Who is using Modo Drum?

[dsteinschneider]

I'm thinking of installing the trial as I have some time right now and they are offering it for $200 and I have $30 "Jam Points" so it would cost $170.

@ialo - you were testing it - did you decide to get it?

Thanks

[Mylo]

Every time I look into Modo Drums I’m intrigued by things like PS on toms and really tweaking thing like clear or coated heads and such. But then you realize that there is a lot missing from what I can glean from playing with it. Like rim shots and side sticking. The cymbals are sampled and I don’t see articulations for bell. It seems limited. It gives in some areas but is lacking in others (some pretty important).

I’d like to hear what others have to say.

[perceval]

I'm looking and looking... they only talk about drums, but there's no mention whatsoever about cymbals and HH.
Whether it's on the site, or the review videos.... you can customize the drums at your content, but I can't find anything about cymbals.... does it have cymbals!? ha ha!

I guess they do. Seen a selection of 3 HH, and reviews called the cymbals ... "workable". Not too inspiring.

They have a "Try" button, but I've heard the installation is far from easy.

[monospace]

Hmm. First I heard of this. So I went and installed the demo version. The concept is interesting, not unlike the editing options you get on a Roland module. Drum size, material, damping, etcetera. But I'm not impressed with the raw sound quality, like, at all. Maybe it could be serviceable after spending some quality time in the mixer, but in general things sound harsh and brittle. The MIDI mapping is very basic, I could get the snare to do PS (though not nearly as smooth as SD3) but I haven't been able yet to get the hihat to do anything beyond open and close. There's a velocity curve too, but the dynamics are very, very rough regardless.

It doesn't help that I couldn't find any demos or videos of this software being used with an electronic drumkit. Clearly their target audience is producers using MIDI grooves, and I suppose it could work for that, but for the money, if that's your aim, you'd be better off getting something like EZDrummer instead.

I have 9 days left on my demo period, so I'll revisit it some more in the coming days, but so far it doesn't look like something I'd enjoy playing. I guess Superior Drummer spoiled me.

EDIT @Perceval: Installation is done through a basic product manager type application. Easy enough. It does have cymbals: 3 different types for each slot.

[perceval]

Thanks, mono...

I think the question about cymbals was how many zones they had?

[monospace]

I think the question about cymbals was how many zones they had?

The ride has a bell and a bow articulation. No edge. The crashes have edge and "catch" (choke). So yeah, limited.

[Mylo]

Videos:

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/m ... hp?p=video

Check out the “MODO DRUM - Infinite Round Robin & E-drum/MIDI Control”. At about the 55 seconds mark it starts demoing Modo Drum with a Roland and how PS works with snare and toms and then it goes into the hi-hat. It does accept CC so it appears you can get the hi-hat to work similar to SD3.

[perceval]

really does look like HH and cymbals are the Achille's heel of this VST.
Not many steps between fully closed to fully opened, to my ears.

I think if one wants this kind of drum VST, the free Drumic'a is quite impressive.Playing with the mics can be fun.
It's one downfall is that it needs Kontakt... but if you can live with it, it's a very nice sounding VST.

https://en-us.sennheiser.com/drummica

[monospace]

At about the 55 seconds mark it starts demoing Modo Drum with a Roland and how PS works with snare and toms and then it goes into the hi-hat. It does accept CC so it appears you can get the hi-hat to work similar to SD3.

I'm definitely going to mess around some more with it, but ultimately it depends on what kind of sounds I can get out of it. Don't get me wrong, it sounds "okay" in a 2010-kind-of-way, but Toontrack have been setting the bar ridiculously high with SD3 and EZD. It's going to need some radical improvements in future updates if I'm going to drop $200 on it.

[dsteinschneider]

Thanks everyone for taking a look. I've got other fish to fry right now (Harrison Mixbus thanks to Perceval ) so I'm going to take a pass on Modo Drums.