Toontrack Superior Drummer 3

Welcome to the future of drum production

In addition to a massive library of raw sound material, Superior Drummer 3 introduces a unique design, a streamlined workflow, and countless features for powerful drum production in your computer. With Superior Drummer 3, you have control and creative power beyond the imaginable. Welcome to the future.

• In excess of 230 GB of raw, unprocessed sounds in 44.1 kHz/24 bit
• Recorded with an additional eleven separate room microphones set up in a surround configuration for a completely immersive experience
• Playback in stereo or up to 11 channel surround systems
• Approx. 350 vintage and classic drum machine sounds
• New and improved scalable interface with detachable windows
• Edit Play Style, Tap2Find, Song Creator, and Song Track features as well as improved workflow and search functionality
• Built-in MIDI grid editor
• DAW automation for built-in macro controls
• Support for keyboard shortcuts

A creative playground where no rules apply

The idea with Superior Drummer 3 is to let you step into a virtual studio with the best possible raw material and mix options at your disposal to create drum sounds in an environment where only your imagination sets the limits. Combining the creative power of the sounds, the ambiences, and the extensive set of features, Superior Drummer 3 is more than just a drum sampler - it's a bottomless well of creativity. It bridges the gap between acoustic and electronic and lets you venture off into completely new sonic landscapes. This is the definitive tool for percussive sound design.

Immense and immersive, captured with layers of technology

The Superior Drummer 3 core sound library was recorded by award-winning engineer George Massenburg at probably the world’s most quiet and ideal location for sampling, the Galaxy Studios in Belgium. The library boasts in excess of 230 GB of raw sound material captured in extreme detail.
 In addition to close microphones and several ambience positions, the Superior Drummer 3 setup also includes an eleven room microphone set up in a surround configuration, for use in anything from stereo to 5.1, 9.1, and all the way up to 11.1 systems. In combination with the large selection of extra instruments added for stacking and sound design purposes, the sounds of Superior Drummer 3 give you an incomparable palette of options to craft drum tones beyond your wildest imagination.

• Seven (7) kits (Ayotte, Gretsch, Pearl, Premier, Yamaha, and two configurations of Ludwig)
• Tom shell dimensions cover ranges from 6” to 20”
• Optional tool selection available on select kits and instruments (sticks, brushes, rods, felt mallets)
• Optional drum head selection available on select kits and instruments
• Approx. 350 electronic drum sounds, sampled from vintage and classic drum m achines
• 25 unique acoustic snares, 35 recorded configurations
• 16 unique acoustic kicks, 27 different recorded configurations

Audio perfection in utter silence

The Superior Drummer 3 core sound library was recorded at Galaxy Studios in Belgium. With its 330 square meter room and eight-meter ceiling height, it was the ideal location for capturing immersive audio of the utmost quality. In addition, the entire studio complex is built on springs to ensure that the outside interference is literally nonexistent. In fact, with only 14 dBA of environmental noise, the main hall at Galaxy Studio is the quietest recording space of this size in the world.

Perfect acoustics, balanced reverberation, and second-to-none recording technology. Superior Drummer 3 called for a superior studio. We’d dare to say that this is the most nuanced and candidly captured sample library on the market.

George Massenburg - superior engineer, audio pioneer, professor, and inventor.

George Massenburg’s contribution to the world of audio technology is hard to emphasize in words. Aside from having produced, mixed, or engineered in excess of four hundred records, received almost any industry award thinkable, been inducted into the Technology Hall of Fame, and received an honorary Doctorate of Music at the esteemed Berklee College, he is the inventor of an industry staple: the parametric equalizer. His attention to detail, accuracy, and quality is second to none.

Superior Drummer 3 called for a superior engineer. These are his drum sounds – captured with layers of technology and a lifetime of experience to back it up.

