in my current living situation (apartments are a bummer) recording an acoustic kit is not a possibility. I knew based on YouTube overviews that SD3 would be an incredible tool for my home studio arsenal, but it does even more than I was expecting. I am impressed with the sound library, stock kits and the amount of control over everything that SD3 gives me. My next step is to add an electronic kit (specifically one with digital snare/hihat/ride) to be able to practice drums at home in tandem with SD3.

You are probably looking at the price and have quite a bit of apprehension about spending that much money on a plugin, and debating if EZdrummer would suit your needs.. a few points to make for that because I was in the same boat:
1. If you want to try EzDrummer first to see if that works for you because you don't need/want the level of control, go with EZdrummer. from my understanding they have the same sounds and quality, just less control over certain aspects.
2. If you do get EZdrummer first, and later decide you want more control, there is an upgrade from EZ to SD that I have seen on sale from time to time here on Sweetwater.
3. If you go straight to SD3, you will see that it is absolutely worth the price AND even better, you own it! no subscription nonsense.


Hope this helps someone out!

This review wont apply to everyone, but if you have a real drumset and mics and want to use the tracker feature to improve it's sound quality, this might be too limiting for you. Overall it seems like a lot of basic functionality is missing, especially considering the age of this software. Focusing on the only feature in the tool I care about, the tracker:
When you drag audio wav files to the tracker, in my case 11 mics worth of audio files, it doesnt automatically recognize the drum and apply, say snare drum or bass drum for example. I have to manually go through each track, pick the drum and then configure the cut offs. That would be fine as a one time thing, but you cannot save a template to make the process quick the next time(s). If you try to add a second clip onto a track, it just adds it as a new track. If you replace the wav files in windows explorer, the app doesnt re-analyze either unless you tell it to.. which then erases the track name and your settings. Then if you want to export audio, dont think you can just get a stereo wave file with your mix.. it will ONLY export midi sounds as wav files even though in the tracker you have mix knobs. The mixer page is its own clunky thing.. it creates too many mics to easily lower individual drums. They have a few tutorials on the tracker tab, but dont do a whole process using a DAW. The cymbal selection is very limited and they dont really sound that good/real and trying to separate out multiple crashes from a pair of overheads seems impossible. Because of that I am wanting to mix my overheads with the SD3 samples for the drums. SD3 really just ended up adding a lot of complication and time to my workflows.

I love how realistic the drums are, for somebody who needs drums but doesn't play, this is a life-saver.

I'm very happy that I decided to update my drum VST with Superior Drummer 3. While my previous software could manage some good sounds, it simply did not have the wealth of features and depth of presets of SD3.

In addition, it was quick to get going, even using it at an advanced level with the built-in effects, routing, stacks, etc. The whole experience was vey intuitive and I could integrate it into my workflow quickly.

love this,,all I can say

I have had this since in was just Superior Drummer. It has a lot under the hood. There are so many different choices just in drum kits it can get overwhelming. Take your time and learn this program. In some ways it's a mini drum DAW that works in your DAW. I recommend Youtube as you can learn how to do pretty much anything on YouTube.

The Pros: 1. Amazing program that can give you anything from a basic drum sound to very expensive sets.
2. You can mix your drums in the program if you want. This program, like its sister program allows you to export each sound to a track. EG:
I can route to my DAW a track for each drum piece, overheads, and even room ambience. This allows me to process them though other
plugins or route them through my hardware gear for processing.
3. There is an extensive collection of different drum sets that cater to certain genres or sounds.
4. If you don't want to sit and program it using drum pads or a key board there are a lot of midi packs available.
5. Toontracks do a good job of keeping the firmware updated.
6. The Drum Expansion Sets are top notch. The samples are great. They really seemed to put effort into them.

The Cons: 1. The additional drum expansions are pretty pricey. Watch for sales.

This software is epic! It's a huge lear from SD2, and it's amazing. But... like the guy said in 2013...

This is not just a go-to but a must have. It is so easy to create tracks and edit and create with SD3. No hype; all real.

I loved this software. It is the best drum software I have. SSD was close, but this has it beat, in my opinion.

Here a shoutout to Sweetwater, specifically my sales rep, Justin Sunday, and Daniel in Tech Support. Thank you Justin for making the sale happen ASAP, and Daniel, for helping me install it. Toontrack's Superior Drummer 3 is a great product, but don't expect Toontrack to provide the live support that you'll get from Sweetwater. I would have been "lost in the woods" without Daniel's professional support. The install for SD3 is far from intuitive, but once you get it properly installed it's great. If you're going to buy it, definitely buy it from Sweetwater and don't be afraid to reach out to them for support. I would also say SD3 is not for the faint of heart. Expect a pretty stiff learning curve. I took Daniel's advice and subscribed to Groove3 for a year of online video instruction for SD3 and other recording software that related to mixing, recording, and mastering, etc. Enjoy!

