Toontrack Superior Drummer 3.0 Drum Software Review

Download Superior Drummer 3.0 here: imp.i114863.net/6b9RYQ
Superior Drummer 3 yields endless choices for honing, shaping, and molding drums. Over 230GB of raw sounds were captured at Galaxy Studios by the legendary George Massenburg. There's also drag-and-drop support for individual or third-party samples. SD3's mixer provides advanced routing, control over individual mic bleed, and is loaded with 35 top-tier studio effects. And with integrated audio-to-MIDI conversion, Superior Drummer 3 provides powerful drum replacement and augmentation. Finding the right groove is easy, thanks to advanced search functions, and you can build and arrange full drum tracks without leaving the program.

[@hamm24]

The Drum Replacement feature alone makes this a revolutionary production advancement. Bands can now cut their tracks on minimal gear and then sweeten up the sound in SD3! Toontrack has been developing drum replacement for years, seems like they finally worked out the bugs!

[@WaynePryce]

Love all your stuff. Wish this stuff was around when I was 19

[@stonelark]

Sweetwater does great online demos! This is the best SD3 overview I've found, and it looks & sounds fantastic.

[@tgorycki6825]

Thanks, Mitch, for a great product demo! Being an SD 2.0 user, I'm sold! BTW, I saw Keith Carlock last summer with Steely Dan. What a monster drummer!

[@metalfreak498]

I love that you can use this as a standalone, like bias fx. You won't need a daw to use this program. I dig it.

[@DatAnydeks]

Comes out around Sept. 12th. The pluses I like are the Song Creator, especially since I'm not a drummer. The availability for auditioning intros, fills, verses, choruses, etc. saves me lotsa time. The mixer is great incorporating also a VCA track in my Pro Tools. I'm pretty sure I noticed in this vid I can also add my EZ 2 libraries and upgrade from Superior 2 for $199. Yep...I'm sold.

[@PaoloC.]

it was about time that they matched ezd2 interface and features with the superior drummer series, but it's even better. this thing is amazing, great work.

[@jamiedyce2110]

Thank you Mitch for your yet again great explanation of a product. This sounds great.

[@JamesHarris-hl2bm]

Nice! Love Superior Drummer 2 and looking forward to the upgrade.

[@kembooo000]

This is overwhelming

[@robmlisanti]

that why I use EZ Drummer 2 ;)

[@modelcitizen1977]

Tap 2 Find is genius.

[@kimhansen6384]

Fantastic review!

[@nerusonsanzenin2786]

I have no idea why but I love every single time he says Superior Drummer 3, and feel unfulfilled when he says Superior Drummer 2, or Superior Drummer.

[@jorgiewtf]

I need to know if Lars’ St. Anger snare is in here... It’s probably the Bob Rock Rock Kit 2! Lmao! I actually think I’m gonna buy this tonight!

[@anthonytalamante6043]

This looks legit! Can't wait to try it out.

[@jamieztar]

Excellent video and product. Thank you.

[@Harrysound]

Phenomenal looking and sounding software. I will be there Day one

[@JamesHarris-hl2bm]

That makes two of us. One thing that toontrack has done well is that with each iteration, they've added features and made things easier. However, I give them full credit for the exceptional sound. Superior Drummer 2 sounds great, but so did Drumkit from Hell Superior, and now Superior Drummer 3. They seem to always get the sound on point!

[@louderthangod]

Already preordered my upgrade from 2

[@pcsam66]

Grate presentation, BRAVO MG.

[@musicproductionvideos5019]

Does SD have controls to push or pull the groove/midi? Logic's Drummer has a dial to shift the beat ahead by a hair or right behind the beat.

[@zoltarwizdom6708]

I've got SD2/w some Metal\Progressive packs. Is it worth the upgrade? I think there's a fairly hefty discount for us SD2 owners.

[@joshinthecity]

Wait... 230GB ??

[@henrikpetersson3463]

You don't need to install all of it. But yeah 11.1 requires a fair bit of space.

[@nentihaiudittu]

"The Superior Drummer 3 software and the full core sound library are delivered as downloads, available directly from the Toontrack Product Manager upon registration. At an additional cost, there is also an option of getting the full sound library pre-installed on a 256 GB solid-state drive (SSD)."

