What's the best drum plug for sonar?

Hi all
tough question I know so let me try to narrow it down a little. By Best I mean........

1. sounds great
2. easy to use
3. easy to programme quickly for a non drummer
4. has the ability to closely approximate a human drummer

I am a fan of SD3 - sort of meets the criteria above but some of the subtleties (did i really just say subtleties) of a drumming type person are difficult to emulate (stick bounce, tempo variation (unintentional, minimal ), etc.)


I think a good proportion of respondents might say prv but i am a guitarist so inherently lazy if it doesn't involve guitars :-) and take the view that life is too short. In my world prv is for laser surgery to fix problems not a creation tool.

so, having (probably) insulted drummers, guitarists and uncle tom cobley and all, does anyone have any suggestions please

thank you

C

Given your criteria I'd say either BFD2 or Superior Drummer would NOT be what you need.
Both involve a lot of time and effort and have steep learning curves for a non drummer.

You haven't said what type of music you are trying to create and that can be a major factor but you do say you're a guitarist so it could be jazz, jazz funk, punk, post punk, indie, reggae, ska, folk, blues and erm.....whatever.

I just spent the morning listening to Steven Slates SSD4 and have to say that for out of the box sounds that are mostly of the rock and metal variety I've not heard anything better.
He claims to cover hundreds of genres in his video but having listened to all 87 of his demo's on line I say that's just bollox.

Still you can pick up his essential collection (light version) for $20 from Audiomidi which I just did so you're not really losing much if you decide it's not for you.

Steve

There's a bunch of discussion in a current thread here, for more perspective - http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2638283 I think EZ Drummer or Session Drummer might make the most sense for you, I know EZD more than SD3, and it provides good sounds that have already been processed enough to sit in a lot lot mixes without too much more tweaking. I really like superior drummer, but it is much more complex in terms of what you can do, and you do have to mix what amounts to the raw drum mics from a full kit to get your final sound.

I use Addictive drums mainly but I suppliment with either BFD eco or Session drummer that came with X1PE.

It really doesn't matter what we think because it's all subjective. You have to go with what you think sounds good.

NI Battery 3.  You chose your own samples.  ;>

I also think although it might be a little more than your immediate needs your needs will almost certainly evolve and become more complex over time as you begin to want better sounding drums.

So with that in mind I would strongly recommend you have a good look at the current deal at fxpansion for their BFD Eco.
You can get it until the end of this month for the no brainer price of £32 (Normally £69) but you also get a free Rock Legends kit (normally £37) from Platinum Samples who make samples of the very highest quality.

BFD Eco is very easy to program but if you wish you can go much deeper too.

Guitarhacker

  
Jamstix   www.rayzoon.com  does all 4 items mentioned above.  


#1 It has many kits and....as far as kits go... it also has the ability to use kits from other drum programs. I have a few drum synths and can use the kits from those synths in JS. 

#2  try the demo. once you set it up and learn how it works it is pretty freaking easy to use ....see the next point


#3.... no programming involved, no dragging in loops, just choose a drummer from the list for his unique style, select a master style to have the drummer play, and select a kit and simply start playback and your drummer will play it automatically.

#4 it has limb control.... no 4 armed drummers. It calculates the pattern to be played and determines if there is enough time for the drummer to hit the cymbal and then move to the snare..... if not.... it doesn't play it. It also knows a real drummer could not hit the snare the cymbal and 2 toms at the same exact time..... This feature can be turned on or off. 


You can edit the track it creates to place fills and accents where needed or tell the drummer to re-compose a bar... bars... or the entire song. Best drum synth invented for the non drummer in my humble opinion. 


get the demo and try it.

+1000 for Jamstix. I am waiting for the smoke to clear on the 64 bit version which is in beta now. (Have it  but have not installed it) But the 32 bit version has always worked well for me in SONAR using either Bitbridge or JBridge.
I also have EZ Drummer, but really always go back to Jamstix. There are a wide variety of add-in packs which are reasonably priced and excellent.
The Jamstix brain can also drive any VSTi drum sampler you want to use directly if you are particularly fond of something else. Ralph, the developer is the most accommodating and helpful developer I have ever seen anywhere. Bar none.
I have seen some criticism in these forums from people saying they have heard tracks created with Jamstix that were too busy, or off the beat, etc. I have heard many drum tracks that fit that description made with something other than jamstix too, including all of the big boys. It still gets down to the talent and skill of the user.
What is (IMO) the coolest thing about Jamstix is (not withstanding Herb's comments that you don't need to) that you can take any MIDI loop and import that as a groove into the Jamstix brain, and have the drummer of your choice using the kit of your choice adding his particular characteristics to it. Not always what you expect (or want) - but it is phenomenal if you use loops and a beat slicer that outputs MIDI - I use Izotope's phatmatik pro for this. So you get a loop going - slice and output the MIDI, then import the MIDI clip into Jamstix as a groove, and Voila! Jamstix plays right along with your loop in the style you've chosen - drummer/kit etc. Great for techno/industrial/EDM/Dubstep where you want the realism of real drums and a "real" drummer layered or augmented with loops. Also, great if you are doing your own arrangements and have a MIDI clip of the drum track.
Very customizable, or not - depending on the user's preference.
I suggest anybody thinking about a drum sampler visit the Rayzoon website and read the forum and play with the demo. 

BFD Eco with free rock legends kit from platinum samples $49.

 
Just installed it last night, and so far, liking it very much.