I stayed up for two hours after my gig last night, to go through the new SFX in the context of an "islands genres" project, where I have been using Reggae EZX but always wanted a bit more detail in the sound, such as one gets from SDX packs.
For Ska and Calypso, I am finding the Ludwig Hollywood 1970's kit with towel damping, to be ideal. I tend to add Timbales in such contexts, so the damped Ludwig Supraphonic Snare is perfect as it keeps the two parts distinct, while cutting through better at the same time. The Supraphonic is my favourite snare design anyway (I like them better than the Black Beauty as I feel they're a bit more versatile across genres).
To clarify, I am using the default mix settings vs. the custom presets, and simply selecting a preferred drum kit in that menu: Tight Pop Kit.
The number of Hi-Hat articulations is insane with this library, and quite welcome! For pre-recorded MIDI, I am simply creating my own Round Robin of Open Tip variations, for example, and this is really breathing a lot more life into the parts and making them sound much more realistic. It's going to be fun to start a project from scratch, with all of those Hi-Hat articulations available right from the outset.
I won't be switching my standard Reggae or Dub material to this library though, for the simple reason that I usually need Ruff-style Rolls, which aren't one of the available articulations for the Snare Drums. No big deal; Decades SDX is a very focused library and normally those parts would be played live vs. using pre-recorded "fills" anyway. And the Rolls are excellent in this library; they simply don't serve well as Ruffs. So for Dub, I still plan to go to an SDX from the Reggae EZX, and hope to finish that evaluation tonight.
Overall, the top kit pieces are amazing, and it was quite a surprise to find how well even the 1940's cymbals work in more modern genres. I guess it all goes back to the player and the miking techniques more than anything else.