control over the sound output. However when you do open the full mixer window you see just how much more control is available. Superior Drummer 2.0 is a microphone-based instrument as you would expect from a sampled drum-kit recorded in a professional studio. This mixer enables you not only to control the sound of each microphone per instrument but also the degree that any other instruments may bleed into that microphone. When you apply a series of microphones to record a drum-kit each microphone will obviously pick up aspects of the other drums as well as the one it is most closely attached to. This sound ‘bleeding’ is a crucial part of what makes a great and natural-sounding drum-kit recording. In Superior 2.0 you have the same type of control as the recording engineer in the professional studio. Another essential feature in Superior 2.0 is the ‘Inserts’ section where you can insert any of the integrated effects included in the program. These effects include a 5-band equalizer, Hi/Lo pass filter, a noise gate, a compressor and transient modeler. Using these effects you can alter your overall drum production sounds with great attention to detail.
EZPlayer Pro
This excellent MIDI groove player is also available separately to purchase from Toontrack but is included with Superior 2.0. It is essentially a MIDI organiser capable of driving any sound source that can be controlled by MIDI including drum samplers like Superior 2.0 and EZDrummer. Once set up all your MIDI groove libraries can easily be called up and auditioned and you can quickly arrange a drum track directly into your sequencer’s arrangement window. Also if you have tempo changes within your song then the loops always fit as the tempo is controlled by the sequencer master tempo. EZPlayer Pro is both simple to operate and sophisticated allowing you to create multi-layer rhythms and polyrhythms if you so desire.
Some Conclusions
Toontrack Superior 2.0 is a brilliant drum product and is just like having a real professional drummer at your disposal. Even though it is possible to tweak all the settings to your heart’s desire the product sounds just great straight out of the box and for many people the default settings are likely to be fine. It is available from UK distributors Time + Space (www.timespace.com) at £189 or £129 as a cross-grade price for owners of EZDrummer. Owners of the original Toontrack dfh Superior only pay £69 for the upgrade. More details are also available from Toontrack (www.toontrack.com) |
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| Reviewed by: Future Music magazine
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| August 2009 |
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Where many drum samplers focus on electronic sounds and reproducing the synthesized sounds of classic drum machines, Superior Drummer 2.0 (aka S2.0) is entirely based on samples of acoustic drums and the emphasis is definitely on Funk, Jazz and Rock sounds. The lengthy installation process quickly makes it apparent that S2.0 draws from a staggeringly large library of superbly recorded samples in order to recreate the subtleties of a live studio drum recording.
Construct
The standard view of the intuitive S2.0 interface, based around an image of a drum kit, takes no time at all to get used to and allows you to construct your own kit, choosing a specific drum for each position. If the graphical style doesn’t appeal to you there’s also a grid-based ‘classic’ view, which may be more familiar for users of the original dfh Superior or the likes of NI Battery. The 24-bit samples are recorded using well-known drums, so you’ll be able to take your pick from various GMS tom and kicks, Sabian cymbals and a mixture of Ludwig, GMS, Rogers and Slingerland snares.
All classic stuff, plus you can choose whether they’re hit with sticks, brushes, rods or felt beaters. A full install will give you seven snares, three kicks, three hi-hats and a whole heap of toms and cymbals to choose from but Toontrack also offer expansion packs if you feel the need to add to the selection. If the sound still isn’t right, the ADSR curve of each drum can be manually adjusted.
Composing drum parts using S2.0 is nice and straightforward. Each drum hit can be assigned to a different MIDI note and of course everything’s velocity sensitive so your patterns will have realistic variations in expression. There are also multiple articulations for each drum, each of which can also be assigned to a different note. For example, there are 16 different ways to ‘hit’ your hi-hat, from tightly closed to open and everything in between. It’s reassuring to see that there’s also a degree of smartness to the sample playback here – hitting a closed hi-hat, for instance, will instantly mute the sound of an open hi-hat that had been decaying. Just triggering S2.0 with MIDI loops or via a keyboard or pad controller produces good results, but controlling it with an electronic drum kit would be the ideal way to create high quality drum ‘recordings’ with the nuanced timing of a live drummer.
In the mix
Once you’ve composed your drum part, the mixer section is where things get even more interesting. With 18 virtual mic channels to play with (14 mono mics pointed at individual drums four further stereo pairs for overheads and room/ambient mics), Superior Drummer is like being in charge of the console while you mix down a very well recorded drum track.
As well as al the usual level, pan and phase controls you can adjust the amount of bleed from each drum unto a given mic for a more realistic mixing experience. There are 16 auxiliary buses to play with and S2.0 also includes a series of basic effects, which can be applied to any channel. The effects – an EQ, compressor, gate and various filters – were developed by Sonalksis and give good results but if you’d prefer to use your own plug-ins or outboard you can also take advantage of the 16 stereo outputs for a bit more flexibility.
Conclusion
Superior Drummer 2.0 is an outstanding piece of software that achieves exactly what it sets out to do with ease. The sounds are excellent, the interface is clear, everything works as it’s meant to and there’s a clear upgrade path with the variety of expansion packs on offer. On the surface it might appear to be simple but it’s a seriously complex tool that still manages to remain user-friendly.
Verdict
Stability: 9/10
Value: 8/10
Ease of use: 9/10
Versatility: 9/10
Results: 10/10
An outstanding piece of software staking a bold claim to be the top choice acoustic drum sampler. |
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| Reviewed by: Playmusic Pickup
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| August 2009 |
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The popularity of multi gigabyte sized drum libraries is a comparatively recent one but the huge improvement that they have made with regard to the quality of sequenced drum sounds cannot be overstated.