[@nentihaiudittu]

hey, i'm pretty sure that's the idea being that it's an ssd. I saw that it's a 199$ extra for the ssd, on top of the SD3 license but ok you most probably are gonna install it on an ssd anyways and it comes pre-installed.

[@YTbeber]

CORE SOUND LIBRARY HARD DRIVE (OPTIONAL) The full core sound library pre-installed on a 256 GB solid-state drive (SSD). No software, only sounds. A Superior Drummer 3 license is required.

[@MarkArandjus]

Very interested how my SDX and EZX expansions work on this and what the new X-drums look like.

[@frankerock5317]

I use EZ Drummer 2 for the ease of creating drum tracks. Does Superior Drummer have the capability to create drum tracks as easy as EZ drummer?

[@ChuckNoise]

they learned so much from addictive drums

[@ILaxative]

what do you think would be a better buy? if I got addictive drums with all adpaks or superior drummer 3 with maybe one expansion? they both will equal the same price because as of right now AD2 whole collection is on sale for 499.

[@grindersdrums4067]

A very helpful video! Thank you!

[@shatteredsquare]

i just found something crazy, toontrack modeled the input distortion on a freaking EQ plugin. the model EQ84, if you push a lot of input into the front of it, it will start to break up. it sounds delicious. i don't think UAD even does that

[@marclaclear6628]

Anybody else notice the Helix Native folder? I assume Mitch has been working on an overview?

[@toddamarino]

Incredible. What if you have an overhead track that doesn't sound that good. Can you put the OH track into SD 3 and create a new overhead or room track? I

[@ricklang_drummer]

One annoying thing is that the cymbal positions differ between SD2 and SD3, causing - when using the exact customized MIDI map, mind you - that my B2 note (cymbal bow tip) triggers as it should in SD3, but is triggering ride bow when using older libraries. So in essence necessary to not only create a standard MIDI map suiting my Yamaha DTX900 for SD3, but also for older expansions in SD2.

[@JaFoste_Studio]

Alright! Next on the wish list is Metal Foundry 2

[@thegroove2000]

Is this better than fxpansion BFD3?

[@gregroberts8674]

Does it support a 3up/3down kit? Seems like everything is geared to 3up/2down....or less

[@CahlajWasHere]

I have a question in the Grid Editor does it show the individual beats in a Bar (example like Bar 1: 1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4)? I use Logic Pro X and it has this feature in the Piano Roll. The reason I ask is if I program the drums in manually in the Grid Editor I want to know how much control I will have. I primary produce Hip Hop music and I tend to draw in my drum notes.

[@photographerjonathan]

Is Superior drummer something that can be used within Logic Pro X,,,,,, and can it be triggered with a Roland Kit like the VAD 503 or TD27 ?????

[@radikalnine1496]

SD 2 had a way to drill down to the individual kit pieces in grooves section. I don't see this in SD3 SD 3 does not use standard copy and paste shortcuts on the Mac at least. Very frustrating to use and then when you switch back to any other software you have to relearn it there too! The grid editor is a good start but needs RT Click - RTC to mute / unmute instruments, click to add midi instrument (without having to select the pen tool) etc. A good update but I still have to use SD 2 for drum kit previews and find the other oversights frustrating to use and slow down the user experience.

[@blazersaint144]

Will the "edit drum style" work the same as it does in EZ drummer? So you can dial in 'more" or "less" for individual pieces and get fed possible interpretations?

[@FiragoMusic]

I don't usually care for his guitar demos but this an awesome demo!

[@billyyee1618]

I've been thinking about the upgrade for my td30kv, a number of years. But reluctant to make the move. As I'm not a computer wizard, wondering I can actually handles those complicated setting and etc. Can anybody tell me yr experience on the package. Thank for detail demo.

[@matressi6843]

im kind of confused. would my HP 16 GB core i5 7th gen laptop with only reaper on it be able to use this software?

[@tobbebergman7583]

I really hope it's possible to drag files back and forth SD3 and your host DAW !

[@thefuzzboxx1018]

Would tracker be able to identify open hihat sounds from closed ones from a mix? like old drum machine mix?

[@universalfraeser]

Great! But what about new improvements for live drummers? For example the usability in a live situation. I would like to see a video for this.

