The Best "Natural Drum" Sound - Plugin

[Melodic Dreamer]

What is a really good drum sampler for Pro Tools LE? I'm not wanting these cheesie loops for radio friendly Pop music. I need something that doesn't sound like a compressed tin can, or a thumping speaker. I love the natural drum sound of someone like Steve Smith.

What are the best ones to look at?
I found this one, don't know what to thank of it yet.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Strike-main.html

It plays a bunch of samples.

[Dave Klausner]

Are you looking for a virtual drum machine with patterns, or just samples to program yourself? For the former, Strike is good, and Drumcore has their "artist packs" that have tempo flexible loops played by famous drummers in different styles. Stylus RMX has their SAGE expanders, and some of them, like Burnin' Grooves, Liquid Grooves, and Backbeat might be up your alley. I think BFD probably has the best combination of samples and MIDI based loops, but it's a real processor hog, so check your system against their minimum requirements.

For straight up samples, I really like the Drum Kit From Hell series. The "Custom Vintage" from them would probably be cool for what you are looking for.

[funkycam]

maybe check out drumagog
http://www.drumagog.com/

[µ¿ z3®ø™]

i'm able to do drum tracks w/ BFD and fool seasoned drummers.
U can load DFH samples into BFD.
stylus is cool, but the drum sounds are processed.

[AndyZ]

I use Reason with the Reason Drum Kits 2.0. Along with groove templates from them or Groove Monkee it's pretty convincing. You can pull each drum in, including OH and ambient parts, EQ individually, etc, cut it up anyway you see fit. Or you can pull in just a stereo mix for quick and dirty ideas.

I've got 2 greasy blues tracks I did for some film cues here that use these samples and templates... http://www.myspace.com/AndyZTunes on track 2, 3 in the player. Actually higher bit samples are here http://www.instituteofnoise.com/L6/toneportdemos.asp if you have the bandwidth to listen.

[football]

Best thing I've used is DFHS Superior. Fairly amazing product.

[Melodic Dreamer]

I have Reason and DFH, but the problem I'm having is 1, I suck at programming drums the way I want to, an 2, They never sound natural to me.
I thought Strike would work for me, I found this on YouTube
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TfEgnDVAz-0

I'll check the rest of the programs/plug-ins you guys were talking about.

How would you compare Strike to this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpw8rNZ2xVA

[µ¿ z3®ø™]

I have Reason and DFH, but the problem I'm having is 1, I suck at programming drums the way I want to, an 2, They never sound natural to me.

i've used DFH before and if U can't get natural sounding drum tracks from it, it is likely due to issue #1.
programming, of any sort, is the equivalent of learning another instrument. it took me some time to be able to make convincing tracks that were indistinguishable from 'real' instruments. i don't recall if DFH contains midi tracks, or not. i love the MIDI tracks that come w/ BFD and use them regularly. they are a real time saver.
i will say that stylus, is really accessible for creating 'finished', natural sounding drum tracks as long as one is willing to work within the programs limitations.

[Melodic Dreamer]

i've used DFH before and if U can't get natural sounding drum tracks from it, it is likely due to issue #1.
programming, of any sort, is the equivalent of learning another instrument. it took me some time to be able to make convincing tracks that were indistinguishable from 'real' instruments. i don't recall if DFH contains midi tracks, or not. i love the MIDI tracks that come w/ BFD and use them regularly. they are a real time saver.
i will say that stylus, is really accessible for creating 'finished', natural sounding drum tracks as long as one is willing to work within the programs limitations.


I would completely agree. If I write something like a simple pattern with simple fills than I'm ok. My problem is the technical stuff. Like you said, it's like learning another instrument. I listen to drummers like Dennis Chambers, Vinnie Colaiuta, Dave Weckl, Steve Smith or Virgil Donati and think "Thats it". Then I go to create a track and wallah, I have no clue where to start.

Their fills and grooves are infectious. So I thought something with good patterns with groove and human feel that you can alter and change, and even add on to would work better for me. I'm just worried these programs are not as good as they seem.

[tvegas99]

drumcore is fantastic and really easy to use

http://www.submersiblemusic.com/

[Ransome]

As an alternative to DFH, EZDrummer is a bit cheaper and works just as good for "mixing" drums. I have had great luck with the "canned" loops as well.

