+100 for Jamstix, I've had it for a while but am just beginning to realize what a spectacular piece of software it is (once you get past the slightly dated looking interface and the not-so-good manual). The best thing about it is that you can usually get a fantastic piece of drumming just by setting it going with minimal interference, but you can involve yourself in the beat composition at every level of the process. There are endless numbers of style "widgets" which let you tweak every aspect of the performance on a bar by bar basis, plus you can force the playing of individual hits (e.g. if you want to make sure there's a snare hit on a certain beat of a certain bar), or you can specify "groove weights," or where to play fills (and exactly how to play them), or you can involve yourself right to the point where you're giving Jamstix a MIDI groove that you've programmed yourself and telling it to improvise on and embellish it in the style of any one of 20+ included virtual drummers. The possibilities are endless and run all the way from just loading it up and pressing play, all the way up to manipulating every aspect of the groove yourself. It's an incredible piece of kit once you knuckle down and learn how to use it (which admittedly I shied away from for ages). 

Is it any easier in jamstix to create multisamples? 
 
I agree that having to open up notepad to do such things is a hindrance to creativity and will never be something widely loved by musicians of any level. On the other hand, it does not bother me as much as it used to about the multisample issue.  Cakewalk includes so many multisamples for each type of drum that I can typically find one that does the trick for musical styles that wold require a multisample. For electronic styles, the drumkits tend to get less complex. If for some reason the 808 samples included don't work, I just use a sample without boithering to edit sfz files.Who needs a multisample for an 808 kick?  The 808 did not have a multisample for it's kick. SD3 is not on the level of Geist for electronic drumming or Addictive drums for acoustic styles but it's not as bad as it is made out to be.

i will have to give jamstix a try since what sharke said about it embellishing on rhythms i made sounds intruiging.

If you are looking for a quick way to create an sfz file from a bunch of samples, sfZed might be the answer. I would not recommend it to someone just starting out with sfz editing but it does make quick work of the basics. For myself, I have used Emacs for decades so it is hard for me to use another editor for anything.

dubdisciple
i will have to give jamstix a try since what sharke said about it embellishing on rhythms i made sounds intruiging.

The manual is a little confusing, but all you have to do is import a MIDI pattern that you made as a style and apply it to a song part. You have complete control over how it's embellished. The possibilities are almost infinite.