Toontrack Superior Drummer 2.0 (boxed) Reviews

Toontrack has it going on. The drum sounds are incredible but my favorite thing is how easy and professional the product account software is. It keeps everything within your account so you know what is installed and if an update is needed. So simple and clean. Download, install, update and verify and its all ready to go. It unzips and does everything for you. Thank you Toontrack! I am using this with my recent purchase of the Roland TD50 in a live setting. It blows the TD50 sounds away by the way (Which are not that great) Ghost notes really come through and the dynamic range is what I have been searching for. The toms and snares are explosive and responsive. Very happy.

SD2 in some ways is better than having a real drummer if you know how to program MIDI. Each drum has a set of types of articulations, and the articulations vary dependent on MIDI velocity.

There are many more sound editing features you would not be able to get with a real drummer-almost everything has its own ASDR envelope. You can choose different mics and control how much bleed enters each mic (very important if you want a tight kick).

The only real con to SD2 is also a positive, there is just so many ways to edit sound, you can lose focus and tweak too much. I can't speak for hip hop, but the kits I have heard for rock, pop, and metal sound awesome to me.

TLDR; Great library, a plethora of mixing and sound engineering features, great humanization, but a steep learning curve. I suspect those coming from EZ Drummer may be disappointed because they wont be able to just just jump right in.

These drums are simply the best!!!!! They sound real. High quality samples that just work.

This is the most versatile software I have ever used, with all of the options you can add on and the sounds and patterns, if you cant find what you want out of it, then its not out there. Its easy to use, I use it with studio one 3. drag and drop and its in the mix, The bleed is so realistic, just to much to praise about this to list, check it out, unless there is just no pleasing you, you will love it.

Really great for creating my own music and not recording a drummer :)

Drum samples are awesome everything is easy to use you can use stock grooves or design your own! Great sound perfect for home or pro studios!!!

I've been using this to replace the output of a Roland TD-20, as well as to record my own work. The variations completely eliminate any machine-gun effect, and the various room mic options give the best drum room sound I've ever gotten, acoustic drums included.

The included grooves are a great starting point for song framework, and the pre-built kits cover a tremendous range of styles. I did also get the Metal Foundry pack for heavier styles, but for rock, rockabilly, blues, etc., the base kits are perfect.

As a professional drummer of over 30 years I can state that SD 2 is an invaluable program in many ways. I realize you will get the "purists" who say that "all drums must be recorded live with a real drummer and acoustic drums." While that may be the ideal situation for some, we don't live in an ideal world. Not everyone has a personal recording studio with a drum booth, good mics, mic-pre's and a Neve mixing console. Most live in apartments, and most are not drummers anyway, they are guitar players, keyboard players, singers, producers or just hobbyists. I personally use a combination of my acoustic drums miked and triggers on my drums sent to Pro Tools via MIDI to play the samples I choose, then I blend the acoustic drums with the SD sounds or sometimes exclusively use the SD2 sounds.i.e. the best of both worlds. However, for home recording this has it all for anyone who want the absolute pinnacle of drums sound perfection. The interface is user friendly, the mixer is incredibly adaptable to any ambient situation anyone could ever want, from dry to wet, kits and individual drums are interchangeable and the grooves are fantastic because they were recorded by real drummers in the best studios on the planet. No need to quantize. They have feel and and a good variety of beats. Of course if you want to play your own beats use your keyboard with your fingers and construct the track or better yet, if you have an electronic drum kit with a USB out on the brain, use it to trigger the sounds you play yourself. The grooves that come with each respective pack, I own 3 expansion packs(sold seperately) are incredible and very simple to drag and drop in your timeline to build your own beats for your song. The fills are also the best. I can't praise this high aspect high enough. I have used Cubase's "Groove Agent 3" and other drum samplers but the Superior Drummer 2 blow them all away. A MUST have for anyone serious about their music. NOTE: If you want to do mindless Electronica or Techno this is not for you!

I haven't worked with any of the other "high end" drum modules so I can't draw any comparisons there but I am very impressed with this software. It melds seamlessly with REAPER, the intonations are superlative and the internal mixer and effects are excellent. If you are looking for a whiz-bang groove generator then you probably should just get EZ Drummer 2 (also by Toontrack) but if you want to be able to "mic-up" your drum track with the same control and finesse as a studio engineer and have complete creative control over the sound of each and every drum component then you need Superior Drummer. Besides, if you don't like mapping out your own drum tracks in MIDI there are a host of midi groove bundles that you can purchase for $30 bucks which you can use as-is or tailor to suit your specific needs. I don't like the fact that percussion sounds are virtually non-existent in the included sound library (I found a cowbell) but the Latin extension kit for EZD works in SD and it has most if not all the sounds I was looking for. It also comes with a couple of awesome stand-alone implementation modules for those times when using your DAW is just not prudent; like taking your show on the road without a real drummer for example. The user guides and manuals are easy to read and understand and have held the solution for every issue I've had . I simply can't imagine any of the other drum software out there being better than SD.