Love this app. I use it in almost every session. I like using the canned "grooves" when I want to quickly get an idea out. Then I go through and fine tune it, add fills, make custom beats, etc. The real game changer for me was its ability to take audio and convert it to midi. I'll record a drummer, turn it into midi, then get it to sound just right. I love the variety of drums and cymbals, being able to adjust mic placement and using the included mixer all before it hits the DAW. This is a powerful tool and well worth the $.

My friend is a session drummer and owns and operates a major recording studio in LA. I wanted to do a test (and also mess with him) and replaced his drum tracks with ones I made in SD3. He couldn't tell the difference. He didn't believe me when I told him what I'd done. Haha!

There is nothing better. Pay the money, get the amazing sounds, ease of use, and flawless drum tracking.

After waiting for some time for technology to catch up, and pretty much deal with the issue of not having a big venue to record drums, many of us had to wait for technology to catch up. I had superior drummer the past edition, and to be honest I wasn't very impressed, when Superior drummer 3 came out, OH MY!!! it was a total different thing... From the layout, to the intuitive interface, to the sound, tone, Oh Lord! the tone!!! I have produced several projects with this program, why deal with trying to pay for a room (studio), or deal with a diva drummer, this program has done it all, the caliber and superb sound, tone, mix, and pretty much everything has for real have come and change the game.... After using Superior drummer 3, I won't look back... I'm a true believer, that's it, SUPERIOR DRUMMER...

Superior Drummer3 is what every DAW user should use. Superior to Addictive drums 2. I played in bands foe years and this is the closest to live drums you can get
Greg Savino is my go to guy. Top notch customer service helps get what you are looking for, and is not just trying to make a sale, also a great help with add ons after my main "big" purchase. Kudos to Greg and Sweetwater!

This is a great little software package. My Boss DR660 finally crapped out on me, so I needed a replacement and decided to go the software route. I've done a fair share of programming songs on various drum machines over the years, so it seemed pretty natural to jump into software. I'm super impressed with the interface and its relative simplicity considering how "far down the rabbit hole" you can get with the sounds and mix (TONS of YouTube videos available). A very fine compliment to Studio 6 as well.

Better than ever. With the mixer and added effects and dynamics the tracker and editor. You have complete control over the each drum, sustain dampening pitch signal response all you a limited to is your imagination. The base library is great. When I purchased it came with a free SDX I got the area 33 another great SDX with a lot of kits that work with all music types. Just get it you will be glad you did.

I'm loving this software. It's great for writing songs but also if live drums were recorded poorly and you need to replace them.

A very need tool for home recording

best drum!!!

When Toontrack gets something right, they get it really RIGHT!

Superior Drummer 2 was a big let down for me but SD3 is a different animal all together. If you use or know of EZdrummer or EZ2 then you know a lot about the way songs are constructed in SD3, personally I like it a lot. There are so many mixing nuances available in SD3 that you can't access in the EZ series.

Toontrack has one of the best "authorization" systems, no iLok, this system WORKS and it is easy to use. The more you use it the easier it is to remember how all the nuances work. If I can be a repeat customer then it's easily understood ;-)

George Massenburg recorded these drums. Nuff said.

You can make music with this tool. It sounds believable. It's not easy to use but it is deep beyond belief and you'll be making good stuff right from the start, as you grow with it your creations can blossom into any vision you have for them.

After SD2 I was hesitant to buy SD3. I'm glad I bought it. The download is segmented so it is not too ugly. I did plug the ethernet cord in for this, I did not want to depend on the clogged wifi airwaves.

I like that this software is deep. It is easy enough to learn the basics so you can lay out drums for your original songs. Then, with time, the more you use SD3 and realize all the nuances, your songs can bloom with originality AI can never achieve.

Good Music to You!

This is by far the best drum software I have heard so far.
Sounds great by itself and add some dynamics or your effects of your choice and then you have fantastic results.
To import MIDI is also a great option. I am very happy that I have this software.

Can't go wrong with it!

I've been a studio engineer for over 30 years. I have Addictive Drums, BFD and now Superior Drummer.

I use SD as a real time VST with E drums. (An A to E conversion)

In my opinion, Superior Drummer is the best drum software in this application. Records very well. Extremely well produced product.

What makes this the best drum kit? First of all the GUI is sexy as ****. Just looking at the drum kit and the fact that it is resizable is amazing in of itself. The the sounds are absolutely amazing without a external audio interface. Easy to stack your sounds and develop your own drum kit. Easy to create songs with the song creator and you can edit pattern midi data. Easy to change the drums or snares or hats of the kit. Easy to change time signature, song structure, velocity and ghost notes. Listen, anything you can think of is completely at your fingertips. For me, this is a completion to my drum needs, I can either go with an electronic drum kit in my studio or I could go for a real drum sound. This is a great addition for me.

Simply amazing, once you learn to navigate this you'll be amazed!

I have used several brands and packages of drum samples ranging from products Sweetwater sells and other websites as well. This is my new go-to drum VST. The built in mixer and the ability to add plugins and affect the drums before they even leave the plugin is fantastic. I don't love all the kits, but there are some great ones included and the cymbals! DUUUUUDE THE CYMBALS are fantastic! Best response I've gotten out of a VST for drums and giving me solid hi hat sound and feel. Steven Slate Drums (which are also phenomenal) are 2nd for cymbal sound/feel (and they were #1 for me til I got to using this).

