Using e-drums with EZdrummer 3 & Superior Drummer 3

You already have the kit. The pads, the module, the hardware. And somewhere in the back of your mind, a sense that those built-in module sounds are holding you back.

EZdrummer 3 and Superior Drummer 3 were both designed from the ground up to work with e-drum equipment as a live instrument. That means presets for the most widely used drum modules on the market, real-time hi-hat response calibrated to feel like an acoustic kit, positional sensing on the snare and ride, cymbal choking, and precise velocity shaping – all accessible from a single settings page inside the software.

What you need before you start

Before launching either application, make sure you have the following in place:

• An e-drum kit
• A computer that meets SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.
• An audio interface with its own dedicated audio drivers
• A MIDI connection from your module to your computer – most modern modules connect via USB; older modules may require a separate MIDI interface

The audio interface is worth singling out. The quality of your live playing experience at low latency depends on how low you can push your buffer size without triggering audio glitches, and that is only achievable with a proper interface running its native drivers. A USB adapter or your computer’s built-in audio won’t get you there. A dedicated audio interface doesn’t have to be expensive, but it is the single most important piece of hardware in the chain after the e-kit itself.

Getting connected

Open EZdrummer 3 or Superior Drummer 3 either as a standalone application or as a plugin inside your DAW.

Standalone: Go to Settings > Audio/MIDI Setup. Select your audio interface as the output device, choose your MIDI input and set your sample rate and buffer size. For live e-drum playing, 44.1 kHz is the recommended sample rate. Start with a buffer size of 256 samples and work downward – most computers handle 128 without trouble; below 64, you may start to hear pops or clicks depending on your system. Higher buffer sizes above 512 will produce noticeable latency between the strike and the sound, which makes live playing feel sluggish.

Plugin: Audio and MIDI routing is handled by your DAW. Assign your e-drum module as the MIDI input source for the plugin track and route audio output to your headphone bus or monitor mix as usual.

An important Note: to hear EZdrummer 3 or Superior Drummer 3 rather than your module’s built-in sounds, your headphones or monitors need to be connected to the audio interface – not the drum module. If sound is coming through the module, that’s why.

Starting with the right preset

Both EZdrummer 3 and Superior Drummer 3 include a preset library in the MIDI input and e-drum settings that covers nearly every drum module currently available. Roland, Alesis, Yamaha and Pearl are among the most popular brands included and the library extends well beyond those – if your exact model isn’t listed, select the closest option from the same manufacturer and you’ll be in good shape.

These presets are designed to work with modules in their factory default state – meaning default note mapping and default sensitivity settings on the module side. If you’ve made adjustments to your module since you first set it up, reset it to factory defaults before selecting a preset in the software. It’s a small step that saves a lot of troubleshooting.

Once a preset is selected, all pads should trigger the correct instruments in EZdrummer 3 or Superior Drummer 3 immediately. The hi-hat will typically need a small amount of additional adjustment – both applications handle that differently, and it’s worth taking a few minutes to dial it in properly.

Hi-hat setup

The hi-hat is the most nuanced part of any e-drum integration. It has to respond to a continuous range of physical movement – fully closed, partially open, wide open, foot splash – and translate that into the right articulations in real time. Both EZdrummer 3 and Superior Drummer 3 give you the tools to make that feel natural.

In EZdrummer 3: Open the e-drum settings page and start with the hi-hat pedal range. Use the closed position slider to match your physically closed hi-hat to a fully closed sound in the software, then repeat for the open position. From there, select the openness transition preset that feels most natural to you – Toontrack’s E-drums Optimized preset is the right starting point for most players. Finally, set the foot splash sensitivity to a level where intentional splashes trigger reliably without accidental triggering. If you don’t use foot splashes, they can be turned off entirely.

In Superior Drummer 3: The process is similar but gives you considerably more control. On the hi-hat tab in the e-drum settings, select a preset for the open articulation transitions – this determines the CC values that trigger each degree of openness. From there, you can manually adjust the CC threshold for each individual articulation and save the result as a custom preset. As with EZdrummer 3, Toontrack’s E-drums Optimized transition preset is a strong starting point before you begin fine-tuning.

Velocity curves and feel

If your kit is responding in a way that doesn’t quite match how you’re playing, i.e. hard hits not coming through with enough impact, or soft touches not registering, the velocity curve is where you address that.

Both applications let you set a velocity curve per instrument or articulation within the e-drum settings. Pulling the curve upward maps moderate physical effort to higher velocity values, making it easier to trigger loud, full samples without having to hit harder. Pulling it downward gives more resolution at the soft end, making it easier to play quietly without unintentionally triggering loud hits.

One important detail: make these adjustments in the e-drum settings page, not on the drums page. Changes made on the drums page affect how pre-recorded MIDI from the Grooves tab plays back – altering the dynamics and feel of any programmed beats in a way you almost certainly don’t want.

Advanced playability features

This is where EZdrummer 3 and Superior Drummer 3 go further than most drum software for e-drum use. Here’s what each application supports.

Positional sensing
Both applications support positional sensing on the snare drum. Superior Drummer 3 extends this to the ride cymbal as well. Positional sensing uses CC data from your module to trigger different samples depending on where the pad is struck – center, edge, shallow rimshot, full rimshot or rim-only. In EZdrummer 3, zone transitions are determined by the preset. In Superior Drummer 3, individual zone thresholds can be adjusted manually and saved as custom presets.

Cymbal choking
Both applications support cymbal choking and it works out of the box with the correct e-drum preset selected. No additional configuration is required.

Auxiliary pads and MIDI learn
If you want to assign an articulation to an additional pad or change an existing assignment, use the MIDI learn function in the e-drum settings. Select the instrument and articulation from the menu, click Learn, then strike the target pad. The assignment is made instantly.

Custom CC zones (Superior Drummer 3)
Superior Drummer 3 lets you build fully custom CC zones, assigning different articulations based on CC value ranges. This is particularly useful for getting the most out of positional sensing on modules that output high-resolution CC data and for tailoring the articulation response to exactly how you play.

Saving your setup

Once you’ve finished your adjustments, save the configuration as a user preset. Click the preset menu and select Save As. If you want to locate the preset file later – to back it up or share it with another player – use Manage in Finder from the same preset menu to go directly to the file location.