The heartbeat of your song

Superior Drummer implements several groundbreaking features for working with any aspect of your drum MIDI content – right inside the program. The idea is that regardless of what you are attempting to accomplish, you should never have to leave the framework of Superior Drummer 3. From quickly getting a custom beat going to laying out entire songs or diving deep into fine-tuning timing and velocity detail, Superior Drummer 3 has got you covered.

Add to this the comprehensive Superior Drummer 3 MIDI library, covering a wide range of styles, and you have a wealth of inspiration to use to craft your custom drum tracks from.

• Multiple song tracks
• Build full drum arrangements
• Grid editor
• Time and tempo editor integrated in Song Track
• Edit Play Style, Tap2Find, Song Creator, and Song Track with improved workflow and search functionality added
• Integrated grooves and search browser
• Text search

Control and power, beyond the thinkable

The mixer introduces 35 low-footprint insert effects, making each channel strip a virtual sound processing powerhouse. Route, bus, send, saturate, blend and mix - the creative options are endless.

Think of Superior Drummer 3 like stepping into the control of a world-class studio and taking a seat at the mixing console. Outside the glass windows, in the massive hall, there’s a wide array of drums of all sizes, makes and models, all set up and ready for you to hone to fit your mixes.

With Superior Drummer 3, you are in control. Only your imagination sets the limits.

• 35 mixer effects (EQ, delay, reverb, filters, dynamics, distortion, modulation)
• A wide array of presets for all included kits
• Individual mic bleed and mic control
• Bus, route, send

A new breed of Audio to MIDI conversion

The Tracker introduces the arguably most efficient and accurate drum audio to MIDI conversion software on the market. Built on a highly advanced instrument recognition neural network, the Tracker detects hits with unequaled accuracy and speed.

With the seamless integration with Superior Drummer 3, replacing or augmenting drums has never been more powerful than now. Simply drop your drum audio material in Tracker, let it quickly analyze your content and in no time, you'll be able to preview the MIDI-based on your original tracks. Start blending, augmenting, replacing, and creating!

• Drum recognition based on artificial intelligence (AI)
• Machine learning based on over 1.4 million drum audio files
• Offline audio to MIDI conversion
• Track complex drum patterns faster than ever before
• Unlimited control with Find Similar, Sound Recognition Threshold and other specially designed features
• Create tempo maps from audio with the Find Tempo feature
• Reduce bleed between different microphones to avoid false triggers
• Edit MIDI notes individually directly in the waveform
• Seamless integration with Superior Drummer 3
• Endless possibilities to replace
or augment any drum performance
• Get experimental - import any audio file to generate original percussive rhythms

Make your electronic kit sound like you

By combining smart software features with extreme sample detail and nuance, Superior Drummer 3 bridges the gap between the “e” and the drums, making your electronic kit every bit as "real" and acoustic as it can be.

Superior Drummer 3 was designed with you in mind, the demanding e-drummer. Get started playing instantly with one of the new e-drum presets, or customize the way the software responds to your playing with new, easy-to-use controls on the dedicated e-drum settings tab.

The e-drum settings tab is used to transform incoming MIDI to the standard of any loaded sound library without affecting the playback of your MIDI files. This makes it easy to combine your own playing with any MIDI files available from Toontrack. It also offers quick access to the MIDI controls most frequently used, like hi-hat pedal and snare CC response. Controls and articulations for the mapping of custom kits and pads with multiple zones and positional sensitivity are available as well.

All this in combination with optimized velocity response, humanization, and up to 25 velocity layers per instrument in the Superior Drummer 3 core library will make your playing more expressive and well-rounded than ever!

• New e-drum settings page allows transforming incoming MIDI without affecting the playback of your MIDI files.
• Get started playing instantly with new e-drum presets for a variety of e-drum brands
• Easy setup for positional sensing pads and multiple articulations
• No need for a DAW – capture your performance directly in the Song Track of Superior Drummer 3
• Superb realism, new articulations, and manageable library size with up to 25 velocity layers per instrument
• Quick access to controls for snare and hi-hat CC
• Optimized response and humanization