I haven't even messed with the audio to midi feature, so I can't comment on that. Tons of videos available online for you to check that out though.

If you've been considering this software (like I did for a few years), get it. Just get it. Thanks Chris Jenkins for your hours of work on my behalf to getting the best stuff for me. If you're needing a sales rep, hit him up. He is *insert fire emoji*

As an owner of Steve Slate Drums (not hating them at all) but I needed something with more options and a great interface.
Superior Drummer really does have all the bells and whistles you would need. No doubt the entrance fee is high and getting in on one of their specials is ideal.
Pros
* Great interface
* Easy drum replacement
* Can stack individual instruments to further refine sound
* Seamlessly swap out pieces of the drums
* Tons of options!
* Native mixer and plugins to process your drums
* Expansions to suit your taste
* Midi and loops are easy to edit inside the interface
* Can be used as standalone or inside your DAW
Cons
* Can get pricey - especially if you need more specific expansions

I've only had it a few weeks but already the drum samples have made it to many a track. Such a deep program with many ways to tweak a sound. It seems endless right now and so much more to learn. Love it!

I can't believe I didn't get involved with this software years ago! Superior Drummer is the best drum and percussion software I've ever heard. I've played a Roland VDrum set for years and have had 3 Roland modules including the TD20 and TD50 but the samples in Superior Drummer blew me away! The work put in to create samples is amazing. I am a hooked Toontrack Superior Drummer fan for the rest of my e drumming days!

Awsome, sounds amazing

Took a chance and bought Superior Drummer 3 for my M1 Mac Mini Logic pro x (10.6.1) rig.
Works great!!!
NOTE: Superior Drummer 3 is not yet formally supported for Apple silicon so I opened a support ticket with Toontrack for a status. I was advised that the software is still not supported yet and there engineers are almost done but, it would work by utilizing Apples Rosetta2 software (that's the Apple software that converts the instruction set from Apple silicon to Intel instructions). The only item that I saw was that swap file usage on the Mac was high, which could theoretically reduce SSD drive life due all the writes to disk. I added another disk to assist.
Toontrack informed me that there would be an update released for Superior Drummer 3 that would address Apple silicon instruction set when it's ready.
With the above aside, I'm a guitar player... not a drummer, and while this software has a tad of a learning curve, it was well worth the investment.
OMG THE SOUNDS AND ARTICULATIONS ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!
The grid editor is easy to understand and once a workflow is developed (we're all different right) it fits right in. It's invaluable, at least for me!!!!!
If you do purchase it, put the time in to learn the software.
I love it!!!!

This software paired with an electronic drum set makes it difficult to justify recording live drums ever again.

This is a really deep, well though out software that if you take the time and effort to learn how to work with drum mixing and programming, can enable you to get very realistic high quality results.

The kits included are very good sounding and there is a lot of variety and since they are recorded in the same space are highly interchangeable. The included effects sound alright allowing you to make some usable presets, but I can get far superior results in the DAW with all of my plugins. It's good to have them though for when there is no time for proper mixing.

The workflow is very logical and it was easy to figure out and so far I have been working with it without any inconvenience or frustration. Its all well thought out and feels like a very professional approach too realistic drum mock-ups.

Have been learning this software for about a week now and the more I learn the more I'm simply list for words on how incredibly real, fun and easy this software is. There is absolute nothing on the the planet that come even close to this, well done Toontrack!

If you want to turbo charge your song writing and music projects you need to look into Toontrack. Particularly EZKeys, EZBass and Superior Drummer 3! What a revelation! Writing like a freak show since I bought their software for my ProTools setup!

Karl
Seattle, WA.

This software is awesome. It cannot take the place of real live drums, but it comes in very very close.

Superior drummer Sounds Amazing, Its capabilities as to what the software can do is Super kool! But the Cymbal selection and the cymbal sounds are horrible! They most certainly got it right with the kits but the cymbals and how they sound are not worthy of such a software!Thank God I happen to have the addictive drums as I use the united heavy kit for my cymbals as they are more realistic sounding! HOWEVER...I would still recommend this software because of what you are getting and with the exception of the cymbals everything else is superb!

I bought this program recently because the program I used to use BFD3 has come under new owners over the last year or so and everything has gotten worse ever since, including there piss poor customer service. I looked at several of the higher end drum programs before purchasing this one based on many things including, customer reviews, much of the work flow was similar to BFD3 like the song structuring and the grid for beat creation, also there are many things that I consider improvements over BFD, BFD is a program I have used for close to 15-20 years and loved the workflow and the ease of use that I got from it. I'm not a drummer and I'm not a beat programer, though I can and do change things to fit the song that I'm working on and the grid forms that both these programs work on make it very user friendly.