[@sweetwater]

One is on the way soon! Stay tuned!

[@25hourpartypeople]

Is it possible to use individual outputs to mix in your DAW? Does it have individual top and bottom snare outputs?

[@PoundSound]

Yes, and you've always been able to do that with any Toontrack drum product.

[@michaelragan6898]

Superior Drummer 2.0 does, so I assume this one will too.

[@gertzpalma]

Thanks!

[@zachmiller2601]

What is the best way to deaden the sounds in the pack (a la the very dry 60's folk/psychedelic and the 70's)? I've never been able to get it just right by using the drum volume envelope adjustment.

[@Guvnor513]

I'd say turn off ambient mics until you get the desired effect.

[@jamesjames77777]

Hi, my name is Troy McClure - you may have seen me in such things as the Superior Drummer 3 Review. : )

[@mikewoodside2223]

that grid editor though. hell yea. similar to cubase

[@rogersalles200]

Can I upload a MP3 drum track to tracker and then export it to a daw?

[@sweetwater]

Hey, Roger. Thanks so much for reaching out. Yes, it does accept mp3 files. I hope this helps. Best Regards, Jason Thiele, Senior Sweetwater Sales Engineer, [phone] ext. 1391, [e-mail]

[@chazzhill-hayr6281]

Everything seems amazing (features, new UI etc).... Except (to my ears) it still sounds VERY much like midi drums. Obviously - that's what it is, but I was hoping for a bit more realism. The drums sound tones themselves don't sound overly usable for the type of sounds I'm trying to achieve as well. The 'Made of Metal' drum pack and progressive are probably the closest to the sounds I want so far, so hopefully there's some more 'tight, and punchy' sounds in here. Perhaps it's just the midi beats used in the examples that feel a little flat and lifeless. Definitely looking forward to hearing more examples of the sounds though.

[@mcgarnacle21]

Chazz Hill-Hayr I'd say it was definitely the midi mapping that made this sound so robotic. He used boring drum patterns too. Proper programmed midi and some more in depth processing and this will sound killer.

[@ChrisBakerDrummer]

agreed

[@wmpx34]

If you watch the other Sweetwater video where Nick is playing on a Roland electronic kit, you can hear just how realistic this thing can sound.

[@preetinderjitsingh429]

230 gb or mb

[@95TurboSol]

Needs a heavy metal kit though! I can see it now they are going to make us spend hundreds on this then have a metal expansion for an extra couple hundred, they BLEED us DRY lol

[@ChrisBakerDrummer]

well, they are a business... sooo...

[@95TurboSol]

They should at least give us lube first lol

[@scoobydoo936]

Ya, probably they would but you are smart, so you know u can use eq's, comps and send fx to create your own metals kits right?

[@95TurboSol]

Of course but when they make metal kits they record the samples differently so you can't exactly replicate it.

[@slayczar]

It has metal kit- actually it has about 30 metal kits

[@absinha6209]

Any idea if it works well with the new Alesis Strike Pro kit?

[@Guvnor513]

Should be no reason why it would not. You would need to be able to export/transmit hits from the kit into the software. You might have some mapping to do but it should work either through Midi for USB or with a midi interface.

[@absinha6209]

I figured so. I have had a bit of a struggle with BFD2 and BFD3 with mapping. Wonder if it's any easier...

[@danablett]

Oh man... this is going to destroy me! I NEED this in my studio but I'll probably have to upgrade everything to get it running. :(

[@russells20]

I doubt it

[@88omarz]

would this be suitable for live performance?

[@sweetwater]

Hello! Thank you for your interest. Superior Drummer can be pretty CPU intensive, so to be able to use it live, there are a few different factors at play. It really depends on how you plan to use it and the specs of your computer. Give us a call sometime and we'd be happy to discuss it with you and help you figure out a good solution for you to use live! Justin Sunday Sweetwater Sales Engineer, [phone] ext. 1966, [e-mail]

[@88omarz]

Sweetwater ok will do Justin.

[@deathrules001]

Can you aslo import Trigger2 Files ?

[@octavarium2457]

Any metal expantion?

[@CahlajWasHere]

Nice.

[@FrozenSparky]

All this is great, but does it djent?

