David Bendeth Drums for Steven Slate

[Line666]

There is a market you could take advantage off

Go make some that holds up to a pro standard?

Nice attempted call out, I'm not the man for the job as I'm admittedly lacking a few thousand hours worth of practice, I'm just saying most of these big names aren't touting shit worth the same as some of the mid level guys actually putting more effort in.

I will hand it to CLA though he did turn up for his, which surprised me because he's been pretty much exclusively a mix engineer for at least the last decade.

 

[Jordon]

That's a fair point, Jeff.

And presets? Really? They're drum samples....are presets really necessary? I've personally never once used a preset made for SSD4 or Trigger, unless it was a kit that I built specifically for a project. A lack of presets seems like picking knits at this point.

 

[JeffTD]

Twist that knife Jeff.
I complained about a similar advertising issue with the Date samples (one set of toms + nine kicks + seven snares + one hat + one ride + four crashes + one china≠10 Kits IMHO). Someone in the marketing department conflates "preset" and "kit."

It's kind of like how people on Craigslist will try to sell 9 piece drum kits that consist of a kick, snare, 3 toms, hihats, a crash, and a ride because not only does each cymbal count as a piece of the kit, but each hi hat individual counts as a cymbal.

 

[Slate]

Hi guys. I just went to the product page and it clearly lists the kit pieces:
http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/dbd.php

Furthermore, I was kind of shocked to see some of the remarks here because this has been one of the best selling packs we've had yet with some of the most immediately positive feedback. People really seem to love it. Perhaps it's a more radio rock type of sound than some of you like? Dunno, but I freaking love these drums.

Cheers,
Steven

 

[Nuno Filipe]

Have any of these sample packs by commercial mixers actually been anything above average yet? Seems to me that these things are rushed out to make a quick buck and a bit of side cash because recording budgets are down whilst not giving any of the real goods away.

Well, its either that or a lot of these guys don't really know how to sample a drum kit to a pro standard...

If they do samples so good like the ones we hear in the pro records, bedroom warriors will be even more and of course wouldnt be very good for pro studios as you might know.

Plus, are guys with pro studios that make these samples, so making something so great would be like shooting their own foot. In the end it´s just business.

Hi guys. I just went to the product page and it clearly lists the kit pieces:
http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/dbd.php

Furthermore, I was kind of shocked to see some of the remarks here because this has been one of the best selling packs we've had yet with some of the most immediately positive feedback. People really seem to love it. Perhaps it's a more radio rock type of sound than some of you like? Dunno, but I freaking love these drums.

Cheers,
Steven

Well, nobody would expect you saying "they are not good enough"lol. Because, well, you know, wouldnt be good for the business!

To clarify, I think that these samples are good enough and like Jordan mentioned, nobody expects samples mix ready without doing nothing. After all, we use them as a tool to improve shitty drum sounds and not as something that will save the day without doing nothing.

But I also agree that advertising a product with processed samples that dont sound like the raw samples in the pack, it´s fooling somehow the customer.

 

[Matt-Steele]

Hi guys. I just went to the product page and it clearly lists the kit pieces:
http://www.stevenslatedrums.com/dbd.php

Furthermore, I was kind of shocked to see some of the remarks here because this has been one of the best selling packs we've had yet with some of the most immediately positive feedback. People really seem to love it. Perhaps it's a more radio rock type of sound than some of you like? Dunno, but I freaking love these drums.

Cheers,
Steven

POST REAL DEMOS OF THE ACTUAL PRODUCT!!!

 

[AzzaDutt]

I have a huge amount of love for the stuff Bendeth has produced, so I can't claim to be unbiased. However from the demos you guys have posted in this thread I think they sound pretty good.

I do agree that they should post a clip of just the raw drums, or at the very least have clips which are processed very differently so people can infer they are in fact processed.

So far my main experience is with Superior Drummer. Every time I use it I always process the tracks, so I don't really see how this is too big a complaint with this. It can't exactly be unexpected?

 

[Slate]

I didn't do the demos but from listening to them, they sound awesome and don't appear to have such a drastic amount of processing that it can't easily be duplicated. I'll make sure to get some of the raw stuff there too.

Cheers,
Steven

 

[ArthurD]

Personally, I thought that advertising it as 5 kits when it was really just a set of toms, a kick, and two snares was pretty unethical. I thought that using Paramore et al. as a selling point for the samples is also unethical considering Bendeth has made it quite clear that these were an entirely new set of samples not designed to be like that, not to mention Korneff would be required to get close again.

This. Also, I thought that it would come with some presets at least, just like the CLA expansion.

I didn't do the demos but from listening to them, they sound awesome and don't appear to have such a drastic amount of processing that it can't easily be duplicated. I'll make sure to get some of the raw stuff there too.

