I\u2019ve written this in December 2020 so if you\u2019re reading this sometime later then this may be out of date.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re reading this, you are probably interested in drum replacement software. That means you already know that it allows you to either completely replace individual components of a drum recording (or even live performance) or augment \/ improve them by layering other drum samples over them.<\/p>\n
I am not going to go into a lot of detail about the plugins mentioned in this article but instead will try to help you understand which ones might be right for your needs. Their main benefits and downsides.<\/p>\n
When I looked for one I was working on a song which a friend of mine had written and she had provided me with a stereo track with the main drums on. They were pretty much played by hand and varied considerably throughout the song. So, to analyse it and try to create new tracks which I could then mix properly was almost impossible, there were so many nuances, especially with the hi-hats which made it almost impossible to copy. I did have a go but it was taking ages and did not translate well at all.<\/p>\n
It’s very easy to get addicted to buying plugins, I think I started off when I couldn’t compress a vocal track well with the stock plugins in my DAW, and from then on the promise of making my mixes sound better kept me on the plugin merry-go-round. However, eventually, after collecting some brilliant plugins I found that there were a few essential ones that I came back to over and over, and instead of looking for plugins that would make me a \u201cbetter\u201d sound engineer, I began to only get more plugins when I had a problem that I couldn\u2019t solve with the tools I already had. By the way the plugins I use the most are the FabFilter Q3, C2, L2, Saturn 2 and MB2, the SSL Bus Comp, Sound Toys Decapitator, various 76 Compressors, Eiosis De-Esser, SPL Transient Designer and then various other plugins for colourisation (these tend to vary a lot as it’s often an exercise in absolving my conscience by trying out all the ones I should never have bought in the first place).<\/p>\n
So, here I was, I had a problem that required a tool I didn\u2019t have. This was a great excuse to not get on with any proper music work and look for a new Holy Grail. Spoiler alert I DID find one\u2026 But\u2026 Yes, there\u2019s a but.<\/p>\n
I realise I\u2019ve rambled on too much already so let\u2019s get down to trying to help you work out what might be best for you. It goes like this.<\/p>\n
The Holy Grail plugin for Drum replacement is Superior Drummer 3, which, while it\u2019s a lot more than a drum replacer it does the job amazingly, including the nuances of the hi-hats. However, the downside is it is quite expensive,(it\u2019s probably at least twice if not three times the price of the equivalent Slate packages). Likewise the sample packs can be very pricey and as far as I know you cannot download a trial version. (Not a great marketing ploy of the main plugin). Also, some of the Sample Packs, including the default ones range from 1 Gb to over a hundred gigabytes, which will take a while to download. However, if you want to see what is the best of the lot and whether it\u2019s worth saving up for I\u2019d absolutely suggest checking it out.<\/p>\n
On the other end of the scale is MDrumReplacer. On a good day when the sales are right, you can pick this one up for about $13-$20. At that price, it\u2019s worth it just for the 57Gb of drum samples included as well as some other extras. As for the drum replacement side of things it fared well with the others. One thing I particularly liked was its unique lower threshold bar that allowed the user to indicate an upper and lower range volume for the software to focus on in terms of what ought to be triggered. The downside though was when it came to hi-hat articulations it wasn\u2019t that impressive, but if you\u2019re mainly focusing on snares and kicks that shouldn\u2019t be an issue. Also, for me, it\u2019s midi output option did not work in Cubase 11, so if that\u2019s essential for you, maybe get the trial version first to see if it\u2019s still an issue.<\/p>\n
Top and bottom priced ones aside, the main contenders for most people will be these three:<\/p>\n
Slate Trigger Platinum 2<\/strong><\/p>\n UVI Drum Replacer<\/strong><\/p>\n Drumagog 5 and Drumagog 5 Platinum<\/strong><\/p>\n When the Slate Trigger 2 is on sale it\u2019s around $49. At that price for me it was the best of the 3. Mainly because it is so simple to use, very intuitive and not only comes with some ok samples but you can either add your own samples or Slate\u2019s own packs (beware the Trigger packs don\u2019t work on the Steven Slate Drums 5 or vice-a-versa which I think is a bit of a swizz). Unfortunately, again the hi-hats came out a bit rigid and it couldn\u2019t tell the difference between open or closed hi-hats.<\/p>\n The only one of these 3 which could “allegedly” distinguish between open and closed hi-hats is Drumagog 5 Platinum, but as they didn\u2019t supply any hi-hat gog files in the demo I couldn\u2019t test it and at between $163-$199 for the hi-hat version, I wasn\u2019t going to go for it. Better to use that money for Superior Drummer which if you\u2019re a student or teacher can be bought for around \u00a3200. The other downside to Drumagog was it wasn\u2019t particularly intuitive. I had to go online to find out how to do things which were obvious in the other packages. Also, the drum window was quite small and it all felt a bit dated. Whilst this is a very popular plugin, I think it\u2019s time for either a big price drop or an update. Still, it\u2019s certainly worth having a look at.<\/p>\n The UVI Drum Replacer is most likely to be the Trigger\u2019s main competitor. However, its sale price was around $70 so loses a bit of ground there. In some ways, it has a lot more features than the Slate one, but whether they are ones you\u2019ll need is going to be different for each user. It seemed to have a bit more functionality when it came to detection settings, and allows other plugins to be loaded to work within it, so, for example it allows Kontact drum libraries to be used instead of just samples. This, to me, makes up for it not including its own sample packs, which all the others do. All of this meant I needed a slightly bigger learning curve than I did with Trigger 2 and a bit less than with Drumagog 5.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t want to shell out a small fortune for Superior Drummer 3, and think MDrumreplacer isn\u2019t going to give you what you need, then I think you\u2019re going to be torn between Slate\u2019s Trigger and the UVI Drum Replacer, even so, do check out Drumagog 5 too, as it\u2019s worth seeing if it\u2019d work for you. Also, if you want to mention other ones that are worth considering, then please do so in the comments area below.<\/p>\n Thanks for reading, I hope this has helped.<\/p>\n Please like my page on Facebook<\/a> and follow me on your preferred music streaming service<\/a>.<\/p>\n Non affiliated links to the plugins mentioned above:<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.meldaproduction.com\/MDrumReplacer<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.uvi.net\/drum-replacer.html<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/stevenslatedrums.com\/trigger-2-platinum\/<\/a><\/p>\nTrigger 2 Platinum<\/h2>\n
Drumagog 5 Platinum<\/h2>\n
UVI Drum Replacer<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n