Made possible, predominantly, by the serious drop in price of hard drive space during the past five years or so, these libraries elevate sampled drums to an almost unimaginable level of detail. Alongside mammoth collections of drum sounds, modern drum libraries also offer incredibly realistic dynamics that encompass everything from gentle jazz brushes to thunderous John Bonham-esque battering, guaranteeing that whatever style of music you prefer, your drum sounds will ensure the utmost realism.
Of these drum libraries, it’s probably fair to say that there are a couple which have established themselves as ‘industry standards’, Toontrack’s original DFH Superior being one of them. Superior Drums has attracted criticism from some quarters that feel this software sometimes comes across as being a bit ‘over serious’ and geeky but personally speaking I never found it difficult to use, despite its GUI (Graphical User Interface) possibly not being the most user-friendly.
Toontrack’s latest offering, Superior 2.0 (S2.0) sets out to change some of this (unfair) reputation. Featuring a whole new sample playing engine and GUI, S2.0 is a marked improvement in look, and usability over the previous version. The main screen is now dominated by a drummer’s eye view of the drum kit and a click on each drum/cymbal allows you to quickly audition the sound or change the drum in question. Despite the redesigned look and feel S2.0 loses none of its predecessor’s functionality and without resorting to the manual once I was able to find all the original features tucked away in sensible places. It is worth mentioning that S2.0 is fully compatible with all previous Superior and EZ Drummer libraries.
S2.0 runs on Macs & PCs in VST, AU or RTAS formats and the library itself can be installed in full (20GB), medium or light (4GB) sizes. But you should really aim to do the full install for maximum effect!
This library is actually smaller than the original version 1 behemoth and there is actually a significantly smaller selection of sounds. The advantages of this soon become apparent because the slightly down-sized library means that the included kits are sampled at unprecedented levels of detail and realism.
The sounds themselves (3 kicks, 5 snares, 5 toms and mountains of cymbals) were recorded at Avatar Studios in New York by the team of Pat Thrall (producer), Neil Dorfsman (engineer) and Nir Z (drummer) and whilst they may not be household names their combined credits include?: Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Bjork, Kiss, Joss Stone and John Mayer. Put very simply, these guys know exactly what they’re doing and each knows how to get the best out of their respective jobs. The sounds themselves are recorded in many different ways including spill from all the other mics (just like on a real kit). To give you the idea, the snares alone are sampled with sticks, brushes and rods; snares on or of, with three snare mics, three ambient mics, a distorted mic as well as the spill in all the other drums. On top of this the snares are hit centre, edge, and rim; with straight hits, flams, ruffs and rolls… Phew!! And all this at an obscene choice of velocities… You’ll be doing well to hear the same sample twice!
In use, the new S2.0 is a bit of a revelation. Compared to the old version the kits now load a lot quicker, there is definitely some data compression going on, but trust me you will never hear it! Even so with all these samples loading into the computer it is still possible for your RAM to run out of steam. Fortunately, Toontrack have come up with a range of techniques to progressively cut the memory usage until your computer can catch its breath. This is done by reducing bit length to 16bit and muting bleed and ambience samples. And when all your programming is done you can then render all the tracks with the full range of bleed and ambience samples at 24-bit! Brilliant!
Superior Drummer 2.0 also comes with a decent range of MIDI drum patterns played by Nir Z himself and playable from Toontrack’s own excellent EZ Player Pro which is included. So you can even have the guy playing his drums in your studio!
New to S2.0 is the mixer section which allows you to mix your virtual drum mics in the program itself. Included in the package are a suite of dedicated, high quality effects from Sonalksis (eq, compressor, transient etc). This can either give you a working monitor mix or be a dedicated drum submixer right through to the end of your project. Like previous versions you can still bypass the mixer and render the performance to a range of WAV files to import into your sequencer. Essentially, it is as if you had recorded the kit yourself and added your own chosen effects in the mix later.
You can probably tell I like S2.0 already and I haven’t mentioned the sounds yet! In a word… awesome! Even ignoring the level of detail available these drums sound wonderful, round and big and with enough scope to fit into a huge range of projects. The bleed and various ambience mics also contribute to the realism whilst adding a wonderful cohesive sound that breathes just as it would in real life. It really is just like sitting behind a mixer with a properly mic’d up drummer only, with a better sound that I have even been able to get! It turns out that the smallish range of sounds is not a problem as these well recorded drums sound so natural that they just seem to work anywhere. However those looking for more will be pleased to know that Toontrack have already released two expansion packs.
With or without these expansion packs I think Superior 2.0 now represents the best balance of sounds and features of the drum libraries I have used and heard. Its programming depth is huge but won’t scare the novice; the sounds are sublime with a wonderful level of detail but won’t make your computer fall over! Anyone into programming drums needs to check this out, one word of warning though, once you’ve tried it, you will want it!
SDX: The Lost New York Studios
This two DVD extension pack contains drums sampled to the same level of detail and recorded by the same team as the S2.0 Avatar set, but this time recorded at the now closed Allaire and Hit Factory NY studios. The Allaire set seems slightly biased towards classic and vintage drums and lends itself quite nicely to a more classic role. Whereas the Hit Factory set leans more to Nir Z’s more modern sounding GMS drums. This extension pack makes S2.0 feel complete and plugs the gaps in the main S2.0 library. I would say this expansion is an almost essential addition! Turn up the ambience mics on the Allaire kits and you will be hooked!
SDX: The Metal Foundry
No prizes for guessing what this one does, Metal Foundry shows Toontrack getting back to their metal roots. Weighing in at 5 DVDs this metal monster features a huge selection of drums including double bass drums! Arguably the ultimate metal drum library, Metal Foundry will actually handle all your modern hard rock requirements (grunge, alternative, thrash, and even modern Indie styles too!) |
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