What VST to buy, and where from?

[InTheBox]

Thanks Jman. Sure is a lot more stuff in BFD3 than in eco. I guess it's a BFD3 upgrade for me, but not until the next sale 

[Coda]

Thanks a lot Jerry. You just made it easier harder to decide. 

Seriously though I think I'm going to go with BFD3. I heard that the mixing side of things is more flexible, so I should really be able to get a kit or 3 out of it that I like and can use.

[Jman]

Just remember: It is better to stumble in the right direction than to take several well planned steps in the wrong direction...... whatever that means    Seriously though I definitely don't regret buying SD2 or BFD3. If I had to choose just one all around VST though it would probably be BFD3. But as you already know, this is a very subjective topic. J

[Devious123]

BFD3 is one of the best if not the best program out there as far as coming stocked with lots of high quality drums and cymbals. Plenty of individual hits per articulation, 3 zones on cymbals, not just rides. There are 5 different kits, and the 5th Mapleworks kit also has brush and mallet versions, so a total of 7 kits really. Summer sale is a good time to buy, not sure the best price out there right now, but I try to buy any of the VSTs or expansions during sales.

Not having the 3 zone cymbals is kind of limiting, with the Ezdrummer 2, that i got upgraded. It is nice to know that BFD 3 has the extra zones for all the cymbals.

[Devious123]

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Probably I can get what I need from any of the major VST packs (BFD/SD/AD/SSD etc), and I will just buy one and be done with it. However I'm starting to feel that it's not the drum samples themselves which are the issue, but how they are mixed. This is another can of worms which I don't fully understand right now. Dry kits to me sound quite lifeless when I play at home through headphones, but wet kits sound completely wrong and inappropriate when I try them in the group. I think I need to do some study on the matter.

This maybe entirely different from what your talking about, but something i  noticed that SDSE mixed down drums laden with a lot of reverb set up on PC speakers sound wrong when it comes through the headphones of the drumit 5 unit. I quickly realized that for some reason the drum reverb mix was excessive going from my Behringer truth speakers, to a pair of headphones, because  the reverbs get cut off going from one hit to the next in the Drumit 5, so this sounds rather unnatural, and the reverb should be done on top of the triggered dry drum vst mix inside the Drummit 5, instead permantly done in the mix from the daw before SDSE Mix down. So much care needs to be done in getting the right amount of reverb prior to mixing it down, and importing it into the Drumit 5. I personally have attempted to ditch as much room reverb prior to mix down, via EZDRummer 2, as i felt it wasn't really necessary, and the reverb cut of from one hit to the next can be pretty annoying when playing metal. This may not be as big of a issue with slower drum styles.