[@marcsee4072]

your mama djents your papa

[@darkonestudio9897]

hope you can install the library on seperate hd.

[@PoundSound]

All VST libraries allow you to install the program and samples in different locations. Installing both the program and samples, of any VST library, to your C: drive is never a good idea.

[@islanddreaming8591]

now all the new SD3 drum GRID editor needs .., is a nudge button with user setting increments , ..., Add that toontrack >> and I wont even bother using pro tools midi editor ..., until thats added toontrack , it'll still be a time consuming game of exporting midi out of SD3 to pro tools midi editor , then importing it back into SD3 to do further work ..., because I can guarantee SD3's GRID editor will only snap to the (robotic) grid without giving us any options of being able move the note slightly forward or behind of the beat .

[@tobbebergman7583]

Nudge Tools is a must in a drum editor !

[@mcgarnacle21]

I saw they put this in the 3.1 update. Have you used it yet?

[@albertoleal2325]

did anyone noticed how fast the samples load? OMG!!!

[@asashesrain]

load times are heavily based on what type of hard drive you have

[@mikestein1024]

Just like any edrum stuff the high hats suffer and I'm sure that the drum replacement part probably has a ton of bugs

[@mikestein1024]

But would this run on a iMac with 4gb ram in any setup with not noticeable latency

[@furryz666]

Yeah that’s great now I just have to wait another 82 hours to finish my download

[@ericeverhart2834]

This software is awesome but I just started laughing when you replaced Keith Carlock's drums that he expertly tunes and hits for lifeless programmed ones lol.

[@ericeverhart2834]

Hahahaha! I know you were using them as a quick demo. It seemed so funny. Thanks again for reviewing

[@jamesrockford2626]

sounds good but the same as 2 with the expansions

[@2dollarcrew]

I wanna hear the cymbals being crashed on. EZ2 is great but almost all the cymbals are too harsh

[@Eagles.Fan.Since.Super.Bowl.52]

This software is an example of what seems perfect on paper, but not great in function. I own SD2 with some SDXs and at first I thought it would be a dream for a drummer/tech geek. In my experience it would take a lot of time to create anything worth while. And that time would be better spent getting better at acoustic drums at least for me. Maybe I'm alone on this, really wanted to enjoy this and put time into it but each time I booted the software it felt like an absolute chore to do anything.

[@anthonym612]

And the software won't become homeless without a girlfriend.

[@pogijuice]

the grid editor would've been nice to have on EZ Drummer 2, but i'm not worried about that because i have the drum map on my cubase to fix that. besides, i'm happy with what i have. it's simple and not too complicated with all the extra shit that would take most of my time to intricate each and every details to make a drum sound. SD3 is great and all, but it looks too confusing for me. i like simple and EZ Drummer 2 won me over. sorry Superior Drummer. LOVE YOU TOONTRACK!!!!!!!

[@gregwilliams2764]

This is the best in the world but I can’t use it in Abelton. I’m unteachable

[@theelusivedillinger]

There really isn't much to learn. Hundreds of presets. Its such an amazing songwriting tool. I'm 100 percent happy with my purchase.

[@thomasfokas]

I love all of your demos but this is the worst groove you could’ve selected to show off this software.

[@sweetgyy]

screw apple

[@stonelark]

buy stock

[@freds2555]

"Classic Digital Reverb"?? Would that be one designed to REV the sound up???

[@-PUDD1N]

Reviewing our own products now are we? Lol. I'm sure this is a "fair and unbiased" review" lol

[@gertmostert1323]

All this fancy crap and the kits still sound like empty coffee tins. How about some damping and some small drum rooms? You know, like most of us use. Also a deep snare or two, one of them damped. No play, no pay.

[@foto21]

If you like one boring ass reverb tail, buy this drum software, because you can't remove it from the drum sounds!

[@WaynePryce]

Damn..tell em why you mad son

[@darkviews9590]

Nice guy for sure, but more dressed like for selling insurances or whatsoever...but not a cool drum VST! LOL

[@LandmineCLAYMORE]

#addictivedrums2

[@stupidusername38]

i wonder if its an articulation editor like in BFD3 which allows you to draw in flams and rudiments

[@klootjavaanje]

Boring 3.0