We have pulled together all the Production Expert Reviews we’ve published over the years that featured drum virtual instruments and sample library products used by countless producers, songwriters and recording artists. Whether your production workflow leans more towards drum packages which sound like authentic kits or electronic drum machines, we’ve got you covered.
If you are in the market for a new drum library or virtual instrument then this list represents some of the best drum software products you can buy today to get your grooves down in your next production.
If you need to add convincing drums on a track fast then we’ve put together what we think are the top 7 complete drum VIs around, they include top notch sounds and MIDI grooves to match.
Recently, Steven and the team at Steven Slate Drums released the latest version of SSD, Steven Slate Drums 5. Now what I could do is give you a blow by blow walk through of the new and improved user interface. Or, I could tell you how wonderful the samples are and how low the CPU usage is, but no, there are plenty of other folk out there in “internet land” who are going to be doing that. What I’m going to do is let you listen to how I have been using SSD 5 in a real world session. I’ll tell you about a couple of the tweaks I have made and I’ll let you listen to a basic rock band mix with some of the different kits I really like.
UVI’s latest instrument Drum Designer is smart by providing users with two workflows within the instrument. Users can either load an entire kit (containing kick, snare, claps and cymbals only) and program their grooves within the built-in sequencer using global effects or they can use an instance of Drum Designers on individual kit pieces and tracks within their DAWs.
The long awaited release of Superior Drummer 3 by Toontrack is finally here. Toontrack describe this latest version of Superior Drummer as "The complete drum production studio.", we agree - it's amazing.
Russ takes a look and listen to the latest offering from Native Instruments the new Drum Lab Kontakt instrument. Find out what he thinks.
Russ takes a look at the NI Battery drum sampler and asks in a world of samplers and drum VIs is there a need for a dedicated drum sampler and have Native Instruments done enough with this new version?
In this video review Production Expert team member Julian Rodgers reviews Solid from UJAM, a virtual drum instrument which bucks the trend by embracing simplicity over comprehensive control and prove that this approach can set us free to get on the what's really important - creating music, without compromising the results.
In this brief overview/video review we show you around UK Pop EZX within EZ Drummer 2. Watch the video to hear how a small selection of the drums featured in this library sound and to hear a quick example of the beginnings of a Royal Blood style track using UK Pop EZX.
In this video review, Production Expert team member Julian Rodgers looks at Evolution, a Kontakt Instrument which gives access to a library of over 4.5 GB of drum samples, 25,000 sounds presented via a custom UI which offers flexible and comprehensive editing, processing and sequencing.
The BeatBox Anthology 2 GUI throws away the drum machine history books meaning users don't have to be vintage drum machine aficionados in order to get great sounding electronic drums in their mixes.
In this video review, Pro Tools Expert Deputy editor Dan Cooper takes a look at Toontrack's latest drum expansion pack for EZ Drummer 2 - Alt-Rock EZX. Watch the video to hear Alt-Rock EZX in the context of a Grunge song in Pro Tools.
In this video review, Pro Tools Expert Deputy Editor Dan Cooper takes a look at Hip-Hop EZX, a drum sample expansion pack for EZ Drummer 2 By Toontrack.
In this video review Pro Tools Expert team member Dan Cooper takes a look at EZX Dream Pop for EZ Drummer 2 by Toontrack. Thank you our Friends at Time+Space for providing us with a copy for this review. To purchase EZX Dream Pop please visit the Time+Space website.
In this video review Dan dives into his country catalogue to test and review EZX Tradition Country Drums, a new expansion pack for EZ Drummer 2 by Toontrack.
Hear how the drums sound within the context of three country songs and to find out what Dan thinks.
In this video review Dan Cooper manipulates some drum loops in Drum Direktor, a Kontakt instrument by The Loop Loft.
Is it any good? Watch the video to see and hear how it performs and to discover what Dan thinks.
In this video James takes a look and a listen to the new Sonivox Tony Coleman Drums virtual instrument. This is a very easy to use, drums for VI for those who like there blues, soul and motown. Tony Coleman has played with all the great but is he the one for your next project?
In this video James takes a look and a listen to the amazing new Blackbird Studio Drums for SSD4 and Slate Trigger. The is more of a listen than a show & tell but James talks you round the new kits and samples and shows off some of the attention to detail that has gone into this sample pack. Listen and enjoy some quality drum sounds.
Russ gives a full show and tell review of the new FXpansion BFD3 drum VI. See what he thinks and also check out his written review at Pro Tools Expert.