SD2 "plastic" attack issues

[Jack Pirate]

Hey Guys,

I've been using Superior Drummer for a few months now and I managed to get some good results, but there's this harsh/plastic attack on snare and kick that is very annoying and I can't find a way to soften it.

I tried to reduce the attack with the envelope option within SD2, but it didn't help much, the plastic attack is still there. I also tried some saturation to make the transient a bit smoother, no luck either. The SPL Transient Designer gives me pretty much the same results as the envelope shaper in SD2, so it's not helping with that issue.

I know it's possible to get a nicer attack from SD2 because many people have done that, so it's definitely my fault that it's not working. Productions such as the first Periphery album and Animals As Leaders have the sort of attack that I'm trying to achieve (especially on snare and kick) and since they used SD2 for the drums, it makes me wonder how they managed to get a smoother attack.

Any ideas?

P.S: I'm not mixing within SD2, I have all mics routed to separate tracks.

 

[JakeAC5253]

Welcome to the reason most of us have switched to Slate VST drums. There probably was some SD2 on the Periphery/AAL albums tucked in somewhere, or at least that's what they were supposed to say publicly, weren't they sponsored by Toontrack? I've read here that they are not the only drum tones on the albums though.

 

[MIAnn]

i use SD2 augmented with LSD/CJ kick/snare samples.. no plastic attack

 

[Drummerrrrr?]

Which snare are you using?

 

[crillemannen]

Get yourself Slate trigger and replace the kick and snare. THe overheads in S.2 is top notch though.

 

[rispsira]

weird i thought that was the case with toms.. i cant for the life of me make em work. but i dont wanna blame anything except my skills haha
btw my friend got jb evil drums and it seems to be really good and takes processing well i wonder why its not mentionned more often (unless i didnt stomp on those threads; didnt do a search about it) but anyway im straying from the topic

 

[Jack Pirate]

Which snare are you using?

I tried all snares from the default kit, had the same problem with all of them. The one that sounded the best to me was the Slingerland 70's, it had a little more beef, but that awful attack is still there.

 

[MIAnn]

weird i thought that was the case with toms.. i cant for the life of me make em work. but i dont wanna blame anything except my skills haha
btw my friend got jb evil drums and it seems to be really good and takes processing well i wonder why its not mentionned more often (unless i didnt stomp on those threads; didnt do a search about it) but anyway im straying from the topic

i fucking LOVE evil drums, and yeh ive noticed its not mentioned much around here..

edit: off topic soz

 

[JarekMusil]

+1 000 000 for Evil Drums!!!!! Fantastic stuff, I love them so much!!!

 

[FIXXXER]

i use SD2 augmented with LSD/CJ kick/snare samples.. no plastic attack

+1

slate for drums, toontrack for cymbals = WIN!

 

[plisken]

weird i thought that was the case with toms.. i cant for the life of me make em work. but i dont wanna blame anything except my skills haha
btw my friend got jb evil drums and it seems to be really good and takes processing well i wonder why its not mentionned more often (unless i didnt stomp on those threads; didnt do a search about it) but anyway im straying from the topic

I know what you mean about the Toms, it took me SO long to get them sounding good. Just in general it took me a long time to get SD to sound good... and it still needs from work even so >.> Though I dont use SD for the Kick, I use the Steven Slate Black Kick for that. And Like someone else mention, the Overhead is pretty much the best out there. My biggest recommendation when working with SD is to multitrack output it in the DAW and work with your own plug ins, thats the only way I got it to start sounding good, I also have Metal Foundry which has some good samples but all need some work of work in the form of EQ or compression.

I tried using Steven Slate Drums exclusivity but was not getting the results I wanted for some reason >.> so know I was a combination of both!

 

[viralz]

Is the Evil drums SDX still available somewhere? I really want to try this thing.

 

[Jack Pirate]

Now I'm curious about the Evil Drums too. I will give it a try.

 

[crillemannen]

The Cymbals are awesome as pointed out. THe Toms are also awesome and can sound awesome. I've used them on various productions and i know Ermin uses them to.

About Evil drums. I have them and i like them, can take processing way better and got some really nice snares in the kits available. They are more raw and i wish that more manufacturers of samples would have that approach instead of process the shit out of them aka Slate or Toontrack standard selection.

 

[RichS]

Is the Evil drums SDX still available somewhere? I really want to try this thing.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-...or-drummer-2.0-sample-collection?src=3WWRWXGP

 

[Fox Mulder]

Causes observed by me:
1. Too much transient designer.
2. Too much compression.
3. Not enough parallel compression, or a badly setup parallel compressor.
4. An abomination of a midrange balance, getting all paranoid about midrange resonances, eradicating them like they eradicated Hiroshima.

 

[Jack Pirate]

Causes observed by me:
1. Too much transient designer.
2. Too much compression.
3. Not enough parallel compression, or a badly setup parallel compressor.
4. An abomination of a midrange balance, getting all paranoid about midrange resonances, eradicating them like they eradicated Hiroshima.

Do you have a clip of a mix you've done with SD2? I'm curious to see what people manage to get out of it. Maybe I'm just expecting too much from the thing and there's just no way to get what I'm looking for out of it.

 

[Bay Studio]

Hey, i have a mix i did some time back. I used SD2 on all of it, even though i prefer slate more, i gotta give it to SD2 for the overheads. They just sound so damn good! Check it out
http://soundcloud.com/erikbaynj/ola-2-baymix-1/s-JdNLK

 

[Jack Pirate]

Hey, i have a mix i did some time back. I used SD2 on all of it, even though i prefer slate more, i gotta give it to SD2 for the overheads. They just sound so damn good! Check it out
http://soundcloud.com/erikbaynj/ola-2-baymix-1/s-JdNLK

Sounds great man! You managed to tame that plastic attack more than I usually can, especially on the kicks, they sound much smoother than mine. Would you mind sharing a few ideas on how to achieve that?

 

[TheWinterSnow]

Have SD2.0???

Two Words...

Metal Machine!!!

(Add Slate Samples to that and well, you won't need anything else)

/Thread