My Thoughts….

[Taffypro]

Hi,

I just purchased roughly $500 worth of your software and there are a few things I love and a few things I do not.

First off, your drums sound amazing. I am absolutely blown away. I really hope I can utilize your software to make some great music. Please please please make a Punk midi pack!!!!

I also feel deceived. I was told that Superior Drummer is the “big brother to EZ Drummer”. In some ways this is correct as you can adjust a lot more parameters and have access to better sounds. On the other hand it is deceitful because the word “superior” means “better in every way”. As a new user I can tell Superior Drummer is outdated…. EZ Drummer has functions like “Tap to find”, and the ability to switch drum parts (a high-hat to a ride, in the Construct window)…. Do I need to upgrade to EZ Drummer to get these functions???

Just frustrated….

Gary
Taffypro@gmail.com

Topic

[Juicy]

You may have a point but not “deceived”
EZD2 was simply last/ first to be updated and has those EZ extra features for Non E Kit Players and ppl looking for
that play it for me pre set satisfaction it is a great product, but 24 bit vs 16 Bit cmon?

Anyhow we feel some news is just around the corner SD ???

[berhu]

@Taffypro said:
… As a new user I can tell Superior Drummer is outdated…. EZ Drummer has functions like “Tap to find”, and the ability to switch drum parts (a high-hat to a ride, in the Construct window)….

SD2 is more for the studio-like sound possibilities, and EZDrummer2 for instant composing.
You are right SD2 is older. AT first SD2 was similar but much powerful in comparison to EZDrummer1. You can construct drum kit, set the thinnest details of each instrument (articulations, enveloppes, mix table with EQ Comp etc, bleeding between microphones etc) All this to the sound engineer’s and designer’s delight … BUT…
When came EZDrummer2 with this song creator, and improvement of each instrument’s properties arrow, and the tap tempo pad, it became different.

PLEASE ô BELOVED PROGRAMMERS, refresh SD2 so we can, in the construct window of any kit in SD2, choose an instrument in any of the kits we own SIMPLY by clicking the arrow on an instrument, like we do in EZD2..

[Taffypro]

Just out of curiosity when was the last time Superior Drummer was updated? I don’t mean to gripe, but I guess I fall into the “composer” category, and wish I had known that before buying. I can hear beats in my head, but finding them is basically impossible with this software….

Just frustrated…..

Gary

[Taffypro]

@Juicy…. Perhaps the words “deceived” and “superior” are not being translated properly….. Does “misled” work? Sorry but the sales guy sold it as the “big brother to EZ Drummer 2” and with a name like “Superior” I was hoping it had all the features and a lot more…No question it sounds better, but I need to have a way to find the grooves I am looking for in a comprehensive way…..

it just feels outdated!

[Juicy]

Very soon Bro.

[Scott Eshleman]

@Taffypro said:
Just out of curiosity when was the last time Superior Drummer was updated?

SD2 was updated 06-2016.

@Taffypro said:
@Juicy…. Perhaps the words “deceived” and “superior” are not being translated properly….. Does “misled” work? Sorry but the sales guy sold it as the “big brother to EZ Drummer 2” and with a name like “Superior” I was hoping it had all the features and a lot more…No question it sounds better, but I need to have a way to find the grooves I am looking for in a comprehensive way…..

From this Toontrack fan and owner/user of EZDrummer1, EZDrummer2 and SuperiorDrummer2:
Blame the sales guy for not explaining the products better or for not determining all of your needs.
Blame yourself for not doing your own research and/or asking the right questions.
Tap2Find and other EZD2 functions are new features that required a rewrite of the EZDrummer1 product.
I have to assume that adding them to SuperiorDrummer is no small task (if that is Toontrack’s plan) given the additional complexity of the SD2 base product.
I use EZD2 for its MIDI songwriting functions including Tap2Find and Edit Play Style.
I also like its lightweight resource usage allowing multiple instances within a single DAW composing session.
I use SuperDrummer2 for its advanced virtual drum sample mixing capabilities.
Two tools for two very different tasks.

