First Review: Is Steven Slate Drums 5.5 worth the upgrade?
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- Опубліковано 16 кві 2020
- Some weeks ago Steven Slate Drums 5.5 has been released. In this video, I gonna briefly walk through some new samples and presets and talk about whether this upgrade is worth buying in case you already own SSD5 or previous versions or even haven't got a copy of this software at all so far.
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Check my In-depth review of SSD5: • Steven Slate Drums 5 -...
#StevenSlateDrums #Review #Upgrade
Great video Mike. I appreciate how you explained the details. I struggle to explain clearly in my videos but you make it easy and clear.
Thanks a lot Robert. Glad you like it.
Hey Mike, another great informative vid, I've been using Slate Drums for a while now and love em... and yeah that gretsch snare is TASTY for sure!
Amazingly sounding drums!
great video. thanks for your time making it :))
Really interesting, love your use of vst's! I'm pretty sure I could take so much more of my AD2 than what actually I get.
AD2 can be very powerful indeed. Always got great results using that software.
Thanks for covering SSD 5 Mike! Love your channel and your passion for sampled drums, I'm the same way. I use SD 3 and slate and Its great to see videos on both
Thanks a lot for commenting and I am happy you like the content. 🙏 If you have any ideas or topics you’d like to have covered, just let me know.
Thanks as always Mike for a very eye-opening, actually, ear opening, review of this software. I recently got the the free sampler and then using the SSD upgrade application I got the complete new version 5.5. I agree with you that slate has a certain sound and it works better with some songs than others. When you were going through the kit samples I couldn’t tell much difference from one kit to the other and that’s how it is with SSD, there’s a signature sound. I also learned ways of using the GUI that I have not used before from your demo, so thanks. It would be helpful if SDD would include a manual like they used to.
Thanks ever so much Sal, always happy to see you on my channel. Steven Slate hates manuals as far as I know ;) But I agree, we both belong to a generation that still reads manuals.
The GUI thing ... well, the drum kit view may look nicer, but as the software always has the some graphics going on (in comparison to SD3), it’s sometimes hard to see which actual kit piece is currently loaded, hence I use that „cell view“.
Oh I need SSD for my first VST software! It looks way easier than when I watch superior drummer three videos. Thanks, really good review!
Great vid mike, of course i purchased SSD. Sounds amazing !
SSD or Superior Drummer 3 or Air Strike 2 - any suggestions? Am into Electronic music.
Thanks for the video Mike. I just tried the demo version of this and I gave up on it after messing around for an hour trying to map the hi hat correctly. What a nightmare! I’m a SD3 guy like you and I think I’ll be sticking with that. Toontrack just can’t be beat in my opinion. And no, I do not work for Toontrack. I know people are always quick to say that when comments like this are made. Take care bud!
Nice review, I've been considering upgrading from Superior Drummer 2 since I only had 1 library.
For 99$ this is really bang for the buck!
It certainly is. You got over 100 preset kits, so one preset per Dollar ;)
Good value, yes, but not better than SD2 at all!
Rands Zzob I have both. I rarely even use SD2 anymore. Only plugin to me that beats them all is SD3, but until the price drops down considerably, no thanks.
Hey y'all, I'm having trouble getting started. The UI size is way too big and because of that, I can't even access the UI settings. What do I do?
Please help!!! I am new at this. I purchased SSD5.5 and I'm trying to use them on my MacBook Pro and my DAW, Studio One 5. When I drag the plugin to a new song page everything is fine until I try to monitor from my mixer. It sounds like some kind of loop is happening. The sound gets distorted and weird. The best way to describe it is like the signal is looping through the system. Also, I'm trying to play the SSD drums with my VDrums and TD50 module. Was able to set all the drum midi notes except the hi-hat is so messy. I have the VH12 controller and just can't get a decent response using it. Can't seem to find a video showing how to set everything up from the beginning stages for us newbies. Can anyone out there help me?
