Upgrading to SD3 from EZD – Questions about Capabilities

[sakendrick]

Hi there- I think I’ve finally outgrown EZD and thinking about pulling the trigger on SD3. There are some questions that I have regarding flexibility…

• Can you add additional toms to your kit – that is, more than 5? (more than 3 rack and two floor toms) – if the answer is no, curious how others have gotten around this. In EZD I would have to add a second instrument/midi track in my DAW just for the additional tom/toms
• Can you change the skins on the  drums, or can you remove bottom heads as an example – my guess is no because everything is sample based… you have to change/find drums that suit your needs/sound. Similarly can you dampen the heads of any given kit?
• Alternatively to the above – does it have a transient shaper you can use to modify resonance
• Can you change mics and mic placement either for the close mics or room mics? Again being sample based, I have a feeling the answer is no, but it does seem to offer a lot of room mic options
• Do all kits allow for the use of the same mixer capabilities – meaning unlike EZD where the mixer and associated effects are specific to a kit/pack, in SD3 you have complete control? If this is the case are SDX’s essentially just new samples and mixer/FX presets?
• I read EZX’s are compatible with SD3? So I can still use all the kits I’ve purchased for EZD? (and user presets)?
• I’ve read you can install the libraries to an external drive… are a bunch of them only good for doing surround sound type stuff like 5.1 or greater and can be ignored for making music, or are those extra mic captures good for adjusting room sounds too? I have an external drive, but worried about performance if I start putting samples out there… or are the samples loaded into memory when in use?

Thanks in advance – anything else a current EZDrummer user should know would be great to hear.

Scott

BEST ANSWER

sakendrick wrote:

Can you add additional toms to your kit – that is, more than 5? (more than 3 rack and two floor toms) – if the answer is no, curious how others have gotten around this. In EZD I would have to add a second instrument/midi track in my DAW just for the additional tom/toms

1. Yes, you can add Instruments to kits, not only Toms. They can be individually tuned, and if so desired, have individual channels in the mixer. E.g. if you wish to have 4 Toms in a kit that was originally sampled with 3 Toms, a 4th Tom does not magically appear if if you wish to add one but you can add one of the existing and tune it up or down to fit in the kit.

sakendrick wrote:

Can you change the skins on the  drums, or can you remove bottom heads as an example – my guess is no because everything is sample based… you have to change/find drums that suit your needs/sound. Similarly can you dampen the heads of any given kit?

2. No, you cannot change skins or remove heads but some drums could be sampled with different options. There is an Envelope Property Box for each Instrument/Articulation that can be used in conjunction with the mixer to achieve dampening results.

sakendrick wrote:

Alternatively to the above – does it have a transient shaper you can use to modify resonance

3. Yes, there is a Transient shaper in the Mixer.

sakendrick wrote:

Can you change mics and mic placement either for the close mics or room mics? Again being sample based, I have a feeling the answer is no, but it does seem to offer a lot of room mic options

4. What is sampled, is sampled, you cannot switch mics and placement but SDX:s in particular offer a lot of different microphones and placements in the room in question. So there should be no need for it.

sakendrick wrote:

Do all kits allow for the use of the same mixer capabilities – meaning unlike EZD where the mixer and associated effects are specific to a kit/pack, in SD3 you have complete control? If this is the case are SDX’s essentially just new samples and mixer/FX presets?

5. Yes, the Mixer can be used in the same way for all expansions and User samples that are loaded. The latter part of the question could perhaps demand a long answer but I’ll settle for the shorter: No.

sakendrick wrote:

I read EZX’s are compatible with SD3? So I can still use all the kits I’ve purchased for EZD? (and user presets)?

6. Yes, EZX:s are compatible both with sounds and Presets but User presets are not visible to SD3.

sakendrick wrote:

I’ve read you can install the libraries to an external drive… are a bunch of them only good for doing surround sound type stuff like 5.1 or greater and can be ignored for making music, or are those extra mic captures good for adjusting room sounds too? I have an external drive, but worried about performance if I start putting samples out there… or are the samples loaded into memory when in use?

7. Yes, you can put SDX:s on external drives. They can even reside on different drives but you cannot split up a single Library between drives. Samples are being loaded into RAM, so there is no disk streaming while running. I would indeed recommend SSD drives with fast enclosures for loading big kits fast.

I hope this answers your questions.

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

BEST ANSWER

sakendrick wrote:

Can you add additional toms to your kit – that is, more than 5? (more than 3 rack and two floor toms) – if the answer is no, curious how others have gotten around this. In EZD I would have to add a second instrument/midi track in my DAW just for the additional tom/toms

1. Yes, you can add Instruments to kits, not only Toms. They can be individually tuned, and if so desired, have individual channels in the mixer. E.g. if you wish to have 4 Toms in a kit that was originally sampled with 3 Toms, a 4th Tom does not magically appear if if you wish to add one but you can add one of the existing and tune it up or down to fit in the kit.

sakendrick wrote:

Can you change the skins on the  drums, or can you remove bottom heads as an example – my guess is no because everything is sample based… you have to change/find drums that suit your needs/sound. Similarly can you dampen the heads of any given kit?

