Toontrack Superior Drummer 3 Slate Digital Virtual Microphone System
Virtual Drum Instrument Microphone, Preamp & Modelling Software
In the world of virtual instruments, drums have always been
quite hard to get right. Superior Drummer 2, back when it
was launched in 2008, set a benchmark in terms of flexibility
and realism. Now, with SD3, Toontrack has made a huge leap
forward. almost every piece of analog hardware, from EQs and
compressors to tape saturation, has been modelled in
the digital world quite well, the microphone and preamp
have always been tricky. Pre-amp emulations have been
around for some time now and while they don’t quite
sound like their analog counterparts, they have their
place in the digital realm. Slate has tried to up the ante by
combining this sort of technology with their own system of
microphones and preamps.
The GUI has been completely revamped and it looks extremely
appealing. It looks quite similar to other programmes, with
menus and tabs (Drums, Grooves, Mixer and Tracker) on the
top. All instrument edit-ing controls in a single contextual
panel on the right-hand side, and the new sequencing tools at
the bottom. The main kit has a photorealistic representation of
each piece.
The library is massive with over 200 GB of samples recorded
by George Massenburg in true 11-channel surround sound. It
contains six full kits in 14 configurations: Ayotte Classic (sticks
and rods), four-piece Gretsch Round Badge (sticks, brushes, and
rods, all with snares on and off, plus mallets), Ludwig (sin-gle-
and double-headed toms), Premier Genista, Pearl Masterworks
and Yamaha Beech Custom. Sup-plementing those, are a
staggering roster of extra snares and kicks, and the 32 cymbals
that are provid-ed by Zildjian, Paiste, Masterwork, Ist anbul,
Bosphorus, and Spizzichino.
Every snare drum encompasses eight articulations (Centre,
Rimshot, Flam, etc), with the brushed snares upping that
to twelve. Crash and ride cymbals come with up to eight
articulations; kicks can be Open or Hit; and toms can be struck
in the center, rimshot, or on the rim while the hi-hats have 27
articulations each. It sounds as close to the real thing as you can
get, with a lot of depth and space. The hits are all recorded with
pristine accuracy and detail. Every sound is stackable with user
samples and which makes it extremely flexible.
This version has also included its own sequencer, complete
with editors, filters and everything in be-tween. You can also
drag audio samples into the sequencer and have it slice, detect
and replace them with samples from the SD3 library or user-
defined libraries.
What the system is, in its essentials, is a discrete flat
response preamp and a large diaphragm capacitor
microphone designed to provide a transparent and clean
signal. This signal is then processed by Slate’s modelling
software. The software is available with three microphone
options:- the FG-47 (Neumann U47), the FG-251 (Telefunken
ELA M251) and the FG-800 (Sony C800g). They also have
an expansion pack that adds a number of additional tube-
mic options including the Neumann U67 and the AKG C12.
Additionally, the software provides the option of increasing
the intensity of a mic’s character to provide different levels
of harmonics and valve saturation. Also included within
the software are two virtual pre-amp options, emulating
the Neve 1073 and the Telefunken V76.
On testing the system against a few of the actual
microphones, initial impressions have been quite good. On
higher ‘intensity’ settings the system does quite well. But
it does lack the depth and character of the real thing and
can start to sound quite digital with a harsher top end and
sibilance. Although it does not push for producers currently
using such microphones to adopt the VMS system, it is
quite the value for an intermediate producer. It provides
a lot of variety and color at a relatively affordable price.
It will also be quite interesting to see how such systems
evolve in the future.
In conclusion, this piece of software is truly a remarkable leap
as far as drum programming goes. The detail, flexibility, and
usability have come really far from all previous efforts to make
a game-changing advancement.
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
39