I have both, together with some expansions...IMHO cymbals are way more natural in SD3 as the overall drumkit sound too.. it feels more "real", the slate interface it's quite poor expecially in the routing department, but sometimes the snare and kick ambience samples are really handy to me.. they can add something that in SD3 it's missing while you're in the mixing stage of a whole song.. so I use mostly SD3 and add a % of snare or kick Slate samples blend!
That's exactly what I do as well. As I own "Trigger 2" from Slate, I often use the room and OH tracks from the CLA expansion to blend it onto existing snare tracks. Gives some nice depth and power without overdoing it.
Thankyou - I just upgraded after this vid. SSD is definitely my go-to :) It would be great to see more variety than just the big, compressed Rock and Pop genre (there's is a jazz kit) in my fave drum library. The snares are impeccable, but they're all BIG - Snare off would be VERY useful as would undamped kicks - with a note at low velocites and bury the beater at high.
And a fix for that fade when you close a hi-hat. - Octobans and some very dry cymbals would be an amazing addition.
Or the ability to sample in a couple of our own drums and add them to our SSD kits.
I'm full of suggestions. 😂 Because I can't record acoustically in this house.
Steven Slate Drums are known for their over-the-top snares and kicks. That's what people love about it. I can highly recommend checking the "Blackbird Studio" expansion for SSD. Those drums sound absolutely stunning.
@@MikeLukehaha spot on. BBird is my go-to. 🤙🏽
I wanted to try to get the free version when it first came out but you need a 64bit system and mine is only 32bit. It would of been cool to have some different sounds!! Hope you are staying safe and healthy up there in Berlin!!
Yes, Berlin is doing well, buddy. It will take some time to get over this crisis, but people in Germany act very disciplined (of course they do ;))
Hello sir!! You r impeccable truly.. Two requests please.
1) I'm just wondering if you have done a review of the BFD3? Apologies if u have already done. I searched but couldn't find.
2) Have u ever done a video on how to set up your edrum kit (I mean in what sensitivity range must each pad be set for ideal playing?. Be it any model of edrum kit).
For instance, how easy or how hard should a snare hit's sesitiveness be set to reach velocity 127? For every hit? or should every hit be nominal at around 80 to 110 range?
I'm asking this here as I know SSD5 like u say is always mix ready and almost uniform when I play thru my edrum kit but not the same with SD3. SD3 is more dynamic (Actually, with SSD5, I don't remember there was a box to monitor every hit to a midi velocity like I do with SD3) .
Saying this, I still don't have much of an idea on BFD3, so the request for it here as well as u always do a thorough review of these softwares and we trust you and would like to hear from you whether it is worth going for BFD3 even over the mighty SD3? . Thank you!!
Hi, happy to answer here.
1) No, because I do not own BFD3.
2) I mentioned this topic in some videos, but never did a specific video to tackle that topic. Because it’s too subjective and individual. You need to find your very own settings which match your playing. The only thing I recommend though is: Try to avoid that every hit is at velocity 127 (especially on snare and toms) because that’s not natural at all. Something around 100-115 is usually the best setting for normal hits, so you leave yourself some headroom when you REALLY hit hard.
3) As I said, i do not own BFD3, so it wouldn’t be fair to make a recommendation here. All I can say is that SD3 has become the most popular and best selling drum VST on the market - for many good reasons. If you already own SD3, there’s probably no reason to buy BFD3 on top.
@@MikeLuke Thanks a lot for the guidance Mike.
And headroom is definitely 'the 1 word' that answers all my questions. Thanks for that 1 word
And giving in headroom for any audio application definitely makes the sound feel so organic and in a way it sounds sweet too
Hello Mike. Hoping some help here. And I'm thankful that you spend time to read all our messages and give invaluable advise. So coming to my point now:
A few questions here Mike :
Are all HH controllers in edrums continuous controllers? ... I mean, do they produce a range from 0 to 127 analogous on the openness or closeness of the high hat pedal? Or would it be just 4 to 5 points and the module cannot independently output continuous control notes front he HH control pedal?
