What VSTi for midi drums in RealBand ?

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For the rare times I need to use midi drums, what is the best souding, most flexible, feature rich Drum module to look at that works flawlessly with RealBand ? Do not want hardware solution.

I especially need great brushes kit / samples. Will create the midi file and have it trigger the drum VSTi.

I like Native Instruments Abbey Road series. Fantastic sounding samples recorded in the Abbey Road studios. I've got the 60's drummer and the modern drummer. You can read the specs and listen to the samples on the NI-site.

As far as I know, pretty much any drum VSTi will work. After that, it's a matter of budget and taste. I'm quite happy with BFD Eco (hoping to upgrade to BFD2 soon) and Addictive Drums. I like some of Jamstix features, but not enough to buy it, and, for my purposes, EZ Drummer isn't.

And then there's Steven Slate, MDrummer, etc., etc....

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As far as I know, pretty much any drum VSTi will work. After that, it's a matter of budget and taste. I'm quite happy with BFD Eco (hoping to upgrade to BFD2 soon) and Addictive Drums. I like some of Jamstix features, but not enough to buy it, and, for my purposes, EZ Drummer isn't.

And then there's Steven Slate, MDrummer, etc., etc....

On FilkerTom's recommendation I bought BFD ECO too, and I consider it to be a good addition to my MIDI arsenal. (Good call, Tom! Thanks!)

If you have more money than I do, naturally, the full blown product gives you more options. My son has BFD2 and he creates drum tracks that I can't differentiate from tracks played by a live drummer.

There IS a learning curve... You won't be doing everything it can do right out of the box. But you have a good record of figuring out other products by reading the manual... this is no different than that.

I am a Jamstix guy and have been since version 1. Sadly in Rb it is only a basic drum module, but in other DAWs it actually jams with the music and is super versatile.

I'm happy with BFD Eco as well.

When I upgraded BIAB and used real tracks for the first time, it was terrific. The tracks just seem to come alive. It was that way with BFD too. The difference it made to the MIDI tracks was like night and day. I'd love to upgrade to BFD2 but it's bit of a jump price wise.(I'll keep my fingers crossed for a Christmas sale time)

I guess in the end it's personal preference. Maybe you could download some trials of the suggestions given here. Good luck!

Actually, yjoh, FXpansion just started a promotion: in May, you can upgrade to BFD2 for only $99. I'm certainly going to.

Yep, I bought ECO when it was on sale, now will definately do the upgrade to BFD2 for $99 ! COOL Thanks.

Thanks Tom, I finally read the email about the $99 upgrade. They must have read my mind!
Hope they repeat the offer around Christmas time if I can't stretch to it by end of May.

I used NI Battery 2 til I got a Mac!

That's a pretty good sales strategy. There are a lot of good programs out there for $150 that I look and but don't buy. But to offer a sale on a lower priced entry level product, then offer another sale on the upgrade to the full version... I bet they will get a LOT of people on their customer list as a result.

I went for both pitches, and it sounds like others here feel the same way.

Was just looking and seems like BFD2 does not have ANY kits with brushes ? Could that be ? Really ?

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Was just looking and seems like BFD2 does not have ANY kits with brushes ? Could that be ? Really ?

not true.
My son has BFD2 and uses brushes extensively... its one of the things he likes about it. For example, with traditional MIDI brush patches, you could never create the sound jazz drummers do when they hit and drag the brush. BFD2 can do that (but not without some tweaking)

Thanks Pat. Does he have any 'extension' paks ? I notice the Jazz Maple add-on has brushes.. Add'l $70 though.

Just got mine here: Make an offer of $94. Free shipping.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270512092586