At first I was bemused at the 11.1 mix capabilities of SD3. (Stacks replace MIDI Nodes for power SD2 users out there.) I stacked over twenty samples onto one hi-hat and get the impression you could load a hell of a lot more. Later in this review I have some audio examples of what possibilities stacking brings to drum programming and sound design. With the Stacking feature in SD3 you can layer multiple sounds to play back at the same time and trigger them with the same MIDI note. You can replace an existing drum, add a custom sample as a new instrument (X-Drum), or add it to an existing instrument or Stack. SD3 now supports importing third party samples. This is made all the more easy with the new Search Instrument window that enables filtered searching by library, drum type, kit piece and so on. The possibilities are endless already, but it doesn’t stop there. Any existing SD2 and EZ Drummer library kit or individual kit piece can be loaded into SD3.

The six kits for review – Ayotte, Gretsch, Pearl, Premier, Ludwig, Yamaha – were specifically chosen by Toontrack and George Massenburg to cover a wide range of musical styles, but they only form the basis of what is possible.

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