Finally, three separate drum rooms are available, which all significantly impact the sound of each kit: Main Room, Bright Room, and Tight Room. The body percussion samples can be used in single, double, or group permutations, which means you can choose between the sound of one or two people clapping or a group. These form the foundation of an extensive library of drums, cymbals, percussion instruments, and body percussion sounds, all of which can be used to build custom setups. The kit names are a little generic, but you’ll find hard rock, singer-songwriter, R&B, modern pop, and retro vibes are all catered for. There are also a group of complementary percussion samples, from the shakers mentioned above to tambourines, hand claps, and foot stomps. Superior Drummer is the more flexible of the two (and we’ll discuss that in more detail in another article), while EZDrummer is more accessible.Īll the same, it’s still a serious proposition, containing seven kits-all recorded in Berlin by Grammy-winning engineer Michael Ilbert-and three main recording rooms. Tell Me Moreīased in Sweden, Toontrack is the company behind two major drum libraries: Superior Drummer 3 and EZDrummer.

Let’s see what this particular friend brings to the table. Perfectly recorded acoustic drums may be king, but a good drum library is like a faithful friend-always ready to hang out and always ready to make music.

In a perfect world, we’d all have access to multi-million dollar studios every day of the week, but (and you may have noticed this) we don’t live in that utopia. For example, there are several ways to make phrases sound human and expressive (not least because they’re deliberately recorded that way). They also were a lot more open and crisp than the DAW samples I’d used before (and some of these were already very good, by the way).īut it’s more than that-the high level of customization and adaptability opens up a world of options to explore. I gave it a go and instantly saw drum libraries in a very different light. That’s when my friend-also a professional drummer-recommended EZDrummer. With a sinking feeling in my gut, I tried to rebook the live room, only to find that it was unavailable for the foreseeable future. I could’ve messed around with EQ and noise gating and removed the unwanted sounds, but I’m not the most patient person in the world, and it’s nice to have a clean recording from the outset. However, on the recording, I hear it every. I must have been standing on a loose floorboard because each recording was punctuated with annoying creaks and squeaks as my weight shifted from one foot to the other. I thought I did a pretty good job with it all, but when I listened back to my shaker track, I realized I’d made a mistake. That was until I recorded acoustic percussion for a ten-track album. I used to wonder why anyone would bother with them when recorded acoustic drums usually sound better and when Logic’s range of MIDI drum options is already pretty extensive (for programming and triggering with an electric kit).

But, up until this year, I’d been pretty skeptical about drum libraries like EZDrummer.

Using EZdrummer 3 with Electronic Drums.

Ez drummer