# Best new drum VST for metal?



## mm66554 (Mar 26, 2010)

I been using ezDrummer with DFH for a while now, but its sh1t. It sounds like a punk drum kit. I would have to add tonnes of effects to make it sound metally, and then it would be too unnatural.

So what do you guys (who are serious about drum sound) use?

was thinking about getting addictive drums.


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## Luuk (Mar 26, 2010)

Superior 2.0

/thread


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## TomAwesome (Mar 26, 2010)

The DFH expansion of EZ Drummer is definitely not a shitty punk kit. Learn to use it better before you bash it. If you're looking for the best out there, I'd recommend Superior 2.0 or Steven Slate Drums. Addictive Drums is a good program, but it's going to be more difficult to get metal drums out of than DFH.


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## mm66554 (Mar 26, 2010)

TomAwesome said:


> The DFH expansion of EZ Drummer is definitely not a shitty punk kit. Learn to use it better before you bash it.



Well the best I could get it without effects is this:

adadadaed on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

only 1 song uploaded


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## Winspear (Mar 26, 2010)

I will agree that it's not a shitty punk kit...BUT I think it can safely be said that it's IMPOSSIBLE to get a sound out of it that isn't instantly recognizable as EZDrummer DFH.

I recommend Superior 2.0


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## Variant (Mar 27, 2010)

*Sigh...* 

Raw drums = punk. 

DKFH & Superior = raw drum multisamples so *you* can tailor them to *your* needs. 

Learn to friggen' compress, EQ, and effect your Toontrack kits to sound the way you want them to.  

It's not a program-and-go utility as most lazy assholes apply it. Knowledge is power, kiddies.


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## Winspear (Mar 27, 2010)

Variant said:


> *Sigh...*
> 
> Raw drums = punk.
> 
> ...



This is true. And I LIKE it this way. I love to do everything myself, but I would say that the original samples on EZDrummer DKFH simply do not sound good as a starting point.


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## leftyguitarjoe (Mar 27, 2010)

My band used DKFH for all these tracks.

Tell me its not metal. I dare you.


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## Andromalia (Mar 27, 2010)

A bit on the machinegun side though. Screams of "I used a machine or triggers". ^^


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## t3sser4ct (Mar 27, 2010)

With any respectable drum sample pack, you should have a very raw sound to start with. This gives you all the room you need to bring the drums to life however you want, without some software engineer or technician making the decisions for you. EZ Drummer DfH sounds pretty metal out of the box IMO, but you can definitely get better results with a little tweaking. Here are a few ideas.

First, enable multiple outputs, so each microphone is going to a different channel in your software. This will let you add individual effects to individual mics (compression on the snare, EQ on the kick, etc).

In EZ Drummer's built-in mixer, there is a slider for the room mic. This is basically natural room reverb. The louder the room mic (relative to the rest of the mix), the more "open" the drums will sound. This is usually better than a reverb effect, because it is _real_ reverb, recorded from the room itself. (The only downside to this is each sample has its own reverb, so when they mix, you're not necessarily getting the same interference that you would get with live drums. You probably wouldn't notice the difference, though.) You can't change the parameters of the reverb, but if you add some compression or a noise gate, you could theoretically make it seem longer or shorter.

The compressed mix is just a redundant mix of all of the other mics (minus the room mic, and post-fader I believe) with some compression to tighten it up. You can mix this in as needed, or mute it entirely and create your own mix bus to use your favorite compression plugin instead.

So try adding some EQ and compression to individual mics (overheads, snare, and kick, particularly), then maybe add some light reverb, EQ, and/or multiband compression to the whole mix. (Be careful with the final compression, though, or you might have drums that die every time the snare is hit.) You might even want to add a nice "spatializer" effect to spread the drums out in the stereo domain, or maybe bring them closer together.

You can also change some of the drums/cymbals, if you didn't already know that. In the graphical view of the drums, each area has a little arrow you can click to bring up the options. I think the kick even lets you change the beater type, but I might be thinking of Superior.

EDIT: As for the "machinegun" effect, you're going to want to have variations in the velocity when you program your drums. The only possible exception is the kick, but you'll probably still want a little. Sometimes, after I program a pattern by hand, I'll just drag my mouse across the velocity levels of different hits, moving up and down, semi-randomly increasing or decreasing each level by a little bit. That should give you some fairly natural-sounding variation. After that, you can go back and fine-tune the velocity levels to emphasize the proper notes. Also, don't be afraid to make some of your hits slightly "off"; that is, not perfectly quantized. No human plays perfect 16th notes, or even 8th notes (or any other notes, for that matter). You don't want it to sound too inconsistent, but if you can vary things a bit, it will sound less machine-like and more human. Some software can do all of this automatically.


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## leftyguitarjoe (Mar 27, 2010)

Andromalia said:


> A bit on the machinegun side though. Screams of "I used a machine or triggers". ^^




We are very open about our drum machine usage.

Even though its a machine, it still takes skill to make it sound good.


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## Daggorath (Mar 27, 2010)

Superior drummer 2 or steven slate samples for ezdrummer. Really though, i've heard great drums sounds off of standard DFH. It's all about how you tweak them.

Saying this, I hate all the snares off DFH. Sounds like a slapped arse.


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## Andromalia (Mar 27, 2010)

leftyguitarjoe said:


> We are very open about our drum machine usage.
> 
> Even though its a machine, it still takes skill to make it sound good.



Didn't ever say the contrary. Was only offering an opinion on the result.


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## btnation (Mar 30, 2010)

superior 2.0+metal foundry+free dev kit preset= face crush!


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## El Caco (Mar 30, 2010)

Steven Slate Drums are already awesome but they claim the new samples coming shortly will blow them away so if you can wait a bit I'd wait for them otherwise just grab SSD Platinum and I doubt you will be disappointed.


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## Alexdeliverance (Mar 31, 2010)

Listen to quick mastering test, SoundClick artist: The Deliverance - page with MP3 music downloads i made it with only ez drummer drumkit from hell, and its pretty metal if you ask me,


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## Faceripper (Jun 28, 2011)

It's all in how you use it and mix it. As with any entry-level gear or software it can be made to sound professional, but you just have to work harder at it.

DFH, imho, sounds like garbage. Believe it or not I actually use the "Pop/Rock" kit and am perfectly happy with the 13" piccolo. Crashes could be better. I use a plastic beater on the kick and the biggest toms they have on that thing.

Then again I write pretty guitar-driven death metal, so I don't have much need for 35 cymbals and 300 toms.

Try turning your mix down as quiet as possible and getting the kicks, the snare, the guitars and all the cymbals to be equal volume. If you can't hear 'em they aint loud enough.

I guarantee that will sound "metal" assuming your guitars and bass are tight.

Listen to Amon Amarth. That's pretty much what they've got going on mix-wise.


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## Taylor2 (Jun 28, 2011)

Steven Slate.
FAR superior to.....Superior.

Not quite as raw, but if you know what you're doing, then it makes it far easier to coax a good sound out of it.

If it works for Joey Sturgis, it works for me.


The problem I have with Superior 2.0 is that the sounds are IMMEDIATELY recognizable. And not exactly in a good way. (subjective)
Even with tons of post processing. 
The only thing SD2.0 has over SSD is decent cymbals.

But then I made real cymbal samples and rarely use either.



With tons of processing, yes you can get both to work.
But I find it's far easier with SSD as the drums sound far more real, even if they are more processed.


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