2014/07/24 09:53:33
bapu
Jimmy,
 
Both are excellent libraries.
MCUSA being a bit more modern sounding update of EZD's Nashville, IMO.
2014/07/24 16:40:58
Rain
I auditioned the kits last night and if the Toontrack stuff works for you, these are indeed very nice.
 
Me, I'll have to try them in context but these definitely have the Toontrack-ishness that I can't seem to make work for me. Not to say they're bad - there's plenty of great sounding music out there which make use of those. 
 
How I wish I could simply use the Abbey Road 60's and 70's kits in Superior Drummer...
 
To illustrate what I mean, let's say that the Abbey Road stuff is like Marilyn Monroe whereas the Toontrack stuff would be whichever current skinny, ripped, surgically enhanced, artificially tanned and photoshopped model. I'm definitely old school. 
2014/07/25 22:11:18
Rimshot
I get what you are saying Rain.  I think I could tweek the raw audio fairly well based on my engineering experience.  I don't have enough budget to but several SDX's at this time.  So I may look for the killer sale on the Custom & Vintage SDX.  I am not too happy with the default kick and snares with SD2.  The vids of C&V show how the kits and cymbals might be of greater use to me.  
 
Bapu, I have the EZ Drummer Nashville kit now and it is very good.  I just have grown to like playing with mic bleed in SD2 so I have prettey much abandoned EZ at this point.  Thanks for the feedback.
2014/07/26 01:52:31
Rain
I've just spent a bit of time putting together a new demo for my wife tonight and I tried to use C&V. I'm not all that enthusiastic about it.
 
Here's a comparison that cannot be regarded as fair or scientific or whatever but I feel it illustrates why I have an issue with the Toontrack drums and why I love Abbey Road so much.
 
Only kick and snare, solo'ed, no FX.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7AO5UdU9EM
 
I tried using a 60's kit in each but obviously the point isn't to see to compare the drum sounds but the approach and amount of pre-processing. The same time of approach can be observed with the rest of the drums.
 
For me, it's easier to work my way to a sound that I like using the AR than w/ TT.
 
2014/07/26 12:12:59
Rimshot
Wow, the AR snare is much more present.  I like the kick better from TT.  Do you think you could tweek the snare in TT to emulate that sound?  Did you also experiment with the velocity settings for the snare in TT?  That can make a huge difference in the sound.  
2014/07/26 15:55:30
Rain
Rimshot
Wow, the AR snare is much more present.  I like the kick better from TT.  Do you think you could tweek the snare in TT to emulate that sound?  Did you also experiment with the velocity settings for the snare in TT?  That can make a huge difference in the sound.  




I haven't got to try and tweak things much yet, but, as it does seem to be pretty much in line with all the other Toontrack kits I own, I'd be incredibly surprised if that first impression was to change.
 
OTOH, I don't think I'd have a problem getting the AR kick to sound closer to the TT one.
 
Every Toontrack kit leaves me with the impression that it's been run through something like BBE Sonic Maximizer - the mids are sucked out, the lows and high frequencies are exaggerated and things just don't breathe.
 
It's a very tight and focused type of sound. And I love "loose" sounding drums, with plenty of air around them.
 
Again, that's my perception of it - that's simply how I hear drums. And I'm a guitar player, so...
2014/07/26 23:34:03
Rain
As a quick comparison, here's what Logic Match EQ tells me I should do to in terms of EQ'ing to C&V for it to sound more like Abbey Road 60s kit.
 

 
Which is mostly, cut off the bass and the ultra high frequencies and re-introduce frequencies in between. Or inversely, if you want to Toontrack-ify Abbey Road drums, reverse that curve.
 
In my experience, that's pretty much the same type of analysis I get any time I compare Toontrack libraries with sound that I like (such as Platinum Samples or NI).
 
Unfortunately, in terms of dynamics, there's not much one can do. Those samples are all gated pretty drastically, so you can't really get more meat from them.
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