As for the things that are way better than BFD, the list is long,

1. There are way more expansion sound packs and midi groove packs available from ToonTrack big plus in my book!
2. There are many different ways to engage in sound creation from stacking instruments to a ADSR on not only every drum/cymbal but on every articulation!! You can even stack different drums on every articulation if that is your pleasure. There are also time based tuning that can also be used on every articulation on every drum. So if your looking for something that changes over time you can do that as well. There are plenty of different outputs to run to your DAW for further effects processing and mixing and the effects that are included in the package aren't the worst I've ever played with by far. Granted, they won't compete with my UAD processors but very little does.
3. Lastly I wanted to mention one more tool that makes this program way better than BFD. It is called Tracker. With this handy item you can take drum tracks from other recordings, even a stereo mix of a drum loop, and this tool will turn that into midi information and in the case of stereo tracks it can separate them into their constitute parts. Now I haven't used this as of yet so I can not say with any definite certainty how well this works when it comes to separating out the parts and articulations but once I do I will amend this review to contain what I think about that as well!

Ok, peace out music makers! Hope this helps you with your decision making in the future!

I bought this because I'm in quarentine and I'm not aloud to record drummers right now because of my landlord and Covid. Well I'm just getting used to it after a lot of tutorials and screwing around. I'd have to say that so far it has a lot interesting features. I like in particular the tap feature which finds similar sounding beats. I also like the tempo finding tracker feature which takes transients from recordings and puts them together as midi. I was able to figure out tempo from a demo recording that I did, which was helpful. Having said that, there's a few things that i don't like about it. 1. theres buttons it should have that it doesn't. I mean if a midi editor is gonna act like a DAW there's buttons it should have like rewind or snap to the beginning. 2. I haven't completely figured out if you can take midi from the tracker and actually edit it and add your own drum midi slices to it. 3. no matter how hard you try, midi drums will never fool me or anyone who is a trained listener as real. There's nothing that is quite like a real drummer who can think for himself. Its a lot of work still to make it sound more real or almost as real as a drummer. There's an art to making it sound that way and it could be a lot extra editing depending on your style. It doesn't matter how swag the samples are. 4. I was editing my first project on the standalone SD3 and it fricken crashed on me, not a good first impression. I paid less for Studio One 4 back in June 2020, you'd think something that costs 400 dollars would have more stability. 5. The last thing I don't like about Superior Drummer. I used the thing as a plugin in Studio One and I'm not sure what to do about it but I put it in large mode and I don't know to make it go back to normal tried everything I could think of. To be determined...

I have been playing music since I was 4, toured professionally and have been writing songs for 30 years but am not super tech savvy. With The pandemic and some other direction in life I have found myself transitioning into a home studio musician. I thought with the depth of this software it would be a few weeks before I was really comfy sending wave files to others for projects. I was exporting within a couple days with a custom kit already preset to my liking. I Still have so much to learn but am already blown away with how user friendly it is. Seriously. If I can do it, almost anyone should be able t get started. I play a solid pass through my Roland Vs. Quantitize it, edit some velocities and boom. Sounds amazing. I could sit up my Yamaha Birch Custom Absolutes which I adore and try to mic and mix, but why? I have 4 little boys including a 7 month old and it's so easy and quiet to flip a session in a few minutes. I can hardly wait to learn more and go deeper !! Also. My Sweetwater rep changed how I look at buying equipment. Thank you all.

This thing really is a drummer and I can. I've had every kind of drum machine and program you can have. This toontracks program whether it's this one or the other one is hands-down the best. It sounds amazing and it's easy to use in multiple ways. I had debated between buying real drums, electronic drums or getting one of these programs. These things are so if authentic sounding that I do not need to clutter up my small space with any type of drums. Yes these will take me a little longer to achieve the same results but I believe I have far more tweakability in the end result
For the price I think they could've included another five complete sets of drums.
Other than that these things are definitely killer.

The EZdrummer series has finally graduated to being a serious studio tool. It is more useful than ever for quick song writing but it can also be used for mapping studio recordings which allows you to apply the full editing flexibility of the software to your recorded performances. The vast sound library can also be applied to electronic drums or other midi controllers. Strongly recommended for producers of all types.

The level of detail on these kits are amazing and it makes you want to practice and play them more especially with the articulations I just plugged my Alesis Strike Multipad and started playing. Everything mapped without a hitch on my Alesis multipad. As a long term MPC/Ableton user I like standalone mode because it gives you visuals on what drum sounds you are swapping with visually and you can write loops to your heart's content. Writing loops in the program was easy and I didn't have to look at the manual. The more you familiarize yourself with the stock kits you can tell which sounds you want to make the kit with. Capturing the loops and groove in standalone mode are very impressive. This program feels more like an instrument each time I play with it. What's also interesting are the electronic kits. The electronic does some Roland classic box sounds but you get into Nord Drum territory real quick. Overall I love this program and probably might get more expansions later. I'm also going to sample myself into the Octatrack and EPS because the sounds of the rooms and effects section give me the ability to sound like records I sample.

