Mixcraft Studio Drums? or standalone drum software?

[thevolumecontrol]

I just upgraded to Mixcraft 7. I haven't played with Mixcraft Studio Drums. I see that today Addictive Drums 2 is 99 dollars on sale, and i'm wondering if i should get my wife to get it for me for Christmas, or if i should spend some time with the drum editors in Mixcraft before i commit.

Currently, I use Hydrogen to arrange my drum parts in their midi editor.

Any input would help. Thank you!

[chibear]

I don't use drum kits much, but as someone who has spent $1000s on third party instruments I would advise you to live with the Studio Drums for awhile and then discover what (or even if) they don't do for you and begin your search from that point. Sales recur frequently and 'one time' offers and 'lowest prices' are often beat in the next sale.

[the pannacotta army]

From my personal angle, I have Addictive Drums 2 and EZ Drummer 2. Both sound great and are very much capable of producing excellent drum tracks. It's easy to assemble tracks with both programs - you audition beats in their libraries and once you've found what you're after, you drag them from the GUI straight into Mixcraft, where you can either leave them as they are or edit further if you wish. Both GUIs have some unique features so they're not totally similar but I can vouch for both and you wouldn't be disappointed with either.
AD is much more flexible and has more FX options for tweaking the sound of a kit.
Both also have further drum kit add-on packs if you want to expand your arsenal of sounds (and beats, in the form of midi packs).

As I had both these before purchasing Mixcraft, to be honest, like you, I haven't bothered exploring Studio Drums. I maybe doing them a terrible disservice but I somehow doubt they're going to be up to the same quality or have the range, flexibility and features that either AD or EZD have.
Having said that, they may be perfectly adequate for your needs.

[thevolumecontrol]

i'm a guitarist by trade, but have pretty good drumming skills. i hear the part that i want to go with my song, and doubt using readymade loops without editing would not be what i'm after. i'm thinking for now i'm going to get a small midi controller and do the tracks that way. all that clicking with a mouse to program the beats is laborious and tiresome.

does addictive drums have a similar beat editing feature like ezdrummer2 has?

[aquataur]

There is a video somewhere in the MX University that shows the usage of the built-in drumset.
(using acoustica studio drums)
It is amazing what one can do with this VSTi and a simple keyboard BUT-
you need to be able to think like a drummer. Look at the video, the guy really harnesses the drumset mapping.
This is something you want to master.

I personnally do not have such drumming skills, which is why me using Studio Drums was ridiculous.
I found some MIDI loops which I mapped to Studio Drums, but this was tedious and not considered worth the effort.
The biggest snag with that is humanized timing and velocity. You can play with this and improve the result, but the time you put into this is in no relation to the outcome.

I ended up buying EZD2 and never looked back one second.
Those drummers are recorded with real drummers and all that human imperfections, and uses multiple velocity layers, so it never sounds like a drum machine.

Having that said, if you have drumming skills, give Studio Drums a shot with a keyboard, but forget the piano roll.

I found that with the basic EZD2 set I can cover most styles, except for maybe a latin set. You can buy very good priced third party MIDI loops recorded by pro drummers that work well with EZD2. In fact, you could try do download one of their free sets and map it manually to Studio Drums, which will sound great. Their expansion sets and particularly styles are redundant IMHO.

Anyway, most of those work straight out of the box with EZD or others. They are also well balanced by means of compression and effects, so this saves you a lot of time. And good drum parts are time consuming.

If you are into grooves, cast an eye on stylus RMX, but this is a whole different beast.

-helmut

[gypsy101]

I pretty much stick w/ the Acoustica drums. I use both a midi keyboard controller & a Yamaha DT Xpress e-kit so I can either program or lay it down "live". there's a lot that can be done w/ the Acoustic drums if you just tweak or add the reverbs,EQ,& conpression to suit what you're doing. the best part is,it's all already paid for.lol

[Mab098157]

I agree with gypsy101. I tried ez drummer and MT power kit. They both seem already pretty colored for my taste. Acoustica drums are pretty stripped down and you can color anyway you want to. I also have Abbey Road drummer, but that is really for a specific drum sound I couldn't simulate. Just upgraded to MC7 and watched the Omni sampler demo on creating a beat... can wait to try this with some samples.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps4HGt6WiCs

[Mark Bliss]

I have used both EZDrummer and Mixcraft Studio Drums and I think a preference depends on many factors,
Including but not limited to whether the user prefers to "play" drums via keys, pads, electronic drums, triggers.
Or if you are a person who prefers to program/sequence drums, or are inclined to used MIDI loops, with or without further re-writing.
Then theres the sound you are going for, and do you want a variety available?
ETC.

