Great guys, thanks.......

NI Battery is versatile, endlessly tweakable and comes with loads of content.  However it is only suitable if you are prepared to spend time setting things up.  If you want something that is easy and quick, look elsewhere.
 

For acoustic kits, BFD2 emulates a studio mic'd kit very well, but with it's complexity comes a big learn curve.
I started with BFD Eco, a great scaled down (+ cheaper) version, but after a few months I simply had to upgrade to the full version.
I seems like it was made for Sonar, integrates very well.

My first question is, assuming you have used session drummer 3 that comes with sonar, what didn't you like about it ?
Was it the sounds? lack of velocity layers and articulations? I guess you need to know what you want first but then you also need to know what's out there
 
I think the first two questions you might want to ask your self (or that I would ask you) is...
A) do you just want drums that sound mixed and ready to go that you can throw in to your music in the hope that they'll work ?
Or  B) would you prefer to have complete control of how you want to shape them into something more original and that you can truly call your own and do you want to LEARN to MIX drums.
 
If the answer is A, then superior drummer and BFD2 might be a bit over the top for you and you may find the steep learning curve a bit overwhelming and give up.
 
I would then suggest either BFD Eco (BFD2's little brother) or EZdrummer which is superior drummers little brother.
IMHO BFD Eco sounds much better, is more versatile than EZdrummer and comes with a much better mixer and more and better
effects. It's a shame you only just posted this as Eco was on sale for $29 until the end of June but is back up to $99 for now.
EZdrummer is the simpler of the two and IMHO very similar to session drummer 3, it's clearly the better of the two but not by much.
 
If the answer is B) then both BFD2 and superior drummer work very well with sonar.
 
There is also Addictive drums which I would put just behind both superior drummer and BFD2 as the sample quality is compressed
and a lower bit rate and it sounds like it too. But to it's credit I was so impressed with the range of presets in different styles and genres that came with addictive drums and the whole program is less than 2GB.
 
My personal choice has always been BFD2 & BFD Eco.
Of course, I am biased as I'm a beta tester for FXpansion but I was a customer first and became a beta tester because I love their product and their ethos and to my ears their samples sound bigger and warmer and lovelier.
I much prefer their mixer and you get a very comprehensive range of very high end effects (not just your vanilla compressor eq and reverb)
The idea behind BFD2 (and superior drummer) is to let you be the engineer in your own drums studio. You have all the raw samples of very well recorded drums and all the control that you would have in a recording studio so you can tweak away till the cows come home.
You can get a demo of BFD2 from fxpansion to try out for your self. You'll need to register with them in order to download it.
 
Steve
 
P.S. You may also find that your machine lacks the power that is required for both BFD2 and superior drummer.
 
 

Another thing I have just discovered is that FXpansion have a 50% off all expansion kits throughout July.
Holy mackerel batman!!! 
 
Steve
 
Here's your link:   50% off all expansion kits

Try that Rock Legends kit for SD3 Cake gave away. If it's anything like the one for BFD it sounds great. It's not too sharp or clicky nor too boomy and flappy so it can be manipulated to go in either direction. Platinum Samples makes great stuff and this one's been serving me well. Another really nice one for SD3 is the Andy John's kit. It's a little more tight and modern sounding than the Rock Legends one.
 
As far as hosts I've got BFD Eco which I use exclusively now. Very cool stuff and it's a really inexpensive way to get high quality sounding drums. I'm itching to upgrade the BFD2. The thing with BFD though is unlike other drum hosts the kits are recorded dry so your signals behaves like they would if you recorded a real kit. You have to mix it like a real kit because of this (which I wanted but some people don't). However it comes with a bunch of drum effects and presets so you can just select a preset and not worry about mixing too much. I use Sonar's effects though I think they're a little higher quality.
 
 

Toontrack EZdrummer or Toontrack Superior Drummer (if want more advanced features).
 
Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X2 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX2Power
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

garrigus
Toontrack EZdrummer or Toontrack Superior Drummer (if want more advanced features).
 
Scott

I'm with you there, Scott.
 
EZDrummer is so quick and easy to set up, and sounds fantastic, particularly with the added expansions.  Superior is much more in depth.
 
Most of the studios I've played in have used Superior, FWIW.

jb101
I'm with you there, Scott.
EZDrummer is so quick and easy to set up, and sounds fantastic, particularly with the added expansions.  Superior is much more in depth.
Most of the studios I've played in have used Superior, FWIW.

Hey Jonathan... yeah, I really like the Toontrack stuff. I have both EZ and Superior (along with the expansions) and I use them both depending on the project needs.
 
Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X2 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX2Power
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

garrigus

jb101I'm with you there, Scott.EZDrummer is so quick and easy to set up, and sounds fantastic, particularly with the added expansions.  Superior is much more in depth.Most of the studios I've played in have used Superior, FWIW.

Hey Jonathan... yeah, I really like the Toontrack stuff. I have both EZ and Superior (along with the expansions) and I use them both depending on the project needs. Scott
--
Scott

Steve Hackett used Superior on his last two albums, and they sounded great. I'm pretty sure that most people had no idea that it wasn't a drummer.

My first electronic kit was a Simmons SDS 7. At the time I was amazed at the sound. It's funny to hear it now. I've tried many since, but haven't found anything that sounds as good as the Toontrack stuff.

Now, if I could only cure my addiction to buying expansion packs..