The product itself is fine, however it is the most anti-consumer piece of software I have ever purchased. It's okay for Toontrack to only allow you to have it installed on two machines at a time, but it is mentioned in only two places (a question on their support page and deep in their EULA/ToS) that there is also a LIFETIME limit of four activations. So, if you install Superior Drummer on two devices and then reinstall it once on each of those, congratulations, you are no longer entitled to use this software that you have paid $... for ever again. The only way to fix this is to contact Toontrack's support, which can take nearly a week to receive a reply. There is also no guarantee they will actually reset your lifetime activation number for you. I will never purchase another Toontrack product again.

I've been using Addictive Drums since 2010 and they are great, but man Superior takes it to a whole other level. The user interface and MIDI editors make the workflow almost seamless. And being able to morph existing drum patterns or patterns that you record is an incredible feature.

This plugin truly took my breath away. The realism of the drum samples and the huge flexibility and ease of use of the interface makes this plugin a work of art and a real pleasure to record with. The mixer section is super useable — I'm able to customize everything to taste. The majority of the presets are extremely great which I really appreciate. The range of different drum sounds provided is extensive, however it can eat up a lot of hard drive space. Thanks to Toontrack for creating an amazing piece of tech. I am also a huge fan of their piano plugins as well.

This thing is freaking AWESOME! I absolutely love it! I totally recommend if you're a songwriter and you want to be able to write when you're not in a band setting!

In a budget studio I simply could not get the job done without Superior Drummer 3. With a bunch of budget microphones I track, then convert my tracks to midi with Superior Drummer 3. It then let's me mix in or totally replace with professional samples and professionally treated rooms. This single handedly took my recordings/producing to the next level. Could not recommend this product more. Well worth the money.

This thing is unbelievable. Simple to set up and simple to use. This is definitely all I need.

I'm not the smartest person when it comes to using any type of recording software. With Toontrack, it really is just simple to use. Completely standalone, clean interface that just makes sense, unlimited ways to tweak EVERYTHING, and some of the best sounds out there turns you into your own sound engineer for drums. Even if you're just looking to create a track for your other instruments you play, you can't go wrong with Toontrack. I've had just as much fun playing around with the creative side of the software. If dealing with midi files is your thing, you're really going to be in heaven.

Bottom line: Simple to use, amazing sounds, unlimited tweaking, and unrivaled creativity to make your drum track sound EXACTLY the way you want for any purpose you need.

Very unsatisfied with the quality of this software.

I just bought superior drummer 3 about 2 1/2 weeks ago.
I absolutely love it !!! I write a lot of midi drum parts for my Recording clients .. I have been using addictive drums and which they sound pretty good, but the sound and workflow from SD3 is much better and faster... I also purchased Steven slate drums about a month ago thinking that they would do the trick.. now in all fairness Steven Slate drums sound great, but any processing that needs to be done you have to ship it out of the program into your DAW to add verb or Eq/ compression etc. It can be done but it"s much more of a process. With SD3 you can do it all in the program then save it then open in another project BOOM!!! DONE!!!
The most important aspect of this drum program is the sound.. the presets sound amazing the drums sound amazing, so if you"re looking for something for your pro- studio / home studio I would highly recommend SB3

This program is amazing ! Top to bottom best drum software on the market .

I really enjoy this software!! It"s a beast for sound design. I"m using it for hip hop and RnB. I love the way I can stack samples and have so much control over the different sounds. The SD3 grid editor is a beast!! Man it"s so much to like about this software. I use it in Ableton or Maschine and I use and Maschine Mk3 as a controller.
If you"re doing hip hop this a great sound design tool and the grooves are awesome. Get the EZ Hip Hop kit

This is an amazing solution, I've added it to a number of tracks I have in production and the quality of the music increased significantly. Still wrapping my head around the capabilities of SD3 but its amazing.

Powerful, but intuitive to use. So many options that you can tweak, it will amaze you.

The only negative I can mention is the lack of delivery options. The download is incredibly large, so unless you have a lot of bandwidth, it could take a week or more to download (DSL). The only other option is to pay $... for a SSD with the libraries installed.

This is the hands down best drumming softwares I have EVER heard !! My best friend who engineers for a well known band heard mine and he is hard to sway is now buying it ! It"s THAT good !! I purchased this along with several expansion packs from Sweetwater and within the minute I had download codes !! Just buy!!

After a few months of playing around with this, I think I've formed my opinion. I can't start an edrum session without loading up superior drummer, on the other hand if they were the only samples I had with my pads and edrum brain I would be very dissatisfied. After SD3 I have gone on to purchase multiple add on libraries. The dynamics via my TD50 are far superior to SD3, however the roland samples are as everyone knows by now- just different from what an acoustic drum / mixed acoustic drum sounds like- it just sounds like roland. The TD50 however with the digital pads is far more dynamic and playable than what superior drummer achieves on its own. I have managed to get my latency down to 1.8 ms with ASIO and a usb plug to a very powerful desktop comp. When playing SD3 by itself the dynamic range and sensitivity are lacking- just doesn't feel responsive or smooth. I have tweaked every setting imaginable both in SD3 and my TD50. What I have settled on is using SD3 as a layered sample to my TD50 kits- this seems to produce a very close approximation to my acoustic kit in terms of how playable the kit feels and sounds. When I remove the TD50 sounds via my mixer the feel or lack there of becomes immediately apparent. I have spent somewhere in the 10-15 G + range on everything having to do with replacing the feel and sound of my acoustic kit... It's a better alternative to not playing the drums, but I wish it could be more straight forward. I'm pretty picky when it comes to perfection, but I do still feel like SD3 could make a lot of improvements when it comes to triggering and playing with an edrum setup.

