KitCore Deluxe

I'll sum this plugin up briefly: it's got everything you want in a low-cost (US$99) drum module and then some, except for a built-in tool to audition MIDI files quickly. Otherwise, all the essentials are in place:
- tons of very good-sounding drum kits helpfully named after the drummer they're designed to emulate (when you select a kit, you see a photo of the drummer and a list of the artists the drummer has worked with). This is really a very strong selling point for this plugin--there are 100 kits in the Deluxe version, and they cover a huge range of pop/rock/jazz/RnB/hiphop/world/even electronica styles. If you want a bunch of great kits on the cheap, look no further;
- controls to set pan, volume, and tuning for each drum;
- plenty of output channels, and the ability to assign any drum to any output;
- lots of MIDI files, generally of good quality, organized by drummer and drum kit.

The MIDI files alone are the equivalent of standalone MIDI collections selling for half as much as Kitcore Deluxe. When you add in all those excellent drum kits, you're really getting good value for money. It's kind of like DR-008 with better sounds and a big pile of good MIDI drum groove files.

What don't you get? Compared to EZDrummer, you don't get the ability to call up a MIDI file for auditioning right inside the drum module. You have to do that in your DAW instead, by dragging the MIDI file into a MIDI track to trigger KitCore. A little more work, but it certainly works, and the file naming conventions in KitCore help a lot here. You also don't get the ability to mix in the room and overhead mic sounds, as you do in EZDrummer. But the KitCore kits sound plenty good without that, and the multiple audio outs give you lots of flexibility for mixing.

I happen to own EZDrummer with the DKFH, Nashville, and Vintage expansion packs, and I love it--just the thing for throwing a drum track together quickly. But adding new sounds means adding an expansion pack, and at a minimum of $70 a pop that adds up fast.

If you've already got EZD, buying KitCore Deluxe means you get a whole lot of new MIDI files that can be added to EZD's user MIDI files folder, browsed in EZD's MIDI browser, and auditioned via EZD, after which you can drag the MIDI files to a track to trigger any of the 100 kits in KitCore Deluxe. (That's what I do when I need a kit that EZD can't handle.) If you don't have either, KitCore might be a good starter--you get all those great kits and a lot of MIDI to work with. Just remember that you have to work a little harder to audition the files when you're putting a track together.

In short, KitCore deluxe is a very good deal for $100, even in these recent days when excellent drum modules seem to be dropping in price by the minute.

Kit core does sound really cool. I've had been reading about it, and the whole system looks great!!

Why get get Kit Core for $100, when you can get Drum Core 2.5 for $100, with some extra packs? Watch for announcements tomorrow on the next eSoundz GB on Drum Core.

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=213189&sid=10731e31a003de408edc2d3a1a383099

http://www.submersiblemusic.com/

Edited to add link

I spent some time today playing with Kitcore, and discovered that you can effectively build your own kits. You start with a given kit; then you right-click on an instrument pad, and you're presented with a list of all the different drums of that type in Kitcore. You select one and it's loaded into the current kit. You can then save the modified kit as a patch (.fxp) file. This is a very cool feature that essentially gives you hundreds of kits to work with, and it's as easy to use as can be.

I also brought up EZDrummer and KitCore at the same time and played the same MIDI patterns through both. First, that MIDI groove browser in EZD is certainly a time saver, and gets you from inspiration to working drum track a lot faster. We'll see what the upgrade to KitCore Deluxe looks like in June--supposedly that has a similar function. Anyway, EZD's cymbals seem much more realistic--more variation in tone and attack. But that massive variety of kits in Kitcore means that it's pretty easy to find a great sounding kit for any pattern.

I like EZD plenty, but I'm really glad I bought KitCore. And I'm REALLY glad I spent the extra for KitCore Deluxe, because all those kits are very cool.

Regards, lightninrick

ORIGINAL: Taylor_514C

There are some great sounding kits in KitCore Deluxe, and I was just listening to the Lonnie Wilson country kits, which sound great. The Matt Sorum kits sound really good as well. I think there are only three velocity samples per instrument, so it comes up short in this regard as compared to EZ, Addictive, or even SD2. Still sounds great though.

Good information about the velocity levels, that explains why the cymbals in EZD sound so much better. If your patterns rely heavily on ride cymbals, for example, you really hear the difference in realism. In my opinion, Kitcore Deluxe offers best value as an inexpensive way to add a lot of kits and MIDI patterns to what EZDrummer already offers. You can use the EZD cymbals side by side with everything else from Kitcore and have a pretty impressive set of drum sounds for much less than two EZX expansion packs would cost.

Regards, LR