- #Superior drummer 3 review software
- #Superior drummer 3 review series
- #Superior drummer 3 review download
The Grooves tab lets you access SD3’s MIDI drum patterns, filtered by genre (for example, Metal), then playing style (Blastbeat), type (Beat), signature (4/4), and the more mysterious Power Hand (Hi-Hat Open) – which refers to the dominant/leading instrument in the groove.
#Superior drummer 3 review download
SD3 supports Surround in either 5.1 or 11.1, but if you’re not planning to use Surround, you can save download time and disk space by not installing the separate Surround content, which comes to around 94GB, and you can employ the Surround channels as extra stereo-ambience channels. Let it bleedįor each instrument, you can take mic bleed from the rest of the kit, or one specific source, even if the track is muted. So the answer to our question will really depend on how you work with drums and the needs of your productions – it offers unrivalled creative control, customisation, loads of content with incredible detail, and will take care of drum production from start to finish. You can probably tell from our Excellence Award that we’re in no doubt as to the quality of SD3 on its own merits. If you don’t have a MIDI device handy, load and loop a pattern from the Grooves tab while you swap kits. You can start by loading a default ‘clean’ kit from the menu at top right, and although you can trigger it with mouse clicks, you really should use a MIDI device of some kind to fully appreciate the responsiveness.įollowing that, browse the preset kits by genre, or by producer, including George Massenburg, Bob Rock, and Richard Devine. Individual elements from the main display can move into separate windows, and the entire thing scales between 70-250%. Even on the 11-inch MacBook Air, the SD3 layout worked beautifully.
#Superior drummer 3 review series
At the right are controls to edit the currently selected instrument, and at the bottom are macro controls, the MIDI editor, and the Song Creator.Ī series of tabs access views for Grooves, Mixer, and Tracker – all will be explained shortly. SD3’s interface is logically laid out, the centre occupied by a graphic of the kit, where each instrument animates when triggered via MIDI or mouse click. There’s no need to drag the library over to clog up your computer, it runs fine off the SSD – this convenience meant I could do much of the review on a humble MacBook Air. SD3 is available as a download, but if the download size scares you, for an additional €189, Toontrack ships an SSD with the library pre-installed, which is how it arrived here for review. Beyond the kits themselves, SD3 features a built-in MIDI editor, MIDI beats ready to use in the form of ‘grooves’, a full-featured mixer with effects, macro controls, and audio-to-MIDI conversion. The kits are from Gretsch, Ayotte, Pearl, Yamaha, and Premier, and the core library includes 230GB of 44.1kHz/24-bit samples, with an additional 350 or so drum-machine sounds. It’s built around recordings of seven acoustic kits recorded at Galaxy Studios in Belgium (“the most quiet recording space of this size in the world”), by renowned engineer George Massenburg. SD3 runs standalone, or as an AU/VST/AAX plug-in. *Preset limited to 2 downloads per purchase.Toontrack has updated its flagship product, Superior Drummer, and while I admit it’s not something that’s been on my radar – in fact, I’ve never heard of it before – I’ve discovered that many of my fellow producers are fans, especially those involved in soundtrack composition, needing fast access to a large library of high-quality sounds, detailed programming, and possibly a bit of Surround, too.
#Superior drummer 3 review software
*This preset contains an SD3P project file that loads mixer settings in Superior Drummer 3 software to sound like the drum sample below - it does not contain any audio files or MIDI data.
The preset will run on basic sound library but for the preset to run optimally - Basic Library Part 1 and Room Mics Part 2 should be installed and fully updated.Īll purchases come as a zipped file with the SD3P Project file which loads the drum mixer settings in Superior Drummer 3 to sound like the drums in the solo example below - as well as a.
That includes the software as well as SD3 Basic Sound Library as it contains the X-Drum Samples included in this preset. Important: For this preset to run as intended please make sure that Superior Drummer 3 is fully updated via Toontrack Product Manager. The preset is mix-ready for your productions and further tweakable from the onboard mixer. The DIY Punk Rock - "Thanks For All The Presets" preset is a faithful recreation of NOFX's "So Long and Thanks For All The Shoes" drum sound - provided in SD3P format for the Core library of Superior Drummer 3.