[Scott Eshleman]

I don’t know the backstory or chronological history of SuperiorDrummer1 versus EZDrummer1.
For all that I know, SuperiorDrummer(1) was developed and released before EZDrummer(1) was ever conceptualized.
For all that you or I know, “Superior” might be a reference to its superiority to competitive products. …and still might.

[Lee Shapiro]

I have both Superior Drummer 2 and EZ Drummer 2, along with MANY sound packs for each. I had Superior Drummer first and it was my “go-to” drums whenever I recorded a song. But ever since EZdrummer 2 came out, I’m finding that I like many more of the sounds I get “out of the box” from EZD2. In fact a good portion of the sounds I get out of Superior Drummer, I don’t really care for. Even the most recent packs don’t sound as good as most of the EZD2 sounds.

And since I don’t do a lot of tweaking, except for maybe turning up the room mics in the mix, I use EZD2 almost exclusively now, with Superior Drummer just taking up space on my hard drive.

I agree with the person who said that Superior Drummer WAS ‘superior” before EZD2 came out (and its many sound packs), but I don’t think that’s true anymore, unless you are someone who likes to tweak endlessly or add producer presets to Superior Drummer (which is also a system hog, if you add to many of those producer presets).

But again, no griping here. Toontrack general offers quality sounds, in both it’s drum line and it’s keyboard line. I would love to see what they could do with a Hammond B3 organ. Ever since Native Instruments discontinued it’s “B4” and replaced it with “Vintage Organs”, there hasn’t been a decent Hammond organ. There are a couple of shareware and low-priced B3 emulators, but still nothing has matched the quality of NI’s B4.

Keep up the good work Toontrack!

[Stephen Marshall]

If you take the time to mix superior 2 drums or apply a producer preset, they will sound better in every perceivable way over ez drummer 2. With superior you have 24 bit sounds, more kit pieces available, more different types of hits on each piece, more velocity layers for each hit. With Superior it becomes hard to tell the drums are not real… And i say this as an owner of superior 2 with every sdx and ezdrummer 2 having owned almost all ezx at some point. I find the middle ground in using ezd2 to mold the drum parts and using sd2 for the actual sounds, until sd2 is updated…

[Taffypro]

Thanks for all the replies.

I realize I really need the tap to find function because as I stated before I hear beats in my head but am having a hard time finding anything close in a timely manner.

So…. Should I buy EZ Drummer 2 or should I hope the next version of SD has this function?

Will EZ Drummer 2 be able to see the midi files from SD2 (Avatar collection)?

Is there a way to make a favorites folder of my midi grooves?

Is there an upgrade package/special pricing to upgrade?

Thanks again for the help.

[Stephen Marshall]

You should buy EZd2 if you need these features, Toontrack have not released anything indicating SD will be updated to version 3 soon, it could still be a little while.
You can always buy EZd2 used as a license transfer from Ebay or on KVR audio forum. And you can transfer the license to someone else if TT upgrade to SD3 in the near future.

There are benefits to having both, EZD2 is lighter on resources, so it’s good for tracking at a very low latency.

[John]

Hi,

Superior 2 sees the same MIDI files as EZdrummer 2, so no problem there. Myself, I find it is quick and easy to get a song structure ready more or less as I want it with EZdrummer 2 and then I switch to Superior 2 for tweaking and drag the MIDI from the EZdrummer 2 Song Track to my DAW.
Alternatively, I load both plugins and feed the MIDI out from EZdrummer 2 (with no or few sounds loaded) to Superior 2 with the drum sounds I intend to use in the project loaded.

There is no cross-grade from Superior 2 to EZdrummer 2 unfortunately, but if you keep your eyes open, there are very often special promos to be found both online and in stores.
Right now, there is only the ‘Buy EZdrummer 2 get 1 free EZX’ promo in the Toontrack web shop, which may not be what you were asking for.

In the Groove Browser, you should have a User MIDI entry; this is where you can store your favourites or your own MIDI files. It can be accessed in the Finder/Explorer via the Help Menu in Superior 2.

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Stephen Marshall]

Superior Drummer and SDX packs have been on sale since November 1st and will continue to be on sale throughout January. Toontrack always has a holiday sale, but that’s 3 solid months specifically for the Superior line. Could this be a sign that SD3 is coming out???

[Author]

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