Toontrack Metal Foundry SDX - Still the King of Metal Drum Samples? (+ Free Preset!)
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- Опубліковано 22 кві 2020
- Today I review the old and legendary "Metal Foundry SDX" expansion for Superior Drummer. Released in 2009 already, it has become the best selling drum sample library in the market. But is it still worth buying? I discuss the pros and cons and share my very own custom preset in the end.
You can download my "Dreams of Beech"-Preset here: bit.ly/2xRI2L5
All my videos about Superior Drummer 3: • Superior Drummer 3
Get 7% off your first year's membership at with DistroKid if you signup through my VIP link: distrokid.com/vip/MikeLuke
#MetalFoundry #SuperiorDrummer3 #Review
And 14 years later I'm still using this library, and still in Superior 2. Reason being, ToonTrack won't make Superior 3 work with my screen reading software for the blind. So I'm stuck on almost 20 year old drum software. But it still sounds great for a midi library.
Toontrack Metal Foundry is legendary among drum VSTi.
14:10 - never would have thought to use this library for that. Sounds amazing!
Mike great review. Thanks for the preset and stay safe.
You’re welcome, hope you like that preset.
Mike your passion for this software comes out in your video! I hope you are safe and healthy!
Hey Earl, thanks a lot. I am okay, hope you and yours are safe, too. We will get through these crazy times, I am pretty sure.
Thanks Mike, a great video, as usual!
Cheers Göran!
hey mike great video.. I use superior drummer as my tone for my electronic kit and love that you are putting up presets to download.. Would love to have access to more of other peoples presets.
Hi Brad, thanks! I am pretty sure I will release more presets in the future. ;)
I miss this one. Probably gonna follow your advice for the sales...
Thanks for the review Mike. I never thought about purchasing this library due to my erroneous thinking that I don't play metal, but ignore the genre, as you have mentioned before and state again in this video, and pay attention to the sound - and these kits sound fantastic and can used in any rock or pop genre. Fabulously popping mix on Dreams of Beech.
Hey Sal, thanks for watching. Well, I get the point that a lot of folks are lead (or mislead) by the names of those expansion packs. There's a lot of marketing behind it as well, which is totally fine. Given the fact that those are just recorded acoustic drums, I see no point in NOT using them for any kind of music. This expansion sounds extremely dry, so they need some mixing love to get them shine.
Man I LOVE this pack. Grab it on sale last year for $49 and it’s been used a ton by me.
I'm using this SDX to record my original progressive rock inspired by classic 70s prog rock. The Tama kit is great for some of the songs I'm working on. I am also using the DW kit in at least one song because it is so crisp and tight sounding.
Thanks for trip into the past as well as the comparison to these amazing sample packs! I have to say after listening to the three examples over and over I feel the second kit with the natural finish sounds the best. The toms are so punchy and warm with so much body and dynamics, and that KICK!! The 3rd kit sounds nearly identical to the first with just the added bright ringy room sound from the pool (bath tub) reverb. I may have to pick up the death and darkness pack just for that sweet DW. I also love the "Maiden Kit". I'm not so sure they got the Metallica "Justice Kit" right though. Too much plate style reverb sound...that album had the most dry drum sound I have heard from a metal band in a very long time...Oh, and your Dreams of Beech sounds A-Mazing wow! Thanks again Mike for the comparison!
Thanks a lot, buddy. I have to agree - that Death & Darkness expansion is for sure one library that might be interesting for you in the future. Matches almost exactly your playing style and musical taste.
those sound amazing!
I used to have a cracked version of SD2.0 and a cracked version of this library - years and years later when I could afford it I bought the real thing with the real SD2.0 then half a year later SD3 came out and I upgraded to that (I should have waited!!), still use TMF today but also getting into GGD as well
Tolles Video lieber Mike. Ich sollte mal Superior Drummer testen. Alleine schon die vielen Möglichkeiten und ich steh auf Metal. Danke
Superior Drummer ist sensationell, erfordert aber etwas Arbeit, um alles rauszukitzeln. Kann am Anfang etwas frustrierend sein. Ist etwas wie Photoshop oder ein komplexes Video-Schnittprogramm. Zuerst versteht man nix ;) - doch wenn man es einmal begriffen hat, möchte man nix anderes mehr.