This is my first time EVER buying a drum program but I researched User forums ... online reviews and this is the one I got.., and I am not once disappointed ! I purchased Two additional Expansions and they are just so fantastic ! Well worth the money spent! Great Job Toontrack!!

I've used them all and this is the best. Not sorta the best but the best. The weakness, like all drum programs, are the hi-hats, crashes and rides but these are still incredible. You can shape anything and make it sound good. It has so much in it, you can,if you're willing, shape the tones to achieve any tone you desire. I highly recommend this and congratulate Toontrack on a revolutionary program.

I am sorry to say that SD 3 is a big dud....the UI is very cool...but the sample sounds are really bad...i was shocked at how bad in fact...they sound like my Alesis SR18...which isnt to say the SR 18 sounds bad...but we are talking about 10 year old Rompler technology. How do you end up with 230GB of samples and only a handful that actually sound good? My Addictive Drums 2 kits sound muuuch better...it takes very little additional processing to make very professional sounding tracks with AD2 compared to SD3. SD3 has lots of effects, but they are not good either. The SD3 interface and work flow are better than AD2, but in the end the sound of the drums is what matters. Save your money and harddisk space....this isn't worth the price of admission. In fact....if you buy an Arturia SparkLE controller with plugin, and partner it with the AD2 plugin...you have everything you need to create / manage sequences and have killer drum tones from AD2 kits. and you save about $150.00. I wish i could return SD3....but G.A.S. got the best of me...back to AD2 and SparkLE for me.

Leaving a second review after spending some time with it. It's no secret that the plugin is powerful, has a slick GUI, and is extremely useful. However, there are a few things that have come up that I am disappointed about and I really hope they address these things soon.
1. Everything takes forever to load. I have a maxed out computer so I'm not really sure how anyone is able to cycle through kits to find something that fits their song. It's almost to the point that it's embarrassing in front of a client.
2. Not enough included drum sounds or midi grooves for the price point. You can choose from a whopping three different hi hats. So basically if you invest in this, you are also investing in expansions too. Once you write a handful of songs you'll get bored of the grooves.
3. No hot swapping feature with sample import. Who imports drums through a browser window? There should already be an integrated browser with audition options.
4. The mixer is clunky and sounds funky to me. They do have some really cool plugins that I wish I had as VSTs. But in general, you can be stuck spending too much time processing stuff in the mixer and then it just ends up sounding flat and thin. Better off just multi out everything to DAW.

It's good software, but for $... I was surprised about how quickly the novelty of it wore off. That price point is more than some DAWs out there.

Slap your mama good drums!

Great sounding drums right off the gate

I have $50-$99 drum VSTs that sound better.
The presets and sounds are cookie cutter as ever. This product sounds like it belongs in 2004, not 2018. The UI is slick, and pretty as all hell. Lots of cool visual features and real estate inside the VST, but ultimately, nothing sounds very good for a competitive modern 2018 sound. Unless you like cookie cutter metal drum sounds that clearly sound programmed, with lifeless boxy velocity, crunched mids, then you probably want to look somewhere else.

Remember, you're paying $... for this product. You should have a drum preset for EVERYTHING in this. Instead you have countless presets, and none meeting the high bar of today's pop/rock music sound without spending an ungodly amount of mixing hours.

It simply is not a ready to go product out the box. Customer service is non empathetic. There are ZERO returns if you try the software out.

It's really a shame. The samples themselves, high fidelity. But high fidelity crap is still crap.

I said it before, and will again, this is... cookie cutter computer sounding lifeless boxy mid rangy drums.

This product sounds like what you'd imagine a Naive YouTube Metal guitarist who programs drum parts for his drummer would sound like.

** The 1.5 is for UI and perhaps if you're going to do jazz or something dry. But anything in your face is awful. Cymbals are good. But the drums suck

Slate 4, hell.. even Reason Drum Kits 2.0 have better drums.

This is a great plugin for the money. It can save you time making drum grooves in your DAW. In your DAW you can edit to your desire. Superior Drummer allow you to put together intro, verse, etc. It has many other features to name here right now. I would recommend this product to others.

One of the best purchases I've ever made. Your tracks will come to life. This is a musical instrument. It's everything everyone says it is in the reviews. :)

This is the easiest and most amazing drum program I have ever used!! The drum sounds are incredible!!

The only ISP available where I live is AT&T U-verse. Top speed? 707kbs IF the electricity stays stable.

"Size-wise, SD3 blows SD2"s 20GB library out of the water with 230GB of recordings downloaded in five separate bundles - the surround channels (which are very usable as additional ambience channels for stereo mixes) add up to almost 100GB alone." !!!!!!

