Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Artist news
  • Guitar Amps
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Drums
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Plugin Week 2025
  • You Oughta Know
  • Fake AI band
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • Wrecking Crew

Recommended reading

Sonicware CyDrums
Drum Machines “Do you dare to ditch those ‘normal’ beats in favour of hands-on tweaking and extreme sounds? Of course, you do”: Sonicware CyDrums review
plugins
Tech "It's a stupendously powerful tool": 10 of the best sampler plugins in 2025
DrumCraft Urban Beats
Drum Kits “A good-looking kit which won’t break the bank”: DrumCraft Urban Beats review
MIX DRUMS
Tech Arturia's Mix DRUMS is an "all-in-one" drum processor that promises punchy, pro-sounding drums without the fuss
Alesis Strata Prime electronic drum set in a blue room
Electronic Drums Best Alesis electronic drum sets 2025: My pick of Alesis electronic drums for beginners to pros
Yamaha Stage Custom drum set in a studio with spotlights behind
Drum Kits Best drum sets 2025: Top drum kits for beginner to pro drummers
acon digital
Tech This AI-powered plugin could be a game-changingly useful tool for drum production
  1. Tech
  2. Beatmaking

9 recommended drum software packages

Tuition
By Rhythm magazine, Tom Porter published 11 February 2010

Virtual kits and drum machines reviewed, compared

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Toontrack Superior Drummer 2.0

Toontrack Superior Drummer 2.0

Drum software has evolved greatly over the past decade, and the current crop of virtual kits and drum machines are all capable of detailed sound editing and creating grooves ranging from cerebral jazz to foot-stomping funk and bone-crunching metal. But which one is best for you, your budget and the way you work?

To save you the legwork and expense of hunting down the hottest software, we’ve rounded up nine of the best packages available today. For an in-depth look and OS requirements for each product click through to the full review at the bottom of each page. First up: Toontrack Superior Drummer 2.0...

Easy to use, slick as you like, and with a 'superior' sound, SD 2.0 has beaten back the competition to claim its place as perhaps the best drum ROMpler going.

The included MIDI library (if a little samey), mixer and effects are particularly useful.

Now read: Toontrack Superior Drummer 2.0 review

Page 1 of 9
Page 1 of 9
XLN Audio Addictive Drums

XLN Audio Addictive Drums

This drum studio package offers three main features: drum samples, production tools and grooves. It ships with three complete kits (a Sonor Designer, a Tama Starclassic and a DW Collector’s Series) plus lots of extra drums and cymbals. Samples include nuances from the softest to the hardest hits, and many stroke variations.

All of the sounds were recorded with a multi-channel mic setup and you can adjust the tuning and characteristics of each sound, as well as the amount of EQ, reverb, distortion and compression to be applied. It boasts an attractive, intuitive user interface.

Now read: XLN Audio Addictive Drums review

Page 2 of 9
Page 2 of 9
FXpansion BFD2

FXpansion BFD2

Although potentially complex, BFD2 is an excellent package and a big step up from v1.5. It’s more reliable, easier to use and should be strongly considered by anyone looking for a virtual acoustic drum kit.

It also boasts a massive sound library - just watch out for the large disk footprint that comes with it.

Now read: FXpansion BFD2 review

Page 3 of 9
Page 3 of 9
Toontrack EZdrummer

Toontrack EZdrummer

Although a watered-down version of Toontrack’s massive Superior package, EZdrummer has more drum sounds and MIDI patterns than you can shake a drum stick at.

A friendly interface visualises the drums loaded and combines auditioning and kit construction. An internal mixer allows the module to work in both stereo and multi-track mode without the user having to step out of one version of the plug-in and into another, and gives control of levels between mics and ambience and overhead mic leakage.

A good package for beginners but for state-of-the-art drum sounds look elsewhere.

Now read: Toontrack Funkmasters EZX review

Page 4 of 9
Page 4 of 9
Native Instruments Battery 3

Native Instruments Battery 3

A state-of-the-art drum module with a huge array of sounds and editing capabilities. It has a 12GB sample library with 100 drum kits covering a massive range of styles. Alongside the expected rock, pop and hip hop kits you’ll find setups dedicated to jazz (including a brush kit), reggae, vintage soul, hard rock, electronic and avant-garde sounds and ethnic percussion.

Countless effects and performance articulations help create realistic or even bizarre effects. Import your own samples and create kits containing up to 128 different drum sounds, each with up to 128 different velocity variations.

