@Stephen... If that was for me I appreciate the offer but I have to start an account with those guys anyway. I think BFD is going to be my savior in regards to recording drum tracks for my work as I can no longer physically accomplish what I need nor do I even have a kit anymore. I'm curious as to why you did not find it suitable for your purposes as they sound somewhat similar to mine. Just wondering of any issues I should be looking out for. Cheers and I hope you find what you need. And my usage would be for pretty much any style in need of a live drum sound. My initial goals are to capture material I already have written which varies from blues to metal to punk to jazz to country to traditional folk to kind of weirdo prog alterna rock stuff but I will definitely be expanding from there. As far as the Andy John's kit yes there did seem to be quite a few loops that came with it but I have not explored them as I'll be writing my own... even if they are similar to the included loops. I'm just funny that way where it has to come from my own mind and efforts for me to really call it my own. The sound of it is just extremely well record and well rounded. I could easily use it for all the genres I mentioned earlier although perhaps not to the full depth I would like. It is limited in the sense you just get a basic kit without much extra frilly dillies on it but it sounds like you have tons of stuff installed anyway to cover the gaps. I snagged it for twenty bucks but IMO I think it would be worth the $40. Check out the audio demos of it in the Cake store. It's just a solid sounding kit. You MAY want to check out Addictive Drums. They have some extremely cool stuff and that's what I was going to go for before finding out about BFD and would still like to snag a copy. Their forum and staff are extremely helpful too so check them out. Take care.

I have EZ Drummer, BFD Eco & DV, Session Drummer (obviously), Abbey Road 60's, and Addictive Drums....


My favorite for use is Addictive Drums....GREAT SOUND, FAST LOAD TIMES, Low CPU,
I really don't know how they do it...

BFD has INCREDIBLE velocity layers....but the files are HUGE, same with Superior Drummer, which also has a good deal of CPU overhead.

EZ Drummer is good for certain things...Haven't even played with the AR 60's yet...

They all, except EZD, are 24 bit, 44.1 Khz samples..to the best of my knowledge...

Addictive also has an Indie Rock ADpak and Midi Pak...

I highly recommend listening to them....
Let YOUR ears guide you...

http://www.xlnaudio.com

Ya really... it seems like you have tried everything else except Addictive. They have cool stuff and they have a lot of the neat effects and micing/room option like BFD but not so complicated. I wish I could afford both but I've had to make a choice and it is BFD. I'm actually pretty excited about it. It looks super cool.

BFD2, Studio Drummer and Battery. Also, rewire Reason and use Kong. For what you're looking for I would say BFD2 or Studio Drummer.

I use OWD Silver (expandable) and I got some good drums sounds I like from picking up two extra drum sets. I imagine with the guys behind Ocean Way Studios that the samples are exceptional. YMMV ;-) http://www.oceanwaydrums.net/audio1.php

What exactly is the problem w/ Superior if you are already getting results you like??? Session Drummer is a step down in functionality (bleed, room mics, etc) so if you can't get it done w/ Superior I highly doubt Session Drummer will get you there.

I use Sup Drummer 2.3. I have all the kits (sdx) including Evil Drums which is the only 3rd party kit available for it.

It's just so versatile there isn't anything I can't do.

I also get all the MIDI packs as I'm not a drummer and find that they help me get done what I need.

Years ago I got the nsKit7 (not the free version) but the full 70 GIGs of samples. They are still the best sampled drums in my mind but I've always had to rely on 3rd party drum maps for them to get anything done. I don't have the chops to get the best out of them so in the end I use Superior Drummer 2.3 as its a complete solution for me. I also have NI's Batttery 3 and all the Abbey Rioad stuff that came with KOMPLETE but in my mind the Toontrack guys are always working to get more stuff out that helps us non-drummers enormously.

I started off with Battery 2, way back, and then upgraded to Battery 3 when it was released.

Since buying X1, I have also been experimenting with SD3, and I also purchased BFD Eco, just to see what it would do.

Before I got into soft synths I used my Alesis DM5, but since Battery, I haven't even turned my DM5 on, and I should sell it. Trouble is, I made a load of triggers for it so I am reluctant to part with it at the moment...


As for the soft synths, I think that most will agree here, that each one has its good points, and it is nice to have the choice.

I'm getting more into BFD Eco, and I may, in the future, upgrade to full BFD, in order to have the greater flexibility over what instruments can go in each of the tracks. Eco does not allow you to create an all cymbal kit, whereas I am lead to believe that full BFD does.

I've not tried any of the others...

BFD2 & Session Drummer here.


I rarely use Session Drummer - BFD ticks all my boxes


Andy, you can, if it really floats your boat, set up a BFD2 kit with 32 cymbals in it

For Rock - Toontrack's Superior Drummer with the Metal Factory expansion (don't let "metal" put you off, its so much more that that.) is the no 1 goto. Also the standard Superior Drummer kit, custom and vintage and the Vintage and Classic EZXs.

Very heavy on resources and needing the full version of Kontakt, Sonic Reality's Neil Peart Drums are astounding. Its a bigger version of kit available for Session Drummer.

I also have Steven Slate SD4, I have yet to use this to its full potentitial yet but its very good.  I have BFD Eco, great value for money and some great sounds, but I always seem to gravitate back to Toontrack.

I notice a lot of people mentioning Battery. It just happens I am just in the process of installing Komplete 8 I almost decided to give Battery a miss to save disk space, The interface looked pretty archaic and I was not over impressed by the demo. I am installing it and coming to this thread it seems that that may be the right move.

If you are after MIDI grooves check out Groove Monkee. They have some excellent grooves for all genres and that are mapped for most of the major packages.