I own Superior Drummer 3 and its just insane! the level of detail and sound quality is mindblowing. Ive used many drum libraries and none come even close. Honerable mention to GGD. They do fantastic drum libraries for what they are intended to do and at a very affordable price but if you have the budget for SDX3 its one hell of an investement.
Addictive Drums are my go to. They feel the most realistic when playing finger drums IMO. That’s a big thing for me because I usually play in all my drum parts with my Maschine. The update for AD is decent too.
Yeah agreed, to me it’s the perfect balance of realism but without too much fuss with settings and tweaking. I also finger drum on my keyboard and love the response of AD
I really love Addictive Drums for the not heavy styles. The Soul, Funk, Jazz, old school Rock'n Roll & Blues Ludwig Oyster type kits are all great. For metal, my favourite is Bogren Digital Krimh. ML Sound Lab are really good, and great value too, especially love Grit & Yamz.
@@woodyardmusic This might be why you prefer AD. I play a TD-30KV and SD3 is the only kit that legitimately shocked me when I started playing it - Specifically the hi hats.
Nice work! For me it has always been a fight between Addictive and Superior, I find (it's a common complaint) Superior a little over complicated, Addictive is easier, but the midi with Superior is superior and I recently I fell in love with Soul Drums from UVI, the sound is truly insane, the best I've had so far.
Hmmm I’ll have to look into Soul Drums! Interesting comparison about the midi too, I always program my own and hardly use the midi that comes with the plugins.
@@woodyardmusic It's just very different more in your face, something I'm into lately. It's not better. I find all the drums of Soniccouture also very good.
Superior Drummer is the best by far. I've used all of them extensively. As soon as they change their interface to match the EZDrummer 3, it'll be a wrap.
IMHO EZDrummer is best for writing music, Superior Drummer comes into play when it comes to finally recording a master... It's nice to have the flexibility to pull in the exact same kit you used when you first envisioned a song when it comes time to actually committing to the final audio
I've done a few similar comparisons over the years. Most of the kits I use are for "Rock" (Punk / Metal) so that's kind of the perspective I have when evaluating the plugins. I think Superior is by far the best - however some people might struggle with how powerful it is or how many variables it has - the overhead / room mics and reverbs alone can completely make or break the kits. The other thing I would note is that Kontakt has some fantastic sounds (Ultimate Heavy Drums, Slate, Extinction Level Event, GGD, etc). Personally, I don't think it's notable for it's usable or convincing full kits, but it's real strength is in the individual samples - if you need to do any drum replacement then Kontakt would be my recommendation.
I’ve definitely found that to be true with Superior as well, it can be a bit of an overwhelming plugin, but very rewarding to learn! Also, great idea to use Kontakt more for samples, I could see that working very well
Bogren Digital Krimh might be one you might like for those kinds of styles. ML Sound Lab has some good ones too. I particularly like Grit & Yamz, and they aren't expensive, was maybe $30 in the sales, $40 now. I like Addictive Drums, but more for the less aggressive styles, Soul, Funk, Jazz, and Dead / Dry kits are very good.
I use Hertz with couple of their libraries, very suited for rock and extreme metal I work on most. You can definitely not only swap snare, kick... (that Lib/Sampler button you hovered several times hehe) but you can actually load any element from any library onto any element on the plugin (say I go crazy and put snare on my crash, kick on a snare element...) and you can add external samples as well. It is also nicely presented in a grid for faster selection, definitely check it out.
I do rock. For me, AD2 and SSD5 (Steven Slate) work like a charm. My drummer records midi files that I than feed into both of them. Everything else then is setup to taste.
I liked the Native Instruments drums the best. I thought it had the best, most realistic room sound. Question though: I've got a track with a drum part that's super tom-heavy. Think "My Hero" by Foo Fighters. Which drums do you think would be the best for that? I'm currently struggling to get a tom sound that's tight enough while still sounding big. The song doesn't stay in one key, so having toms that are ringing out on a specific note really gets in the way. I've tried messing with the sustain/decay of the toms, but if I deaden them too much they just end up sounding small. I've got access to Logic drums and Steven Slate drums currently. Neither are cutting it.
Just listened to “My Hero” it sounds like those toms are really room heavy. So I’d try the Steven Slate Drums and pull down the close mics some while pushing the room. The low end from the close mics may be bothering your bass
Consider SSD5 for your next video. I just got into them this Black Friday and they seem like another great drum plugin that’s a bit different than the rest. And Trigger is a cool tool to have alongside it.
