My reasons for wanting SD3:
 
SD2 has drum trigger mappings for the major drum modules/triggers…Roland, Yamaha and others but those trigger mappings are generic to the company NOT to the specific model.  SD3 has trigger mapping presets specific to most models current AND past.  The specific Roland model I have is included…VERY COOL!
 
SD3 also includes the song creation functionality that was released with the EZD2 release from three years ago.  I was pissed that Toontrack didn’t offer the same thing for SD2…BUT, it’s in SD3.
 
Also, the included drum kits were mic’ed and recorded by George Massenburg In Galaxy Studios.  Massenburg…legendary  sound engineer.  The studio where the drums were recorded in is also a legendary studio in Belgium.
 
There’s also a drummer tracker in SD3.  It will allow you to take a drum recording from anywhere, analyze it, separate out the individual drums (kick, snare, toms..etc.) and replace those drum hits with hits from the SD3 library and other libraries.  I doubt I’ll use that much if at all…but it is awesome it’s included if I need it.
 
All of my SD2 kits, presets and MIDI will work with SD3…no wasted $$$.  Also, there will be FREE upgrades to the SD2 kits so that the graphics and interface will match SD3.  This is truly awesome. 
 
The price of SD3 is $419.00, but, I get it for $200.00 because I already own SD2

mixmkr
Gotta get your 11.0 system out of your closet too. The program sounds awesome and unmatched though. For those that already have a zillion drum programs...this will hit the ones with severe GAS and then i suspect taper off pretty quickly.
Most will probably wait for the $99 upgrade deal down the road.

I will wait for a deal on upgrade.

My understanding is that it WILL use EZ2 Kits and MIDI, and
will have updated graphics for the kits, as well as new graphics
for the SDX's...and it does have a standalone that eliminates the need
for Toontrack Solo...

New Sweetwater video on using SD3 with an electronic kit.
 

At last! Now I can use those extra nine speakers that have been gathering dust in the cupboard all these years.

darn!  I left a dozen speakers in the basement of my studio cottage when I sold the place and moved to Idaho!

bitflipper
At last! Now I can use those extra nine speakers that have been gathering dust in the cupboard all these years.

Haha. I bought a bunch of speakers and amps from China about 7 years ago to start building my audio empire. Never sold a one and now I have more than enough to setup an 11.1 system. I knew there must be a reason.

Remember the days of Dolby cassettes? There'd be a little Dolby logo sticker on your store-bought cassettes to remind you to switch the feature on, and if you didn't have it, everything sounded overly bright and hissy.
 
Now you'll have to put a warning in your MP3 metadata: "Must have 12 speakers to play this file". Oh, wait. Mp3 can't do 11.1. OK, FLAC then. Oops, FLAC can't handle it either. I guess your distribution format will have to be 1GB+ wav files. No iTunes for you!

I'm glad I never sold my soul to Apple. How else could I listen to 1-bit 2.4MHz DSD files on a portable player?
 
DSD is a funny format (DSF/DXD etc.) as it is supposed to reduce the limitations of digital and sound more pleasant. If you can find any or happen to have SACD then it's an expensive way to listen to music.
 
Windows Media Audio had 5.1 surround at some stage however I don't know if anybody even bothers with that format now.
 

One week to go to SD3. I was hoping there would be some SDX promo to go with the release. They haven't been making new Producer preset packs for a few years so I am hoping they will be included in the updated for SD3 SDX packs. Are there any new video's out there?