As I'm using the edrum with SD3, I know that I could get like 8 to 9 articulations between the open and close if that outputs cc4 independently... So obviously, more smoother transitions hitting the HH pad which is very important I guess, for emulating a more natural play and feel.
I know, u r a Roland edrumner most of the time. But, I cannot for now afford the top end Roland ekit but the Alesis Dm10 Mk2 Pro is what I'm looking to get in a week. So now, does this edrum kit HH controller give out the CC4 midi note for continuous control?. So that when I hit the HH pad, I would get an articulation depending on the HH pedal controller's position bet 0 to 127? Or as I have heard from people say about many lower end kits, would it just be open/half-open/close + a splash + a close pedal are the 4 to 5 notes generated by the combination of HH control pedal and the pad working in tandem?(no independent control of the two)
But I am still thinking the Alesis Dm10 MK2 Pro is a upper middle end kit and not a lower end kit. :-)
Still, does the Dm10 MK2 pro share the same fate of 5 notes from the HH and HH controller? Or can I get an extra 5 articulations if it does have an independent send of the HH pedal control midi note, so that, I can adjust these parameters inside my SD3 (I mean the range) ?
Please, do let me know if you have knowledge on the Alesis kit I am talking about here. Else please do guide me how to achieve this by probably getting some peripherals or a separate HH and pedal.
Or would it be some software like the Audio Front's DSP Trigger software or a peripheral like Audio Front Midi Expression? Can these help me out? I desire more organic drumming.
And finally, does Alesis DM10 pads & cymbols have the feature to generate an After touch or Note Off or can I change it as per my choice?
Sorry Mike, perhaps been a big list of questions again. Grateful for you help, as always!!!
Clement Thomas I am sorry, but I cannot give you any insights on how the Alesis works because I never played one, neither standalone nor in combination with SD3.
@@MikeLuke no problem Thank you
It's on sale now. Will this be perfect for some gospel-ish sounds?
Thanks a lot for the video. I've tried to get SSD5 for my computer but it won't work. Does SSD5 work with Catalina? Because I think that might be the issue.
I had no issues whatsoever with Catalina, to be honest.
@@MikeLuke Ok great. Must be something else then. Thanks for the reply.
if I add drums to a song, can the individual drum set pieces like snares, toms, etc, can that be edited in my daw separately on different tracks like a real drum set? or will it load into the DAW like one track and be edited as a whole?
Im a song writer/singer/guitarist and am writing Rock music however I dont know how hard it would be to write complex fast drums on something like this if I want to come up with my own beats, especially if I do it on a midi pad. This is a whole new thing for me , I wonder if its easy enough to just click each piece and somehow set it to the tempo of my song to line it up properly? I think I saw Steven Slate mention it will map to tempo
Yes, you can edit the drums piece by piece exactly like you described, that’s what I do as well. You have to assign each track or rather the outputs of those tracks within SSD5 to the corresponding inputs und your DAW.
The drum software will be synced to the tempo of your song which you set in your DAW. So the moment you created a beat, it will be played in the right tempo. MIDI programming can be tough for a non-drummer, I agree. You find a ton of pre-programmed MIDI beats within the software though that can get you started.
@@MikeLuke thanks for the quick response. Yea I tend to play songs and change tempo within songs and thats where I start to worry about adding drums but I do know logic has an ability to map to your tempo now, that would be much easier than doing it manually.
Do you recommend any drum midi pads that would sound pretty good in correlation to something like this? Iv seen alesis and akai have some but I feel some pads dont reflect multiple hits well , like the beat cuts off and starts again and it doesnt sound natural, and I see alot of pads available but dont know which are truly worth it, aside the obvious expensive ones.
Thanks for your help tho!
for only 49 Bucks from platinum its a no brainer to me :). Thanks Mike for your nice review!
Yes, I agree. It’s a steal ;) I am pretty sure you’ll enjoy those samples.
