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[lchalk]

Update, After my rant I got really irritated so I decided to figure out how to get around my issue. I use reaper as my DAW and I found http://amano-guitar.blogspot.com/2012/03/using-reaper-midikeymap.html which allowed me to use a plugin to do my midi mapping. I though the concept of re-mapping my brain offensive but this plug in is an acceptable solution…but it sure wasn’t the EZ way to get it done.

I do agree entirely that superior is an all around better and more powerful product. Superior does do many thing that EZ does not but EZ drummer does a couple key features (composition is the major one) that I use a lot that superior doesn’t have. I usually don’t rant on finish that much; function and fit are far more important but the finish of EZ is so nice that it is hard to ignore. I just like working with it. If Superior looked as nice as EZ I would like it more. I talk myself out of using superior just for the UI. I just tell myself EZ is good enough for whatever I am doing. If I am showing off my setup to my friends, I start with EZ because it looks so cool. Superior just doesn’t have that cool factor that EZ has and that is a shame.

[lchalk]

I pulled the trigger and bought the progressive EZX today and I am ready to render verdict:

It sounds a lot like Made of metal, it is better than it in the same way Metalheads is better than DKFH and I would buy it over Made if metal, if you were only getting 3 kits. All of them are distinct in their own way but some are closer than others.

My new ordering of metal kits I own:
1) Metal! – pure death metal
2) Metal Machine – classic 80’s metal
3) Progressive – progressive metal (the name says it all)
4) Made of metal – rocky metal, this is my fall back if rock solid sounds too over the top (and it usually does)
5) Metalheads – Garage Metal? not sure how else to describe it (good kit but a little less refined, I have to be in the mood for this one)
6) DKFH – very similar to Metalheads with a little more punch, which is probably why I don’t use as much

[lchalk]

I am a happy owner of both EZ Drummer 2 and Superior Drummer 2. Although I would love to lean how to process drums and dial in the exact sound I want but that is not my original reason for buying superior; I bought it so I could get a midi lean function so I could use my expanded e-kit (nothing too fancy, a DTX582 with 2 extra toms and 2 extra symbols). So my problem is the opposite of yours, I want midi learn in EZ Drummer. I still like playing with superior but I would rather be able to use my EZX completely in EZ Drummer. I do feel that after I upgraded, I got some much new needed features but I also lost something too. I don’t mind using both tools. I don’t mind buying both the EZX and the SDX version. All I want to do it play my whole kit in EZ drummer 2. I own EZ Drummer 2, Superior Drummer 2, Addictive Drums 2, and BDF3 and EZ Drummer 2 is the only one that can’t do it. Crazy thing it is still my favorite of all of them but that one limitation forces me to use something I don’t like as much when I want a bigger kit.

Sorry for hijacking your thread to rant, I do feel your pain, If your playing drums and not programming them Ez Drummer 2 is a much better experience than anything else out there (unless you modified your e-kit from stock)!

[lchalk]

Short answer yes. I have all the metal kits. I do use them all Just Metal! and Metal Machine I use the most so I am very used to their sound and they are my go to kits. Every once in a while I am just not feeling either of them (not the kits fault just me and I want something different) Made of metal or metal heads usually fit in there. The only one I really don’t use much at all if DKFH. I did the same research when I got started (and Metal! was relatively new) so this ordering is pretty common except for me pushing Metal! to number 1 (it is usually 2 or 3). I hear a lot of good thing about the progressive kit but I don’t own it yet so I can’t comment

Metal! – pure death metal
Metal Machine – classic 80’s metal
Made of metal – rocky metal, this is my fall back if rock solid sounds too over the top (and it usually does)
Metalheads – Garage Metal? not sure how else to describe it (good kit but a little less refined, I have to be in the mood for this one)
DKFH – very similar to Metalheads with a little more punch, which is probably why I don’t use as much

I will also add I do mostly hard rock and metal and I still like the Nashville kit, Pop/Rock, and the built in EZD2 Modern kit a lot. Go by sound not the name of the kit. Like Made of metal to me is not really a metal hit but a hard rock kit.

[lchalk]

I own both ez drummer and superior drummer and I honestly use ezx more often than not, so I would say yes. But it depends on what you are doing; If you plan to mix drums in your DAW then probably not. I do some recording but it is mostly to make my own jam tracks (I am a guitar player). The Ezx are just ready to go so that is what I use most. plus, I use the ez drummer song creator a lot so that also requires ezx. After I originally got superior, I had the same dilemma. I haven’t got it yet (but it is on my list) The progressing ezx and the progressive foundry sdx will be probably be my next purchase. I initially didn’t want the ezx because I felt it would be redundant but then I thought how much I still use metal machine and I own metal machinery. Also noting even though they use the same samples, they don’t sound the same (even with the included presets in the SDX). Could the sdx be made to sound as good or better than the ezx (I am positive it can, just not by me…yet). The SDX in my opinion even with the presets are a little more raw because they are meant to be a starting point for your tinkering to dial in your own unique signature sound where as the EXZ are designed to just be dropped into your final mix. Well that’s my 2 cents anyway.

[lchalk]

I have all the metal packs, Metal Machine and Metal! are my favorites but it Is hard for me to put them in order (Metal! is my favorite this week but last week it was Metal Machine)

Metal! is kind of a one trick pony (but it does that trick very well – I Love the big Crackle Kit)
Metal Machine is a more well rounded and therefore more versatile and could fit into other types of music

[lchalk]

No, they are different products. You can use an ezx in superior drummer but you cannot use an sdx in ez drummer. For what it is worth, I actually use the ezx more than the sdx because most of the time I am just looking for a general sound to flush out ideas out not a unique refined sound for a final production (and I am a noob at mixing drums and only use presets at the moment).

[lchalk]

I own both EZ drummer and Superior Drummer and I use them both a lot. I am a guitar player not a drummer but I try, I have an e-kit (DTX 522 now max expanded to a DTX 582 with 5 toms and 5 symbols). Currently I own 19 EZXs that I picked up here and there over the years and 4 SDX. I find the EZX and the SDX serve a completely different purpose and the overlap is actually good. I still use the EZX versions a lot because although I am an Engineer, I am not an audio engineer and I am still working on my mixing skills (I have no idea what I am doing honestly, just bought EZmix 2 and love it). I really love the song creator in EZ Drummer, which you have to use EZX version. I can just pick a pattern (usually a Chorus) and I have an idea to work with and flush out. A lot of my ideas are throw away, after a couple hours if nothing materializes, I start over so I spent a lot of time in EZ drummer when I am composing. My main reason for going to superior was kit size (EZ Drummer couldn’t handle my kit and I really needed the midi learn function). I really wish EZ drummer had it, I would have bought SD 2 anyway (I would have defiantly bought on black Friday because the deal was so AWSOME) Most of the time I just want to jam on my kit with good sounding drums and EZ Drummer did that perfectly until my kit got too big. Which brings me to my original point over time you will probably end up like me, picking up almost every thing Toontrack makes, it is all great, the more I buy the more comfortable I am getting more (I have never been disappointed or regretted any of my purchases). If I had to do it all over again I would probably buy the same stuff in the same order.

When I first started getting into e drums I read post like this all over the place and just went no way am I doing that. I got EZ drummer 2 and tormented myself for days about which kit to buy because that was the last kit I was ever going to get and it had to be the have all to end all. Well there is no have all kit and each of their products have a purpose and if you need it get it when you can (no hurry, life is not a sprint it’s a marathon). I know this is not going to stop you from tormenting yourself (It didn’t for me when I was told the same thing) but you really can’t go wrong.

[Author]

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