Ran$ome
P.S. Hey Andy this is Bill ex-L6er ;-)

[elambo]

BFD is the best I've used, but keep in mind that it still needs to be mixed like live drums. You could just use their example setups, which alter the mix a little to sound more polished, but the best way is to split out each part and mix it the right way. If you do that, and put in some time getting the MIDI parts right, I'd challenge anyone to tell the difference between BFD and the real thing.

[FlyingVBlues]

I don't have the time or patience to do drum programming. Instead, I've used drummer Frank Basile, who offers a remote-studio drumming service. His website is:

http://livestudiodrums.com

To initiate a session you fill out a online form specifying exactly what you want. You then send Frank your reference mix in MP3, WAV or AIFF format and provide a credit card number, and he records the drum tracks. Frank sends you a preview MP3 for approval. If you approve the tracks he then either sends you everything on a CD or you can download the files from his server in WAV or AIFF format at the bit-rate and sample-rate you specified. He has a variety of drums and mics to choose from, and he can either send you the raw recorded files, or files with EQ and compression applied. The form you fill out specifying what you want is pretty comprehensive, but if you need to talk with him that's not a problem. His fee's are very reasonable, and he has sort of a sliding scale structure, where you pay less if you're willing to wait a bit to get your tracks. If you need your tracks in 24-hours it’s about $200. If you’re willing to wait about 2 weeks it around $100. If you do tracks for multiple songs at the same time he offers a pretty nice discount.

There are a lot of other guys doing remote drums sessions. I’ve also had a few tracks done by Chet McCrackern (www.chetmccracken.com (http://www.chetmccracken.com/)) and horn tracks done by Jay Davidson & Steve Jankowski at www.reallivehorns.com. To my ears this approach is a lot better than most programmed drum tracks I’ve heard. There are certainly people who have put the time in to learn the skills who are really good at drum programming and can get terrific results, but for the rest of us I think the remote session idea really is a better alternative.

FVB

[Eliguitar]

BFD is the best I've used, but keep in mind that it still needs to be mixed like live drums. You could just use their example setups, which alter the mix a little to sound more polished, but the best way is to split out each part and mix it the right way. If you do that, and put in some time getting the MIDI parts right, I'd challenge anyone to tell the difference between BFD and the real thing.




I agree...I love BFD. Check out some songs I did with BFD. I programmed all the drums, loops and played all intruments.
www.myspace.com/lizmenezes

[Bassomatic]

stylus is cool, but the drum sounds are processed.

Yeah. I find some use for it, but it would be nice if they included unprocessed versions, too.

[elambo]

Yeah. I find some use for it, but it would be nice if they included unprocessed versions, too.

RMX is better in this regard. All regards, actually. And there are some great expanders for it. For natural sounding drums - unprocessed - Backbeat is good. The grooves aren't built to grab the spotlight, just serve as a nice... uh, back beat.

[paulgroove82]

PSP's Vintage Warmer is the best bus plug-in available for alive, breathing drums. I use it on real tracks to add some air and depth when necessary and just warm it up - quite similar to a good comp to tape (as ridiculously far-fetched as that is these day) and has a nice overdriven quality you can dial in.

[µ¿ z3®ø™]

Yeah. I find some use for it, but it would be nice if they included unprocessed versions, too.

i treat stylus more like as if were lifting a break from vinyl or a CD rather than programming a drum track. sometimes the layering of a stylus track w/ a programmed BFD track will make the sound of the BFD track sound even more 'live' than it would normally.
compare and contrast...

[elambo]

PSP's Vintage Warmer is the best bus plug-in available for alive, breathing drums. I use it on real tracks to add some air and depth when necessary and just warm it up - quite similar to a good comp to tape (as ridiculously far-fetched as that is these day) and has a nice overdriven quality you can dial in.

It's not far-fetched at all. There are better plugins for emulating tape now than there were a few years ago. Vintage Warmer is one of them. Another favorite is Steve Massey's Tape Head, in fact I even prefer TH over VW. It's not as adjustable, but strictly for the warm compression and distortion of tape, it's a small bit better in my experience.

[MichaelK]

EZDrummer with the Harry Stinson samples recorded by Chuck Ainlay is the best I've heard, by far.

I don't know if it's available in RTAS, but it probably is.