Nice, do you feel they lean towards a certain genre? I’ve always thought of that library as a heavier one. Also, I’ve had trigger for years and it’s such a great tool.
I own a TON of drum plugins, but Superior is just on another level. It's expensive, HUGE, and complex - But it can't be touched as far as getting in there and dialing in *whatever* sound you want.
@@woodyardmusic I hear ya. I'm a producer that has a VERY focused vision and I *love* sitting there tweaking snares for an hour, so maybe I'm just the target market haha Whatever sounds good, *is* good, so you'll get no arguments from me. :)
for me the best drum plugin is BFD3, it's not easy to use but if you spend the time to learn how it works it has the biggest flexibility and the most realistic sound
Man, no one ever gives ModoDrum any love! I use that and Ugritone. Modo has ridiculous customization and is really great if you know how to program drums, but really sucks if you just throw bad/static midi at it (which is why people sleep on it). Ugritone is super, super raw and I just love it for that. Both are crazy cheap too.
@@woodyardmusic I think IK Multimedia is just underrated in general to be honest. Their stuff is great and often on sale for absurdly cheap. (I got Modo for $50!) Its definitely worth it. I really feel like all it needs is 'midi groove' functions like Addictive just updated with and it'd be absolute gold. As is, if you can program your drums well in the first place, its wonderful.
@@woodyardmusic Yeah, I never paid much mind to the NI drums, but there's something about the compression in that first patch that just worked for me! As for Superior, for sound quality it lives up to its name. One thing I might have missed you mentioning was the size of the install. Superior is *huge*. XLN for me though. Something about everything of theirs I use that makes me say "YES" out loud to myself whenever I'm using it.
I agree, but having just updated to Sequoia on my Macbook I have yet another wait for BFD3 to get their collective sh*t together to support. The software is great, but they are often behind the curve on upgrades (their M1 silicon chip update was a year behind) and in the meantime I can't use it...again.
Addictive Drums is very easy to work with and sounds great however my main problem is when using the plugin with multiple outputs they are all mono outputs except the OH and ambiance, too bad they didn’t fix it in the latest update, unless I’m missing something!
So typically, with live drums at least, all of your close mics (kick, snare, ect) are mono sources and your only truly stereo elements on the kit are your overheads, rooms and ambience type stuff. Some libraries have the overhead and room sounds built in to the samples which can make it stereo, it sounds like that might be what you’re used to (logic and slate trigger are good examples of this)
@ sometimes I like to add gates reverb to a snare only and when that channel is mono it forces the reverb plugin to be mono, it doesn’t sound good. It forces me to create a whole separate gates reverb effect channel as a send.
I own Superior Drummer 3 and its just insane! the level of detail and sound quality is mindblowing. Ive used many drum libraries and none come even close. Honerable mention to GGD. They do fantastic drum libraries for what they are intended to do and at a very affordable price but if you have the budget for SDX3 its one hell of an investement.
The Hertz drum plugin (without add on bundles) is currently on sale for $30.
Ooo that’s a great deal
Addictive Drums are my go to. They feel the most realistic when playing finger drums IMO. That’s a big thing for me because I usually play in all my drum parts with my Maschine. The update for AD is decent too.
Yeah agreed, to me it’s the perfect balance of realism but without too much fuss with settings and tweaking. I also finger drum on my keyboard and love the response of AD
@ exactly. The new layout is an improvement too. Dialing in the sound feels easier. Also the new Vintage Dead pack sounds sick!
I really love Addictive Drums for the not heavy styles. The Soul, Funk, Jazz, old school Rock'n Roll & Blues Ludwig Oyster type kits are all great. For metal, my favourite is Bogren Digital Krimh. ML Sound Lab are really good, and great value too, especially love Grit & Yamz.
@@woodyardmusic This might be why you prefer AD. I play a TD-30KV and SD3 is the only kit that legitimately shocked me when I started playing it - Specifically the hi hats.
Nice work! For me it has always been a fight between Addictive and Superior, I find (it's a common complaint) Superior a little over complicated, Addictive is easier, but the midi with Superior is superior and I recently I fell in love with Soul Drums from UVI, the sound is truly insane, the best I've had so far.
