eDRUMin 1.5 BETA now available

[jacko]

I understand it’s the business model but I’d much prefer new features be part of the core release.

hard to see how it's possible though. they go back into the same studio, do the same set up to record a few extra hits?

no one who already owned it would buy, it wouldn't value-add enough to attract people who might not've bought it otherwise, so it would have to be a free upgrade - no way it would be economically feasible

I'll be surprised if toontrack go for modelling. if a competitor comes into the market using modelling (even partial modelling) my guess is toontrack will market their sample-no-modelling approach as their forte

but it's a possible future - who knows?

[lalo]

As soon as SD3 came out I sold all my SD2 expansions, now I only have the Rock Foundry and Death & Darkness, I tried Decades and Rock of Legacy but sold them because not enough toms.... Now many are angry at toontrack because they now charge 15 bucks to transfer each serial number, so we'll see less and less second hand license transfers... BFD has always charged 50 bucks for any number of lic transfers. XLN does it for free.

Modo drum will never get mainstream because the cymbals are not sampled, many bad reviews point that, also the toms don't have rim sounds...

[monospace]

I understand it’s the business model but I’d much prefer new features be part of the core release.

hard to see how it's possible though. they go back into the same studio, do the same set up to record a few extra hits?

no one who already owned it would buy, it wouldn't value-add enough to attract people who might not've bought it otherwise, so it would have to be a free upgrade - no way it would be economically feasible

Well yeah, that's my point. My approach to edrumming is to play a single kit that I've tweaked to perfection (as much as possible anyway). I might swap out a snare every once in a while, and I spend a good amount of time in the Mixer to create sounds, but I'm not interested in loading entire new drumkits for every song. So SDXs are not for me. But I would like to have as many articulations as possible, so when they release an SDX with features the Core Library doesn't have, I'm a little miffed.

I'll be surprised if toontrack go for modelling. if a competitor comes into the market using modelling (even partial modelling) my guess is toontrack will market their sample-no-modelling approach as their forte

As I said, Toontrack's strongest point is also their biggest weakness. Their pristinely recorded drumkits sound awesome in their original environments, but you cannot combine elements from different SDXs. It just sounds terrible when the ambiences don't match, and even using totally dry samples sounds jarring due to different mic setups.

The best of both worlds would be killer samples à la Superior Drummer, combined with top-notch environmental microphone modeling and state-of-the-art Convolution Reverbs.

[Ratamacue]

As I said, Toontrack's strongest point is also their biggest weakness. Their pristinely recorded drumkits sound awesome in their original environments, but you cannot combine elements from different SDXs. It just sounds terrible when the ambiences don't match, and even using totally dry samples sounds jarring due to different mic setups.

The best of both worlds would be killer samples à la Superior Drummer, combined with top-notch environmental microphone modeling and state-of-the-art Convolution Reverbs.

This is so true, at least to my ear. I find myself drawn to the SDXs with large kits because there is a greater chance I will find the sounds I like within that recording. When I pull elements from other kits it just doesn't work. It makes me wonder if Roland understood this decades ago because they have been investing in modelling for quite a while.

[monospace]

I think Roland went that way because back in the day memory was expensive, and good samples (especially full length cymbal samples) take up a lot of space. Also, in the early days, synthetic sounds were actually a selling point for electronic drums. It's only in the past decade or two that people have been looking for acoustic realism.

What Toontrack is doing is very clever, marketing wise. The Core Library is massive, and has enough instruments and microphones, and enough mixer capabilities to create almost any drum sound you could possibly want. But they've successfully convinced their users that the only way to get that super specific sound is to spend $$$ on an expansion pack that was recorded in that super specific studio by that super specific engineer using those super specific drums. I'm not saying those aren't great sounding libraries; just that it's also a very clever business strategy.