Mike Luke I downloaded it yesterday evening 😊👍🏼. Many Kits are similar to those in my Mimic but some pieces are new. Sounds nice!
Nice funky presets cat ya fill awesome and the third one zepp needs more reverb closer to levee sound
We can make those hybrids with $d3
Love the vista lite toms!
I like sd ring channel
Super erklärt. Danke!
Sehr gerne & danke fürs Gucken ;)
Really far from perfect.
Can't get racktom rimshot AND center at the same time. You only get that annoying rim click, and if you hit center and rim at the same time only one of the two triggers randomly, very disapointing ! Unless there's a setting im missing....
no drumstick tip bow stroke for crashes
Regarding hi-hat CC...been struggling for days trying to get it to work ! Still only get fully opened or fully closed and no foot splash. Please someone help me with that ! I'm totally rookie regarding MIDI. My Roland TD-17 modules displays MIDI notes in the menu. For hi-hats, here's what's displayed :
edge closed
edge opened
bow closed
bow opened
foot pedal
Hi-hats control work A1 with the TD-17 preset settings, can't get it to work in SSD5.5.
I am really new to this and am kind of confused I own a Roland TD27KV and a Apple Laptop what would I do in order to get my kit to trigger steven slate drums what else do I need to buy
That‘s pretty much it. Usually you need an audio interface, but the Roland TD27 module has an interface included. From what I remember, you just need to download from Roland‘s website the driver for the TD27 module to assign it as an audio interface on your laptop. Then install and load Steven Slate Drums and you are ready to go.
I also upgraded it for free. There are a few kits that I like in Steven Slate 5.5 but there are also many kits in SD3 that I don't like. I think it's a question of taste en what kind of song you are covering. But because I use a lot of Addictive Drums lately and they are also not bad at all. I do love them more than Steven Slate Drums I think. But also not all of the kits. Great video Mike! :-)
I agree Rob. It’s great to have all those libraries at our disposal. However, sometimes I think it might be better to just have one or two to be forced to stick with one and to learn to use and mix it even better. I just own too many drum libraries 🤣🤷♂️
Ya chido el videito
Can these be put into a Roland -td-27 for use?
Of course! Perfect for digital pad nuances with the triggers!
It sounds great. I was hoping I could stick with SSD4 Platinum, but when I heard 5.5... nevermind haha
How would you compare SSD to Superior Drummer 3?
Two different beasts, really hard to compare. It depends on your needs and your skills in mixing. SSD 5 works almost immediately right out of the box while SD3 is more complex as a software and definitely needs more work and effort to make it shine. I use both, while I prefer working with Superior Drummer, to be honest.
hm- I think it`s impossible to upgrade from 4 to 5 now...sad
Seems like this would have been a good one to compare with Addictive Drums 2.
I plan to make a big comparison video between all big and famous VST soon.
@@MikeLuke please do Mike. I just stumbled on your site from vdrums recommendation. I see you use reaper like I do. Im looking to upgrade from NI Studio Drummer which is good but its difficult programming fusion browsing through hundreds of patterns ... i hate to admit but i miss logic's session drummer ability to changebon the fly subtly... Great work n review..
I have had Steven Slate for a few years, I thought it was great. Then I bought a Roland VAD 506. Now I never use Steven Slate as the sounds don't sound as good now. Also the hi hat trigger is SSD5 just does not work.
Don’t feel bad we just got hit with another 90 days of lock down here in panama
Oh wow, another 90 days? That’s insane. Stay safe however
Mike Luke thank you best wishes
It has been absolute hell to install. Make sure you remove the free version before. No I hope we’ll make the most of it!
great sounding samples. the 5 version full is 99$ .my wallet cant handle it
Who is Steven Slate a recording engineer ?
Yes, a recording and mixing engineer and a successful entrepreneur, building his own company selling software and gear for music production
you look like Gregory Scott from kush after hours.... If he shaved his head
That’s a nice compliment though. ;)