callahan09Just bought Superior Drummer 3 today after using EZ Drummer 2 for the past 7 months or so. I have some kit presets in EZ Drummer 2 that I created and saved, but Superior Drummer 3 has been giving me TONS of issues trying to get them ported over to it:
1) It didn’t find the presets at all by default.
2) So, I manually copied & pasted a single preset file (from C:Users[MyAccount]DocumentsToontrackEZdrummerUserPresets … which I made based on EZX Claustrophobia) into the corresponding folder for Superior Drummer 3 (which happened to be C:Users[MyAccount]DocumentsToontrackSuperior3PresetsEZXEZX_ClaustrophobicS3Presets)
3) I was now able to locate and load the preset in SD3, but it did not work. No drum hits made any sound whatsoever. I guess the preset files from EZD2 are just simply not compatible with SD3? Or did I do something wrong?
4) So my next attempt was to just simply recreate it by opening up the preset in EZD2, selecting the kit (EZX Claustrophobia – Broken kit) and then opening up the mixer and manually setting all the values (including the Distortion and Pitch [Heads; Bronze; & Percussion] knobs), and making the same drum replacements (Racktom 1 -> EZX Claustrophobic 10″ Premier Gen-X – Cymbal … Racktom 2 -> EZX Made of Metal 18″ DW Deep Blue Oyster … Floortom 2 -> EZX Metalheads 13×16″ DW Collector’s Series). After meticulously setting everything up identically to how I did it for this preset in EZD2 … the sound is still DRASTICALLY different. Like, it really doesn’t even sound remotely close to my original preset when played in EZ Drummer.
So what gives?
Why can’t I either load in or exactly recreate the sound of my preset from EZD2 in SD3?
JohnHi,
currently you cannot open EZdrummer 2 User Presets in SD3. As you guess they are currently not compatible that way, EZdrummer 2 is not a ‘Lite’ version of SD3, it’s a different plugin.
As for the recreation of sound, it should be possible. I don’t know if there’s anything wrong with the interpretation of the Factory Preset or if this is simply down to SD3’s more advanced features but things from the top of my mind you can try is to check:
> if you have used the Pitch Macro controls, then see if the Tuning module for each instrument is on or not and if it’s Processed or not (Drum Head/Cymbal).
> SD3 separates the ‘SnareBottom’ from the ‘Snare’ in the Mixer which makes the ‘SnareBottom’ sound unprocessed. If you enter the ‘Route Instrument Microphones’ setup and route the ‘SnareBottom’ microphone to the ‘Snare’ Mixer Channel. Does this bring you closer to what you expect?
Alternatively you can copy over the ‘Black Box’ FX and Sends over by Alt-Click+Drag.
> the Toms are more separated as well in the SD3 mixer, so you want to check that as well.
BR,
John
John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor
callahan09Hi, thanks for all the great info!
I finally have been able to get it almost at 100% replica of my original EZD2 preset. I definitely did all the things you said:
1) I copied & pasted the effects & bus sounds on the new microphones in the SD3 version of the mixer that didn’t have any effects or bus sends since those mics didn’t exist in the EZD2 mixer.
2) I played with the Tuning module on each drum until it matched up as close as I could get it.
3) I had to set the Output 1/2 fader (the last one in the mixer) to 12.0 dB (max) on my SD3 preset. Without doing this, the volume & distortion were very noticeably much lower on the SD3 preset vs the EZD2 one. This fader doesn’t exist in EZD2, so I suppose that it’s sort of “invisibly” set to max in that program, whereas it was at 0.0 dB on SD3? This setting actually was the biggest one that got my preset sounding closer to the original. I hadn’t found this one at first, and noticed that it seemed quieter and with less distortion on the drums, so I changed the Master Volume to 12.0 dB (max) in SD3, and that achieved the same effect, except that Master Volume is not saved as part of a preset, so I wanted to find a different way to achieve the same effect, and I found it in the Output fader in the mixer.
Thanks for your help, and I’ve got my preset sounding basically the same in SD3 now. I had trouble getting some of the toms and one of the cymbals and the snare to be tuned to the exact same pitch, but it’s close enough now and has more or less the same sound and feel as my original preset, so I’m happy with it. In fact, I think I like it better now, because I was able to pitch the cymbals lower than the lowest possible setting in EZD2, and the lower the better for this preset!
onewayout_1@John said:
Hi,currently you cannot open EZdrummer 2 User Presets in SD3. As you guess they are currently not compatible that way, EZdrummer 2 is not a ‘Lite’ version of SD3, it’s a different plugin.
As for the recreation of sound, it should be possible. I don’t know if there’s anything wrong with the interpretation of the Factory Preset or if this is simply down to SD3’s more advanced features but things from the top of my mind you can try is to check:
> if you have used the Pitch Macro controls, then see if the Tuning module for each instrument is on or not and if it’s Processed or not (Drum Head/Cymbal).
> SD3 separates the ‘SnareBottom’ from the ‘Snare’ in the Mixer which makes the ‘SnareBottom’ sound unprocessed. If you enter the ‘Route Instrument Microphones’ setup and route the ‘SnareBottom’ microphone to the ‘Snare’ Mixer Channel. Does this bring you closer to what you expect?
Alternatively you can copy over the ‘Black Box’ FX and Sends over by Alt-Click+Drag.
> the Toms are more separated as well in the SD3 mixer, so you want to check that as well.BR,
John
This is great as a new SD3 owner, could you explain the “black box” fx plz?
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