Sample Tank vs. BFD vs. Strike

[bruce lang]

I presently use SampleTank 2.1 for drum sounds with PT HD2 system/Digi 002. I do not use loops or patterns, just the drum samples that are triggered from my keyboard, and played in real time, all as acoustic sounding as possible. Sample Tank has been a great tool, but It will crash PT occasionally, and this is not a good thing, especially when a client is looking over my shoulder! Any suggestions as to which of these would be best & most stable? I also just ordered the Xpand CD digi offers for shipping cost.

Thanks

[The Dubnicks]

There are a lot of folks who like BFD, but I would highly recommend checking out the Toontrack products like Drumkit From Hell Superior or EZdrummer.

[bruce lang]

I was looking at their Custom & Vintage and DFH also. It looks like EZ drummer is a RTAS plugin in PT, whereas DFH & Custom & Vintage would use the Rewire plug. I've never used Rewire, is it more of a pain than a straight RTAS?

[kmshroom]

It is more of a pain than RTAS.

Also, the hands down winner has got to be Strike. It sounds so great, and it's very highly tweakable.

SampleTank is an incredible strain on the CPU, and Strike is much more efficient in that regards.

You can tweak compression, EQ, and other effects for each individual mic on the kit. each individual mic. just sick.

[bruce lang]

Thanks kmshroom, I'm giving Strike a try.

[ZEUSS]

But you can't load your own drum samples into strike.

[The Dubnicks]

I was looking at their Custom & Vintage and DFH also. It looks like EZ drummer is a RTAS plugin in PT, whereas DFH & Custom & Vintage would use the Rewire plug. I've never used Rewire, is it more of a pain than a straight RTAS?

I wouldn't worry about it - the RTAS version should be out literally any day now. They just sent out an email saying the most recent beta version of the RTAS is going to be the last and it will available as straight up RTAS soon. They're pretty quick getting stuff done.

[kmshroom]

But you can't load your own drum samples into strike.

I don't find that a limitation, as the samples in it are just so sweet, and very highly tweakable (you can't do anything other than levels and panning for individual mics on a kit on other software plugs out there). Also, for personal sample-loading kind of stuff, I use Battery2 or SoundReplacer, and I wouldn't use any of the other things mentioned here.

Strike is also very flexible with exporting MIDI, as you can easily export your patterns onto one MIDI track, or have each part of the kit export to a separate MIDI track with a click of a button. Just sick.

Also, if you hit a sample at 127 velocity a few times in a row, on most software drum instruments, it plays the exact same sample. Not so with Strike.

[The Dubnicks]

I was looking at their Custom & Vintage and DFH also. It looks like EZ drummer is a RTAS plugin in PT, whereas DFH & Custom & Vintage would use the Rewire plug. I've never used Rewire, is it more of a pain than a straight RTAS?

They actually officially released the RTAS Version today.

[keithl]

PLEASE do yourself a favor and check out the Toontrack products. I own BFD, Custom & Vintage, and EZDRummer and have found myself using the Toontrack stuff exclusively.

Here is a background cue I did a while back
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...m?bandID=35193

I was able to crank out about 12 of these cues in 2 weeks...feels good to PLAY music!

P.S.
I also beta tested the RTAS for C&V and EZDRummer and both worked excellent.