(EDIT: For those getting pissed that I'm not mentioning this library or that library, you're missing the point. This is a post designed to show the different markets the libraries may be catering to, and there are too many libraries for me to review every single one of them. You want a blog post about your favorite library? Write it.)
There are multiple libraries available these days. Some have their own
sampler interfaces that allow you to have control over the parameters
inside of a GUI that is dedicated to the use of those samples. Other
libraries allow you to use your own sampler interface. Both options have
their pros and cons.
Sample libraries that come with their own dedicated interface
include Steven Slate Drums 4 by Slate Digital, as well as Addictive Drums 2 by XLN Audio. Some of these libraries offer unique routing
options, allowing you to send the tracks to aux faders in your daw. They
may also include the option of adding your own single velocity samples
to the sampler so that you can trigger other sounds that didn't come
with the library.
These types of libraries have another common trait. The samples
included in their libraries are pre-processed. EQ, compression, and
other processing has already taken place to get what is commonly
referred to as "mix ready" samples. The fact that these are "mix ready"
gives you a quick and easy way to find the drum sound you're looking for
by keeping things like phase coherency and notch filtering out of the
equation. These will still be issues if you're blending these samples
with drums that you mic'd and recorded, but if you're using the samples
by themselves you will not usually need to worry about these things.
There are perks to this approach for songwriters, as well as engineers
at any skill level. Songwriters can quickly get a great sounding demo of
drum tracks without worrying about being an engineer. Beginning
engineers can get used to working with great sounding drums, as well as
getting used to what a drum should in most cases sound like after
processing. Experienced engineers can find this approach as a quick
solution for their workflow, as it takes some of the time out of the
equation.
But these aren't for everyone. The ability to eq and
compress the drum sounds yourself is something that many engineers miss
when working with these pre-processed sample libraries. Furthermore, one
more sampler taking up space in a crowded plugin menu means more
clutter to dig through in order to find the tools you want to use. Also
of note are the audio tweakers who like to have as much control over the
sounds they are using as possible in order to come up with tones that
are unique to them. One internet forum I'm on commonly jokes about
overuse of Kick 10 from the Slate library amongst inexperienced metal
producers. The desire to get something more flexible is a justifiable
one, and there are sample libraries available that cater to those
tweakers.
The first is a sample pack known as Room Sound, which
comes in multiple formats for a decent price. Buy individual pieces of
a kit for as little as $5 each. Buy full kits, sans snare, starting at
$20 and going up depending on the kit. Buy the entire library for $178,
though at the time of this writing it is on sale for $149. Room Sound's
libraries come in formats compatible with Slate Digital's "Trigger",
allowing you to load them into Trigger and use Room Sound quickly and
easily in place of the drums you have on tape in your DAW. They are also
compatible with Massey's DRT, Kontakt, Drumagogg, and include the
individual .wav files of all samples so that if you really wanted to
customize you could. The Room Sound package comes "uncooked", with zero
processing. This allows you to be in control of the eq, compression, and
every other decision made to help you shape your drum sound. While this
might be a bit much for a songwriter cutting a quick demo, that doesn't
appear to be Room Sound's market anyway. My perception of this product
is that it was intended for the serious audio engineer to allow ultimate
flexibility across the board, as opposed to creating a quick way of
getting something that "works". I have nothing against Slate, I use it
myself. But I do see a lot of advantages in the flexibility Room Sound
offers.
Another offering is DrumForge, which is a newer
contender and is only a few months old. Drum Forge also offers
compatibility with Slate Digital's Trigger, as well as Drumagogg, but it
appears that this product was designed around using Kontakt. Currently,
their cymbal pack only works in Kontakt. You can purchase individual
drum kit pieces starting at $5 for a sample of drum stick clicks used
for a count off. Most of the samples bought individually are $10 and up.
Unlike Room Sound, Drum Forge provides both "Cooked" and "Uncooked"
versions of the samples with your purchase. This enables Drum Forge to
be used more easily by less experienced recording engineers, while
maintaining the desired flexibility sought out by more experienced
engineers. The full Drum Forge package is around $300. You get the
opportunity to blend multiple kinds of mics right on the Kontakt
Interface for Drum Forge, which enables you to have tons of control over
the overall sound. I don't see much benefit in casual demo-making
musicians using Drum Forge, as they would more likely want the overall
simplicity attained by a "cooked" library with an easy to use custom
interface like Slate or Addictive Drums. But that doesn't seem to be who
the Drum Forge team are catering to anyway.
So far the above
sample libraries that are Kontakt compatible have offered a lot of
flexibility. That's not always the case, as some drum libraries for
Kontakt come "cooked" and easy to use with few distracting functions to
tweak. Steven Slate Drums 3 was Kontakt Based, but they abandoned
Kontakt for their 4th generation of their product in leu of their own
sampler interface. So it is possible to get drum libraries that offer
the convenience of the "cooked" samples within the sampler you already
know and use. These will be less flexible, but flexibility isn't
something everyone wants. There are many that are free, although one
could argue that the usability of these sounds is low. One free kit for
Kontakt that has little flexibility but has a decent sounding result is
the "Big Mono" kit from Analogue Drums. You can't tweak much, and the
kit is somewhat ambient and resonant. But if you want that natural drum
sound, this will get you there. You can buy an upgraded version of Big Mono for $10 that allows you more control, but it still isn't going to be as flexible as any of the other options I've mentioned above. I was unable to quickly find a video demo of the free version of Big Mono, but there is a video demo of the $10 version on Analogue Drums' youtube channel which I'm sharing below.
When deciding which drum
library is best for you, ask yourself which options you really need. It
could be that the quickness and convenience of use is the key selling
point, and if that's the case Slate or Addictive Drums 2 will be
excellent buys for you. It could be that you desire some flexibility,
while keeping the option to go to "cooked" samples if needed within the
same drum library. If that's the case, then Drum Forge may be the ideal
package for you. If you desire the ultimate in flexibility with regard
to every aspect of the drum tone and how you shape it / compress it / eq
it/ etc, then Room Sound may be the most ideal option for you. If
you're on a budget, and have Kontakt, then Big Mono may be best. My
advice is to visit the weblinks above for each of these libraries, listen to the samples,
evaluate your needs, and acquire the ones that fit your needs
accordingly. They are all great products in their own right.
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