Thank you for all the videos you made about SD3. As a drummer it helped me to set up in the right way to play and have control in the dynamic range....
Perfect timing, Mike! I just upgraded my copy of SD2 to SD3 a few hours ago, to beat their somewhat arbitrary end-of-life deadline. What a beast! Right now, it’s downloading in my studio overnight. So I’ll hit the ground running this year with your tips. You are my biggest inspiration to improve my drum producing. I’m glad Toontrack seems to recognize just how influential you are. May this New Year bring every blessing to you and yours!
Great decision, Stephen. You won't regret it, I promise. Always glad if I can help. Never hesitate to get in touch with me or this awesome community in case you have questions. All the best to you and yours as well. Keep drummin' ;)
Can you please consider making a video about using the future hit instruments like tambourine, shaker, hand claps etc. I can’t find any info on that. I heard it’s a good way to add percussion to the beat
That lat tip with ghost notes was the best! I was wondering last time how to avoid this and here is the anwser :) Happy new Year Mike! ps. are there any preset samples for heavy toms or it's just a matter of procesing?
Unfortunately, there are no tom preset sounds. I remember that in the Metal Machinery SDX were some of them included. You need to process toms on your own. I plan to upload a video about tom processing anyways as I get a lot of questions about that topic
I gotta say " Your pretty Bang on with a lot of detailed stuff with Superior D3 ! " Toontrack should hire you to be a spokes guy ,,,,,,There isnt a video ,That ! I have watched ! That you have,, Where I didnt learn something ,,,,Amazing Videos and most of all Your Tips and all the Parameters and Details and all the Settings of SD3 that has to Offer ,,Your Absolutly Pro on it ! Thanks
hey mike! have used sd3 for a while now. overall everything's great. I have downloaded and installed only the first 3 libraries - without the last one called "additional bleed". was wondering if this is the reason I'm still not seeing some of the mixer channels on the software mixer? I want to get the most out of sd3 but the libraries are kinda heavey and take some storage place. would you recommend installing the last on as well? by now im kinda happy with around 8 basic recording channels. tnx!!
In order to utilize all mixer channels, you need to download all libraries, yes. But the last ones missing are really just for 5.1 or even 7.0 mixing projects.
Thanks so much for these videos Mike. My brother recently invested in the TD27, and your vids have been an invaluable source of information on this glorious software. All the best to you.
Is there a reason why you put kick sub and snare out (around 7:23 mark) on the same channel 3/4? Wouldn't you want the snare on a separate channel from the kicks? i want to try the mono thing but wondering why you would want to mono kick as 3 and snare as channel 4? I think i'm just so used to recording multi channel and seeing the snares on 3/4 but actually this kind of makes sense - its as if every part literally has its own channel. If this is the case...would you have to create a separate audio track for every single mono channel?
Re edit : I took some time to really understand these and I have a much stronger grasp than when I wrote that two weeks ago haha. Thanks for these vids cheers. Superior has 16 out channels and this turns it into 32. Ahhh makes sense now haha. Thanks
Thanks for this video! Just curious, if those one shot samples are included in the core library or are they from other sdx packs? Also, do you happen to remember what the sale was that you mention at the start of the video? Thinking of purchasing the core library and wondering if it ever goes on sale. Thanks again!
Yes, that’s even easier. There‘s a button in the top left corner to add a new instrument. You just need to assign it afterwards to the pad or key you want it to trigger.
What would you recommend for the scenerio of a TD-30 Kit and a good processing Laptop, but low storage? Id like to play w/ the superior drummer 3 but I am afraid of latency and loading problems when I use it from an external hard drive
The hard disk drive has nothing to do with latency. It will just take a bit longer to load the samples, that’s it. I’ve made a video about that topic just two weeks ago.
That first tip about the cache is so amazing! A lot of my tracks use little more than kick/snare/hat, so loading the entire drum kit is really pointless. The default SD3 kit is >1GB, but with caching on, the kick/snare/hat only loaded up 25MB. What a huge difference!
Well, SD3 has been released 5 years ago. It took roughly 8 years to jump from SD2 to SD3 … so I don‘t think there will be an SD4 coming very soon. To answer your question: It depends what you‘re after - if you don‘t want to tweak every little nuance on your own, you might go for EZDrummer 3 instead. To me, SD3 is still the benchmark as it constantly get updates, too. However, it‘s not made for everyone
Another interesting thing is that u can go to the midi in/e drums settings and check which is the lowest midi speed note that every pad of ur edrumset gives and adjust the speed curve starting point to that, this way the edrums become more dynamic
@@ThaKid14 you select one drum in sd3, hit softly the corresponding pad on your edrumset and see which is the lowest midi speed registered then change the midi speed note curve starting point to to that speed and it will become 0 on the program, giving you more dynamics (if the pad gives 40 as the lowest midi speed, when hit at that intensity, sd3 will change 40 to 0, and in proportion, all the hits to corresponding speeds according to your pad limitation, giving you more realism and response when playing). Also if your pad won't get to 127 which is max midi speed and max dynamic sound sample, let's say the pad gets only to 100, you can set the curve ending point to 100, and now when hitting the hardest it will sound the hardest too. The objective is to correct pad limitation and gain range.
