I have great luck with session drummer but I also write my notes out individually altering velocity's slightly to give that natural sounding kit by making it sound,, well human, or as much as possible.
I know it sounds like it must be a pain staking process but once you get rolling on it ,works great because you can group sections of verses and such and duplicate and alter slightly on those as well
like the video I did about "last touched"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruAnAPR6-hQ
 
sure it seems like a lot of work but as you can see, making it sound human isn't too difficult.
the controls are straight forward, easy to use.
does BFD or AD drums sound better. yes I think so, much better sound coming right out of the box.
but session drummer also has a drag and drop sampler, something the others don't do.
I like to take dry samples and add effects later, one by one on each individual kit piece.
I know BFD and AD does this as well. but ive just enjoyed session drummer a lot and think if cake wanted to could really cash in on it.
it has major potential, specially with Roland samples.
 

Bflat5
The midi files I have works great with ezdrummer, but is completely wrong in AD. It's like the cymblas are playing the drum parts. Strange and I'm not sure how to fix it.

You can change the format of the drums in AD. Click on the "Beats" near the top right and then midway below is the map preset selector.

Guitarpima

Bflat5
The midi files I have works great with ezdrummer, but is completely wrong in AD. It's like the cymblas are playing the drum parts. Strange and I'm not sure how to fix it.

You can change the format of the drums in AD. Click on the "Beats" near the top right and then midway below is the map preset selector.

I'll give that a shot tomorrow. Thanks for the tip. :)

Blades
Hey Danny - how is the Roland TD triggering?  As you can see in the avatar, I've got a kit (TD-20 + tdw-20 card) and I've NEVER been satisfied with the triggering of anything other than the module.  the hats don't work right, there always seems to be some kind of sacrifice to even try to use any of the sound modules.  And in the end, the loss of nuance like hits near the edge of the head, choking cymbals, hi-hat subtleties, and many other things lead me back to the module.  It would be nice if there were options for me to use outside of the module once in a while - though I actually like the way the TDW-20 sounds for the most part and can get just about anything I want out of it.
 
So - how is that triggering with AD out of the box?  Still waiting to "earn" a but more through my website to justify itself so I can make the purchase, but this is one of the things that interests me about the X3 version.  Thoughts are appreciated.

Hi Blade,
 
Hmmm, I've never had any problems on this end at all. I use both a TD-10 with the TDW card using an entire large kit full of PD-8 pads at my home studio, and a TD-20 with the mesh heads at my real studio. I've had to tweak the midi assignments from time to time...but it's as easy as hitting the learn button and then hitting where I want the zone to be triggered. I also have to use 64 or 32 buffer settings via ASIO for perfect accuracy without latency.
 
The dynamics are spot on and I've never had any hat or zone issues on any of my pads or the mesh heads. The one thing I HAVE had to do on both modules is adjust them for how they react with the drum program of my choice. For example, Steven Slate reacts a little different than BFD 2/3. BFD seems to be spot on with my "brain" settings without any tweaks to the TD's where as Slate needs a little more threshold so that the kit pieces sound off without me having to smack the crap out of the pads.
 
Nothing will be as accurate as the TD brains we have though, that's for sure. However, in MY personal opinion, you gain way more in sound source and realism than you do with any of the brains we own. To me, the sounds in the brains are horrible even if they FEEL a little more natural and responsive to us. The responsiveness depends on the drum module you are running through. BFD 2/3 and Superior are the best for the brains you and I have. If you've not tried those drum modules, definitely grab one or both if you can because everything works great with them. The NI stuff is also really good once you find a drum kit you like. They all trigger incredibly well.
 
The cool thing about the NI drums is...you get rim shots on toms without having to custom "midi learn" them. But if you use a TD-20 mapping when using a drum module, all the stuff you are not liking SHOULD be perfect for you as long as you have the right drum software. AD seems to trigger really well out of the box to me, but I've not spent any serious time with it because all my needs have been covered using BFD 2/3 and Superior. They are just way ahead of everyone else in my opinion.
 
Hope some of this helps man.
 
-Danny

Danny - it isn't that the triggering doesn't work.  It's that the nuances don't.  Seems to me that the things like SD3 and Steven Slate, for example from the last Sonar, don't pay any attention to the things that are closer to the edge of the head vs the middle except for the velocity.  On the brain itself, the actual timbre changes.  With the hit-hats, it seems that there is open and there is closed - maybe there would be bow vs edge, but not the variations that make the hats sound real at all.  I'm using the full - open/close hats (VH-12?), not the static pad and with the brain, I can get most of the subtlety I need, where for the "sample sets" it seems like it's a few different hits and frustrating to play.
 
Also, having the tdw-20 card in the td-20 definitely helps with some of the tones.  I don't have the bucks to spend on BFD or the like and I've not been terribly impressed with what I've heard in the "best circumstances" let alone what I might get here, so I've "passed" on those.  I do agree that the td-8, td-10 (card or not) and the original td-20 are somewhat obvious in their sounds but the tdw-20 added a lot to the realism to me.
 
So, yes all the head hits seem to work, the rim hits generally do as well.  The cymbal hits work but usually the edge hits seem to be mapped like they are a different cymbal not the edge of the same one - and forget about the swells.
 
It just seems that very time I get a new "toy" to play with, I think it's cool and then I try to really dig in and I end up disappointed and go back to just using the brain and mixing either with its raw sounds and adding effects or occasionally just using the kit right from the brain.
 
Thanks for your input.

