Virtual Instrument of the Year

Toontrack Superior Drummer 3 £305

Web www.timespace.com Format Mac/PC It’s hard to know where to start with Superior Drummer 3’s enormous list of highlights and killer features, there are so many of them. At the fundamental level – as an acoustic drum kit ROMpler – it’s without equal. Six full drum kits were recorded by engineering demigod George Massenberg in 14 configurations (sticks, brushes, rods, single/double-headed toms, etc), 11.1 surround, and a ton of articulations (27 for each set of hi-hats!), resulting in a drive-busting 230GB of sample data.

X-Drums can load external samples; any ‘pad’ can be stacked with multiple sounds, both internally and externally sourced; and the mixer now features a whopping 35 effects modules.

And then there’s the Tracker. This potentially game-changing drum replacement system analyses the contents of your drum multitracks (or even stereo mixes, with some wrangling!), converts them to MIDI and uses that note data to trigger the loaded kit.

It doesn’t hurt that Toontrack have completely rewritten the GUI, either, making it less intimidating to newcomers, faster and more intuitive for upgrading users, and just a whole lot prettier than previous versions.

From its stunning tubs and comprehensive onboard mixing, to Stacking, sequencing and the amazing Tracker, Superior Drummer 3 is a staggeringly expansive drum kit design studio. Not only the best Virtual Instrument of the Year, but arguably the best software of the year full stop, we can’t sing its praises loudly enough.