Great video Mike, very useful tips. Some of them I didn't know but of course I will try them out. Happy New Year and all the best for you and your family my friend. What I don't like in SD 3 is that I always have to adjust the 3 zone settings for my snare. Even if save it as my default kit. Also if you change to another preset you have to readjust it. Maybe I do something wrong. That's why I sometimes choose to trigger only the center hits so all my hits will be the same. 😎👍🍺👊
That's weird, Rob - because when I played my drums, the software always remembered my settings, even for the different zones on the snare drum. Did you save your own preset in the "MIDI/E-Drum" settings page as well?
I experience a problem with SD3 if i try to change the order of FX on an instrument. Lets say i have a compressor and an eq on the snare top. Now i want to change the order to eq then compression. If i use the mouse to slide one effect past another - SD3 crashes and take Logic Pro with it. Any ideas, please?
Yes, this issue occured to me as well. Try to update Superior Drummer 3 using the free „Toontrack Program Manager“ software. It‘s super smooth and easy to handle. Once SD3 is updated, the issue shouldn‘t occur anymore.
the velocity gate thing is great because you can use it to add articulations to e-drum pads. my cymbals are only dual zone, but i can get a ride bell articulation by hitting really hard. :-) my question though, is... do you know of a way to make an extra articulation by default? that way you would still have a ride bell when you switch libraries. :-)
Not sure if I got your question. You can just use the articulations that are in one library - or add one from another library and then save the set as a user preset. But there’s no way of having one additional articulation by default, I am afraid.
Sorry if I didn't explain very well. I've got a v-drum kit with a td-1 brain. It can only handle dual zone cymbals (not triple), so you can have two articulations on the ride. The td-1 reserves the highest velocity input for a third articulation, so if you hit the ride really hard, you hear a bell sound. This is done within the module and the third articulation isn't output as midi. However, you can get the same effect by stacking a ride articulation within sd3 and using velocity gates to force the bell articulation to sound only for the highest velocity range. The trouble is, as soon as you switch preset the stack is gone, so you have to set it up again from scratch. I was trying to find some way to apply that kind of stack globally, so that the third articulation was always available. I've tried Midipipe, but couldn't figure out how to do it. Thanks for your reply anyway. :-)
Hi Mike, i wich you a happy new year! I play with a TD10-TDW1 Modul with SD3.My Snarerim sounded only Rimshot but with my SD2 i can make a midi note for articulation my Rimclick and Rimshot.Can you tell me how it makes in SD3? Thanks for helb!
I was looking at Wronka for my 22” BD. I like that trigger. Also like what I see from Iris. Don’t see much on RUclips. Very little. But the design is super impressive at a very reasonable price. Do you know about them ?
Hi, thank you so much for this wonderful video. i learned so much from this! Where did you get the library Superior Drummer Preset Sounds? It is not showing up for me when I go to stack. Also when I go to stack only some of the snare hits show a preview where some others are totally muted when I click and not sure why this is the case?
@@MikeLuke it appears I have not, thanks for the advice! Another question. i find it very challenging to map the floor tom properly. Any advice on getting a good sound out of the floor tom when rolling through a Roland kit? i use a Roland PDX-8 pad. I'm now starting to wonder if the issue is actually the pad itself and its internal sensors. It's very challenging to get it to behave accordingly and i've played around with pad sensitivity, threshold etc.
@@ThaKid14 Well, it’s a complex chain overall that determines the sound and your personal perception. The module, the pad, the software itself. SD3 alllows you to deep dive into all articulations. I‘ve made some videos on SD3, but of course I couldn’t address all possible scenarios. Set up you module correctly (as this sends the respective MIDI information to SD3), then make sure in SD3 all relevant information are set (the presets for each drum module manufacturer are the best starting point), then dial in each and every instrument based on your playing style and feel. It takes some time as SD3 is not plug & play software, but once all is set and done, you‘ll enjoy the realism even more.
@@MikeLuke Thanks for the detailed answer! I've actually spent a good chunk of today going through some of your vids! Currently watching, "How to get a perfectly triggering HiHat in Superior Drummer 3". Awesome stuff here! yeah this all is starting to make sense. i'm gonna continue to fiddle with the relationship between all three (module, pad and SD3) until I find a happy medium. if i determine that it really is the pad.....I think only way to know would be to sub out my snare and floor tom pads (both of them are PDX V drum mesh heads). Currently my snare works so smooth so if i switch them and find the floor tom is still finicky....then i think the troubleshoot issue is in fact the pad. But no way to find out until i do some more messing around. Thanks for the help! Re edit: i think another issue i found was the bleeding component. it appears the floor tom is connected to one of the ambient or overhead mics - i forget exactly which one - and often it created cross talk between the FT and cymbals....sometimes a FT hit even triggered as if i hit a cymbal....i wonder if that was bleeding from one of the mics...it appeared to be something happening inside SD3..........
i am trying to turn midi into audio I see that I get clipping from the drums on the master fader. I see I can turn down the midi that are routed to the audio tracks but some midi tracks are very low at that point what is the best way to record to audio and not lose level when it turns to audio . I want all to record all tracks as hot as I can
You don't need to turn down the MIDI as this will end up having different sounds as you stated already. In SD3 you can decrease the volume of each instrument or globally for the whole software so you won't run into clipping.
