Pros:
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The kick is advertised as “fat”, but I find it to be more tight, punchy and focused. Direct Kick In and Out mics, allows more tonal options than the Epik kits. Good beater attack.
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The snare also feels/sounds tight, has good definition and enough low/mid fullness. It has a great rimshot crack which helps flams to pop out. Not a super ringy snare, but there are a few nice resonances that round out the tone and will get pulled up in the mix with compression.
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You get 5 ambient mic channels, including an Amb3 and 2 compressed room mics (Euri 1176 + SSL LMC). Imo, the ambient mics are special and what really makes this kit come alive, whether you use the compressed mics, or not. I chose to use those, as they added character and didn’t have as much low-mid mud to clean up.
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If you like toms and lots of them, then this kit has got you covered. There are 7 toms in total, including a third Floor Tom that is really deep and rich sounding. My favorite one. Not too much high-end “snap” on their own, but full sounding and the ambient mics are what give you the attack. Each tom includes a bottom direct mic, as well as top mic. They don’t require a lot of dampening either.
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Includes direct cymbal mics. Really nice sounding crashes and another ride with a great Bell articulation. Very nice Hi Hat that is also well recorded and has some sizzle, but balanced with fullness.
Cons:
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As has been mentioned by others, the 2 presets included won’t load for me and crash BFD3. Still unclear whether this is an installer problem, or with BFD3 itself. But with no presets, or kit presets (not included), the only way I could get started with this expansion was to start from zero and add each kit piece manually. Then, save a preset so I could have something to work with. As I mentioned in my other reviews, not a dealbreaker for veteran users, but newcomers might find it annoying and say, “Where the hell is my kit?”.
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I can hear something like white noise with the China cymbal when decaying. Maybe just a bad sample, or it could be the rivets (not sure if it even has them) sustaining? You probably won’t notice it unless it’s in solo, but I think I was able to reduce it with some notching eq.
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Edit: I made a mistake initially, by saying that the SR Epik kits have no snare bleed going into the kick, but in fact they do.
This kit definitely does not have bleed into the kick that I can hear. Not a huge deal, as I normally tend to bring down the bleed anyways, but a little bleed really does help to glue the kit together. The upside of not having any snare bleed in the kick, is you can compress it all day and not have to worry about it bringing up the snare. -
Compared to the SR Epik kits, this one doesn’t have as many alternate/special articulations, especially for the cymbals and Ride. The Toms do have alternate artics, but I honestly couldn’t hear much of a difference between the normal hits.
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I wouldn’t call this a “con” because it’s a great snare, but you only get one, whereas some of the other Sonic Reality kits may have a few choices for snares.
Verdict: 9/10
Final Thoughts:
This is an awesome sounding kit. There’s a lot to love and not so much to nitpick on. It’s my favorite of the 3 Sonic Reality kits I’ve tried so far and it kind of took me by surprise. Upon listening to the demos on the website, I wasn’t sure if it was a sound I’d be into, but like a lot of drum kits, with a little tweaking and creativity, you can create a sound that works for you. The ambient mic choices allow you to blend any combination to create a huge room sound, or dial it back for something more subtle, but they are some of the better ambient mics I’ve heard and you will want to crank them for sure. This is a fun kit to play with and I highly recommend it.
Hugh Padgham Preset.zip (68.0 KB)