Superior Drummer 2.0 Mixer Soundclips

[brandondrury]

Also, since you're able to mix your drums before they're in cubase, what kind of mixing is needed once in the mix itself? I assume only some eq.

I forgot to answer this one. With the way Superior Drummer 2.0 is setup I really don't think I'd be doing anything in Cubase. I'm mixing a song with it starting tomorrow and I'll let you know.

I just hope it isn't too intimidating for me. I've never even used EZ drummmer.

I think it's way easier to use because of the mixer alone. It was very straight forward and I haven't used the manual yet.

If someone could tell exactly what drum software you were using that could suck.

Dude, you clearly haven't been doing this that long. What SUCKS is recording a real drum kit that sounds like shit, spending hundreds of hours trying to get it to sound like anything non-horrible, and then putting it in your car to discover the drums still sound like shit. In comparison, the fact that 13 audio engineers in the world can point out what software I used is the least of my worries.

It would seem to take away the magic in the person knowing it's only samples and not a human.

Audio engineers don't judge magic too often. They judge compression ratios and other bullshit. Musicians and audio engineers are the last people I think about when recording a song.

So I'm totally about fooling ppl into thinking my drums or guitars are authentic when they're really not.

This is more of a philosophy issue, but I think they are "authentic". When I play a mix and it sounds like killer real drums with an exciting, ass kicking quality to them, the emotion generated is authentic. If the emotion is authentic, the performance is authentic.

A buddy of mine were discussing the Metallica Black Album yesterday. As you may already know, Bob rock claims there are 20 something individual takes for Enter Sandman that have all been spliced together with razor blades. This was not an "authentic" performance on the drums, but a collection of performances. Anyway, we were discussing whether they used sample layering on top of those drums. Sample layering is considered to be a modern trend on drums, but how do we know they didn't use it?

It's easy to assume that all your favorite albums of all time are real and natural. It's easy to believe in the Easter bunny too.

Brandon

[Money Shot]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

I forgot to answer this one. With the way Superior Drummer 2.0 is setup I really don't think I'd be doing anything in Cubase. I'm mixing a song with it starting tomorrow and I'll let you know.

If I'm not mistaken, you route each drum and cymbal to it's own channel in cubase right? So you'd have 8 or more tracks for drums. I think that's how it works. If it does, then I'd assume you'd need to eq them to make them fit into the mix better.

[Money Shot]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

A buddy of mine were discussing the Metallica Black Album yesterday. As you may already know, Bob rock claims there are 20 something individual takes for Enter Sandman that have all been spliced together with razor blades. This was not an "authentic" performance on the drums, but a collection of performances. Anyway, we were discussing whether they used sample layering on top of those drums. Sample layering is considered to be a modern trend on drums, but how do we know they didn't use it?

Damn. Actually nah. I had no idea that all that went into making the black album. I know it was supposed to be flawless and worth over a million. 10 takes tho? Jesus.

[jdaug]

I just hope it isn't too intimidating for me. I've never even used EZ drummmer.

i dont have 2.0, but I do have DFHS 1.0. I tried messing with it for a couple of weeks and couldnt get a usable studio sound out of it. Yes, the samples were very real sounding, like I was in the room with the drummer, but thats usually not how you want your drums to sound on a rock or metal studio recording. so i gave up and got EZDFH instead of spending months trying to figure out how to mix true unprocessed samples. EZDFH was totally usable right out of the box with no eq, compression, etc, although those things are necessary for better quality recordings. Now that I have learned more about mixing drums, I think I will revisit DFHS soon and see if I can get to sound decent. i want a more realistic sound. realistic=sounds more like acoustic drums recorded and processed in a professional studio in the rock/metal genre.

[brandondrury]

[quote]If I'm not mistaken, you route each drum and cymbal to it's own channel in cubase right? So you'd have 8 or more tracks for drums. I think that's how it works. If it does, then.[quote]
In Superior Drummer 2.0 all tracks are, by default, routed through their own mixer and into a single stereo channel in Cubase. (This how most samplers work). You have the option to route individual tracks from the Superior Drummer mixer to up a whole bunch of Cubase channels (maybe 20, I'm guessing).