Just simply excellent, and well explained to perfection, but that's just the starting point, love to understand song creator a bit more, i drop my file into it and even though I have no effects turned on in the mixer, I can still hear reverbs, that shouldn't be should it, also it is best to do the editing effects from your DAW, more videos please😊
Hi Mike, just recently discovered your channel in my quest to convert my acoustic Yamaha kit to electric. I had been intent on using either a Roland TD -30 or the Pearl Mimic Brain when I came across the “debate on Drums 65” about using a VST instead. Would you suggest using a program such as superior drummer 3, for someone that is not a computer whiz? Also, I have pretty much nailed down my choices for the conversion to the R drum triggers using the RTB for toms and the RTS11 for the snare and the RTS-BD for the kick, Drum-Tec Real feel mesh heads. Where I have issues on deciding are the cymbals and HH. I’m stuck on the reliability of the Rolands but attracted to the look and feel of metal e cymbals. I’m leaning towards the magnatrack Cymbolic cymbals but haven’t found a lot of reviews on the net. Have you had any experience? Lastly, what are your thoughts about using a PC instead of a Mac for Superior drummer and what brain would you suggest using if going with a VST? I appreciate that there are a lot of questions..... your opinions and comments would really be helpful. Many thanks from Montreal Peter Schmidt
Hi Peter, thanks for checking out my channel. Well, that's a lot of questions. It's always difficult to say "Which is better", because it's heavily influenced by a bunch of options. The question of running Superior Drummer or not is not a question of being a computer whiz, it's more a question of being an audio engineer whiz, to be honest. You need to understand that Superior Drummer hasn't been made for drummers (though a lot of us use it), it's for guitarists, singers, songwriters, producers. So, if you are a drummer wanting the best sounds possible with ease of use, go for the Mimic Pro. This will save you from buying a laptop, too. Same goes for "PC vs Mac". Both will work, I prefer using Macs - which goes for 90% of studios worldwide. But I know a lot of guys using PCs as well (Justin from 65 Drums, for example). At the end it's a matter of your budget, honestly. Buying a Mac, buying Superior Drummer 3, buying a Roland TD-30 module ....that sums up to 4-6k easily. The cymbals: Again, it depends on how you gonna use it. Are you a live gigging drummer? Just playing at home? Recording music with your band? There is no right or wrong here. When it comes to reliability and perfect triggering, nothing beats Roland. Period. Converted e-Cymbals look and feel nice, but it's always a compromise. I did an in-depth review of the Jobeky cymbals on my channel some months ago, maybe this will help. Sorry for not giving a clear direction, but this whole topic contains too many variables to say "A or B".
I'm very grateful for your Superior Drummer 3 videos. They have helped me a lot. Is it possible to, say, switch one snare drum from a different library? I don't see it show up when I want to add it to my existing setup/kit/preset. Thank you.
Nice... can i ask something... I'm intending to use SD3 to trigger from my edrums and play live with it. So, is it necessary to install the full package? I suppose it is when you are intending to record and mix at the most professional level, but for now I just want a really nice sounding edrum kit to play live. I've already got EZdrummer 2 and I like it, but i've read that the whole playability is a lot better with SD3. thx very much in advance
@@MikeLuke Awesome, thx!... one more, in terms of playability, is SD3 really superior to EZD2. I'm talking about dynamics and realism, you know, is it going to help me feel my edrums kit more like an acoustic kit? thx so much
Yes, it is. As it was recorded with more attention to detail and with more layers, especially on snare, hats and cymbals. It heavily depends on your drum module and your electronic drum set. The better the module and the better your pads and cymbals, the more realism you‘ll notice. For example, SD3 supports different zones on a snare (center, mid-center and edge), so you‘ll hear different sounds depending WHERE you hit your pad. However, if your drum module or your pad doesn‘t support multi-zone articulation, you won‘t take any advantage of this feature of SD3. The software outperforms any drum module on the market as it even provides articulations that cannot be played on an electronic drum set, e.g. the bow of the hats. ;)
@@MikeLuke ok got it... Yes, I forgot to mention that I've got a td25 kit so I suppose it'll work fine. Thx very much, your answers have been extremely helpful to make up my mind. Keep up the good work. Your channel is awesome!
You‘re very welcome, brother! On my channel there are some videos how to set up the HiHat correctly using Roland modules. And another one in which I explain the multi-zone articulations that SD3 provides. Check my SD3 playlist in case you haven‘t watched them yet. Cheers!
I don't understand how to parallel compress/route the snare, for instance: when I route my snare(s) to, say, output 3/4 I get the routed there but when I hit Solo on the 3/4 I get no sound.
When you route things on different outputs than 1/2, you have to make sure that they are routed into your DAW accordingly. When you just use SD3 in standalone, you won't hear anything BUT output 1/2.
Thank you Mike for a very informative video and for your time in sharing the workings of SD3. I took notes and will explore these tips further. Happy New Year!
Im just curious how you got to learn SD3, I also saw the guy from MixBus TV know Soooo much about it, while im struggling to get everything right. I took a look at the manual and that thing is HUGE!!! I know toontrack has videos on their website ( i haven't gone through all the videos) but is that how you learn?? Thanks for this video btw!
It takes some time, don’t expect to get it within two hours. Just use it every day, work with it and you’ll discover all the features soon. That’s what I did. And regularly checking RUclips and the internet in general to get inspirations.
