Laboratory > VST, MIDI, & Recording
Drum VST Database 1.0
vaikl:
Exclusive and new - DMdrummer's drum VST database!!!
Thanks to the inspiration from our member inconn, here is a continuously updated, database-like listing of probably all the drum software plugins out there, how they integrate with all the electronic percussion products from Alesis and what experiences users have made with them.
It's organized as an expandable sticky thread, so the listing itself stays on top and will be frequently updated by moderators. DMdrummer members can post their input as normal, but please try to copy and use the empty form at the end of this post to let us keep an eye on comparability. And please focus on Alesis products first ;).
Feel free to comment on the structure of this listing, make suggestions or ask questions, add new software, experiences, details and opinions to make it a helping center for all your drummers with digital addiction to record and play with gigabytes of drum sounds :D. Here we go...
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Product name: BFD2
Version: 2.2.0
OS: Win/Mac
Manufacturer: FXpansion
Description: Complete drum software package with huge, carefully, mostly "dry" sampled libraries and a huge number of functions and options
Homepage: FXpansion
Price (official): 499 $ (MSP about 299 $)
Modes of operation: Standalone, VSTi plugin
DAW incompatibility: Not known
Kits: 15 Expansion packs, Third-party products (i.e. Zildjian)
MIDI keymap: Yes (via user support, DM10 Pro map available here)
Continuous hihat: Yes
Cymbal choke: Yes
Overall compatibility with Alesis modules
Trigger I/O: Yes
DM5: Yes
DM7: Yes
DM8: Yes
DM10: Yes
User comments: (vaikl) I like the "dry" recordings from FXpansion because they let me mix my own sounds with their software or my DAW.
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Product name: Addictive Drums
Version: 1.5.2
OS: Win/Mac
Manufacturer: XLN Audio
Description: Professional Plugin software with great library of drum sounds; very good for Rock and Heavy Metal
Homepage: XLN Audio
Price (official): 249 $ (MSP 99 - 199 $)
Modes of operation: VSTi plugin
DAW incompatibility: Not known
Kits: ADpaks, Bundles
MIDI keymap: Yes (user map available from Tsints, Sonar editor map avail. from Oldsneakers)
Continuous hihat: Yes
Cymbal choke: Yes
Overall compatibility with Alesis modules
Trigger I/O: Yes
DM5: Yes
DM7: Yes
DM8: Yes
DM10: Yes
User comments:
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Product name: Superior Drummer
Version: 2.2
OS: Win/Mac
Manufacturer: Toontrack
Description: Flagship from Toontrack, enormous library and tweaking options
Homepage: Toontrack
Price (official): 229 $ (MSP 199 $)
Modes of operation: Standalone (via Toontrack Solo), VSTi plugin
DAW incompatibility: Not known
Kits: Dozens of libraries incl. the EZX ones for EZDrummer
MIDI keymap: Yes
Continuous hihat: Yes
Cymbal choke: Yes
Overall compatibility with Alesis modules
Trigger I/O: Yes
DM5: Yes
DM7: (not known)
DM8: (not known)
DM10: Yes
User comments: (seeren) Superior does not support automation (yet)
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Product name: EZDrummer
Version: 1.2.1
OS: Win/Mac
Manufacturer: Toontrack
Description: The "little brother" of Superior Drummer. Plays sounds from a huge library with GM MIDI mapping and with an even big library of MIDI patterns
Homepage: Toontrack
Price (official): 179 $ (MSP 159 $)
Modes of operation: Standalone (via Toontrack Solo), VSTi plugin
DAW incompatibility: Not known
Kits: Dozens of libraries
MIDI keymap: No (only via DAW drum map)
Continuous hihat: No
Cymbal choke: Yes
Overall compatibility with Alesis modules
Trigger I/O: Yes
DM5: (not known)
DM7: (not known)
DM8: (not known)
DM10: Yes
User comments:
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Product name: Jamstix
Version: 3.1.2
OS: Win
Manufacturer: Rayzoon
Description: An awesome drum software for the producer with a "brain" supporting every aspect and feeling of a human drummer; also a good e-drum VSTi with lots of kits and the ability to load the other plugins from above into it!!
Homepage: Jamstix
Price (official): 99 - 249 $ (bare or with kit packs)
Modes of operation: VSTi plugin
DAW incompatibility: Not known
Kits: Some own libraries and other VSTi libs
MIDI keymap: Yes
Continuous hihat: Yes, limited
Cymbal choke: Yes
Overall compatibility with Alesis modules
Trigger I/O: (not known)
DM5: (not known)
DM7: (not known)
DM8: (not known)
DM10: Yes
User comments: (vaikl) I love that little jewel on the VSTi market because of it's sheer drummers-for-drummers approach and brilliant algorithms. Ralph Zeuner (the developer and one-man-show behind Rayzoon) is a very cool guy with a service/support attitude you'll rarely see elsewhere!
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Product name: Ocean Way Drums
Version: 1
OS: Win/Mac
Manufacturer: Ocean Way Recording Studios
Description: A really impressive and BIG library, recorded and mastered at the renowned Ocean Way Studios with all the experience and gear that made tons of hits during the last decades. Different library packages are available.
