Note: This product requires EZdrummer 2 or Superior Drummer 2. Ignite your heavy rock tracks with the Toontrack Monster MIDI Pack! This extensive set of drum patterns provides you with more than 400 MIDI files with varying styles, tempos, and feels.
The core sound library, boasting in excess of 230 GB of raw sound material, was recorded by award-winning engineer George Massenburg at probably the world’s most quiet and ideal location for sampling, the Galaxy Studios in Belgium. In addition to close microphones and several ambience positions, the Superior Drummer 3 setup also includes an additional eleven room microphones set up in a surround configuration, for use in anything from stereo all the way up to 11.1 systems. In combination with the large selection of extra instruments as well as the included pool of electronic drum machine sounds added for stacking and sound design purposes, Superior Drummer 3 gives you an incomparable palette of options to craft drum tones beyond your wildest imagination.
In excess of 230 GB of raw, unprocessed sounds in 44.1 kHz/24 bit. Recorded with an additional eleven separate room microphones set up in a surround configuration for a complete immersive experience. Playback in stereo or up to 11 channel surround systems. Engineered by George Massenburg. Integrated offline audio to MIDI conversion. Approx. 350 vintage and classic drum machine sounds.
35 mixer effects. New and improved scalable interface with detachable windows. Edit Play Style, Tap2Find, Song Creator and Song Track features as well as improved workflow and search functionality.
Built-in MIDI grid editor. DAW automation for built-in macro controls. Drag & drop and import for individual and third party samples. Support for keyboard shortcuts NOTE: If you experience problems with the midi groove, install. I'm trying to download all the files, so far I´ve downloaded the first 6 (top to bottom).
The only thing I find strange is that I've already downloaded the core basic sound library, but it only comes with 2 sound files named 'soundb1.obw' and 'soundb9.obw'. Is it suppose to be like that?
I've already downloaded the Factory Software Room Mics 1 and it comes with 'soundb.obw' files from 24-52, I hope it's all going well with my downloads, 'cause it's taking me ages, can you give me a little insight here?
I have EZDrummer ( the 1st version ). EZDrummer 2 is a pretty nice upgrade I hope to make in the future.
I also have the Blues Expansion software. One thing I noticed with my version of EZDrummer is many of the fills are too busy.
But the drum sounds are tweekable, and you can create you own grooves using a midi controller and the EZDrummer drum kits. So if there isn't a groove or fill in the stock program/s that you like, you can make your own using their drum kits. The Blues drum kits sound great. Click to expand.Nashville and Americana are both really nice-sounding kits for what I'm doing atm. Classic is also cool, though it seems not to feel as loud as the others. I haven't used the 4-mic setup yet. The Twisted kit is weird and cool, but it's definitely for specialized tastes.
I keep thinking I'll find just the right application for it, but I haven't yet. Also keep in mind the MIDI packs, which can greatly expand your groove collection for not much money. AudioDeluxe regularly runs specials where you can get six (6) EZX MIDI packs for $99. I have several of the EZX expansion packs. All of them are useful for different scenarios, although there are a couple that I rarely use.
Keep in mind these comments are based on EZ Drummer 1, since I haven't upgraded yet. Since you asked specifically about Metal, I'll start there: Metal Heads EZX: Pretty damn great. Definitely aimed at the modern-metal crowd, but I use Metal Heads for hard rock songs too and it's useable.
Huge kick drums and thunderous toms. The snares are ok. My big beef with Metal Heads is that the velocity curve on the snares is almost flat, for example a snare hit with velocity 120 sound like a wimpy tap while a hit with velocity 127 sounds like a nice crack. If you're ok with just maxing out every snare hit like Animal from The Muppets it sounds great, but its impossible to get a more subtle nuanced snare track. I guess Metal isn't meant to be subtle though so maybe it's my problem. LOL Rock Solid EZX: my favorite kick drums, and my least favorite snares. I like everything about Rock Solid except the snare drums, which I really don't like.
I like a fairly tight, woody snare sound and these are all big, loose, and metallic. The snares sound like something you'd hear in a cheesy 80's hair Metal song.
Nashville EZX: amazing snare, overall a very versatile EZX. I really dig Nashville EZX, especially for the killer Black Beauty snare drum. The brushes kit is also super useful. The kick drum is a little hollow sounding if you're used to rock and metal style kicks, but it actually sits in the mix better a lot of times because it's not taking up so much space. By far, my favorite snare drum sound of all the EZX that I own.
Electronic EZX: Ok, this one is a little weird. Actually, it's very weird. I don't use it much since these sounds are pretty far out for what I usually do, but it does come in handy for the occasional odd bleeps and bloops for a looping track or special effect. Buy it on sale for $40, don't pay full ride for this one. Vintage Rock EZX: It's nice for what it is, but honestly I've never used it on any project. I'm just not a vintage-rock guy.
I got it free with another purchase when Toontrack was having a sale, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it. This is the EZX I've spent the least amount of time with, so maybe I'm not giving it a fair shake. Cocktail EZX: hmm.
It's just part of the standard bundle. Sounds pretty good to me, but I haven't found an application for it yet. I'm mostly a 'big-dumb-rock' sorta guy. Pop/Rock EZX: very versatile, you could make this kit work for almost anything with a little tweaking. Maybe because of that, it seems a little 'generic' to me although it really does sound quit good. There's something about the default snare that gets annoying to me after awhile. Everything about this kit is good, but not great.
Hope this helps you. I was bewildered by the number of EZX choices in the Metal genre and really didn't know which one would be best for me, so I got Metal Heads because it was on sale.
I don't regret it. I really should upgrade to EZ Drummer 2 just so that I can build my own custom kits from all the samples in the various expansion packs that I own.