Hey Mike, quick and perfect explanation. Especially your zoom helps me on my mobile phone to see the mentioned areas. Just an idea for you if you want to do a little episode for edrums sometime: I really love in SD recording my drumtrack and then control timing with the grid editor. This is really a great help for me as a beginner to see which hand or instrument wasn't on time. And like you wrote me once, it really makes more pleasure. Thank you for all and good wishes for you and your family.
Hello Mike. I am a new incomer in the edrum world and just started to use SD3. Your videos are a great help! I bought a Roland TD27 and tried to get it work with SD3. However, i am having problems getting a ‘loud’ audio output when playing the drums. I followed a tutorial for TD17 and SD3 connection and using those settings, still when hitting the drums, the sound is somehow muted. If I click in the drums on the screen the sound loud and clear. I have changed the USB input gain to 0dB and that helps a bit but still they do not sounds natural at all. I am connecting my module using a USB-B to USB-A to my MacBook Pro (with a USB-C hub). Have you had this type of issues before? Do you have any recommendation to work around this problem? Thanks in advance for your help!
I know this issue from a lot of people. I’d always recommend to get a dedicated audio interface for the signal chain. Or, in your case, a decent headphone amplifier.
Good timing, finally upgraded a few days ago as well. I especially like your cymbals channel trick. An addition to your tip #2 would be to use the middle point of the downward slope of the envelope. Pull that in a smidgen to make a curve where the cut-off is a little smoother.
Hi Mike, Great tips!!! Can you explain why you would route out the individual drums versus getting the sound you want then export / bounce from SD3 and import into your DAW ? Pros / cons ? Thanks, Steve
Hi Stephen, well, it depends what you want. Sometimes I do some little pre-processing in SD3, but 9 out of 10 times I send the raw tracks to my DAW. The reason is that I look at my drums as one part of my mixes, just like any other instrument. Furthermore, I can use the plugins I am used to (and I have more of them). And most importantly, I can do automation moves and more complex sends and effect processing. It’s a good question though. When you bounce the tracks, you commit to a certain sound. But sometimes there are situations where I change subtle things in SD3 even when I am almost done with my mixing (change the volume of the cymbals, for example or pick another snare). I plan to make a video about the topic of routing anyways. Thanks for your good question.
Hi Mike That’s makes sense. So the million dollar question is how do you get the wav files into your project? Do you arm the routed tracks and record directly into the DAW? Thanks for addressing my questions !! Steve
Stephen Banville Haha, that’s an easy one for a million dollar 😎 There are several ways actually. The easiest way is to simply render or print the track in your DAW once it has been routed the way you plan to mix. Superior Drummer itself offers some neat bounce / render options as well, e.g you can separate the mic bleeding from the clean tracks, just to name one option.
Great tips mike helped me in previous videos to set up my td 30 and VH 12 thanks but in this video I liked the cache mode I also saw you could turn it to 16 bit in that menu as well I think it help but will give that less of a sound quality difference thanks
The cache tip is extremely helpful. I did not know it was an option; then again I’ve only had the software for about a week. Thank you!
Thank you for all the videos you made about SD3. As a drummer it helped me to set up in the right way to play and have control in the dynamic range....
Helpful! Thank you.
Perfect timing, Mike! I just upgraded my copy of SD2 to SD3 a few hours ago, to beat their somewhat arbitrary end-of-life deadline. What a beast! Right now, it’s downloading in my studio overnight. So I’ll hit the ground running this year with your tips. You are my biggest inspiration to improve my drum producing. I’m glad Toontrack seems to recognize just how influential you are. May this New Year bring every blessing to you and yours!
Great decision, Stephen. You won't regret it, I promise. Always glad if I can help. Never hesitate to get in touch with me or this awesome community in case you have questions. All the best to you and yours as well. Keep drummin' ;)
Can you please consider making a video about using the future hit instruments like tambourine, shaker, hand claps etc. I can’t find any info on that. I heard it’s a good way to add percussion to the beat
That lat tip with ghost notes was the best! I was wondering last time how to avoid this and here is the anwser :) Happy new Year Mike! ps. are there any preset samples for heavy toms or it's just a matter of procesing?
Unfortunately, there are no tom preset sounds. I remember that in the Metal Machinery SDX were some of them included. You need to process toms on your own. I plan to upload a video about tom processing anyways as I get a lot of questions about that topic
I gotta say " Your pretty Bang on with a lot of detailed stuff with Superior D3 ! " Toontrack should hire you to be a spokes guy ,,,,,,There isnt a video ,That ! I have watched ! That you have,, Where I didnt learn something ,,,,Amazing Videos and most of all Your Tips and all the Parameters and Details and all the Settings of SD3 that has to Offer ,,Your Absolutly Pro on it ! Thanks
Thanks a lot, Craig. Glad I can help with that stuff. Cheers
Thanks Mike very useful tips and well explained. Happy New Year to you.
Hey Mike - great Tips, thanks a lot ! Very helpful
Very useful, thanks very much Mike. :-)
I have SD3 downloaded, working on all the sound packs and stuff to DL. Thankfully I have some videos to watch 8)
Great tips, very useful. Thanks a lot
You're welcome. Glad I could help!
hey mike! have used sd3 for a while now. overall everything's great. I have downloaded and installed only the first 3 libraries - without the last one called "additional bleed". was wondering if this is the reason I'm still not seeing some of the mixer channels on the software mixer? I want to get the most out of sd3 but the libraries are kinda heavey and take some storage place. would you recommend installing the last on as well? by now im kinda happy with around 8 basic recording channels. tnx!!
