Recording live drums

I would recommend searching for and checking out some online drummers. If you can find someone with agreeable terms it might be the best bang for the buck.

I was thinking of e-drums but that limits who would be willing to play them.......

I'm using EZ Drummer now, and I just got a drum map for AD2.

if you have a nice-sounding or even not bad room (a big if)  you can record real drums.  You don't need 642 mics.  A simple stereo channel will work, or one, or three.  Here at home I'll throw up 2 small diameter condensors as overheads and use either a pzm on the wood floor up close to the kick or a ribbon backed off proportionally like the OHs.  A sub-$100 ribbon overhead can work, too, esp. for some of that old-timey vibe.
 
Think of it as a chance to work on your recording chops - do some test recordings and figure out where in your room sounds best to put the drums and the mics.  If nothing else, you'll learn a heck of a lot.  In the Glyn Johns (who has a 3-mic technique named after him) interview I posted last week he used minimum mics but was very good at visualizing the cone of sound (not silence, Maxwell Smart) his mics heard, and worked them accordingly.
 
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Thank you FreeFlyBertl. I truly believe in real live drums. I use Addictive Drums to write parts and develop songs, but the final tracks are performed by a real human on an acoustic kit (most of the time, depending on the client).
 
I get a lot of pleasure from recording real drums and have come to see it as kind of a badge of honor in a way. I understand that not every can do that in every situation, but man, when you can do it, and get it right, there is indeed a little magic that is hard to describe, something that just feels right.
 
I currently have 22 available mic inputs with enough mics, cables, and stands to use them all. I am using an RME FireFace UFX as my main interface with various other preamps, all running into SONAR Platinum. For the moment I am tracking live drums in a performance theatre, all wood floors, over 14' ceiling, huge open space. This gives my the opportunity to get some legit use of stereo room mics and I love it.

Sylvan
I use Addictive Drums to write parts and develop songs, but the final tracks are performed by a real human on an acoustic kit

FreeFlyBertl
but nothing beats the real kit + real drummer combination

+1

I know, but it's a little too far for two guys who aren't working. 

Check this guy out - a friend of mine based in South Africa: You'll be shocked who he has recorded drums for in his home studio..
 
https://nl.linkedin.com/pub/vinnie-henrico/25/757/696
 
You may find the Dollar/Rand exchange works in your favour too.