Hey Dan, another perspective! But let me say that these quotes from previous responses, your included - pretty well sum up the reality:

Originally Posted By: MusicStudent
“…the answer then I believe I simply need to learn more about how a drummer thinks and put in the time to "program the drums". Not something I have been willing to do as a routine workflow.


I have been producing music professionally for a lot of years and have had to manage the drum side of things in many scenarios. What I have found- The level of your ‘fantastic drum sounds/ realistic performance’ in my experience is a direct result of the time put into it and the level you know your tools and your ability to think like a drummer. There is just no way around the long hours even with modern tools if you want to customize for a song, and as Bob said, 'lead the song' with energy, style, intent and feel. Which...could mean in real time…for me…2-3 full studio days working on BASIC drums alone for one song and then refining ‘drummer level’ details (open, semi, closed hats for EACH hit - rim, center snare dynamics, bell or cymbal edge etc..) over the course of the song. When the result of your labor is the ability for exceptional drummers to ask who was playing drums during playback, it is worth it! And since my ‘professional’ instrument is bass, and since I play drums pretty well, I have a pretty good idea on how a groove should be managed. But its been years in progress!

Originally Posted By: Notes Norton
…”(3) listening intently and emulating the great drummers of pop music like Hal Blaine, Pretty Purdy, John Bonham and so on””


^^ This ^^

Originally Posted By: jazzmammal
…”but as far as leading the band is concerned, that's on you. You have two choices, learn it yourself or hire a good drummer.


^^ This ^^

Originally Posted By: MusicStudent
“What I am asking is, is Real Drums flexible enough to go beyond simply laying down a beat?


^^ YES ^^!!

BIAB REAL DRUMS: You are right about Real Drums – they can feel light on your track choice after a few years of using them! And they have their limits: And as Tony mentioned
Originally Posted By: Teunis
I think the playing on RealDrums is usually great but often the mix leaves something to be desired.
…the production quality is very random as many of these RT drummers record from their own studios and have different production techniques. Since they are ‘premixed’ they are challenging to match production quality. It can be done…but takes A LOT of specialized skill and time and more time. RTDs are often relegated to demos at best for me. Still, I find GREAT inspiration in them for writing and I HAVE used RT in limited form for a professional song or two on a record release in the past. That said – Yes sir, you can get more from Real Tracks in terms of originality. But again…you have to be willing to be creative, patient, and exhaustive in cutting, pasting, rearranging, automating, re-creating, drum replacement etc etc.. I do it often for simple demos, but there is always a compromise of time and/or quality.

Originally Posted By: MarioD
“… You might want to looking Groovemonkee MIDI drum loops: https://groovemonkee.com/ “…” Note that I do no work for Groovemonkee. I am just a satisfied user.


Originally Posted By: MarioD
Drums are one of the instruments that MIDI does extremely well.


^^ This is great advice ^^ Big supporter and user of Groove Monkey midi tracks

And...lastly (not that you asked!! LOL)

Some of my own drum tools: (for reference, not recommendation), BFD3, SSD4, SSD5, EZDrummer, Groove Agent, Strike Drums, (1000s of midi grooves bought from every supplier) Loop Libraries and my collection of vintage drum machines and all expansion tools (Roland R8 and all the cards, Alesis HR16, HR16B, Yamaha RX5 w/ roms, Linn 2, Emu Emulator, Akai MPC and others) They ALL have their moments for me, they ALL get used and I have done records/songs/demos with combinations of all of them including live drum sessions intermixed. I personally cannot have enough choices for drums.

My own bottom line: Nobody can do your drummer pushups for you, except a drummer! But it is a learning curve WELL WORTH the time spent! As non drummers, we all have to manage this part of production but gratefully there are some PHENOMENAL tools available today!

Cheers, have fun bud!

RG