In order to utilize all mixer channels, you need to download all libraries, yes. But the last ones missing are really just for 5.1 or even 7.0 mixing projects.
Thanks so much for these videos Mike. My brother recently invested in the TD27, and your vids have been an invaluable source of information on this glorious software. All the best to you.
Is there a reason why you put kick sub and snare out (around 7:23 mark) on the same channel 3/4? Wouldn't you want the snare on a separate channel from the kicks? i want to try the mono thing but wondering why you would want to mono kick as 3 and snare as channel 4? I think i'm just so used to recording multi channel and seeing the snares on 3/4 but actually this kind of makes sense - its as if every part literally has its own channel. If this is the case...would you have to create a separate audio track for every single mono channel?
Re edit : I took some time to really understand these and I have a much stronger grasp than when I wrote that two weeks ago haha. Thanks for these vids cheers. Superior has 16 out channels and this turns it into 32. Ahhh makes sense now haha. Thanks
Thanks for this video! Just curious, if those one shot samples are included in the core library or are they from other sdx packs? Also, do you happen to remember what the sale was that you mention at the start of the video? Thinking of purchasing the core library and wondering if it ever goes on sale. Thanks again!
Hi Nic, usually Toontrack doesn't put the core library on sale unfortunately.
@@MikeLuke Thanks Mike, ye I went ahead and made the purchase already. Really enjoying it. Hopefully some upcoming sales on sdx packs soon!
Is there a way you can add a side snare drum and also an extra fx hihat (adding a new instrument , no stack) ?
Yes, that’s even easier. There‘s a button in the top left corner to add a new instrument. You just need to assign it afterwards to the pad or key you want it to trigger.
@@MikeLuke will try !!! thank you…
What would you recommend for the scenerio of a TD-30 Kit and a good processing Laptop, but low storage? Id like to play w/ the superior drummer 3 but I am afraid of latency and loading problems when I use it from an external hard drive
The hard disk drive has nothing to do with latency. It will just take a bit longer to load the samples, that’s it. I’ve made a video about that topic just two weeks ago.
Mike Luke Thanks, you earned a subscription
That first tip about the cache is so amazing! A lot of my tracks use little more than kick/snare/hat, so loading the entire drum kit is really pointless. The default SD3 kit is >1GB, but with caching on, the kick/snare/hat only loaded up 25MB. What a huge difference!
Please help me how can I access the randomize slider? I only have the velocity knob visible. Thank you.
And you were right, 2019 had a lot of stuff to come. 😢
No resources seem to have been installed please reinstall superior drummer 3
Thanks for the tips. The stacking tip was super helpful.
Cheers! Glad you liked it.
I am getting latency on Superior Drummer 3 using my Alesis Surge electronic drums. Do you have video on how to fix this issue? Thank you
No, I haven‘t. Unfortunately, Alesis drum modules are known for having latencies.
Hi! Great video! Given that SD3 is pretty old, would you still recommend to buy it or rather wait for SD4? Cheers!
Well, SD3 has been released 5 years ago. It took roughly 8 years to jump from SD2 to SD3 … so I don‘t think there will be an SD4 coming very soon.
To answer your question: It depends what you‘re after - if you don‘t want to tweak every little nuance on your own, you might go for EZDrummer 3 instead. To me, SD3 is still the benchmark as it constantly get updates, too. However, it‘s not made for everyone
Sound leaks to each other.. I already tell my mama Its so cooool!!
3 years into using SD3 & only now do I understand these functions. Superb!!! Subscribed.
I have the full ssd core sounds but in the library I don't see preset sounds that you are talking about here. where could they be ?
I do have several expansions installed as well, e.g. the „Blackbird Studios“ or „CLA“. They show up as presets, too.
Another interesting thing is that u can go to the midi in/e drums settings and check which is the lowest midi speed note that every pad of ur edrumset gives and adjust the speed curve starting point to that, this way the edrums become more dynamic
That’s a great tip to share, Álvaro. Thanks for this!
could you elaborate a bit more on this if possible? how does this work exactly?
@@ThaKid14 you select one drum in sd3, hit softly the corresponding pad on your edrumset and see which is the lowest midi speed registered then change the midi speed note curve starting point to to that speed and it will become 0 on the program, giving you more dynamics (if the pad gives 40 as the lowest midi speed, when hit at that intensity, sd3 will change 40 to 0, and in proportion, all the hits to corresponding speeds according to your pad limitation, giving you more realism and response when playing). Also if your pad won't get to 127 which is max midi speed and max dynamic sound sample, let's say the pad gets only to 100, you can set the curve ending point to 100, and now when hitting the hardest it will sound the hardest too. The objective is to correct pad limitation and gain range.
You seem to know every corner of sd3. Great video
Great video Mike, very useful tips. Some of them I didn't know but of course I will try them out. Happy New Year and all the best for you and your family my friend. What I don't like in SD 3 is that I always have to adjust the 3 zone settings for my snare. Even if save it as my default kit. Also if you change to another preset you have to readjust it. Maybe I do something wrong. That's why I sometimes choose to trigger only the center hits so all my hits will be the same. 😎👍🍺👊
That's weird, Rob - because when I played my drums, the software always remembered my settings, even for the different zones on the snare drum. Did you save your own preset in the "MIDI/E-Drum" settings page as well?