Homepage: Ocean Way Drums
Price : 369 - 1.795 $ (Sweetwater reduced prices)
Modes of operation: VSTi plugin, Standalone, both with NI Kontakt Player 2 (old version)
DAW incompatibility: Not known
Kits: 9 up to 19 (Platinum package)
MIDI keymap: Yes (GM, I-MAP, Roland TD20 only)
Continuous hihat: No
Cymbal choke: Yes
Overall compatibility with Alesis modules
Trigger I/O: (not known)
DM5: (not known)
DM7: (not known)
DM8: (not known)
DM10: Limited, by using the TD20 map
User comments: (vaikl) The sounds are brilliant, but not in all kits. You have a *lot* of sound tweaking options to put it in the mix, but you are restricted to Native Instruments Kontakt Player as the engine behind. The lack of MIDI customizing options or making your own MIDI maps for other e-drum modules as the TD20 is a big minus for me.
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Product name: Studio Drummer
Version: 1.10
OS: Win/Mac OSX
Manufacturer: Native Instruments
Description: Based on the well-known, free Kontakt Player sampler, this new instrument features three drum kits (from Pearl, Yamaha and Sonor) with a lot of articulations and a very comfortable GUI. It comes also with a big groove library, ready-to-go MIDI mappings and a subset of the latest NI effect plugins.
Homepage: NI Studio Drummer
Price (official): 74,50€ until end of march 2012, 149€ regular
Modes of operation: VSTi plugin, Standalone, both with NI Kontakt Player (latest version)
DAW incompatibility: Not known
Kits: 3
MIDI keymap: Yes (GM, I-MAP, Roland V-drums, DrumItFive, BFD, AD, SD2)
Continuous hihat: No
Cymbal choke: No
Overall compatibility with Alesis modules
Trigger I/O: (not known)
DM5: (not known)
DM7: (not known)
DM8: (not known)
DM10: (to be added)
User comments: (vaikl) Absolute astonishing sound quality and playability, a fantastic looking GUI with simple workflow, mixer and groove library. The times when Kontakt or Kontakt Player was only a tool for sampling freaks are over, now we have a complete drum software solution with all necessary features from NI.
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Product name: Steven Slate Drums SSD4
Version: 1.07
OS: Win/Mac OSX
Manufacturer: Steven Slate Drums
Description: Steven Slate has developed the first plugin version of his best-graded drum library without the Kontakt Player framework from NI. The fantastic sound of it's predecessors is complemented with a lot of new kits and samples in two different versions. The all-new GUI comes with an own mixer and groove section and a handy MIDI mapping section.
Homepage: Steven Slate Drums
Price (official): EX: 99$, Platinum: 299$
Modes of operation: Plugin only
DAW incompatibility: Some crashes in Cubase, Reaper, Logic
Kits: EX: 25, Platinum: 100
MIDI keymap: Yes, but must be manually customized
Continuous hihat: Yes, rudimental
Cymbal choke: via Note Off
Overall compatibility with Alesis modules
Trigger I/O: (not known)
DM5: (not known)
DM7: (not known)
DM8: (not known)
DM10: Works with some limitations, eg. hihat CC
User comments: (vaikl) The sound quality is still impressive, but even if I had hoped to get a more flexible, versatile GUI other than the old Kontakt thing, I'm really disappointed with it. There's no standalone version, no sync-to-host feature, the mixer and MIDI mappings are almost lost between sessions or projects and some other bugs have left me with a feeling that the actual version 1.07 is in fact a 0.7, where official buyers are beta testers. There's also a serious lack of support, even if Steven himself is announcing many to-do's in his postings. Not well done, folks...
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Free form to add your input
Product name:
Version:
OS:
Manufacturer:
Description:
Homepage: http://
Price (official):
Modes of operation:
DAW incompatibility:
Kits:
MIDI keymap:
Continuous hihat:
Cymbal choke:
Overall compatibility with Alesis modules
Trigger I/O:
DM5:
DM7:
DM8:
DM10:
User comments:
vaikl:
So, of course that's not all ;). It's the beginning and I hope and wish that you can expand this little gem to a well-known resource for e-drummers.
Sticks up!
vaikl
Hellfire:
I like the way you got it set up. Do you think it would be helpful to have product pictures (of the VSTi software) similar in the way we have in this topic?:
Manuals & Tech Data links for DM10, Trigger I/O, DM7, DM6, DM5, DMpro, & D4
Maybe it would just be over kill? I just thought I would put it out there.
vaikl:
--- Quote from: Hellfire on March 31, 2011, 09:57:36 PM ---I like the way you got it set up. Do you think it would be helpful to have product pictures (of the VSTi software) similar in the way we have in this topic?:
Manuals & Tech Data links for DM10, Trigger I/O, DM7, DM6, DM5, DMpro, & D4
Maybe it would just be over kill? I just thought I would put it out there.
--- End quote ---
Hm, it's a bit of overkill when you compare it to a hardware snapshot. Shure could I include a single image of some page of the plugin, but that would be a very shortened, not comparable description because of the many windows such a plug normally has.
If SMF supplies a kind of intergrated image gallery like in AppStore (with a single window and a slider to walk through) - ok, that wouldn't harm the listing setup.
But let the users decide.
vaikl:
Just to make an example of possible user comments (see sticky post above):
Product name: BFD2
User comments: I like the "dry" recordings from FXpansion because they let me mix my own sounds with their software or my DAW.
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