Obviously there are 2 main camps; SD3 and BFD.
"You pays your money and you makes your choice"....
T

I  was going to suggest checking out BFD Eco. It used to be free or cheap, now it's $99.00  but also says discontinued & no longer maintained. That's what got me into BFD3.
 

Easy Drummer 2 is on sale at $89, may be cheaper if you dig.
Gives you a "quick taste" of what ToonTracks is all about.
I tried to install Eco once and couldn't get it working.

I just recorded this test last night using Superior Drummer 2, playing it from my V-Drums through REAPER for Linux. Was also trying out a Fairchild 670 and Pultec EQs that just bought that are native Linux plugins too.  Anyway, the Superior 2 part is a Windows plugin that I have working both in Windows and in Linux.
 
https://www.soundclick.com/html5/v4/player.cfm?songID=13812827
 
 

I have heard good convincing mixes done using the old drummer in Cakewalk. Others have used things I couldn't imagine would have yielded the kind of results they had. My point being that deep drum editing isn't always necessary
especially in basic rock/pop mixes. You can probably do what you need to do with what you have already. If you don't think so then ask yourself what you will need to reach that level.
I have all of the BFD line. Maibnly use BFD 3. They have always worked the best for me. I think the main idea is to know what you want to do and have that workflow streamlined and not get caught up in too many details.
In how many major label recordings do you listen for the type of bass drum, snare, cymbals? It is possible to have a killer drum mix that detracts from the total tune. It might sound wonderful stand alone. After you get it in the mix it doesn't sound right. For me, it's usually a bass drum that has punch. A snare that has the perfect amount of shimmer, the cymbals and rides sound like magic, mainly it's about the drummer and the groove. You get that right and the rest is secondary. JMO. Hard to go wrong with any of the new offerings, they will all get you there and probably much further than you want to go.

I do all my track from 0 too. I do not play any. I program all. Start with Step Sequencer. I dont know why, but that works most of the time. Then i gets the hits where i want them fast, and everything is in time. Easy to lay down a 16 beats on the kick. Then when finishing composing the drums, i put on the Humanizer Call file, maybe drag the snare a little behind to make it groove, and maybe adjust the hi hat and symbals the same way but in front. But there is no rules here. Just ears to hear, and if it sound bad, but you did put the snare behind, you did it to much or it isn't for the groove ot the song. Anyways. The Humanizer Call file is a life savior. I have other humanizer tools too, but that is my go to tool for this. And i do this in SD3. Some of the presets made bo famous people are really good. And i stopped spreading mics to channels in Sonar. Now i have just 1 channel (maybe snare track too). Every effect is in SD3. Maybe just snare reverb outside.

Wow!

Thanks gang!

I appreciate all the input. Sorry I haven't responded sooner, but I forgot... 🎸

I've been using AD2 except for my kick which I run separately in SessionDrummer 3. I'm not happy with any of the AD2 kicks I got. It bothers me that all their demos use processed kits instead of the raw samples... Do eithe BFD/SD allow us to hear raw kits before purchasing?

I don't typically do any processing within AD2 as I prefer the fx I have in CbB...

I play/program most of my drums, but sometimes I will use a 4-8 bar pattern as a starting point, so i don't need midi grooves within it too much, but they can be handy.

Most of AD2 is "ok", but I'm uncomfortable with how it handles it's cymbals and i find many of the widgets difficult to adjust.

I much prefer BFD3's gui than AD2. I seem to remember when I researched them years back I was strongly moved toward BFD over SD, but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with some other things right now.

Thanks again!

Check out "Audio Demo" and "All Kicks and Snares".
https://www.toontrack.com/product/superior-drummer-3/
 
They are not dry because SD3 has many microphones in the room, and you can easily manage them in the intern mixer. You can also send them to a audio output for further manipulating in the DAW. But SD3 has "only" 16 audio outputs. You cannot put out every mic to a audio channel if you have only one SD up.
 
If you like to work in the SD3, it has another cool feature. You can import sound and blend to the kits of the SD3. Cool if you use it for live drums and so on.

gmon72
I also have them pretty much any major drum VSTi. Long time BFD user and I love the expansion packs (especially the Platinum Samples ones. ) One important thing for me is that BFD hasn't been updated much recently. Since they were puchased by Roli, not much has been going on the BFD front. Forums are quiet there. Bums me out because I always loved BFD. 

 
There is a thread that started recently on KVR where Fxpansion is asking what you'd like to see in BFD, so it appears they are moving toward developing it more.
 
 

SmokeyJ628

gmon72
I also have them pretty much any major drum VSTi. Long time BFD user and I love the expansion packs (especially the Platinum Samples ones. ) One important thing for me is that BFD hasn't been updated much recently. Since they were puchased by Roli, not much has been going on the BFD front. Forums are quiet there. Bums me out because I always loved BFD. 

 
There is a thread that started recently on KVR where Fxpansion is asking what you'd like to see in BFD, so it appears they are moving toward developing it more.
 
 

Nice - just found it. Hopefully they get this rolling again.