@@MikeLuke Yes I did, I will try it again and will see what happens!
Great useful tips Mike, thanks - Happy New Year to you
Thanks for stopping by, Steve. Glad I could help.
I experience a problem with SD3 if i try to change the order of FX on an instrument. Lets say i have a compressor and an eq on the snare top. Now i want to change the order to eq then compression. If i use the mouse to slide one effect past another - SD3 crashes and take Logic Pro with it. Any ideas, please?
Yes, this issue occured to me as well. Try to update Superior Drummer 3 using the free „Toontrack Program Manager“ software. It‘s super smooth and easy to handle. Once SD3 is updated, the issue shouldn‘t occur anymore.
@@MikeLuke Thanks - I'll take a look.
Thank you for this video. Trying to decide between SD3 and EZD3 so this is good to know.
the velocity gate thing is great because you can use it to add articulations to e-drum pads. my cymbals are only dual zone, but i can get a ride bell articulation by hitting really hard. :-)
my question though, is... do you know of a way to make an extra articulation by default? that way you would still have a ride bell when you switch libraries. :-)
Not sure if I got your question. You can just use the articulations that are in one library - or add one from another library and then save the set as a user preset. But there’s no way of having one additional articulation by default, I am afraid.
Sorry if I didn't explain very well.
I've got a v-drum kit with a td-1 brain. It can only handle dual zone cymbals (not triple), so you can have two articulations on the ride. The td-1 reserves the highest velocity input for a third articulation, so if you hit the ride really hard, you hear a bell sound. This is done within the module and the third articulation isn't output as midi. However, you can get the same effect by stacking a ride articulation within sd3 and using velocity gates to force the bell articulation to sound only for the highest velocity range. The trouble is, as soon as you switch preset the stack is gone, so you have to set it up again from scratch. I was trying to find some way to apply that kind of stack globally, so that the third articulation was always available. I've tried Midipipe, but couldn't figure out how to do it. Thanks for your reply anyway. :-)
Hi Mike, i wich you a happy new year! I play with a TD10-TDW1 Modul with SD3.My Snarerim sounded only Rimshot but with my SD2 i can make a midi note for articulation my Rimclick and Rimshot.Can you tell me how it makes in SD3? Thanks for helb!
Good tutorial video. Straight to the point and great examples.
Thanks!
I was looking at Wronka for my 22” BD. I like that trigger. Also like what I see from Iris. Don’t see much on RUclips. Very little. But the design is super impressive at a very reasonable price. Do you know about them ?
Excellent suggestions! Thank you for your insights, Mike.
Thanks for watching! Appreciate it.
Thank you! Happy 2019 ...
Hi, thank you so much for this wonderful video. i learned so much from this!
Where did you get the library Superior Drummer Preset Sounds? It is not showing up for me when I go to stack. Also when I go to stack only some of the snare hits show a preview where some others are totally muted when I click and not sure why this is the case?
Did you download the whole 230GB?
@@MikeLuke it appears I have not, thanks for the advice! Another question.
i find it very challenging to map the floor tom properly. Any advice on getting a good sound out of the floor tom when rolling through a Roland kit? i use a Roland PDX-8 pad. I'm now starting to wonder if the issue is actually the pad itself and its internal sensors.
It's very challenging to get it to behave accordingly and i've played around with pad sensitivity, threshold etc.
@@ThaKid14 Well, it’s a complex chain overall that determines the sound and your personal perception. The module, the pad, the software itself. SD3 alllows you to deep dive into all articulations. I‘ve made some videos on SD3, but of course I couldn’t address all possible scenarios. Set up you module correctly (as this sends the respective MIDI information to SD3), then make sure in SD3 all relevant information are set (the presets for each drum module manufacturer are the best starting point), then dial in each and every instrument based on your playing style and feel. It takes some time as SD3 is not plug & play software, but once all is set and done, you‘ll enjoy the realism even more.
@@MikeLuke Thanks for the detailed answer! I've actually spent a good chunk of today going through some of your vids! Currently watching, "How to get a perfectly triggering HiHat in Superior Drummer 3". Awesome stuff here!
yeah this all is starting to make sense. i'm gonna continue to fiddle with the relationship between all three (module, pad and SD3) until I find a happy medium. if i determine that it really is the pad.....I think only way to know would be to sub out my snare and floor tom pads (both of them are PDX V drum mesh heads). Currently my snare works so smooth so if i switch them and find the floor tom is still finicky....then i think the troubleshoot issue is in fact the pad. But no way to find out until i do some more messing around. Thanks for the help!
Re edit: i think another issue i found was the bleeding component. it appears the floor tom is connected to one of the ambient or overhead mics - i forget exactly which one - and often it created cross talk between the FT and cymbals....sometimes a FT hit even triggered as if i hit a cymbal....i wonder if that was bleeding from one of the mics...it appeared to be something happening inside SD3..........
i am trying to turn midi into audio I see that I get clipping from the drums on the master fader. I see I can turn down the midi that are routed to the audio tracks but some midi tracks are very low at that point what is the best way to record to audio and not lose level when it turns to audio . I want all to record all tracks as hot as I can
You don't need to turn down the MIDI as this will end up having different sounds as you stated already. In SD3 you can decrease the volume of each instrument or globally for the whole software so you won't run into clipping.