I'd assume you'd need to eq them to make them fit into the mix better

The Superior Drummer mixer does a WAY better job of handling all of this than I thought it would. I'm very impressed by it. That's the point of this thread. You can hear the individual presets that come not from changing the samples but from changing the mixer settings themselves.

So you really don't have to do anything in Cubase anymore.

Damn. Actually nah. I had no idea that all that went into making the black album. I know it was supposed to be flawless and worth over a million. 10 takes tho? Jesus.

Not 10 takes, 20 something GOOD takes were edited together with a razor blade. There is a reason that album took 9 months to record.

i dont have 2.0, but I do have DFHS 1.0. I tried messing with it for a couple of weeks and couldnt get a usable studio sound out of it. Yes, the samples were very real sounding, like I was in the room with the drummer, but thats usually not how you want your drums to sound on a rock or metal studio recording.

I just wrote this in my DFH Superior review recenty. I feel the same way. DFH Superior 1.0 had a midrangy tone to it that was better for country and music of that sort. I could never match what they had done on the mp3 clips on the Toontrack website no matter what. A lot of guys layered samples on top of it.

It was always a bunch of work trying to squeeze sounds out of DFH Superior. I feel confident in saying that they have 100% fixed everything I didn't like about DFH Superior in Superior Drummer 2.0. The upgrade for $120 is a no brainer in my opinion. You'll be glad you did it.

i want a more realistic sound.

I'd change the word "realistic" to "better" in this case. The DFH Superior has EXTREMELY realistic drums. You can see that on the video with the jazz drummer guy playing an edrum kit with them. They sound VERY realistic. They just sound midrangy and use a small room.

The Superior Drummer 2.0 stuff took a wildly different approach to tracking. The room is big. The drums are very bright when you want them to be (THAT is what you are looking for by the way).

Brandon

[Xplora]

After fooling around with Toontrack Solo, EZDrummer Free and DFHS1.6, S2 is looking like a much more viable option at only 150 bucks. I can't quite figure out if I am still able to use DFHS samples, or the extent of the EZDrummer implementation. I'm simply unwilling to commit to a new engine if I'll lose my sounds from the old one. (even if the old samples aren't quite as good)

Just for the record, TOontrack produce some of the WORST manuals I've ever read. They need to betatest these things on people who have never seen the program, not the people that programmed it and understand it backwards.

The last thing I need is this - duplication of cymbal sounds and an ability to run 2 rides, 2 hats, and 12 crashes/chinas/splashes. I just can't quite see how it happens?

[Ruzz]

Originally Posted by Xplora

They need to betatest these things on people who have never seen the program, not the people that programmed it and understand it backwards.

+1

No... make that +100

[Xplora]

Originally Posted by Ruzz

+1

No... make that +100

In the end, I have a manual not to use the program, but troubleshoot. If something goes wrong, how do I fix it? I could NEVER do that when DFHS first came out (I was the earliest adopter!)

[Jeff B]

How are the loops that come included with this software compared to EZDrummer? For songwriting/getting jump started on a song, I think EZDrummer is indispensable

[jdaug]

I can't quite figure out if I am still able to use DFHS samples, or the extent of the EZDrummer implementation. I'm simply unwilling to commit to a new engine if I'll lose my sounds from the old one.

You mean can you use S1 samples in the S2 engine? Good question, i dont know. I remember reading in the S1 manual that if you mess with the sample library the program wont work correctly. For EZDFH, I know people add samples to the library without it crashing the program. One dude on here loaded the Steven Slate snare samples into EZDFH and it sounded good.

The last thing I need is this - duplication of cymbal sounds and an ability to run 2 rides, 2 hats, and 12 crashes/chinas/splashes. I just can't quite see how it happens?

In multichannel mode, EZDFH has 8 separate channels. DFHS1 has 11 channels. I dont know about DFHS2. EZDFH is not expandable, as in you cant add more drums or cymbals to the kit. I seem to recall that DFHS1 allows you to add or remove cymbals/hats, but the number of audio channels doesnt change. Not sure about S2.