Logic Drummer Track versus other acoustic Drum Libraries

[tcarden]

I'm needing some well,...slamming acoustic drums for a track i'm working on and recently watched a Drum Library shootout comparison. This video featured Groove Agent, Hertz Drums, Superior Drummer, Steven Slay Drums (SSD5), Addictive Drums and more. 

Then I was watching another video about 'must-know' Logic plugins and the guy said Logic acoustic drums are no good, which I totally disagree with. 

But it got  me curious about what other's opinions might be of Logics Drummer Track versus other drum libraries. I'd like to hear from you guys on this topic. 

[des99]

Logic's "Drummer" consists of two parts - the "Drummer" automatic tool for creating drum parts on the fly, and the instrument that Drummer plays, which is Logic's Drum Kit Designer. I think what you're asking is how does Logic's Drum Kit Designer instrument and drum kits/samples within it compare to other drum libraries, and I'd say it compares fairly well for a range of good sounding kits with a decent level of detail, and without being over-complex.

I use them a fair bit, and I also use other libraries too - it's good to have a range of kits and sound available. I'd say I mostly like only a few of Logic's kits, with SoCal being one of the ones I like a lot, but this is a taste thing about the aesthetics of your tastes and music styles.

You can use Drummer with other drum libraries if you want, by replacing the instrument it plays (though you might have to be careful with mappings etc if you want everything to match up.)

There's nothing wrong with Logic's kits, which were apparently recorded by some well-regarded names in the industry for Apple. When random guy says "no good" he probably means "not to my taste" - people rarely seem to take the time and effort to express themselves adequately on the internet, alas...

[David Nahmani]

6 hours ago, des99 said:

There's nothing wrong with Logic's kits, which were apparently recorded by some well-regarded names in the industry for Apple.

Indeed. It's too bad they won't release the names of the actual drummers they flew to Cupertino to develop Drummer and the instruments it plays (Drum Kit Designer and Drum Machine Designer for electronic drums). They are some of the most in demand drummers in the industry. 

[tcarden]

thanks for the response guys. 

i think i probably posted in the wrong forum, but no matter. those are good enough answers for now.

i like Logic's Drummer Track a lot, with the mixing options for room mics, overhead mics etc.

 

Edited February 3, 2023 by tcarden

[MikeRobinson]

I very much like Logic's "Drummer" both for its realism and for its convenience.  It will automatically produce a realistic-to-me varying pattern of fills and embellishments, very much as a real human drummer might do.

I don't think that there can be any "perfect drummer" nor set of samples of any kind.  You simply have to find – or, as the case may be, buy – what sounds best to you, for this project.  Certainly it will produce a very good drum track now, even if you choose to hire a real person later.

Edited February 7, 2023 by MikeRobinson

[JimN]

On 2/7/2023 at 8:41 AM, MikeRobinson said:

I very much like Logic's "Drummer" both for its realism and for its convenience.  It will automatically produce a realistic-to-me varying pattern of fills and embellishments, very much as a real human drummer might do.

I don't think that there can be any "perfect drummer" nor set of samples of any kind.  You simply have to find – or, as the case may be, buy – what sounds best to you, for this project.  Certainly it will produce a very good drum track now, even if you choose to hire a real person later.

I agree.  I have only just recently switched to Logic but have dabbled in ezdrummer for drums previously in other DAWs.  I really find that with drummer in Logic (or GarageBand) I can get something dialed in and fleshed out through an entire song much more easily than I can with ezdrummer and a library of midi patterns.  However, with additional ezdrummer EZX add-ons I have a much deeper palette of drum sounds to draw from.

[David Nahmani]

On 2/3/2023 at 5:45 PM, tcarden said:

i think i probably posted in the wrong forum

I don't believe you did! I think the first part to really understand is what des99 said, that "Drummer" is Logic's virtual drummer. Like its counterpart, a real human drummer, "Drummer" can come up with patterns, fills, play harder or softer, busier or more minimal grooves etc...

But then the final drum sound you get also depends on the drum kit the drummer is playing, the way it's mic'ed, engineered, mixed etc. And "Drummer" in itself doesn't have anything to do with that. By default, "Drummer" comes with some of the standard Logic drumkits, which you may or may not like, but really it can play any drum kit you want. Feel free to use a 3rd party drum sample library, your own samples, synthesized sounds, whatever you want. It just produces a MIDI signal that can trigger any MIDI instrument. 

It's basically like if you had a "Keyboard" feature that was generating keyboard riffs, melodies and grooves as MIDI sequences, and then you could route those to your favorite outboard MIDI expanders or synthesizers or sampler from the 80s, or built-in software instruments, or Vienna Ensemble Pro hosting orchestral libraries, or whatever you'd like. 

So in conclusion, there are two distincts elements at play:

1. The MIDI programming (which Drummer can automatically generate).
2. The instrument (which can be anything you wish but isn't actually related to Drummer per se). 

[Little Fat Bloke]

Logic's drummer is extremely good for what it does, considering it comes free. I think Apple could have made it a separate package and charged extra, but I'm glad they didn't. Besides, Kyle, Logan and Anders are really nice guys, and as session players go they are very cheap!

 

I have EZDrummer 3 and I use both this and Logic's Drummer in equal proportion. And as to the guy who said their acoustic kits are no good, each to their own but every single Logic user that I know won't have a bad word said against it.