Just simply excellent, and well explained to perfection, but that's just the starting point, love to understand song creator a bit more, i drop my file into it and even though I have no effects turned on in the mixer, I can still hear reverbs, that shouldn't be should it, also it is best to do the editing effects from your DAW, more videos please😊
Great tips or pointers. Really on-point and thought provoking
very helpful thank you
!
Nice tips!
Thanks Mike great advice and thanks for the tutorial 👍
Please make a video on how to make kick ass Metal Tom sounds
Are you for hire?
Hi Michael, you want support on SD3?
yes - you can messg me your email...
yes how do I contact you? @@MikeLuke
You find my mail address at the channel info page. Don’t want to post it here due to spam ...
I can't see any presets to choose at the main tab, am I missing something? I did the installation from zero, no previous version installed
Hi Mike, just recently discovered your channel in my quest to convert my acoustic Yamaha kit to electric. I had been intent on using either a Roland TD -30 or the Pearl Mimic Brain when I came across the “debate on Drums 65” about using a VST instead. Would you suggest using a program such as superior drummer 3, for someone that is not a computer whiz?
Also, I have pretty much nailed down my choices for the conversion to the R drum triggers using the RTB for toms and the RTS11 for the snare and the RTS-BD for the kick, Drum-Tec Real feel mesh heads. Where I have issues on deciding are the cymbals and HH. I’m stuck on the reliability of the Rolands but attracted to the look and feel of metal e cymbals. I’m leaning towards the magnatrack Cymbolic cymbals but haven’t found a lot of reviews on the net. Have you had any experience? Lastly, what are your thoughts about using a PC instead of a Mac for Superior drummer and what brain would you suggest using if going with a VST?
I appreciate that there are a lot of questions..... your opinions and comments would really be helpful.
Many thanks from Montreal
Peter Schmidt
Hi Peter,
thanks for checking out my channel. Well, that's a lot of questions.
It's always difficult to say "Which is better", because it's heavily influenced by a bunch of options. The question of running Superior Drummer or not is not a question of being a computer whiz, it's more a question of being an audio engineer whiz, to be honest. You need to understand that Superior Drummer hasn't been made for drummers (though a lot of us use it), it's for guitarists, singers, songwriters, producers. So, if you are a drummer wanting the best sounds possible with ease of use, go for the Mimic Pro. This will save you from buying a laptop, too.
Same goes for "PC vs Mac". Both will work, I prefer using Macs - which goes for 90% of studios worldwide. But I know a lot of guys using PCs as well (Justin from 65 Drums, for example). At the end it's a matter of your budget, honestly. Buying a Mac, buying Superior Drummer 3, buying a Roland TD-30 module ....that sums up to 4-6k easily.
The cymbals: Again, it depends on how you gonna use it. Are you a live gigging drummer? Just playing at home? Recording music with your band? There is no right or wrong here. When it comes to reliability and perfect triggering, nothing beats Roland. Period.
Converted e-Cymbals look and feel nice, but it's always a compromise. I did an in-depth review of the Jobeky cymbals on my channel some months ago, maybe this will help.
Sorry for not giving a clear direction, but this whole topic contains too many variables to say "A or B".
I'm very grateful for your Superior Drummer 3 videos. They have helped me a lot. Is it possible to, say, switch one snare drum from a different library? I don't see it show up when I want to add it to my existing setup/kit/preset. Thank you.
Yes, that’s super easy. You can change all instruments from all other (Toontrack) libraries.
Nice... can i ask something... I'm intending to use SD3 to trigger from my edrums and play live with it. So, is it necessary to install the full package? I suppose it is when you are intending to record and mix at the most professional level, but for now I just want a really nice sounding edrum kit to play live. I've already got EZdrummer 2 and I like it, but i've read that the whole playability is a lot better with SD3. thx very much in advance
In this case, you don’t need the full installation. Just the basic setup will be enough as you most likely won‘t need all those different room mics.
@@MikeLuke Awesome, thx!... one more, in terms of playability, is SD3 really superior to EZD2. I'm talking about dynamics and realism, you know, is it going to help me feel my edrums kit more like an acoustic kit? thx so much
Yes, it is. As it was recorded with more attention to detail and with more layers, especially on snare, hats and cymbals. It heavily depends on your drum module and your electronic drum set. The better the module and the better your pads and cymbals, the more realism you‘ll notice. For example, SD3 supports different zones on a snare (center, mid-center and edge), so you‘ll hear different sounds depending WHERE you hit your pad. However, if your drum module or your pad doesn‘t support multi-zone articulation, you won‘t take any advantage of this feature of SD3. The software outperforms any drum module on the market as it even provides articulations that cannot be played on an electronic drum set, e.g. the bow of the hats. ;)
@@MikeLuke ok got it... Yes, I forgot to mention that I've got a td25 kit so I suppose it'll work fine. Thx very much, your answers have been extremely helpful to make up my mind. Keep up the good work. Your channel is awesome!
You‘re very welcome, brother!
On my channel there are some videos how to set up the HiHat correctly using Roland modules. And another one in which I explain the multi-zone articulations that SD3 provides. Check my SD3 playlist in case you haven‘t watched them yet.