Blades
Danny - it isn't that the triggering doesn't work.  It's that the nuances don't.  Seems to me that the things like SD3 and Steven Slate, for example from the last Sonar, don't pay any attention to the things that are closer to the edge of the head vs the middle except for the velocity.  On the brain itself, the actual timbre changes.  With the hit-hats, it seems that there is open and there is closed - maybe there would be bow vs edge, but not the variations that make the hats sound real at all.  I'm using the full - open/close hats (VH-12?), not the static pad and with the brain, I can get most of the subtlety I need, where for the "sample sets" it seems like it's a few different hits and frustrating to play.
 
Also, having the tdw-20 card in the td-20 definitely helps with some of the tones.  I don't have the bucks to spend on BFD or the like and I've not been terribly impressed with what I've heard in the "best circumstances" let alone what I might get here, so I've "passed" on those.  I do agree that the td-8, td-10 (card or not) and the original td-20 are somewhat obvious in their sounds but the tdw-20 added a lot to the realism to me.
 
So, yes all the head hits seem to work, the rim hits generally do as well.  The cymbal hits work but usually the edge hits seem to be mapped like they are a different cymbal not the edge of the same one - and forget about the swells.
 
It just seems that very time I get a new "toy" to play with, I think it's cool and then I try to really dig in and I end up disappointed and go back to just using the brain and mixing either with its raw sounds and adding effects or occasionally just using the kit right from the brain.
 
Thanks for your input.

Totally with you. Are you experiencing this when you use custom maps? It seems to me that you *may* be experiencing these lack of nuances either from additional tweaking being needed or maybe you need to customize your midi map with the module you use? I'm not having any issues with rim, edge or center hits. There HAVE been times when a zone may not have been correct so I would fix the midi note number, but honest man, other than that I've never had any problems. Are you seeing mulitple midi note assignemts for each pad? If they are all correct everything should be ok. So check on that.
 
Some of these drum modules offer the ability to tweak your hats for 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and full. I've not gotten into them in depth with Slate as I have never been a fan of his toms or cymbals, but on Superior and BFD, I've never had any hat issues or drum zone issues. I have all zones firing just right on all my stuff at the moment. I have noticed that whole "hats are either open or closed" thing on a few modules, but the better modules allow control for that. I wish I could offer more help...but it may just be a drum module issue.
 
I hope you can sort it out and I'm sorry I can't be more helpful. :(
 
-Danny

This looks like a thread where a lot of the drum interested folks are commenting.
 
I posted a how to question in the Techniques section related to getting the hi hat to work for Addictive Drums from a Roland TD-12.
 
Hopefully one of you may have some ideas on that:
http://forum.cakewalk.com...te-in-X3-m2905484.aspx

Danny Danzi
 
 
Steven Slate Drums 4: Too much hype and price for too little realism. Kicks and snares are cool.....roboticising is not as bad as SD3, yet is VERY blatant. Toms are some of the worst sounding toms of all time hands down. Cymbals are mediocre at best and have their moments.
 
 
-Danny

You've got to be doing something wrong.  I have SSD4 and have absolutely no "roboticising".  I play E drums, am a drummer and have been working with samples since they were invented so I know what drums sound like.  I can play true buzz rolls on SSD4 with nothing unnatural at all.

vintagevibe

Danny Danzi
 
 
Steven Slate Drums 4: Too much hype and price for too little realism. Kicks and snares are cool.....roboticising is not as bad as SD3, yet is VERY blatant. Toms are some of the worst sounding toms of all time hands down. Cymbals are mediocre at best and have their moments.
 
 
-Danny

You've got to be doing something wrong.  I have SSD4 and have absolutely no "roboticising".  I play E drums, am a drummer and have been working with samples since they were invented so I know what drums sound like.  I can play true buzz rolls on SSD4 with nothing unnatural at all.

I'm also a drummer and have been recording and working with samples for a very long time....so I too know what drums sound like. I'd be interested in hearing your buzz rolls on SSD4 toms. As I said, kicks and snares are cool....the toms sound and react quite bad. There's nothing that I'm doing wrong. It's more than just a velocity problem, it's a lack of samples PER velocity that makes them roboticise on the toms. Even if you pulled it off and I congratulated you, I wouldn't like those toms any better. They are, in my opinion, some of the worst sounding toms ever stemming back to SSD3. I just don't like them at all. Ever kill all the room stuff on the Slate drums? Sounds like a drum machine to me without the room/over-heads. No offense man, I just don't like them or anything SS puts out. If I listed all my issues with Slate stuff, you'd understand better but I'll spare you. It's just not for me and I've spent quite a bit on it. Never again.
 
-Danny

Danny Danzi
 
I'm also a drummer and have been recording and working with samples for a very long time....so I too know what drums sound like. I'd be interested in hearing your buzz rolls on SSD4 toms. As I said, kicks and snares are cool....the toms sound and react quite bad. There's nothing that I'm doing wrong. It's more than just a velocity problem, it's a lack of samples PER velocity that makes them roboticise on the toms. Even if you pulled it off and I congratulated you, I wouldn't like those toms any better. They are, in my opinion, some of the worst sounding toms ever stemming back to SSD3. I just don't like them at all. Ever kill all the room stuff on the Slate drums? Sounds like a drum machine to me without the room/over-heads. No offense man, I just don't like them or anything SS puts out. If I listed all my issues with Slate stuff, you'd understand better but I'll spare you. It's just not for me and I've spent quite a bit on it. Never again.
 
-Danny

Most people, including myself, would disagree but to each his own.  We all hear things differently. 
BTW IMO all drums with no room or reverb don't sound natural including BFD and AD.