SD2 is fantastic! Probably the best money I've ever spent. Realistic drum sounds, easy to use, tons of options. If you're looking for digital drums look no further.

I love this software.

So easy to monitor then drag the Midi files right into the track, plus you can edit the hits of each drum and cymbal.

The drums and their patterns sound great.

A valuable tool in everyones arsenal.

Great sound and easy to use!!!

okay i have a hybrid electronic drum set (roland/alesis) and after carefully testing 1) Addictive Drums 2) BFD2 3) Steve Slate Drums 4) EZ Drummer (toontrack) 5) The drum sets in Logic 6) Finally Toontrack's Superior Drummer. You can make whatever you want for your triggers. You want 3 rides instead of 1? go right ahead and the gain settings allow for the drum/cymbal to sound loud and clear. After you get the hang of mapping the darn thing, then you will for sure love this software. I really thought SSD was the answer but the truth is SD is SO much better you have SO many more options. Listen I've spent tons of money on all these virtual drum software programs, and now I know for SURE SD is the BEST way to go unless you can get an acoustic drum set and know HOW TO MIC IT.

I am very satisfied with this software and I'm soon adding the metal foundry and andy sneap producer preset midi pack!.

Superior Drummer is awesome! Incredibly realistic. Drums sounds amazing!

I am totally blown away. great companion to jam with ! easy 5 stars

It's BAD***

This is one of my best purchase of the year, Love it!!!!!!!

I went from EZ Drummer to Superior. My drum sounds and options have gotten much better and I still keep the expansion packs from EZ Drummer! Also the drum mixing is much easier, it's all done in Superior drummer.

THIS IS THE BEST. IF YOU NEED A DRUMMER BUT HAVE NO DRUMS THIS IS THE PROGRAM FOR YOU. GET IT NOW!

This software is great! Not only is it easy to use, it sounds awesome. The expansion packs are getting better and better. It's really opening things up for me being a solo recording musician. It's like having a pro drummer at your disposal.....without him hitting on your girlfriend!!!

I'm more than pleased with the sounds. I also purchased the "Music City" drums, which are delivering everything they claim to. The only slight negative is the GUI, which is pretty small on my system. I'm hoping they can address that before too long.

ssd 2.0 seems like its a good drum vi trying to figure everything out will take sometime and trying to figure out where to install midi and producer packs and sound packs is a bit confusing but everything sounds great! and as always sweeteater is just awesome on delivery and the people you talk to that work there is awesome.

Amazing library.. Easy to setup and use. Many different presets. EQ is feature rich. Great sale price!!!

SD2 lives up to the hype. The samples are great, the software is easy to use, and the driver is efficient. Toontrack hit a home run with this one!

I bought both SD 2.0 and EZD 2.0. I wanted a super fast drum composition software to flesh out ideas quickly (EZD 2.0) and a more full featured drum software package for when i want to dig down into the last detail.

After using both, I could have easily "gotten way" with using just one or the other, but I am really glad that I have both, using the right tool for the job. And since the software is pretty affordable, why not have both?!

The drum tracks sound amazing, and i never thought midi would sound so close to an actual live drummer. I've fooled many listeners including actual drummers. I used to use ACID loops and this is so much more flexible, tweakable and inuitive that I can't imagine going back.

I've picked up a couple of midi packs to build up my drum riffs library, and it's well worth it. I will likely buy an expansion pack or two in a few months for an increase in drum samples/kits, but the stock kits are more than enough to produce great results.

Bottom line; The only difference between SD 2.0 and a real drummer is that you're actually happy to know that SD 2.0 is completely loaded before it's time to play.

I'm new to the world of programming drums but it has saved me hours and the drums sound amazing.

I just got SD2. This is the second product I have from toontrack. I've had issues each time with getting the plug-in files in the correct spot. Also, The PICTURE WITH ALL THE GROOVE LIBRARIES IS NOT HOW MANY YOU GET. YOU ONLY GET ONE LIBRARY of grooves, not the whole list the show. Just a warning. It's still a great buy though. It's was just a pain to initially set up. The sounds are great and it easy to use.

No one I play these for has a clue that they are not real drums. They sound great. The interface is so simple to use. I use in PT and Cubase. No problems.

I had a hard time downloading software but ted support help a lot.I still have some issues with the operation of Superior Drummer.

I will admit, I am new to drum software, and I have a lot to learn about Superior Drummer 2.0. At first glance, the program looks great, with a nice interface.

I have a few bugs to sort out, like getting a message stating that my computer isn't authorized to use the software, until I open it up in Pro Tools.

I bought SD2.0 because I "thought" it came with several drum kits, and a lot more grooves than EZ Drummer. There was limited info regarding exactly what SD2 comes with, so I took a chance and bought it.

From what I see, the software comes with the NY Avatar Kit, a basic kit, and a hand full of grooves in different tempos. After loading five disks onto my computer, I imagined hundreds of drum grooves were being installed. Not.

