Set up in the DJ booth with a laptop and a MIDI keyboard, Strike 2 could be an interesting addition to an EDM or hip hop arsenal. That said, when using a handful of the acoustic kits, most of the electronic drum machine kits, or your own library of samples, Strike 2 is a formidable drum VST plugin for live performance due to its enormous built-in MIDI library and great sample playback features. The MIDI mapping is non-standard and not remappable in the plugin, rendering my existing MIDI useless without tedious remapping, and the most of the acoustic samples leave something to be desired.
After playing with MDrummer, however, it was clear which one of the two would be my desert island drum plugin and win Best Drum Plugin Overall.īelow is the sample from my full review of MeldaProduction’s MDrummer: The other 5-star plugin, Steven Slate Drums 5.5, was an early favorite and set to be my winner.
Rhythms mode is a bit confusing unless you consult the manual It is my belief that home studio producers should be provided a fully functional demo of software products before purchase due to the non-refundability of most software, and in most cases will not review products that don’t have a demo or at least a limited return policy.)īest Drum Plugin Overall – MeldaProduction MDrummer As such, plugins with restricted or no demo options like XLN Audio’s addictive Drums, Toontrack’s Superior Drummer, and GetGood Drums Kontakt samples were not eligible for review. (Editor’s note: In my review roundups, I do not feature any plugin that doesn’t offer an unrestricted demo for at least 7 days to evaluate the product.