I still use it. I like it a lot. I've been using the SD3 core library a lot more lately, but I just used the Thomas Haake kit on a track recently.
I do want to pick up the Death and Darkness SDX though.
The Death & Darkness is supposed to be the successor of the Metal Foundry. You get a lot of bang for your buck as it contains two SDX in one. It’s pretty much a modern, straight forward and slightly polished version - especially the „Death“ library is so adorable. Still love the Metal Foundry and won’t sell it ever. 🤘🏼
I've had the death and darkness sdx for months now and I am continuously blown away by the sounds you can get out of it, it is simply the best metal drum sample library out there. Don't hesitate and pick it up as soon as you can!
still great and usable
This SDX is on sale for Superior September by the way, just picked it up myself. 🤘🏻
Great in-depth video, as always.
Some people didn't like this extension because it didn't sound "metal-mix-ready" to them, which makes sense since it was 100% (or almost) raw tones, as you pointed out in this video
But just like real drums, you can adjust the resonance (which equates to dampen the drums with moongels and pillows IRL) and the pitch (which equates to change the general tension of your shell top heads IRL), to make them more metal-ready, and then you can mix them of course.
Those two parameters (resonance and pitch) are the most overlooked parameters in drum VSTis, and yet they are the most powerful parameters for your drum sounds IMO.
If i go to a rehearsal spot or to a venue to play a show, and play on the house drum kit, even if it's a decent one, i always adjust the tuning (and sometimes the resonance) to fit my playing and the tones i have in mind.
But if you can't make real drums sound good, you might not be able to make VSTi drums sound good either.
On the other end, if you know how to tweak real drums, you will be able to make the most of your VSTis.
CONCLUSION : if you wanna improve your sound with VSTis, learn how to improve the sound of REAL drums (watch videos about drum tuning, drum dampening, etc, if you don't have access to acoustic drum kits, especially in this covid-19 lockdown context of today.
EDIT : if you still wana use presets as a starting point, then i strongly suggest you reset the mixer right after loading the preset, so that you only load the "kit" part of the preset, and then start working from there (like listening to the OH and room tracks without the close mics at first, which will give you a more realistic view of the actual tone of your kit).
Thanks for your great comment and I cannot agree more. What I often recommend to others is to force yourself to work with the given drums. No stacking of other samples, no fancy presets - just the kit as it is. Engineers had to work for decades that way and created some of the best sounding drums ever. As you said: Carefully shape the tones of those drums and you can get great results. The preset you heard in this video has been made without any additional samples - and no fancy third-party plugin.
@@MikeLuke Thanks for the feedback !
By the way, as players who play on e-kits triggering VSTi samples from Toontrack, don't you think Toontrack drum products should have a "drummer binaural mic" track in addition to the regular close and ambiance mics ?
It would make for a way more immersive and realistic experience when you're playing.
Just posted some kind of request about this on their Facebook page, and in the Toontrack forum :
facebook.com/toontrack/posts/10157285273447308
www.toontrack.com/forums/topic/binaural-recording-for-drummers-presets/
If by chance you get in touch with them in the near future and can push this request their way for future Superior releases, it would be awesome :)
Anyway, take care !
Once again, love your videos. I have both and prefer the Death and Darkness SDX. Big fan of Mark Lewis for one and second, his Yamaha kit is so good! I often bounce back and forth between the darkness Tama kit and deaths Yamaha.
Hey Kevin, yeah, that Yamaha kit is pretty sick, but I actually love all the kits on the Death SDX as they all have an own flavor. I am constantly torn between the toms of the Yamaha and the DW. In the Darkness SDX, I love the Ludwig Maple kick drum as it has this beefy, warm yet punchy attack to it.
Great video Mike. I have both and I'd assume the Metal Foundry wouldn't be able to take advantage of the extra mike bleeds and surrounds but that may not be a huge deal, being the "older sports car". A lot of default cymbal placements with this Metal Foundry SDX that you don't see with many of the other expansions. Being locked in for the last several weeks, it's more like "Dreams of Beach" here.
