There are enough sonic differences between the various kits to provide some variety, but as they're all top‑notch acoustic drum kits, depending on how you mix them they could just as easily find a place in other musical styles. The end result of this detailed sampling is fabulous. So it's just like working with a recording of a real kit. As with other SD2 kits, multiple mics are offered for kick and snare, various overhead mic positions are available, and the bleed level between mics can be controlled. As you might expect, the attention to detail is exemplary: the full install requires 35GB of drive space and uses some 300,000 individual samples, although you can choose from a number of more compact installation options. Seven complete kits have been sampled for this pack and, by careful choice of kit and microphone combinations, they've been designed to cover ground from late '60s Zeppelin‑esque classic rock to Slipknot‑like nu‑metal, with stops along the way for Kiss, Iron Maiden and Metallica. There are no prizes for guessing the musical target, and TMF comes exactly 10 years after Toontrack's first 'rawk' orientated drum product, Drumkit From Hell. However, two expansion packs have since been released: New York Studios and, reviewed here, The Metal Foundry (TMF). When I compared Toontrack's Superior Drummer 2 with FXpansion's BDF2, my one quibble was its relatively small number of instruments.

Superior drummer 4 release date