The state of drums/percussion samples and M1 Mac

[heanjurrera]

Hey all, first time poster, somewhat long time reader.

Curious about your thoughts and experience with drum libraries, especially if you’re M1 users.

Context: I’m a long time Toontrack user, and own a few of the SDXs for Superior Drummer 2. For reasons, I missed the upgrade path to SD3 and, well, you might have heard that upgrade paths had a very limited time window. Personally I am very happy with what I can get from SD2, and since I do all processing in my DAW and write all drum parts myself, the extras don’t really interest me. The sampling is deep enough for my needs. However, it’s “old” tech and it’s getting in the way of me upgrading to an Apple Silicon Macbook in the near future.

Naturally getting SD3 would be the most logical solution, but frankly the more I see of Toontrack the more I hate their anti consumer attitude. From removing this upgrade path, to flat out not allowing you to *read* their forum threads if you don’t own the products… I’d feel very gross giving them more money than I already have, despite their excellent products.

I’ve been eyeing Addictive Drums, as I like some of XLN’s other offerings. However, I worry that the samples aren’t as thorough as those of even Superior Drummer—and while the demo kit sounds pretty good, it’s still kind of limited to get a clear idea of what it is like to actually use them. Ultimately the thing that’s most important to me is versatility, flexibility and realism.

What are y’all using for your drums on M1? Any recommendations, especially regarding Addictive Drums?

Cheers.

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[soundslike72]

I've been using Addictive Drums (1+2) as my only "fully sampled real kit" for quite some years now. Being an ex-drummer, I was quite picky when I looked into the whole drum library thing. I chose AD as it to me sounded the most realistic, and the different Ad Packs were versatile enough to cover a lot of different genres.

I really like that they are not overprocessed recordings, and that the effects section still holds up.

I've produced drum tracks with AD where a lot of knowledgeable people dropped their jaws when I told them they were programmed. Years of playing actual drums in bands of course helps in making it sound realistic.

Bottom line: You can definitely get AD sounding like a real drummer, if you know how to program it - and even out of the box it sounds convincing to me.

Edit: Forgot about the M1. I just got an M1 Macbook Pro, and AD2 seems to play fine in Logic under Monterey. AD1 and Addictive Keys show up with a black GUI on my machine, even though they should be compatible. I can hear sound coming through, though. I haven't had the time yet to dive into this, but I'm sure it'll be sorted out, and it might just be something on my system that causes the problem.

 

[heanjurrera]

I've been using Addictive Drums (1+2) as my only "fully sampled real kit" for quite some years now. Being an ex-drummer, I was quite picky when I looked into the whole drum library thing. I chose AD as it to me sounded the most realistic, and the different Ad Packs were versatile enough to cover a lot of different genres.

I really like that they are not overprocessed recordings, and that the effects section still holds up.

I've produced drum tracks with AD where a lot of knowledgeable people dropped their jaws when I told them they were programmed. Years of playing actual drums in bands of course helps in making it sound realistic.

Bottom line: You can definitely get AD sounding like a real drummer, if you know how to program it - and even out of the box it sounds convincing to me.

Edit: Forgot about the M1. I just got an M1 Macbook Pro, and AD2 seems to play fine in Logic under Monterey. AD1 and Addictive Keys show up with a black GUI on my machine, even though they should be compatible. I can hear sound coming through, though. I haven't had the time yet to dive into this, but I'm sure it'll be sorted out, and it might just be something on my system that causes the problem.

Thanks - this is actually really helpful! Gotta say your comment definitely inspired me to spend part of the morning/early afternoon putting together a quick test drive using their demo kit and there's definitely potential, am enjoying how simple it is. I'm going to be testing more nuanced programming before deciding on taking the plunge.

Could you perhaps share some of your favourite kits?

 

[soundslike72]

Good to hear! I really like the "Fairfax Vol. 1" kit - having had a Gretsch kit myself this is a favorite and the room it's recorded in is just gorgeous. Also "United Pop" and the "Indie" kit as they add different flavours, and the three "Studio" kits are good for more straight ahead pop/rock stuff.

And while you're at it, check out their RC-20 and DS-10 plugins for even more (drum) processing .