2. No, you cannot change skins or remove heads but some drums could be sampled with different options. There is an Envelope Property Box for each Instrument/Articulation that can be used in conjunction with the mixer to achieve dampening results.

sakendrick wrote:

Alternatively to the above – does it have a transient shaper you can use to modify resonance

3. Yes, there is a Transient shaper in the Mixer.

sakendrick wrote:

Can you change mics and mic placement either for the close mics or room mics? Again being sample based, I have a feeling the answer is no, but it does seem to offer a lot of room mic options

4. What is sampled, is sampled, you cannot switch mics and placement but SDX:s in particular offer a lot of different microphones and placements in the room in question. So there should be no need for it.

sakendrick wrote:

Do all kits allow for the use of the same mixer capabilities – meaning unlike EZD where the mixer and associated effects are specific to a kit/pack, in SD3 you have complete control? If this is the case are SDX’s essentially just new samples and mixer/FX presets?

5. Yes, the Mixer can be used in the same way for all expansions and User samples that are loaded. The latter part of the question could perhaps demand a long answer but I’ll settle for the shorter: No.

sakendrick wrote:

I read EZX’s are compatible with SD3? So I can still use all the kits I’ve purchased for EZD? (and user presets)?

6. Yes, EZX:s are compatible both with sounds and Presets but User presets are not visible to SD3.

sakendrick wrote:

I’ve read you can install the libraries to an external drive… are a bunch of them only good for doing surround sound type stuff like 5.1 or greater and can be ignored for making music, or are those extra mic captures good for adjusting room sounds too? I have an external drive, but worried about performance if I start putting samples out there… or are the samples loaded into memory when in use?

7. Yes, you can put SDX:s on external drives. They can even reside on different drives but you cannot split up a single Library between drives. Samples are being loaded into RAM, so there is no disk streaming while running. I would indeed recommend SSD drives with fast enclosures for loading big kits fast.

I hope this answers your questions.

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

Topic

[sakendrick]

Nothing? Does Toontrack sales monitor this forum?

[John]

BEST ANSWER

sakendrick wrote:

Can you add additional toms to your kit – that is, more than 5? (more than 3 rack and two floor toms) – if the answer is no, curious how others have gotten around this. In EZD I would have to add a second instrument/midi track in my DAW just for the additional tom/toms

1. Yes, you can add Instruments to kits, not only Toms. They can be individually tuned, and if so desired, have individual channels in the mixer. E.g. if you wish to have 4 Toms in a kit that was originally sampled with 3 Toms, a 4th Tom does not magically appear if if you wish to add one but you can add one of the existing and tune it up or down to fit in the kit.

sakendrick wrote:

Can you change the skins on the  drums, or can you remove bottom heads as an example – my guess is no because everything is sample based… you have to change/find drums that suit your needs/sound. Similarly can you dampen the heads of any given kit?

2. No, you cannot change skins or remove heads but some drums could be sampled with different options. There is an Envelope Property Box for each Instrument/Articulation that can be used in conjunction with the mixer to achieve dampening results.

sakendrick wrote:

Alternatively to the above – does it have a transient shaper you can use to modify resonance

3. Yes, there is a Transient shaper in the Mixer.

sakendrick wrote:

Can you change mics and mic placement either for the close mics or room mics? Again being sample based, I have a feeling the answer is no, but it does seem to offer a lot of room mic options

4. What is sampled, is sampled, you cannot switch mics and placement but SDX:s in particular offer a lot of different microphones and placements in the room in question. So there should be no need for it.

sakendrick wrote:

Do all kits allow for the use of the same mixer capabilities – meaning unlike EZD where the mixer and associated effects are specific to a kit/pack, in SD3 you have complete control? If this is the case are SDX’s essentially just new samples and mixer/FX presets?

5. Yes, the Mixer can be used in the same way for all expansions and User samples that are loaded. The latter part of the question could perhaps demand a long answer but I’ll settle for the shorter: No.

sakendrick wrote:

I read EZX’s are compatible with SD3? So I can still use all the kits I’ve purchased for EZD? (and user presets)?

6. Yes, EZX:s are compatible both with sounds and Presets but User presets are not visible to SD3.

sakendrick wrote:

I’ve read you can install the libraries to an external drive… are a bunch of them only good for doing surround sound type stuff like 5.1 or greater and can be ignored for making music, or are those extra mic captures good for adjusting room sounds too? I have an external drive, but worried about performance if I start putting samples out there… or are the samples loaded into memory when in use?

7. Yes, you can put SDX:s on external drives. They can even reside on different drives but you cannot split up a single Library between drives. Samples are being loaded into RAM, so there is no disk streaming while running. I would indeed recommend SSD drives with fast enclosures for loading big kits fast.

I hope this answers your questions.

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[sakendrick]

This is very helpful and I have been watching several videos to learn more about these capabilities… looks like it will give me the control I was hoping for for the most part. The midi editing tools also look pretty impressive but I’m not sure how I would use those, as my current workflow does all my midi editing in my DAW. I know I can still do that with SD3, but wondering how to take advantage of some of those features while still using my DAW as the primary source for tempo etc.

Thanks – likely will purchase this week

[Author]

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