Now read: Native Instruments Battery 3 review

Page 5 of 9
Page 5 of 9
Steinberg Groove Agent 3

Steinberg Groove Agent 3

This popular package boasts a large library of tweakable drum and percussion grooves covering more than 100 popular styles, all syncable to a sequencer’s song tempo. You can import your own sounds and create your own kits.

GA3 also includes Special Agent, offering realistic acoustic kits and Percussion Agent for percussive grooves and sounds. Dual Mode allows you to use two Agents alongside each other. This is easily the best, most powerful and flexible version of Groove Agent yet.

Now read: Steinberg Groove Agent 3 review

Page 6 of 9
Page 6 of 9
East West / Quantum Leap SD2

East West / Quantum Leap SD2

This impressive package is packed with big drum sounds that can really beef up your percussion tracks. Some of the more unusual instruments include Tibetan and Chinese gongs, Indonesian hand drums, giant log drums, hang drums, anklung, a waterphone, an 80 ft metal bridge and the largest floor tom ever built - 42"x 42", built by Remo especially for the project.

The sounds are superb and their expressivity is impressive. Useful MIDI performances are also included. It’s an awesome package.

Now read: East West / Quantum Leap SD2 review

Page 7 of 9
Page 7 of 9
Linplug RMV

Linplug RMV

It’s an insanely powerful concept, handles loops as well as hits and allows the user very detailed control over each sound, but still the latest version of Linplug’s RM doesn’t quite live up to expectations.

Still, with a little bit more polish (starting with the user interface flaws, clunky loop handling and synthesis methods) it could yet become the dream drum machine that we hoped for.

Now read: Linplug RMV review

Page 8 of 9
Page 8 of 9
Toontrack EZplayer Pro

Toontrack EZplayer Pro

EZplayer Pro is a multi-track MIDI organiser, arranger and format conversion tool that allows you to organise MIDI drum clips. You can use EZplayer Pro to preview the clips and drag and drop them directly into your sequencer and the multi-track arranger allows you to rearrange your MIDI clips.

It’s easy to use and a handy tool for anyone who works extensively with MIDI beats.

Now read: Toontrack EZplayer Pro review

Page 9 of 9
Page 9 of 9
Tom Porter

Tom Porter worked on MusicRadar from its mid-2007 launch date to 2011, covering a range of music and music making topics, across features, gear news, reviews, interviews and more. A regular NAMM-goer back in the day, Tom now resides permanently in Los Angeles, where he's doing rather well at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).

Read more
Sonicware CyDrums
“Do you dare to ditch those ‘normal’ beats in favour of hands-on tweaking and extreme sounds? Of course, you do”: Sonicware CyDrums review
plugins
"It's a stupendously powerful tool": 10 of the best sampler plugins in 2025
DrumCraft Urban Beats
“A good-looking kit which won’t break the bank”: DrumCraft Urban Beats review
MIX DRUMS
Arturia's Mix DRUMS is an "all-in-one" drum processor that promises punchy, pro-sounding drums without the fuss
Alesis Strata Prime electronic drum set in a blue room
Best Alesis electronic drum sets 2025: My pick of Alesis electronic drums for beginners to pros
Yamaha Stage Custom drum set in a studio with spotlights behind
Best drum sets 2025: Top drum kits for beginner to pro drummers
Latest in Beatmaking
Elektron Digitakt II
Digitakt II’s new firmware adds a major user-requested feature that sets it apart from the original
David Lynch E-MU Emulator III
David Lynch’s collection of studio gear is up for auction, and it includes a classic ‘80s sampler
DrumCraft Urban Beats
“A good-looking kit which won’t break the bank”: DrumCraft Urban Beats review
1010music Bento
“Designed to become the brain of your setup”: 1010music Bento is an all-in-one DAW in a box
Polyend Synth
One of our favourite instruments of 2024 gets even better as Polyend adds a sample engine to Synth
Ableton Move 1.5
Ableton drops 1.5 update for Move, adding sample slicing, improved MIDI I/O and a new Auto-Filter device
Latest in Tuition
Odin 2
Fantastic (free) plugins and how to use them: The Wave Warden Odin 2
ableton
8 things you can do with Ableton Live's updated Auto Filter device
Best VST synths
Don't know where to start with virtual instruments? We're here to help
Guitarists
How to record virtual and live instruments more smoothly by taking stock of your sample buffer
Compressor settings
The ultimate compression cheat sheet – go-to settings to help you make better music
Piano basics: the black notes - what are they for and how do you use them?

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...