Cheers!
I LOVE these tips!
I don't understand how to parallel compress/route the snare, for instance: when I route my snare(s) to, say, output 3/4 I get the routed there but when I hit Solo on the 3/4 I get no sound.
When you route things on different outputs than 1/2, you have to make sure that they are routed into your DAW accordingly. When you just use SD3 in standalone, you won't hear anything BUT output 1/2.
Great tips for a newbie!! I only know what a drumstick is, and it comes from chickens. :p
Thank you Mike for a very informative video and for your time in sharing the workings of SD3. I took notes and will explore these tips further.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Sal.
Cool tips, thank you very much!
Glad you like it & thanks for watching
Very cool! Thank you very much!
Glad I could help! And thanks for watching.
Very helpful. Mahalo!
9:28 Important shit 10:35
Thanks for the video! You should consider applying a hpf to your voice recording!
Im just curious how you got to learn SD3, I also saw the guy from MixBus TV know Soooo much about it, while im struggling to get everything right. I took a look at the manual and that thing is HUGE!!! I know toontrack has videos on their website ( i haven't gone through all the videos) but is that how you learn?? Thanks for this video btw!
It takes some time, don’t expect to get it within two hours. Just use it every day, work with it and you’ll discover all the features soon. That’s what I did. And regularly checking RUclips and the internet in general to get inspirations.
Nice. Thanks
These are GREAT!! Thank you for sharing!!
Thanks brotha!
extremely helpful thanks
Hey Mike, quick and perfect explanation. Especially your zoom helps me on my mobile phone to see the mentioned areas. Just an idea for you if you want to do a little episode for edrums sometime: I really love in SD recording my drumtrack and then control timing with the grid editor. This is really a great help for me as a beginner to see which hand or instrument wasn't on time. And like you wrote me once, it really makes more pleasure. Thank you for all and good wishes for you and your family.
Hello Mike. I am a new incomer in the edrum world and just started to use SD3. Your videos are a great help! I bought a Roland TD27 and tried to get it work with SD3. However, i am having problems getting a ‘loud’ audio output when playing the drums. I followed a tutorial for TD17 and SD3 connection and using those settings, still when hitting the drums, the sound is somehow muted. If I click in the drums on the screen the sound loud and clear. I have changed the USB input gain to 0dB and that helps a bit but still they do not sounds natural at all. I am connecting my module using a USB-B to USB-A to my MacBook Pro (with a USB-C hub). Have you had this type of issues before? Do you have any recommendation to work around this problem? Thanks in advance for your help!
I know this issue from a lot of people. I’d always recommend to get a dedicated audio interface for the signal chain. Or, in your case, a decent headphone amplifier.
Thanks Mike for your reply! I will look into it. Great channel btw! Super useful tips!
Camilo Ruiz Always happy to help, buddy!
This was great Mike
Good timing, finally upgraded a few days ago as well. I especially like your cymbals channel trick. An addition to your tip #2 would be to use the middle point of the downward slope of the envelope. Pull that in a smidgen to make a curve where the cut-off is a little smoother.
Thanks for your additional note on the envelope, that's right.
Hi Mike,
Great tips!!! Can you explain why you would route out the individual drums versus getting the sound you want then export / bounce from SD3 and import into your DAW ?
Pros / cons ?
Thanks,
Steve
Hi Stephen, well, it depends what you want. Sometimes I do some little pre-processing in SD3, but 9 out of 10 times I send the raw tracks to my DAW. The reason is that I look at my drums as one part of my mixes, just like any other instrument. Furthermore, I can use the plugins I am used to (and I have more of them). And most importantly, I can do automation moves and more complex sends and effect processing.
It’s a good question though. When you bounce the tracks, you commit to a certain sound. But sometimes there are situations where I change subtle things in SD3 even when I am almost done with my mixing (change the volume of the cymbals, for example or pick another snare).
I plan to make a video about the topic of routing anyways. Thanks for your good question.
Hi Mike
That’s makes sense. So the million dollar question is how do you get the wav files into your project? Do you arm the routed tracks and record directly into the DAW?
Thanks for addressing my questions !!
Steve
Stephen Banville Haha, that’s an easy one for a million dollar 😎 There are several ways actually. The easiest way is to simply render or print the track in your DAW once it has been routed the way you plan to mix. Superior Drummer itself offers some neat bounce / render options as well, e.g you can separate the mic bleeding from the clean tracks, just to name one option.
Awesome video, thank you for taking the time to make it. I'm confused why you hard panned those mono tracks hard L and R? What does that do for you?
As I explained in the video: it’s because I send out the tracks a mono tracks to my DAW to mix them there.
I still don’t see why you had to pan them could you explain more please thanks
Thanx a lot for this. Now get yourself a soft mousepad, you deserve it :)
Hahaha, i get your Point. Yes, that sound of my mouse moving on my desk is annoying 😉
@@MikeLuke put gate on your voice so you wont here the mouse lol
Tip 4
Ich liebe Dich!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hahaha. Das freut mich. :)
Thanks, I was having some hard time and those tips gives me new ways to try.
Cheers! :)
Great tips mike helped me in previous videos to set up my td 30 and VH 12 thanks but in this video I liked the cache mode I also saw you could turn it to 16 bit in that menu as well I think it help but will give that less of a sound quality difference thanks