Hmmm I’ll have to look into Soul Drums! Interesting comparison about the midi too, I always program my own and hardly use the midi that comes with the plugins.
@@woodyardmusic It's just very different more in your face, something I'm into lately. It's not better. I find all the drums of Soniccouture also very good.
One you left out is Modo Drums..Its in my top 3 next to Superior and Addictive..honorable mention is ML Drums
It’s crazy, I hadn’t heard of modo until I posted this video and everyone in the comments is mentioning it. I’ll definitely check it out soon!
Superior Drummer is the best by far. I've used all of them extensively. As soon as they change their interface to match the EZDrummer 3, it'll be a wrap.
I haven’t seen that new EZ drummer interface, definitely intrigued
@woodyardmusic it's similar, but much easier to navigate and program your own patterns.
IMHO EZDrummer is best for writing music, Superior Drummer comes into play when it comes to finally recording a master... It's nice to have the flexibility to pull in the exact same kit you used when you first envisioned a song when it comes time to actually committing to the final audio
I've done a few similar comparisons over the years. Most of the kits I use are for "Rock" (Punk / Metal) so that's kind of the perspective I have when evaluating the plugins.
I think Superior is by far the best - however some people might struggle with how powerful it is or how many variables it has - the overhead / room mics and reverbs alone can completely make or break the kits.
The other thing I would note is that Kontakt has some fantastic sounds (Ultimate Heavy Drums, Slate, Extinction Level Event, GGD, etc). Personally, I don't think it's notable for it's usable or convincing full kits, but it's real strength is in the individual samples - if you need to do any drum replacement then Kontakt would be my recommendation.
I’ve definitely found that to be true with Superior as well, it can be a bit of an overwhelming plugin, but very rewarding to learn! Also, great idea to use Kontakt more for samples, I could see that working very well
Bogren Digital Krimh might be one you might like for those kinds of styles. ML Sound Lab has some good ones too. I particularly like Grit & Yamz, and they aren't expensive, was maybe $30 in the sales, $40 now. I like Addictive Drums, but more for the less aggressive styles, Soul, Funk, Jazz, and Dead / Dry kits are very good.
Great, logic drums got it clear separation and i can add glue later
I use Hertz with couple of their libraries, very suited for rock and extreme metal I work on most. You can definitely not only swap snare, kick... (that Lib/Sampler button you hovered several times hehe) but you can actually load any element from any library onto any element on the plugin (say I go crazy and put snare on my crash, kick on a snare element...) and you can add external samples as well. It is also nicely presented in a grid for faster selection, definitely check it out.
Ahhh right under my nose lol. I’ll have to check that out
I do rock. For me, AD2 and SSD5 (Steven Slate) work like a charm. My drummer records midi files that I than feed into both of them. Everything else then is setup to taste.
Nice! I use Slate Trigger for live drums and really like that, so I’d imagine I’d like SSD5 too
I liked the Native Instruments drums the best. I thought it had the best, most realistic room sound. Question though: I've got a track with a drum part that's super tom-heavy. Think "My Hero" by Foo Fighters. Which drums do you think would be the best for that? I'm currently struggling to get a tom sound that's tight enough while still sounding big. The song doesn't stay in one key, so having toms that are ringing out on a specific note really gets in the way. I've tried messing with the sustain/decay of the toms, but if I deaden them too much they just end up sounding small. I've got access to Logic drums and Steven Slate drums currently. Neither are cutting it.
Just listened to “My Hero” it sounds like those toms are really room heavy. So I’d try the Steven Slate Drums and pull down the close mics some while pushing the room. The low end from the close mics may be bothering your bass
Consider SSD5 for your next video. I just got into them this Black Friday and they seem like another great drum plugin that’s a bit different than the rest. And Trigger is a cool tool to have alongside it.
Nice, do you feel they lean towards a certain genre? I’ve always thought of that library as a heavier one. Also, I’ve had trigger for years and it’s such a great tool.
@@woodyardmusic they are definitely geared toward metal
My drum template:
Addictive2.5, BFD3, EZDrum3, SuperiorDrummer3,
MDrummer, JamStix, GrooveAgent, Kontakt8,
ReasonRack: A-List, UJam,.
You got all the bangers!
I own a TON of drum plugins, but Superior is just on another level. It's expensive, HUGE, and complex - But it can't be touched as far as getting in there and dialing in *whatever* sound you want.