Hahahahaha, well, yeah ... you’re probably right. I’d add several other things to dream about currently, but we‘ll over this crisis for sure. For sure with music. ;) Thanks for watching and commenting David and stay safe
You have a lot work with in terms of bleed and room mics/ambiance in Superior 2/Superior 2 SDXs already !
After some research, I think Metal Foundry is one of the best drum libraries, for the sound and the number of snares, kicks and cymbals included. I can't believe it was released so many years ago. I like Death but it doesn't have enough cymbals. And I think Metal Foundry is more versatile. You can even do Jazz with it!
They really got it right with this library
Hello, how are you, friend? First of all, I have been following your videos for SD3 for some time, which seem quite didactic, practical and direct, which leads to safe learning.
Regarding the video in particular about these libraries, I was a user a few years ago of "The Metal Foundry", and recently of "Death and Darkness", and according to my preferences and expectations, I feel much more organic and real to Metal Foundry, ! has aged very well !, managing to use these samples in any type of music, with a minimum of processing.
On the other hand, I have tried to achieve it with D&D (which also sounds phenomenal), but I feel too much processing and brightness in all their samples, even from the first moment (it is clearly a matter of taste).
I hope your channel continues to grow, it is of interest to musicians and people who want to get involved in this world of sound.
!! A strong greeting from Chile !!.
Hola Mauricio, gracias! It’s interesting to hear that you prefer the Metal Foundry over the Death & Darkness. A lot of people nowadays seem to prefer the more polished and punchy sounds, but like I said in the video: the Metal Foundry can also sound phenomenal, you just have to put some love into it. Hope you are safe and thanks for being a loyal subscriber, I really appreciate that. If you have any wishes or ideas for videos, just let me know.
I love the room Sound But the kicks don't have any bottom low mid punch ,I always swap out
fantastic SDX but I am used to being able to copy part presets and it doesnt look as though this is possible in this SDX. Am I correct or is there another way to say copy channel settings separately from actual instruments. When I set up my own user presents I do have this option however. I am using SD3
I bought TMF just for the cymbals. Especially the Chinas and Hi-Hats are the best sounding ones in my ears. And in SD3 it's super easy to mount them into the Core or Death and Darkness kits and they sit in the mix perfectly. My current Toontrack library consists of SD3 Core, D&D and TMF, I'm producing modern black and melodic death metal with attention to a "real as possible" sound.
Wow they really work perfectly with DnD and the core huh? That's interesting. I have DnD and love it. These Cymbals might be better?
@@maidenmopar you’ll lose some flexibility with mic positions but soundwise it’s a great addition
@@MichaelSmith-on1ig thanks
I liked the sound of this library; however, I do not use it for metal, I love the Toms sound of the Sonor. The snare is great for Metal and really like it; however, when I play it with my e-drums the attack is too much if I am not playing metal. Do you know if there is a way to take the attack away? Also, love that if I hit it soft I can hear the ghost notes perfectly.
Have you tried turning down the snare response on your drum module?
Still the most versatile sdx! I still use it
Agreed, it’s super versatile. Thanks for stopping by, buddy 🤘🏼
Is that the 14" Trigerra China E-cymbal?
I had it very well hidden I was thinking throw it to the Trash (The Metal Foundry SDX) but i was wrong... ¡Good Theme!
Thanks a lot, José!
The Metal Foundry is my go to sample library for drum and bass!
Flip the phase on Overhead and Room far stereo mics and hear the magic of low-end extension right away. Give it a try and tell me what you think.
Mind explaining to a newbie?
@@DouglasComical It's all about phase. Il think the setup I suggested in my post gives a better phase coherence with kicks and snares.
Wanna have even bigger drums? Just add the stereo close Room mics to the package. Give it a try and tell me what you think.
would be interested to heart that tune with a bass.
What u recommend for modern jazz samples have pearl mimic
Check out the „Decades“ SDX!
Sauber Mike 🤘💪🥁💪🤘
Bleib gesund 🤘🏼😎
Mike Luke du erstmal,Bro 💪🥁💪
Great review. My experience with metal foundry is I find it does not sync with my TD30 very well at all. I have inconsistent triggering and find I need to really lose any Dynamics to get any consistent sounds. The hihat is particularly bad.
