Toontrack BETA testing something......

xphen0m

Member
May 9, 2012
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I received an e-mail this morning asking for BETA testers to sign up. They're saying they hope to have an idea of where they're at in the fall. That's pretty vague what they meant by that, but anyhow, the window to apply closes on July 1st.

Could this be Superior Drummer 3?
or is just general beta testing?

Let the speculating begin.
 
Got an email about this the other week and filled the form in, would be cool to get in on what they're up to as the whole EZ Keys thing really impressed me.
 
EZVocalist. Each EZX is a different famous singer going through the entire dictionary.
 
I received an e-mail this morning asking for BETA testers to sign up. They're saying they hope to have an idea of where they're at in the fall. That's pretty vague what they meant by that, but anyhow, the window to apply closes on July 1st.

Could this be Superior Drummer 3?
or is just general beta testing?

Let the speculating begin.

I'd think that SD3 would be a reasonable guess, and they'd try to have it available in November.
 
That was my first thought. It's been 4 years 2.0 was released so maybe this year?

It's gotta be well older than that? Didn't it come out in '08 or so? Though four years might be the time since it was last updated...

SD3 is definitely due, though.
 
It's gotta be well older than that? Didn't it come out in '08 or so? Though four years might be the time since it was last updated...

SD3 is definitely due, though.

"Superior Drummer® 2.0 ships in the second half of June 2008"

Make that 7 years
 
Damn I didn't realise it was so long ago. Longest wait for an update for a plugin in software history.

It's been updated plenty over the years. I think you mean upgrade. One of the updates was 64 bit support, hope you didn't miss out on that one and were still running the original release. :p
 
It's been updated plenty over the years. I think you mean upgrade. One of the updates was 64 bit support, hope you didn't miss out on that one and were still running the original release. :p
Yeah I ment upgrade of course.:D The long wait must be worth it and hopefully we will se mk3 this year.
 
Yeah I ment upgrade of course.:D The long wait must be worth it and hopefully we will se mk3 this year.

The thing is, it's already a very capable plugin. There are a few things that they'll probably add like the new features from EZD 2, and *maybe* they'll add something new like the ability to load EZMix presets inside SD3 (that would be a pretty radical thing to do but could be a worthwhile upgrade, and would simplify things as far as preset standards go), but is SD3 *really* necessary right now? I know software progresses at a fairly rapid pace but they seem to have done pretty well with SD2.

The way it sounds, people would be disappointed if there weren't major changes with SD3... and everyone knows that major changes in software bring major problems. :bah:
 
One thing I hope for are the hats and oh being even more realistic. It's always easy knowing it's software as soon as the two mentioned kicks in. Otherwise I have not so much complaint.
 
The thing is, it's already a very capable plugin. There are a few things that they'll probably add like the new features from EZD 2, and *maybe* they'll add something new like the ability to load EZMix presets inside SD3 (that would be a pretty radical thing to do but could be a worthwhile upgrade, and would simplify things as far as preset standards go), but is SD3 *really* necessary right now? I know software progresses at a fairly rapid pace but they seem to have done pretty well with SD2.

The way it sounds, people would be disappointed if there weren't major changes with SD3... and everyone knows that major changes in software bring major problems. :bah:

i am actually hoping for a complete NEW library/sound set, maybe
with accurate tuning and mic placement this time...

ok, jokes aside, what always bothered me in SD2 is the countless options which, at the end lead to nothing good sounding.

sure you can say that you have to know how to tweak and dial in the sounds, still, up to today i have maybe heard one or two examples where SD2 sounded really good on it's own, like without additional samples blended in etc.

let's look at the snares, i don't get it, what's the deal in having 6 channels/mics for the snare when these all sound like shit,
be it on their own or all together.

same goes for the room sound, there is a mono room track, a medium room stereo track, a big room track and a chamber track. they ALL sound like shit.

TT seems to follow a strange path on this, i feel they are having this "we can fix this later" attitude.
there are so many different samples and options and different expansions in SD2 and still,
it alwas sounds the same, static, sterile, unhomogenous. every time i load up SD2 i instantly have a desire to close it again...

"balance" is also missing completely in SD2.
sometimes changes in velocity do not affect the sound at all and sometimes even slight changes create a gap between two notes,
hard to explain but it seems like the samples do not always represent the actual velocity values. this creates a pure mess as soon as you try to
program anything different than 127 on everything.

i could go on and on forever, there is so many things that can be improved, however i'm sure TT will not adress any of these issues
as peaople are happy with SD2 as it is, so the focus will be again on shit like, useless functions, producer presets, midi paks and re-re-re-re-re cycled add ons...
 
^ Really? I think you're kind of in a minority...people use the Avatar kit because it's miced (for the most part) very well and the rooms sound massive. Idk what options you mean but I use all sorts of stuff, mostly the bleed control per mic and the multiple hit emulation for the cymbals. It does have a lot of market share because it's so commonly used, but also because it sounds really good for the most part.

I just want a new kit for variety, preferably with at least one i5-recorded snare (I love the way it sounds and I don't think there are any expansions with it), plus some better cymbal swell emulation, the beat finder tools from EZ2 and the ability to load third party samples. I doubt they'll include that since it would mess with their business model though.
 
well, avatar does not sound that bad at all, at least the micing seems right compared to the abomination called the metal foundry.
then agin even metal machinery, which was my last hope for SD2 sounded pretty sobering...

in general the TT stuff has a very strange sound IMHO, somehow they manage to make every snare sound dull and boring,
every kick undefined and boxy. the cymbals start to sound like crap as soon as you play a bit faster than 100 bpm,
there is a strange overlay and frequency build up which ruins everything for me. it's not even a matter of taste,
it just sounds like shit in a mix, in every mix, no matter how you mix it.

i often think that it is the file size compression that makes everything sound so lifeless and dull,
then again TT claims that the size compression has no effect on the sound.

maybe the number of recorded samples and variation in general is not up to date anymore.
a kick i pretty easy to sample as the beater "always" hits the same spot.
record 20-30 different samples and you are good to go.

a snare on the other hand can produce so many different sounds nd it's absolutely
impossible to have a good sounding snare with 3 light, 3 medium and 3 hard hit samples.
sure SD2 offers a bit more but it's still not anywhere close where it should be to give a realistic representation of a snare.

this is also surely not any new thing to TT, i'm pretty sure theyknow what it takes to create a realistic sounding drum sampler, however i
know the people are just fucking lazy as they can make way more money with presets, midi packs and othe ruseless shit, of course with almost zero effort.