Realistic Drum Samples

[brandondrury]

I concluded that DFH has a lot of production in it, doesn't sound natural.

Really? DFH Superior sounds like raw, dry, and unprocessed samples to me. They may not have been captured in a way that you feel is flattering to jazz, but from my standpoint they are very neutral. I have to work hard with compressors and such to mix them. They certainly need the usual mixing treatments that real drum kits do for the rock and pop stuff I often do.

Brandon

[Xplora]

StormDrum!!! It's not a proper kit for most of it, but it has the sounds that most drummers really want. I don't really want a floor tom, I want 5 guys wailing on a Taiko each

[ctc7191]

Have you guys heard of Addictive Drums? I've used it a few times. Sounds like drums. I'm fairly new to midi sequencing and setting up virtual drum kits though. Addictive Drums has been the easiest to use for me in Sonar. I couldn't get EZ drummer to work right and I haven't tried DFH or jamstix so I couldnt compare those. It's all very tedious to me since I have to edit each drum hit (in a sequence) to keep it from sounding robotic...velocity, quantizing and all.
Here's the link if you guys want to check out the demo: XLN Audio

[adorian]

Brandon - you're a studio guy, what not sample your own?

I've tried pretty much everything out there and compared to my drum machine "array" (Boss 880, Alesis SR16, Roland JV880) I really can't see that much of a difference in realism to justify the cost. However, I own NI Battery 3 mostly for the weird percussion stuff but nowadays I just record what I need and load it up in Battery if the drum machines don't cut it.

My biggest gripe is with the cymbals - it is almost impossible to get cymbals to sound real unless you play them by hand.

[captaincowhouse]

Originally Posted by ctc7191

Have you guys heard of Addictive Drums? I've used it a few times. Sounds like drums. I'm fairly new to midi sequencing and setting up virtual drum kits though. Addictive Drums has been the easiest to use for me in Sonar. I couldn't get EZ drummer to work right and I haven't tried DFH or jamstix so I couldnt compare those. It's all very tedious to me since I have to edit each drum hit (in a sequence) to keep it from sounding robotic...velocity, quantizing and all.
Here's the link if you guys want to check out the demo: XLN Audio

Addictive drums are excellent. I used EZdrummer for a while, at my friend's house, but it just doesn't sound real. You get far more control with addictive drums, and more choice of drums. I've heard that BFD is good, but i haven't had a chance to get my hands on it!

[DLuz]

Originally Posted by captaincowhouse

Addictive drums are excellent. I used EZdrummer for a while, at my friend's house, but it just doesn't sound real. You get far more control with addictive drums, and more choice of drums.

I agree!!!

[brandondrury]

I used EZdrummer for a while, at my friend's house, but it just doesn't sound real.

What???? We obviously have different opinions on the definition of "real drums".

Brandon - you're a studio guy, what not sample your own?

Because for $129 I just bought Superior Drummer 2.0 and guys tracking in a room I can't afford, with the ability to tune drums amazingly, with a collection of toys that I can't afford, and a drummer hitting the samples with a skill unrivaled by just about anybody took care of that for me.

When I get bored with commercial samples, I'll look into making my own but I'm too buy making music to play around with my own samples. I seriously go negative by 20 hours each week. If I get 60 hours of productivity in per week, I'm still 20 hours short. I never acheive my productivity goals. So I think commercially available samples work just fine.

I dont' feel like I've lost any individuality because of my random, chaotic mixing style. A drummer was complaining that his drums which I used the same samples on sounded too different from song to song recently.

My biggest gripe is with the cymbals - it is almost impossible to get cymbals to sound real unless you play them by hand.

I've heard an ENORMOUS difference between the real samples out there and synthesis based drum machines in regard to kicks, snares, toms, and cymbals. Cymbals is where synthesis fails the most in my opinion. However, I love the way cymbals sound in Steven Slate's drum samples or Superior Drummer 2.0. They sound real to me.

Brandon

[captaincowhouse]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

What???? We obviously have different opinions on the definition of "real drums".

Well, this is based on the entry level (i think) version of the programme, but there's no control over the drums. You have to EQ/Compress/Effect the kit as a whole, rather than being able to do each drum seperately. Also, there's not much variation on the drums you can use, and they all don't sound, how i would have drums sound. Being a drum player myself, i know what i like from a kit, and EZ drummer doesn't deliver.

Another thing is, my friend, also a drummer (and a bloomin' incredible one at that!) He's a real audiophile productionist as it were. We recorded one of our songs, and he literally spent weeks working on it, to make it sound great, but even still, you could easily tell that this was a drum machine at work.

Now addictive drums has been great for me. Admittedly i haven't spent hours on it, but after a long afternoon of messing about on it, i finally produced a kit, that i found to be of good sound. I can listen to songs i make with it, and be happy in the knowledge, that it sounds pretty close to a real kit.

I guess it's the fact that the EZ drummer kits sound like over-produced (if you get me) and therefore they stick out like a sore thumb. The Addictive drums sound more like a kit in a studio.

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So yeh, in conclusion, i don't know much about recording, but i know what i likes, and i likes Addictive drums!

[brandondrury]

Being a drum player myself, i know what i like from a kit, and EZ drummer doesn't deliver.

I guess that's a matter of taste, then. I can live with that.

Well, this is based on the entry level (i think) version of the programme, but there's no control over the drums. You have to EQ/Compress/Effect the kit as a whole, rather than being able to do each drum seperately.

Interesting. I never used EZ Drummer (just reviewed a ton of mixes that used EZ Drummer), but I do use the newer Superior Drummer 2.0 which provides TONS AND TONS of control.

We recorded one of our songs, and he literally spent weeks working on it, to make it sound great, but even still, you could easily tell that this was a drum machine at work.

RED FLAG. EZ Drummer is not a "drum machine". It's drum samples. The MIDI that goes into them makes or breaks it. Because I've heard 100% convincing performances from EZ Drummer (both with programming and drummers playing on E-drums) I have to say that I expect this to be a problem with the programming or poorly setup E-drum kit.

I guess it's the fact that the EZ drummer kits sound like over-produced (if you get me) and therefore they stick out like a sore thumb. The Addictive drums sound more like a kit in a studio.

Both sound like "drums in the studio" because they were both recorded in studios. I'd actually argue for home studios that neither of these sound like drums in home studios, because they both sound amazing and most home recordings of drums sound like shit.

What you call "overproduced" is more of the mid scooped style drum sound which is essentially the standard of rock music. They may go a little further than you would prefer, but the Toontrack stuff is very pro. Addicitive Drums is an entirely different sound, but also excellent. Where I come from you want the drums to "stick out like a sore thumb". This is called "cut through" and a HUGE thing in a big, thick rock mix when you know the 2bus is gonna get smashed.

Brandon

[DLuz]

I agree with you guys on the EZ drummer things because I was frustrated with all the hats situation.. Its as if you would have to do the hats completely separate. I got addictive drums and it sounds a lot nicer and has a lot more sounds and features that let you control the sound. I actually tried the fantom x keyboard and liked those samples a lot better than EZ drummer!