Metal drum library shopping frenzy

[TheTrueZoltan!]

I‘ve been down another rabbit hole lately and bought a lot of drum sample libraries for Metal. I purchased pretty much all Metal-related EZXs from Toontrack that I didn’t already own, Steven Slate Drums 5.5, Bogren Digital Krimh, Mixwave Gojira, ML Drums & all its expansions, MDL Tone Ultimate Heavy Drums and Stigmatized Productions Fotis Benardo. No, I did not / will not buy the one from Fricker.

They all have their strengths and weaknesses. But the one that really does it for me is Fotis Benardo Drums from Stigmatized Productions. It‘s the sound I have in my head when I think of all kinds of Metal. Super punchy, thick, tight and aggressive.

I also really like the Big Stage EZX from Toontrack (it isn‘t marketed as such but it‘s metal AF). And I had high hopes for the newly released drum library from Josh Middleton (MDL Tone), but so far I don‘t like its hats & cymbals. Krimh from Bogren is a little bit strange - on its own it sounds somehow washy and soft, but it works okay in the context of a full mix. Some of the 1st gen Toontrack libraries sound comically bad from nowadays perspective and SSD5 also begins to show its age. With a little bit of tweaking most of them can still deliver respectable results, though.

 

[DrewJD82]

I was loading up some old Logic sessions the other day, where I was using EZD2 for the drums and yeah, aside from the beginner mixes I was doing, the presets are pretty funny considering how far things have come.

I think I'll be on SD3 for a while to come, kind of like the AxeFX III, it's going to take a lot for me to upgrade to something new because of what they already do. At this point I'm mainly using raw drum sounds in SD3 and applying all the EQ in Logic, via the multi-out.

At the end of the day, every MIDI drum track is at the mercy of the velocities. You can have the greatest sounding samples but if those velocities aren't programmed like a human hits, they're gonna sound like fake drums.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Aaand... another contender has entered the ring.

Hertz Drums Software - Hertz Drums Plugin - Hertz Studio

Hertz Drums Standard will allows you to extend your drum tone beyond the limits. It has all you need (even sampler) to achieve extraordinary tones.

hertzinstruments.com

Just downloaded the demo with the accompanying White Pack. Have to say I'm seriously impressed. In contrast to many (most) other libraries, the included presets are actually extremely usable and very versatile.

 

[Axe]

Toontrack has a summer sale going for EZD3 expansion kits. I've been loading up to use with my Alesis Strike Pro SE kit

Product categories EZX Sound Expansions

www.toontrack.com

 

[developdevice]

I think SD3 will be the right choice.