I’ll agree the quality is better but it takes me longer to get a good sound in that than AD 🤷🏻♂️ whatever works right?
@@woodyardmusic I hear ya. I'm a producer that has a VERY focused vision and I *love* sitting there tweaking snares for an hour, so maybe I'm just the target market haha
Whatever sounds good, *is* good, so you'll get no arguments from me. :)
for me the best drum plugin is BFD3, it's not easy to use but if you spend the time to learn how it works it has the biggest flexibility and the most realistic sound
any idea where you can get a snare sound without the rattle/hiss of the snare?
You can tweak that in Addictive drums. Balance between bottom and top of the snare.
^agreed. Most of these have some way to tweak the balance between snare top and snare bottom, it’s in a different spot for every plugin though.
Man, no one ever gives ModoDrum any love! I use that and Ugritone.
Modo has ridiculous customization and is really great if you know how to program drums, but really sucks if you just throw bad/static midi at it (which is why people sleep on it).
Ugritone is super, super raw and I just love it for that. Both are crazy cheap too.
Dang! A few people have mentioned modo! I’ve never even heard of it
@@woodyardmusic I think IK Multimedia is just underrated in general to be honest. Their stuff is great and often on sale for absurdly cheap. (I got Modo for $50!) Its definitely worth it. I really feel like all it needs is 'midi groove' functions like Addictive just updated with and it'd be absolute gold. As is, if you can program your drums well in the first place, its wonderful.
Some of these sound much better than I'd thought. But XLN Audio kind of just has my number as a company. I just like them.
Same! I tried to keep the video as non-biased as possible, but I love XLN
@@woodyardmusic Yeah, I never paid much mind to the NI drums, but there's something about the compression in that first patch that just worked for me!
As for Superior, for sound quality it lives up to its name. One thing I might have missed you mentioning was the size of the install. Superior is *huge*.
XLN for me though. Something about everything of theirs I use that makes me say "YES" out loud to myself whenever I'm using it.
Bfd 3 still sounds the realest.
I haven’t tried that one!
@woodyardmusic It's an old one, but the drums sound awesome to me. I think bfd 4 is in the works.
Love BFD too! 😎
! This ! 👍🏼
I agree, but having just updated to Sequoia on my Macbook I have yet another wait for BFD3 to get their collective sh*t together to support. The software is great, but they are often behind the curve on upgrades (their M1 silicon chip update was a year behind) and in the meantime I can't use it...again.
No MODO DRUM ??
I guess not! What’s that?
@@woodyardmusic IK Multimedia - And they are fabulous
@@woodyardmusic IK Multimedia's Drummer. I came looking for it too. It meets my needs to the point where I'm not interested in anything else
Addictive Drums is very easy to work with and sounds great however my main problem is when using the plugin with multiple outputs they are all mono outputs except the OH and ambiance, too bad they didn’t fix it in the latest update, unless I’m missing something!
So typically, with live drums at least, all of your close mics (kick, snare, ect) are mono sources and your only truly stereo elements on the kit are your overheads, rooms and ambience type stuff. Some libraries have the overhead and room sounds built in to the samples which can make it stereo, it sounds like that might be what you’re used to (logic and slate trigger are good examples of this)
@ sometimes I like to add gates reverb to a snare only and when that channel is mono it forces the reverb plugin to be mono, it doesn’t sound good. It forces me to create a whole separate gates reverb effect channel as a send.
Which profile you used on ad ? Sounds like Fairfax?
I think I used United Heavy but I swapped in some other pieces too. United Heavy is very similar to Fairfax, I really like them both
@woodyardmusic yes they are definitely from the better kits in ad
Cymbals matter, it's what separates the pretenders. SUPERIOR wins the cymbals.
The cymbals are killer in that one for sure
Please, try MODO DRUM by Ik Multimedia!
I’ll have to check that one out. I don’t have it currently
Thank u so much man . But really.... 49 min 😢?
Brother this was edited down from 2 hours lol you’re welcome
@woodyardmusic 😂😂😂🤘
Thank u anyways.
I wish people make content for us lazy fast forward type people 👍
My first time going like « Daaaaamn!!! This VST is amazing!!! » was when installed and played around with Addictive Drums back in 2007
Same!! Love that one, have had it since probably 2015