Also, I'm not complainning about the samples, they indeed sound good (as I said before)... I'm not saying processing them is hard or that it wouldnt be sales success (metal foundry is too, and sounds bad lol).
I'm just saying that, for an internet based sale, where there is no trial avaliable, we should expect some relation between the demo and the samples.
Just my 2 cents

Btw, I have high hopes for the VMS and for the VMR, I hope the demo sounds like the product =)

Cheers, Arthur D

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

I definitely do not want to take Steven's defence, but I'm not sure I understand why people are so pissed about the demo sounding better than the raw samples. I mean... duh???!!!! This is an extension library for a trigger plugin, for "sound engineers", it doesn't say "Easy Drummer" or "We did the job for you" (and I have nothing against EZDrummer trust me). Do you see a lot of pictures of girls without make up and wonderbra (if not photoshop) on dating websites? As long as the demo do not use other samples but are 100% from the library I see no problem with it.

 

[Skaldir]

But the thing is in the other two add ons the demo sounded like what you got when you loaded the kits in raw. It's not the point that people can't process it, but can't try it before buy and so they should know what they get like it was on the previous expansion packs.

 

[Machinated]

I don't see a problem with the demos at all, although I dont have the library to compare to the normal sound.

I've held off buying the samples only because I think they are kind of expensive for the amount of drums included, especially compared to the Terry Date, CLA and included library. I'll probably pick it up when I'm bored of what I already have and fancy something different.

I personally think the drum sounds are cool, just wish there was a couple of different kicks and a few more snares. A tunnel kick and some different sizes/tunings would have been great.

 

[toolfanem]

I feel pretty mislead by this whole thing too. I don't understand the people here who are saying "its no big deal that what you purchased doesnt sound like what you were told it would." Thats like buying a Blueray player and finding out that it only plays DVD quality video UNLESS you get a bunch of other cables that enhance the picture quality.

The demos and the raw samples are very different in both EQ and compression. I had print down each individual kit piece and EQ/compress to get in the same ball park as the demos. The funny part is that the samples are actually very good! They take the extra processing really well too! But that doesn't help the fact that because there is no audio demo of just the raw kit up on the site that the demos are misleading to anyone listening.

I already emailed Slate support, and they are helping me, which I sincerely appreciate. They have always been awesome to me in the past, and this is honestly the first time I have ever felt this way with a Slate purchase. Gotta say I am kind of bummed on this one though. The CLA pack is night and day to this pack IMO.

 

[Jordon]

Yea, god forbid anyone have to print any samples (that's all I do...how else do you make sure they're properly phase-aligned and stay that way?) or do any actual mixing.

 

[egan.]

I think part of the confusion here is the difference between folks who are buying a virtual instrument expansion and those who are buying a sample replacement expansion.
I'm a trigger guy and haven't touched SSD in a couple of years but I can certainly understand why some would be upset that demonstrations of a solo'd drum vst doesn't sound like that drum vst solo'd on their computer.
I understand Slate's position but I also feel like it's inappropriate and short sighted to imply guys are dumb for thinking they were buying exactly what they heard.

 

[ArthurD]

As I said, there are "drums only" demos on the website.
Slate's demos usually sounds just like the product (black kit, deluxe kits demos, etc). This pack is the exception.
I don't care if the samples are raw (I actually prefer that way). But it was a bit unethical to post the mixed samples that way.
But thats fine. Just my opinion. Next time I buy any slate product I'll ask if the audio demo is raw or not.
GASing for the mic system

 

[toolfanem]

Well, I play an electronic kit and run SSD4 on my laptop, I am not mixing with them. I get the point though, just mix it the way you want it to sound. But for my situation I just need something that sounds great out of the box, without any tweaking. I cant be running each mixer channel out to its own track and processing each kit piece, it doesnt work for what I am using it for.

Glad to hear that they're working for you, but you could try to be a little less condescending about it

Yea, god forbid anyone have to print any samples (that's all I do...how else do you make sure they're properly phase-aligned and stay that way?) or do any actual mixing.

 

[Slate]

I've been playing the Bendeth kits on vdrums all morning. The stock kits with no processing sound killer. I honestly don't get the drama on this one.. I'll post some dry demos this weekend and will make sure to continue to post dry demos for future packs.

But in five minutes with some minor eq'ing and compression I get sounds that are very close to what you hear in those processed demos.. it's not like they were tweaked for hours.

I'll echo my earlier point that this is a really great pack and has such a unique sound compared to anything in the Slate virtual drum line. Having said that, I want my customers to be happy so I have taken note of the situation and will improve in the future by making sure people hear the exact presets of the pack.

Cheers,
Steven

 

[Gemm777]

Bought it. Was super stoked until I loaded them up and listened.. Disappointing I have to say. Waste of 100 bucks!

 

[Matt-Steele]

Bought it. Was super stoked until I loaded them up and listened.. Disappointing I have to say. Waste of 100 bucks!

Exactly how I felt. Steven returned my money for them and I'm happy they are gone. After all the samples I already have that actually sound half decent, there's never a need to ever load these up again. Plain and simple piss poor samples.