[Adrian Dawson]

1/ Works very well in combined files. Kick, snare, toms and cymbals do a pretty good job with minimal tweaking. Hi hats often get ‘lost’ behind other drums. Add the missing ones manually.

2/ Yes. It will.

[Adrian Dawson]

+1 for this.

[Adrian Dawson]

Thanks Henrik. It’s great that you come back to people.

Despite very minor niggles such as these, SD3 is an absolute powerhouse and far superior, hence the name I guess, than anything else on the market. It’s an awesome piece of work and the whole TT team should be applauded.

I can’t wait to see EZKeys 2. Hint, hint. :))

[Adrian Dawson]

To be honest I figured that the last option would be the trickiest, given that each library has a different number of kit pieces and in order to load settings one would need to navigate two menus instead of just one.

No worries, though, as the other two were my real focus and to hear that they may be coming is excellent news indeed.

Thanks so much for the reply.

[Adrian Dawson]

Additionally, with any Mac software that gives you that message, you can hold command and right-click on the software (or hold command and option then click and hold) and select ‘Open’. Then, as the software or installer opens, it will remind you it is from an unidentified developer, but this time it will allow you the option of opening it anyway, rather than just saying no. Works with all unidentfied software or installers.

[Adrian Dawson]

Your point, as I understand it, was…

I have been as loyal as it gets.
I was one of Toontracks FIRST EVER customers!
…as someone who has supported Toontrack from the very beginning… I believe that $200 is very steep and a bit greedy.

Nah, respectfully, I think I got your point bang on.

[Adrian Dawson]

I too have a Roland Kit. I’m not sure what module you have (mine is a TD-20) but I have some of the 100 kits set up with different midi mappings, purely for playing DAW kits. The module handles the re-routing for me, so you could always try that. Also, I use Logic Pro X and I have an environment set up that can also re-route midi notes coming in, and perhaps your software does too..? With one or both of these solutions, each of which would take a short while to set up (but would only need doing once), you may be covered on your mapping needs, again negating the need to upgrade to SD3 just for that feature.

[Adrian Dawson]

So why not just use EZD for your grooves, turn on Midi Out and have it trigger SD2. Done. TT have already given you all you need. Buying SD3 would only give you things you already have plus things you don’t actually need so it’s basically a non-starter for you anyway. The only thing you are currently missing, and will continue to miss, is ‘having it all in one program’ but asking for a much lower price because you alone only want only one small feature is a big of an ask, no…? At least they are offering you a discount for owning SD2 (…like, 50%!!!) but that’s not enough..?

I agree that a discount for you buying EZD2 back in the day, as an owner of SD2, would have been a good move on TT’s behalf, but I really do not think SD3 is for you. It’s clearly a bigger program that you are looking for and yet, if it wasn’t, people would simply be complaining that there were not enough new features.

[Adrian Dawson]

I too own SD2, EZD2 and a whole host of SDXs, EZXs, along with EZKeys and every EZKeys expansion and midi pack, yet I do not feel cheated and I think the word ‘greedy’ is a bit harsh.

There is AN upgrade path for me, and for that I am grateful, but I would happily buy a brand new piece of software with all of SD3s features for, say, $300 – yet I can now get one for 2/3 of that. And no, not all of the features are useful to me (I will probably never use 11.1 or Tracker). SD3 is an amazing piece of software, from what I can see so far, with a LOT of time and effort – not just into the recording – but into the layout, the presentation, the extra stacking features, the enhanced tracking, the enhanced everything, the (FREE) upgrades to every EZX and SDX that needs new graphics etc. No charge for those!

If Toontrack are successful and get lots of ‘loyal’ customers – and then every ‘loyal’ customer gets SD3/4/5/6 for next to nothing moving forward – then Toontrack are not profitable and all of this ends pretty soon. To me, loyalty is not about buying early, or first, and then expecting every version down the line to come to me for next to nothing, or for what I decide I want to pay. Loyalty, to me, is paying a FAIR price for a great product and supporting the company through worthwhile purchases not expecting really cheap updates forever because I got in there first. Apple don’t give me any discount AT ALL on my iPhone every couple of years (I always miss a step) because I was first in line on the day they launched the original model, or because I have five Macs, two iPads and an AppleTV and lots of their paid software, so why should Toontrack? Yet they do.

And, as ever, this is a market place. If there is a better piece of software out there for less than $200 that does everything you want it to do, then go and buy that instead. No-one is forcing you to buy anything. Companies have to make money and companies that work hard on quality should be rewarded fairly. I dislike the race to the bottom, price-wise. All it means is less money for talented people to re-invest in making things even greater. Of course I would take a greater discount, if Toontrack offered me one for all I own of theirs, but I’m actually pretty happy with the one I am getting. I want Toontrack to make enough money to make SD4 even better and so me, this is NOT greed. Far from it.

[Adrian Dawson]

EPIC!! Thanks Ollie.

This is seriously going to be an awesome release. Cannot remember when I was last this excited about a piece of software. Literally everything I hoped it would have, it has. Then you added a bit more. Nice work.

[Adrian Dawson]

I would like all of the above but, more importantly. I would love the following features…

1/ The ability to add any drum sound to any drum. A low snare to Tom 4, for example, instead of just being able to add Toms to that pad. I play a Roland kit and adding a second, deeper snare, should be easier than it is now. Currently I use a custom set-up of the Claustrophobic kit as it has lots of extra pads, but I am very limited as to what sounds I can add to those pads.

2/ the facility to load my own samples on occasion.

3/ The facility change the midi note number for a midi drum, preferably via a midi learn function.

4/ Further splitting of sounds for mixing – a mix for every drum not just kick, snare, toms, hi-hats and then overheads.

5/ Some basic effects on the mix channels, such as those in Superior Drummer. Transients, EQs etc.

I understand that what I’m looking for brings EZD much closer to SD but I own both and find the whole layout of SD cumbersome. EZD is easier and more intuitive to use, fast, has great midi pattern handling and… y’know… looks better.

[Author]

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