You would think Toontrack might take that into consideration and provide customers Disks rather than download it from their "euro-servers". They don't, though my Sweetwater rep's assistant explored some alternatives that didn't pan out.

Hey Toontrack, we all don't live in the land of unlimited data at GB speeds. I should not have to move or find someone who will let me take my workstation to their house and use their hi speed service. How much would 100GBs worth of disks cost to provide? Probably cheaper that a satellite plan. More convenient if you upgrade your computer or must reinstall when the electric goes out during a system update.

Who has time for 45 hours or more to spend upgrading their program? Morons like me? Retired old school drummers who have mastered email and smartphones? (Insert drummer-turned-tech joke here)

You've been warned.

The plugin is 64 bit only, doesn't work on Pro Tools 10.3.10.

I purchased this software hoping it would improve my drum sounds thinking I would have to redo all the midi that was being supplied by Logic's X Smart Drummer program. To my surprise all I had to do was add the Superior drummer plugin to my channel strip and pick a kit and I was good to go. Had to remap the percussion parts coming from Logic's smart drummer which didn't take much time. I would strongly recommend this for any logic user that wants to upgrade there drum tones from Logic's smart drummer, its an amazing difference.

Big Ugly

I am thoroughly amazed at the level of control this program gives me over drum kit assemblies and performance control. There is no doubt that I will always be able to put together just the right kit and sounds for any song. The sound library is, bare none, the best I have ever heard. Getting all of the library downloaded can be a bit of a pain (it doesn't come with the base product download), but once you have it all locally, the possibilities are endless. Also, load times are, I think, a bit sluggish. If you've got a huge internal SSD, that's where to put the library. You'll need the fastest seek and read times available, just to load up one full kit. Stil, I am very happy to have made the decision to pony up for this product.

I"ve been waiting 12 years for a drum program that can offer truly professional results. Every program I"ve tried left me dissatisfied. Battery 3 and 4, NI Studio Drummer Bfd 3 and others all left me in the amature realm. My main problem was that they all sounded lousy and were a pain to program and there was no way I could ever invest the money and time to do real drums. Add the hard rock package and you"re good to go. Worth every penny. Got the 48 mo financing... Super Sweet! So glad the search is finally over.

So I recently upgraded from BFD2 and BFD3 which honestly are pretty amazing sounding systems, but this. Hold. The. Phone. Playing through the same speakers as before, these drum sounds take virtual instruments to a whole new level. With a full install, the overtones, ambience, and realism is outstanding. Worth every penny.

Just buy it and see for yourself. Impeccable sound. ...this is a steal. Replaces your drummer's whole salary! Just kidding... All jokes aside - Buy it if you're even thinking about it

i have always been a fan of the superior drummer series so I immediately upgraded to the 3rd version. The features are absolutely amazing, yet a bit overwhelming, but once you get the feel for how the new layout works there isn't much you can't do. The only downside to the new core library is that the kits where recorded with so much ambience in the overheads that the whole core library sounds like jon bonham drums. When I was messing around with trying to find a kit I like for a new track I was working on, I swore there was a reverb somewhere in the maze of effects that was on my snare drum track. I ended up soloing everything and found that even after turning off the ambient miss that it still sounded like a large room or plate verb was on the snare. i soloed the overheads and immediately heard that they sounded like distant room mics! They must have had the overheads atleast 10 feet above the kits and maybe even in omni mode. This was a bit of a disappointment for me because the sound I like is a little tighter and not so roomy. You can put envelopes and velocity curves on everything to tone it down but its a shame the overheads had that much room in them to start with. All in all an amazing piece of software but I find myself using the other ez drummer/superior drummer libraries instead of the massive 3 day download i sat through. The time and effort put into making this library is more than worth the price, especially if you are upgrading from version 2.

As an owner of several drum softwares, this one by far is the best that I had the pleasure of working with. 230gb of raw unlimited power. Even better sounding kits that 2.0 with an easy work flow that has made drum editing a breeze. So many feautures, effects,and mic bleeds. It will serve you well for many yeats to come. Just buy it

SD3 is by far the most realistic drums I've ever heard!..... very quick and easy to program.... very inspiring..... worth every penny! My only con is the 230GB took a long time to download.... If I were to do it over, I'd buy the SSD drive version.

SP 3 is easy and sounds incredible

SD3 is a great program, both in standalone and as a plug. I have SSD4 & BFD3 as well, and like SD3's interface and ease-of-use best. I use it in a studio with a Roland TD30 to trigger it, and it's easy to map the two together and to tweak the sounds, and the stock sound library is great.

The best drum program hands down I was tracking drums within the first day very user friendly great sounds the perfect song writing companion love it

This is simply an unbelievable product. It has the two most important things possible.

1. Incredible sounds. Every kit, preset, etc... sounds so authentic, clean and real. It's as if I just hired a professional drummer who owned every possible combination of kits and effects and will play them exactly the way I want.

2. Unlimited options. That's really how it feels. When I listen to the presets alone I'm blown away. But the real fun begins when I start creating my own patterns to fit my original songs. Moving every hit, beat, sound...to the exact place that I need it is truly perfect.