There are a few variations of grooves in different tempos, and a couple of playing styles, but not a whole lot more, so for $299, I can't use the software AS-IS, to write songs with. It looks like I will have to buy one of the many expansion packs or Midi collections, in order to actually use the software.

I also thought the software used Wave files of real drum kits, not only Midi, so I don't know if that makes a difference or not, other than the manual saying the files were all played on electronic drums.

So to summarize: It appears that SD2.0 is basically the program interface, a basic kit with a few grooves to get you started, and a customizable back end mixer, but you have to buy expansion packs and Midi packs in order to get the kits, grooves, and playing styles you need in order to actually use the system to it's full potential.

I would have thought that for $299, SD2.0 would have at least came with a couple of expansion packs and several kits installed. This is after all, the Flagship program.

Out of the box, $299 can easily turn into $1000 or more, depending on how far you want to go with expansion packs.

Just downloaded SD 2.0. Had to download the upgrade, a lot of work to finally get the software going. I thought I'd get some grooves but nothing. Looks like I have to buy the expansion packs. I'm disappointed the sales rep at sweetwater didn't give me a heads up. On the upside, the SW techs Mike, Andrew and Kyle were very helpful, thanks!

This is decent software, but no matter how many expansion packs or producer's settings you buy, it will always sound a bit fake. Its fine (though a bit pricey) for demos and scratchpad work.

I was seriously hoping for more when I purchased SD 2.0 for the great deal that I got BUT it comes basically with just 5 drum kits and a few slight variations thereof. I can tell you for sure that EZ Drummer out of the box has a LOT more going on for it kit wise and sound wise! You want to tweak and adjust sound / frequency parameters all day just to get a decent snare sound? If so, this is the way to go. Superior Drummer is basically a hub or shell if you will. You most definitely will need to buy a whole slew of available upgrade kits for it and that is exactly what Toontrack wants us to do. They are not alone in this little unfair money making scheme they have going on. Every major brand of music software is doing the exact same thing whether its for DAW's, virtual instruments, etc.! I wish the depths of my pockets were endless but they are not! Cheers!

Bought this after reading the glowing reviews. The tracks sound pretty good, if you want exactly what's in the box. I didn't - I wanted to use edit my own tracks, and it's pretty bad at that. UI is poor, as it can't be resized, and the latency with mouse/keyboard made it impossible to play in tracks that way. Might work with a MIDI pad, don't know because I didn't want to spend more on getting one. Wrote SD2 off as a complete loss and bought BFD 2.0. I'm MUCH happier with that, though it isn't perfect.

Be prepared to jump through hoops to get this installed. Turns out the Groove libraries (midi sequences) are not on the installation CD's. You have to download them from the toontrack website for some reason. And when I tried to do this I couldn't locate them after following their instructions which open with: "This is really easy!". They don't make it easy to contact them either as they prefer you to sift through their so-called :knowledge base" that doesn't have a search engine. Not real impressed so far.

Do you remember Rick Allen the Deff Leppard drummer who lost his arm? Well that's what you get with SD2.This is called Superior Drummer 2 but it is not superior to EZ drummer 2 (don't get the two confused).
EZ Drummer is a free standing application whereas SD2 is a plug in for your DAW (but they don't have exactly the same feature set). Toontrack have a free app which can make SD2 a freestanding app but don't believe it because its poorly constructed and missing features some of which you can download for $50 (but not the ability to save the track as a .wav file) and after all that and you'll end up so disappointed you will want your money back and Toontrack won't give you if you live in the US because consumer law is so poor here (much better in Europe).
Toontrack are slow to innovate and don't care whether their customers are happy or not.
For my use, EZD2 is the better product (if only you could maximize the window size!). There must be someone out there who can do a better job of writing drum machine software!

Sounds great works great but is physical media install only!!! This is the year 2016!!! And I'm sitting here for hours swapping out DVDs on the DVD drive that I had to buy explicitly to install SD and some sound packs. Total junk. Toontrack does have a digital download but it's only for 1/20th of the product!!! What's the point!!!! And if I lose my DVDs I have to get new ones from Toontrack. Total total failure. Your consumers should not be punished for your failure to distribute on the web. Lame. BTW in case this is not clear, the sweetwater description is wrong. You can't download this in full.

Really, I give up. I bought the reviews & the nice demos, but after a month of toying with this, poring over the manual & watchings tutorial vids, I'm throwing up my hands. I just tried A/B'ing this thing with some kits I built out of 16-bit Clearmountain samples some 20 years ago and the track I was working on sprang to life. While programming ghost hits & ruffs with those is a PITA, there's simply no sonic comparison. SD2 is, at best, a sketchpad.

If all you are using it for is extremely simple rock beats maybe it's okay. All I know is I have been unable to get a decent drum track out of this with a midi controller. The latency is horrendous. If you like to create drums in real time stay away from this.