Which Software for a Noob?

[mack]

Hi guys

Searched thru the software and thought EZDRUMMER 2 would be my best choice as a new drummer wanting some good sounds that I cannot seem to create on my DM10x Mesh kit (just added the pro x hi hat yesterday, hence have an additional crash now

Now I am an RF engineer, but don't do a lot of this sort of stuff, though I can learn. Though wanted something which can get me good sounded kits (really looking for realistic) easily, without too much faffing about, but also with a good path to learn more.

I saw on one post here that EZ does not have more than 3 toms, which may be an issue. What do you guys have and think a newbie can get along with?

[mack]

just downloaded ezd2, seems that all the kit works out of the box. I set it up as alesi, and lowered the audio buffer to the lowest at 64. Though still have lag, is that normal?

I am using an alienware laptop with the following specs:
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64-bit (10.0, Build 10586) (10586.th2_release_sec.160223-1728)
                 Language: English (Regional Setting: English)

Also, I am connecting to EZ2 via USB. Not ideal I know, but this is midi so it should be pretty small right? Or am I wrong...
      System Manufacturer: Alienware
             System Model: Alienware 13 R2
                     BIOS: 1.2.0
                Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6500U CPU @ 2.50GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
                   Memory: 16384MB RAM
      Available OS Memory: 16284MB RAM

[Trondster]

Have you installed ASIO drivers for your audio card? If there are none, consider ASIO4ALL.

[AlanK]

Hi Mack, welcome to the Alesis DMDrummer forum.

I checked out a few and settled on Addictive Drums. It's got a demo you can try with hi-hat, snare, kick and one crash I think just to get a feel.. I'm sure they all have demo products you can test out. Myself, I liked the look and sounds of AD.. I found it much easier to navigate, set up instruments, etc than the others, and I really like the graphics and just how the whole product appears. Depends on what you want to see.. the other VSTs often show an animated set from above.. to me they just kinda looked lame. AD has graphics showing the sets from the front, they look more realistic and not so "animated" or drawn, and I really like the sounds of their kits and some of the processed effects. Plus I bought it and future add ons when they had half price sales so it was affordable.

Oddly enough, after playing with Addictive for over a year and loving it, I went back to just the module and have finally begun delving into the FX and layering in more detail and am producing some pretty neat sounding kits so I've rekindled my love of the DM10 module.. it still could use a few more tom sets, hi-hats and rides, of course. But yes, in Addictive Drums, I can't speak for the others, you select the Alesis DM10 preset mapping and it finds all of the toms (if there's anything that you have that doesn't show up..ie the extra crash which I also did when I got my Pro X, you simply use the learn function in the mapping settings and then those triggers are availaible in all the kits you load up to play). I'm sure that EZD would have the same setup.

[mack]

Thanks for the input guys!

Here is what I have so far...

EZD2 is very laggy - cannot seem to get the program to respond quick enough to my drum hits

SD doesn't have a demo anymore, it seems. So not buying that on a hope. If I could get EZD working, I may have risked it.

AD works. The lag is better but not completely there. Not sure how I change that yet to see if I can improve

BFD3 I had to install AIOS4ALL to get that running. Though cannot work out how to work this one yet. There is no sound yet I can see the drums hit. I think it may not have an instrument assigned perhaps, but cant work out how to change or add instruments.

Is there any setup on the DM10 that may be making my latency worse? I think my laptop should be good enough to do this...

[AlanK]

You definitely need to have asio4all installed, and choose that as the audio driver in your vst to decrease the latency. Unless you have a good sound card or an audio interface. An example for Addictive Drums is in the image I'm adding.. you select the Audio setup button in the top left corner, then choose the Asio driver and your module

[mack]

wow, what a difference a driver makes

The latency is gone now on all 3 programs. That leaves me with a bigger issue, which one to buy???

I did notice, that BFD3 played awful thru my beats headphones, yet the others sounded fine. Not sure why yet, but that was the only issue I have now with all 3 software's.

Guys, one more favor, could you all sum up for me your favorite one and why, in a line or two? You know, why do you love it?

[JohnRick]

First - let me offer my condolances on purchasing the pro-x hat. It was likely the biggest flop produced by Alesis as of yet, but I've heard some like it though. Mine's in the closet.

Now - provided I have the DM10, my main e-kit is a Yamaha DTX900 which I use for practicing and recording.
The main VST:s I use are Addictive Drums and Superior Drummer. Also use Abbey Road Drummer, Studio Drummer, Steven Slate, Ocean Way Drums from time to time, but must say that SD is my go-to.

Generally speaking - Addictive may be more fun to play, but SD has far superior sounds, and tweakability, not to mention the layering of nodes which will make it easier to implement sidestick sounds on a DM10.

If you want to hear some SDX in action, here are our latest prog-singles with the supergroup Farma' Tan, recorded in my living room (Metal Machinery actually, with a drum solo in the end and a few guitar solos in between ...):

https://open.spotify.com/track/5rDtArdBNgHyzIGVsi7Twq

[mack]

Yeah, I saw a lot of bad reviews on the pro-hat. Although I am a new drummer, no experience on a "real" kit and for me, the pro hat was a great upgrade to the very bad pedal that comes as stock - that thing would miss constantly, whilst the new pro-hat hits every time and also I have an easier time getting that half open sound. So I think the main complaints come from people who "know" how a hi-hat should perform, where I really don't, its just an improvement to my ekit. Also, I did swap out the top of the hi-hat for the stock one, since the stock was way better quality (and quieter). I still utilized the new crappy cymbal in the spare percussion slot.

I notice that you did not give any details on BFD3, not sure if you have tried that. I hear, and may be incorrect, that SD and BFD are like for like as they are both full suites. I am swinging to the BFD 3 side as they have a half price deal currently, at $175.

One thing I am still confused on. I wanted a few things from a VST:
1) To use while playing the kit live with good realistic sound samples - they all seem to fit this now, quite well for me
2) Being able to easily record the dm10 kit, from practice thru to jamming with a tune - not exactly sure if any of these will accept a song input for practice purposes. Not a deal breaker, I can still use my DM10 for song playback, just would have liked to merge that with the software somehow
3) The ability to dig deeper and learn more of this technology - which is why I started to think about BFD or SD