Personally, I think the Studio drums in Mixcraft are probably underappreciated. Not bad for many users needs, including several variations of the above points. (Played in, programmed, using MIDI, etc.)
Perhaps the lack of a dedicated GUI causes some of the lack of appreciation.
(I suspect that may change at some point in the future......)

I think its weakness begins to show when you might want more variety of sounds. Blues drums, indie, Pop, Etc. etc. types or specific styles. This is one area where some of the other programs shine. But not everyone needs that.

I have no experience with Addictive drums, but have assumed it is pretty similar to EZD, which offers a great deal more flexibility and styles (relative to Studio Drums for example) for those who might desire that.
(But having so many choices isnt always a good thing either.)

EZD offers a library of MIDI with the base package and you can add styles with further purchases. Also, (and this is important to me,) you can add more to the library from 3rd party purchases or of your own creation.
Not being a drummer myself, it's far easier to find a groove I like and personalize it than get stuck in the rut of the two grooves I can play myself........

And on the previously mentioned topic of MIDI drum grooves and human feel, while it seems most of this stuff is quantized and offered to the fans of certain kinds of music, I have found several great sources for professional unquantized human played groove libraries that suit the desires of people like me who DONT want that drum machine precision sound.

And while I was skeptical at first, I have found that as a non drummer who finds trying to play in even a basic drum track via keyboard of pad awkward, MIDI groove libraries have been a great way to either find a sound to build a song on, or find a sound that fits in a song idea, and I have learned to pretty quickly personalize the track to suit my desires. While I haven't cross-graded to the latest version, EZD2 looks like it has some very desireable enhanced tools that would make this method and workflow even smoother.

Another thought, for those inclined to play electronic drums, from what I understand, Superior Drummer is more ideally suited for that.

But back to Mixcraft Studio Drums, I would suggest giving it a try. I think theres a lot of potential there for many users.
And heres some more tips that may have gotten overlooked. http://blog.acoustica.com/off-beaten-path/

[Rolling Estonian]

EZD2 looks like it has some very desireable enhanced tools that would make this method and workflow even smoother.

Well great....... Just what I really didn't need to hear....... Now I'm really looking at EZ2 from Santa, naughty be damned!

M

[Starship Krupa]

Sennheiser still has DrumMic'a for free.

All you need to do is register. It's a little tricky to navigate the German site, but I and many others have managed it.

It uses the free Kontakt Player.

http://de-de.sennheiser.com/drummica

[thevolumecontrol]

thanks for the tips everyone. i'm going to hold off on the paid for drum software, and get a small midi controller for programming the drum tracks.

i'm going to try the sennheiser kit. does anyone know where i can get other kits that play nice with kontakt 5 player?

[gypsy101]

Sennheiser still has DrumMic'a for free.

All you need to do is register. It's a little tricky to navigate the German site, but I and many others have managed it.

It uses the free Kontakt Player.

http://de-de.sennheiser.com/drummica

I got it downloaded yesterday & spent a few minutes with it. not bad.
here's a couple I'm working on right now w/ MC's drums. still very rough & just tapped out on the keyboard.

#1 plain vanilla,haven't even adjust velocities yet.-
https://soundcloud.com/rlc-ltd/a-song-idea-two-newest

#2 w/ just a bit of enhancements & pieces of different kits-
https://soundcloud.com/rlc-ltd/a-song-idea-three

[Mab098157]

I have used my Yamaha d55c with Abby Road in Kontakt elements. Also works with JM-1 (Free Linn simulator). Did not play well with Acoustica drums. Missed a lot of hits. I have used the Yamaha with JM-1 to "write" the midi file, then changed the instrument to Acoustica drums.

[Rolling Estonian]

I forgot to mention the MT Power Drum Kit: http://www.powerdrumkit.com/

Nothing too fancy but good, and the price is right!

M