Hi Folks, Just purchased GA4 and was wondering if there was any way to change the “kit aspect”? I like to play and programme from the drummer’s perspective with toms Hi to low travelling from left to right and Hi-Hat just off centre to the left. It seems that the sounds are fixed in the Overheads and room mic channel even when you pan the close mics. Slate drums allow you to move elements within different channels or even flip the kit!!
I an afraid you cannot compare Slate with GA4 1:1 even though they are both about drum sounds. They aim for a slightly different audience. Thus many functions you will find in Slate is not in GA4 and vice versa. The philosophy of GA4 is more on premade loops/grooves/patterns. Although it is possible to lay down a track playing each drum, it is in the patterns and the pads that GA4 shine. You could say it is a simpler tool than Slate. It is quicker to lay down a full song track and it works great in live situations, however it is Steinberg who has done the drum part of your composition. I find GA4 more of a beginners tool, or if you do not know much about the physics of drums. I find Slate to be more of a"real" drummer software.
You can of course pan the drums in GA4 to your liking. Use cubase mixer instead of GA4, separate tracks for the drums. I guess it is where the sound source is placed in the stereo field that matters and not how it looks in the graphical interface.
Thanks RumDrum,
I guess all I can do in that respect is take all of the drums & hats out of the overheads and rooms channels and use a short, close ambiance patch on an aux to try and recreate a virtual overhead channel 
Shame because the samples are crisp and the articulations good. It does seem a strange omission as kit aspect is a pretty 50 50 preference and wouldn’t have added a huge amount of work at the sampling stage!!!
Oh well…I think Steinberg’s claims about the “ultimate drum studio” may be a bit “prem” !!
I think the “ultimate drum studio” is invented at a marketing meeting in Steinberg. Perhaps not with the developers present. Think the developers would be embarrassed by the expression. Groove Agent has always been one of the simples drum softwares. GA2 and 3 had their charm with a wide range of groove styles. Styles you could not find anywhere else. Thus it was a versatile tool. However a beginners tool as the depth and sound quality was not present. With GA4 Steinberg changes the philosophy slightly. Out of the box it has lost it’s versatility (you have to buy future expansions to regain the versatility). In respect of grooves the focus is now on EDM. Gone are things like jazz and latin. What they have kept is that it is still meant to be a software you do not need to tweak. Some tweaking is possible but it is mostly hidden in a cumbersome interface. If I was new to the whole “making music in a DAW”, and found all the knobs, faders, tracks, channels, events and files overwhelming, i might look into GA4. Many years ago I bought my first DAW, Cubase LE bundled with the audio interface. I also bought GA2. I had a lot of fun with it and it helped me develop my skills making music in a DAW, but after getting acquainted with Toontrack, GA was very soon forgotten. EzDrummer 2 has only a slightly higher entry level and is much closer to being the “ultimate drum studio”. And if you were to advance even further; Superior, Slate and MOR (to mention a few). You can tell by the naming of the grooves in GA that it is something for the “kids”. You need a conversion table to tell what the grooves are all about. How is that “ultimate”?
I was however also fooled by the “ultimate drum studio” label, and I jumped the gun. It is sad they have put this label on it as many people (like me) will be very disappointed. A different marketing or product strategy and GA4 would have found it’s satisfied fan group.
On a positive note, I think I might enjoy combining electronic and acoustic sounds but it is not going to be my go-to for drummy stuff. Check out “Analogue Drums” as they have some really nice kits for Kontakt. It’s got to the point where I can pick Toontrack drums out in tracks as they have a rather distinct compressed sound that I’m not fond of.
G
Yeah, “Analog Drums”. Many great sounding kits and fairly cheap too. Not much eye candy though with a fairly stripped Kontakt interface. Does not work under the Library section of Kontakt. Well the looks does not really matter. Sound matters. Not much stroke variety if I remember right, and that matters from time to time.
I do however prefer a drummer interface with a MIDI groove player inside as Superior, Addictive and Studio Drummer have. I find inspiration in the vast libraries of pre-made grooves for them and sometimes I use them too, or with just a little tweaking.
If I would choose a drum software without a player it would be MOR. Sound wise, round robins, and stroke variety wise (like flams) I personally think that nothing has surpassed it yet. Sometimes I use Superior for inspiration and record with MOR. That is when real complex drumming is needed and drums are more a “listen to those drums playing!” rather than “just” keeping up a beat. Wish MOR would come with a MIDI player inside, as it would save me time, but I think meeting Santa for real is more likely.
Hey Rumdrum,
I like tweaking rex files too. Excuse my ignorance, which one is MOR?
I have Abbey Road Modern Drummer too which started to feel “sterile”. I revisited it a while ago and quite enjoyed the space it created in the track but the rim shot on the snare seems a little thin at times.
I think a good drum arsenal is definitely the answer and let the sounds inspire you or take you in a direction. I use a Yamaha DD65 to dub fills for a bit of variety.
Happy drumming buddy…and if you see Santa give him my list too 
G
Hi again!
MOR = Ministry of Rock from EastWest. It contains more than drums,thus a little expensive. There are several videos on youtube on the different parts. Two on drums alone. Have a look. I will put it on your wish list that I will pass on to Santa. 