If you need professional advice like I did, I can definitely recommend Jose Gonzalez as your contact. He understood what I was looking for and guided me through several options until we arrived at this. Very knowledgeable and helpful, even after 100's of my questions.

SD3 is pretty easy to use and you can quickly build a drum track. The parts snap together like legos. What got me though is how great the drums sound in full stereo, surround. Incredible... I ran sound for years in different venues and mic'ed up nice sets of DWs and Pearls, but none of them ever sounded this good.

I was having a hard time working with the drum tracks in Cubase and my synths to get the kind of sounds and rhythms I wanted for my work. And creating my own tracks never went smoothly, resulting in lots of time spent editing. After reviewing the videos on SD 3, it seemed very intuitive so I purchased it. I can't compare to earlier versions as this is my first drum software, but it was as easy to use as the videos show. I was able to create a new drum track for a song I was working on in about an hour. Most of that time was actually spent auditioning and learning the controls. It is actually super fast to be able to move around within the program to try the different sets and variations that are available, and there are a lot of them. I've only scratched the surface, and probably won't need to go a lot deeper into it, as my needs right now are fairly simple. But it is nice to know that I can easily do a whole lot more if I want. All I really needed was a program that was easy for me to work with and be able to create and edit drum tracks without having a steep learning curve. And SD 3 definitely fills that space for me. The simplicity alone is worth the price in my opinion. It's also a lot of fun, (because it is so easy!), to just drop a preset track in and start messing with all the controls and see where you end up.

If you're on the fence about buying any drum program, just go for Superior Drummer 3. It's simply a no brainer and for the price, I would have easily paid way more for it. The drum samples are gorgeous and the ui is beautiful. And you can import your own drum samples which is what truly sold it for me. The download took a long time but it was definitely worth the wait.

There is so much under the hood of this software. Great sounds, DAW integration is seamless, and the midi grid editor is a welcome suprise. The ability to draw in the groove and the choice of various drum playing styles (snare center, rim shot, flam, etc) is very intuitive compared to some of the other virtual instruments out there, that leave you adjusting velocities to find the correct sound. Exporting the created grooves to audio files works like a charm and there are a ton of mic options to choose from. I own and have been using Addictive Drums 2, Slate Drums, many Native Instruments komplete drum libraries, and Logic Pro X Drummer & Drum designer as my preferred Tracking and programming instruments. SD3 is quickly becoming my favorite. Once I wrap my head around SD3 Tracker, I’ll be in SD3 heaven. Even somebody like me who uses multiple brands of drum software for all kinds of production work, can be excited about the potential that SD3 offers. It’s worth the price, so don’t hesitate to buy.

I may alter my rating after actually having an opportunity to use this product, so please check back in about forty to fifty years. The fact that this isn't offered in anything but a download is ridiculous. I have 93 hours left before the first library is finished downloading (which I started yesterday and let it run overnight), whereas I will have three other libraries to download before it is complete. This is a huge oversight on Toontrack's behalf and if I had thought about it beforehand, I would have chosen something else. I need this product to be useable before next month, which doesn't seem likely. Even with lightning-fast download speeds, it will take you a long time to download this program. Make sure you buy it several weeks before you actually need it. It would have gotten here in 1/10th of the time through normal shipping methods and been useable to me. If the next version of this is not sold in a boxed/shippable method I will not upgrade. Not only did this slow down my work flow, but it is likely to put a hold on everything else that I do via the internet for several weeks on end. How much work do you do that requires internet access? Don't forget that it is non-returnable.

My first purchase of any standalone drum software. I have been reading a lot about the various products and had held off on either EZ or Superior drummer because the feedback I read left me wishing there was something with the interface and ease of use that people praised EZ for; but with the depth of Superior.

It seems Toontrack was listening because from what I can tell they merged the best features of EZ into SD3.

I am no whiz with drums, DAW's or home recording. But it's worth it to me to be able to quickly work up realistic sounding backing tracks. So far, it is incredibly intuitive to do that in SD3. Presets sound great and the depth is there to alter anything I don't like.

Really excited to get to know the software better, and replace some drums on older projects.

I've been through BFD, EZDrummer, Addictive Drums and finally SD 2.0. This version 3.0 is such an improvement over version 2 that you wouldn't know they were the same plugin/application. I cannot overstate to you how much better SD 3.0 is and the almost infinite ways you can arrange your drums. Get a trigger i/o get some roland pads and cymbals and use them on this program. Have fun guys!

After installing the Basic Library, I auditioned the sounds (specifically the snares) and while I felt they were really good, I wasn't over enthusiastic. Then I pulled in some grooves and started messing with the other kit presets which run the gamut of super dry to gigantic arenas. It was at this point that I was pleasantly stunned with the variance of tonalities in the kits. You can truly achieve practically anything you are looking for in the way of a killer sounding drum track with this software. George Massenburg did a fabulous job recording these samples, they are pristine and in your face. My purchase was executed on Labor Day and Evan Mehre answered all my questions....on a holiday mind you. There is not a question in my mind that this was the perfect purchase for me.

Now comes the hard work of learning every nook and cranny...