Steven Slate Drums 5 - Finally! Was Due for Release Mid 2014

    Quote from Chris Duncan

    SSD's feature set falls somewhere in between EZ, which is intentionally limited, and Superior, which is meant to offer the ultimate tweakability thing.

    Slate just goes for ultimate realism these days. If it doesn't sound like a real drummer drumming, it isn't working and isn't going in. The legacy libraries that come free with SSD5 are more "mix ready" and processed, but lack that ultra hyper realism that the new kits and pieces have. The mixer in SSD5 is what I'd expect to see from a well-miced and tracked kit, so if you're comfortable with that, you'll be golden.

    Quote from Chris Duncan

    I was thinking "hundreds rather than thousands" in my price range grouping, which of course is an arbitrary observation anyway.

    I thought you might've been thinking along those lines, Chris, but the fact is that drum VI's simply don't come in that price range.


    Now, if you factor in BFD's and SD3's expansion libraries, you'll be looking at those sorts of figures, but Slate's plugin and all expansions can be had for $375 RRP as we speak.

    Quote from Chris Duncan

    As for features, I'm sure they're constantly compared to the ToonTrack offerings so I was wondering how they stack up against each other. It sounds like EZ Drummer would be the most fair price point / feature comparison but I'm guessing that SSD's feature set falls somewhere in between EZ, which is intentionally limited, and Superior, which is meant to offer the ultimate tweakability thing.

    Yes, EZ would be a fair price-point comparison, but they're entirely-different products, really.


    EZ's strengths, as you alluded to, lie in quick-and-dirty mockups and and a quick workflow for songwriting.


    SSD OTOH delivers a comprehensive factory library that doesn't necessitate spending anything on expansions, and superb-sounding kits. As Sam suggested, the focus is on sound and not features, although thank God it appears that the company is promising to deliver on many user-requested features, Groove-library expansion and whatnot. The essentials are already-there 'though.

    Quote from sambrox

    we all start hounding for release dates and he's too quick to pull something out of the air.

    Rookie mistake. He should know better. :)


    Heard a story once about the Pope hounding Michelangelo about how long he was taking with the Sistine Chapel.


    Pope: "When are you going to be finished with this thing?"


    Michelangelo: "When it's done!"

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

    Quote from sambrox

    Slate just goes for ultimate realism these days. If it doesn't sound like a real drummer drumming, it isn't working and isn't going in. The legacy libraries that come free with SSD5 are more "mix ready" and processed, but lack that ultra hyper realism that the new kits and pieces have. The mixer in SSD5 is what I'd expect to see from a well-miced and tracked kit, so if you're comfortable with that, you'll be golden.

    The stuff in EZ Drummer is more of the mix ready / processed thing. You have the option to reduce the parallel compression, ambiance, reverb, etc. but it's broad brush strokes. And that's great when I'm songwriting or working on arrangements because I want to avoid rabbit holes that take me out of the creative space.


    I have Superior Drummer as well but it's a recent purchase and I haven't had time to make the switch and get into it yet. It's obviously got a lot more options but I can't say from experience how they are in terms of raw realism, mix ready options, and whether or not it accurately emulates a drummer getting drunk and slowing everything down in the third set.


    Ultimately I prefer to work with humans, but it's nice that we have so many options for realistic sounding drums when that's not possible.

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

    Quote from Chris Duncan

    The stuff in EZ Drummer is more of the mix ready / processed thing. You have the option to reduce the parallel compression, ambiance, reverb, etc. but it's broad brush strokes.

    Ahh... but it's plugin processing, and proprietary at that, Chris.


    The Slate stuff that's "mix-ready", that is, all of the library except the newest additions, has full-analogue processing baked into the samples. It's not crappy either - top-notch gear, thoughtfully adjusted. Many, many folks have chosen to use these sounds barely-touched and in some cases as-is.

    Quote from Monkey_Man

    Ahh... but it's plugin processing, and proprietary at that, Chris.


    The Slate stuff that's "mix-ready", that is, all of the library except the newest additions, has full-analogue processing baked into the samples. It's not crappy either - top-notch gear, thoughtfully adjusted. Many, many folks have chosen to use these sounds barely-touched and in some cases as-is.

    And yet, I'd kill to find a decent drummer so I could just play guitar and not have to deal with it! :)

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

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    Quote from Monkey_Man

    He or she's never gonna sound this good anyway, not unless you have the funds or means to hire or build a decent studio and hire in or buy the processors used... and the engineer.


    Seems to me we already have it easy, bro'.

    Clearly you're unfamiliar with my drum programming skills. :)

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

    Quote from Chris Duncan

    Clearly you're unfamiliar with my drum programming skills. :)

    Which is where Id recommend a few decent midi packs. I just bought Groove Monkee's all-in pack. Between that and Logic's Drummer, I'm up and running in no time at all. Tweaks here and there I leave until after I'm done being inspired ;)

    Quote from sambrox

    Which is where Id recommend a few decent midi packs. I just bought Groove Monkee's all-in pack. Between that and Logic's Drummer, I'm up and running in no time at all. Tweaks here and there I leave until after I'm done being inspired ;)

    Yeah, was only partly kidding, but I hear you. The included midi stuff is one of the things I enjoy about the ToonTrack stuff.

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

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