Superior Drummer

Superior Drummer is a VST plugin. It can be played by any DAW host. Toontrack provides a standalone host named Solo. Solo, however, can play only one instance of the drummer, which allows using only one MIDI input device.

Documentation for

Tips

    • Using the X-Drum feature to mix parts of different drum sets (video, x-drum pt.1, ).
    • Lowering the max-in in the Velocity window provides a larger dynamic range in the output.
    • Set the Audio buffer size (latency) to 128.
    • Choose Unlimited for Layer Limits in Voice & Layer panel.
    • Lower the min-in Velocity from 20 to 0 and turn on Soft Velocity option (with 5 as the common setting) to prevent cross-talk.

Mapping

Hihat

To map a variable hi-hat controller, MIDI In should be adjusted to match the variable hi-hat controller values.

    • Set hatsCtrl values to match the range of the variable hihat controller (i.e. set max MIDI IN value to 90 for goedrum controller). This will allow triggering Tight articulation when the pedal is fully closed as well as Closed articulation when not fully pressed.
    • Map the hatsTrig to Pedal Close – G#1 (44), Open Edge = D0, Closed Edge = A#-1.
    • Map the hatsTipTrig to Open Hi Hat – A#1 (46), Closed Hi Hat – F#1 (42).

Tutorials

    • How to set up hi-hat (link). And the google document (link).

Extensions

The extension packs for Superior Drummer are packed as SDX while the extensions for EZDrummer are EZX (which is logical). SD can also use EZX drum kits. Some say these are a better option as it narrows down to one or two sets only. This is the limiting factor, at the same time. Note that SD offers more options for the same EZX package than EZDrummer.