Drum Programming Software

ash96

In the new year I'm looking to get into doing a lot more songwriting / pitching for stuff and I need to get some decent drum software to sort this.

Electronic stuff isn't too much of an issue as I've got loads of samples that cover that, but more interested in good realistic sounds for rock / pop kinda stuff. I'm fairly new to this kinda drum programming too so ease of use is a big plus too.

I know lots of people who use BFD, superior etc but just looking to see if there's anything i'm forgetting and a few pros / cons with each.

Deijavoo

I've always liked the BFD stuff for absolute quality but I only ever make demos of ideas at home for my band and for that purpose i use Logic Drummer a lot more in recent history. You know, got 15 minutes to get some stuff down sort of thing. Not that we ever do much at the minute so it's kinda beside the point.

Not used SD but from demos it looks good. Steven Slate also is about, the Terry Date pack sounded Deftonetastic.

octatonic

I have pretty much all of them.

BFD and Drummer 2.0 get the most use.

Addictive drums and Slate are great too.

Nerine

Superior Drummer 2.0 is the best all rounder.
And that's from having owned or demoed all of them.
It's also the most realistic and sounds the best IMO.
A lot of the expansions are also excellent.

Bod

You can't beat EZDrummer 2 for value for money.  I've also got SD2, but I find that for songwriting and demos I use EZD much more, mainly because of the tap-to-find function and the huge number of loops.

I do use SD for final mixes though.

PolarityMan

BFD all the way for me. Used to use EZDrummer but listening back to my old stuff the drum samples sound like shit in comparison to BFD.

Deijavoo

Out of interest, does anyone else use Logic Drummer? The quality is not like the big boys but for ease of use it surely can't be beat?

Drew_TNBD

I really like the Logic Drummer. Not the sounds necessarily, but the groove generation and the interface.

littlegreenman

Another vote for BFD.

Upgrade from 2 to 3 is half price at the mo if any of you were dithering (I was, but have just bit the bullet).

hugbot

I can't make logic drummer sound good at all. I dunno what it is all the samples just sound flimsy to me and have a lot of bleed which sounds good on its own but bad in a mix.

At the same time like the rest of logic theres enough options that I keep thinking maybe I'm just an idiot who ought to be able to get something good with the options presented.

Deijavoo

hugbot said:

I can't make logic drummer sound good at all. I dunno what it is all the samples just sound flimsy to me and have a lot of bleed which sounds good on its own but bad in a mix.

I think the reason I'm liking Drummer so much at the moment other than the simplicity is that I just accept it doesn't sound fantastic, I add ridiculous gain or chorus to the snare etc and dumb levels of reverb to the bus just to over emphasise the unrealistic sound. If I was wanting to make something that sounded great it would be BFD for me.

ash96

Does BFD or any of the others have a downloadable demo at all?

thomasross20

I use jamstix - it does something none of these others do - it has a brain and can drum for you. You can even insert the sounds from these other packages (which I think are better) so you have a virtual drummer do the parts for you and have great sounds. Saying that, I just use the jamstix sounds, and I do edit a lot of the beats myself. 

rossyamaha

Had BFD years ago and it was amazing. Been looking at EZ Drummer recently and for an idiot like me seems good. I'm reliably informed Groove Agent is wicked. Gonna be playing with that over Christmas. 

Drew_TNBD

NB: I work for FXpansion, so I'm obviously biased.

BFD does have a demo yes, and we also have demo packs of our expansion packs. Not sure if they're available in the demo off the top of my head, but if they're not they will be soon.

EZ Drummer 2 - Great for putting together ideas quickly
Logic Drummer - Great if you don't know how to construct drum tracks for yourself. Downside is, you have to use Logic. Which personally I cannot get on with.
Jamstix - Not terribly believable, and a bit buggy on my system at least.
BFD Eco - A good toe dipper, but personally it didn't meet the expectations I had. Currently trying to convince the directors to let me project manage a follow up. *crosses fingers*
Superior Drummer - Sounds good, but has some pretty strange ways of working. Like if you want to use drums from multiple expansion packs at the same time... you need to setup an X drum and plumb it in and what not... very convoluted. Built in effects aren't all that imho.
BFD3 - It just sounds the best to me. I was a BFD2 owner before I joined the company, and BFD3 introduced a lot of new cool stuff. One of my pet features that I pushed hard for was the cymbal swell tech - coz I'm a post-rock fanboi, and it was something that none of the drum samplers were that good at. The browsing experience in BFD3 just utterly creams the competition imho, and the drum editor is great too. One of the other things I spec'd out with the developers was the rudiment tool. Basically allows you to paint in a whole variety of rudiments and spread them across different drums. Tis cool.

ash96

Thanks @Drew_fx thats pretty informative, I'm really into post rock stuff too (been meaning to finish an EP of it for the last few years!) so the cymbal swell stuff sounds good. I'll test out a demo, and probably end up with BFD3. I've got a few mates who use it too and it seems to be good.

I'm pretty sure I've got a version of BFD Eco somewhere that I installed but never really used / got to work so i'll see if I can get the cheaper upgrade to BFD3 with that.

Drew_TNBD

I loves me drums me

I'm gonna build an electronic kit next year, based on some old cheap shells I've picked up and a 2Box brain we've got at the office. Can't wait!

thomasross20

Drew, do you mean the sounds from jamstix aren't believable or the beats it creates or..? Just curious! It can take samples from a lot of major packages so sound-wise it's no problem - it's a bit clunky but I'm used to it now. I don't know how these other programs work. I assume they're either all samples (which I don't want - where's the originality... though would be good for jam tracks.... just not stuff you'd want to sell) or you have to program every beat yourself? 

ash96

Hey @drew_fx I just wanted to check, if I've got this does it mean I can just get the BFD 3 upgrade from ECO?

http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv200/ashhughesmusic/4912876D-E735-437C-B7D5-DE540239EBC3_zps8imemp1k.jpg

Drew_TNBD

Yes mate, I believe so.

ash96

Perfect! I'll probably order it tonight!