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[PavlovsCat]

23 hours ago, jackson white said:

iirc, you use kontakt. if so, would be interested in ur comments on drums in kontakt, both ux and quality wise. 

I used to be a semi-pro drummer (my first instrument is piano and had lessons for piano, organ, drums and guitar), so I have pretty strong opinions on all things drums. 

SD3 is, by far, my favorite acoustic drum plugin (I own and use AD2 a bit too). But I enjoy, and regularly turn  to NI's Studio Drummer, a KONTAKT drum library I don't think I've ever seen anyone praise. In fact, I'm working on a song right now using it and it fits perfectly. Just like a dedicated drum plugin, it allows me to go in and mix -- it isn't as detailed as SD3, but it does the job -- and it includes drum patterns for those who use them (I sometimes will use them instead of a click track when I'm laying down my first track -- which is commonly piano or rhythm guitar -- but I always replace it with my own drum track). But that is the downside of buying other drum libraries for KONTAKT is that there isn't a standard for the mixer. It would be great if every drum sample library for KONTAKT used the same mixer with similar effects. Of course, some drum libraries for KONTAKT  don't include a mixer, so it's important to check that out in advance.

The only other drum libraries for KONTAKT I really like a lot are one trick ponies: Majetone Truck Drums, the most Zeppelin sounding drum library I've ever heard (but the mapping is frustrating and it only has one crash cymbal, which uses the same key as the ride cymbal, but at higher velocities and I don't recall if it has a mixer (I don't think it does, but I'm not sure). The other drum library I like a lot is NI Abbey Road 60s Drums. It has a mixer and is pretty nice. It's good for a 60s Beatles or Motown sound.  I think I own an extra license for it I need to sell; I bought it before it was included in KOMPLETE. I would have picked up the entire Abbey Road Drum series, but the demos for the others just didn't appeal to me as much as the libraries from Toontrack. 

I also own three 8Dio acoustic drum kits for KONTAKT, which I would rate as just okay.  I picked them up for $15 or $20 (USD) each realizing that I didn't love any of the demos, but thought they might come in handy for something (although in around a year, I've yet to find a use for them). They include a mixer and are well sampled. However they're over-processed and sound like they're from a different era -- I would say the 90s, with way too much reverb, IMO. The GUI for the mixer looks like it was designed in the 90s too. It's functional. Its just not pretty to look at. 

Here's an example of me using a KONTAKT drum library. I used Abbey Road 60s Drums, a KONTAKT library on the demo I did for Orange Tree Samples for their Evolution Vintage Violin Bass library  (a Hofner bass). All of the guitars used are Orange Tree Samples libraries. The Tron is the M-Tron Pro. The Wurly is NI's Scarbee library -- I don't love it, but at the time I recorded this, it was the best Wurly I owned. I've since bought two far superior Wurly libraries. I think the piano is ezKeys Upright Piano. I was going for a McCartney/Beatle-esque vibe.  

 

Edited June 18, 2023 by PavlovsCat