I don’t really have this problem with any other SDX or EZX. I just picked up death & darkness and it plays amazingly with my TD30 (as does SD3), I have not touched any velocity curves, it just works beautifully.
Wondering if anyone else finds the same?
Hi Anthony, I never played the Death & Darkness SDX with my TD30, but what I can tell from my experience (as I played all old SDX so far) is that you are right. The libraries differ a lot in terms of response. One of the best always was the Music City SDX - the hats are still the best I ever played in terms of response.
Hahaha, AIR drumming! Guess what I played with the Rototom default preset from the "Rooms of Hansa"?
You see, I check your reviews to get an idea where to spent my Xmas bonus!
I think I will go for a few EZX than a SDX... for the case of playing VST edrums that's awesome together with SD3.
Yeah, now the time has come! 48€ for the Metal Foundry SDX!
For just €48 it‘s an absolute no-brainer!
It comes in a box? Why? Sorry im new to music software so im really stupid when it comes to stuff like this but how is it put into the PC, is it in a USB thinf
I do own this SDX pack, but I only used it a few times. If I'm honest I don't like it that much. Maybe because a lack of mixing skills. But I like your preset Mike. :-)
Hey Rob, I see your point. Either people love it or hate it. But it's all fine, we all have personal preferences when it comes to those expansions. Stay safe, my friend!
Oh so Metal Foundry works with SD3? Great!
Yes, it works without any issue.
Gonna dust off this SDX and give it some more love :)
You won’t regret it
What do you think about Metal Foundry vs Progressive Foundry?
Two different beasts. The Metal Foundry sounds more „vintage“, more raw and a bit more aggressive. Needs more work, too, to make it sound great. The Progressive Foundry has a more modern vibe, without sounding soft or boring. I‘d say the Progressive Foundry is a modern successor of the Metal Foundry. Really depends what you are looking for, there is no better or worse in this comparison
@@MikeLuke thanks for the answer. I’ve been struggling to get a sound similar to Refused’s album The Shape Of Punk To Come, which to me has a great balance between modern punchiness and classic vintage sound
I feel you. It‘s really tough to copy a sound from a specific song or entire album. You know, every professional production uses different drums, different tunings, different mics, different recording technique, different studios, different mixing desks … you name it. A sound you hear on an album is the result of a whole chain of decisions and little tweaks, so don‘t be too disappointed if you cannot get the results. I always recommend to create something unique on your own, that‘s more fun in the end anyway.
@@MikeLuke Haha yeah I know. It's even more frustrating when you think you've gotten close, then use it in a mix and it doesn't work. I just wish Toontrack had gotten Pelle Henricsson to do an SDX instead of the Dirt EZMix pack as he was actually one of the engineers on that album. It would very likely fix all those aspects haha
where is download link for this preset ?
I just added it in the description box.
Metal Foundry vs. Metal Machinery vs. Death & Darkness ? =P Ich hab die Machinery, werde aber das Gefühl nicht los, dass es immer noch die EZD Library ist. Es war ja damals beim Recording nicht das Ziel aus den Aufnahmen eine SDX zu machen. Ich bin geneigt mir die Death & Darkness zuzulegen um das Gefühl (um nicht zu sagen meinen vermeintlichen Hirnfurz) loszuwerden :D Was ist deine Meinung dazu? // Dieser Channel ist wirklich ne kleine Informations Goldgrube. Danke!
Vielen Dank für den netten Kommentar 🙏 Ja, ich habe die Metal Machinery irgendwann verkauft, war nie wirklich zufrieden. Die Death & Darkness ist einfach der Knaller, ohne Frage. Natürlich für Metal und alles Harte geeignet, aber ganz ehrlich: Wenn Du mal einen straighten Pop-Song aufnehmen oder einspielen musst, geht das damit auch. Letztlich bekommst Du ja zwei SDX zum Preis von einen 🤷♂️
hi , i have a question .which ezx patch can sound similar to mordent jdent /progressive bands like intervals , vitalism ?
when 35 gigs was a lot (:
Hahahaha, yes. In 2009 it was massive! :)
can anyone email me the download?
I like to treat SD3 like real drums do I want my samples as raw as a bloody steak.
Haha, yes. I agree, I do the same.
9:25 can confirm ; this is what its all about.