NI Battery users: what's the added value in Ableton?

[1pauluzz1]

Hi guys,

I'm wondering if some NI Battery users can explain what for them the added value of using NI Battery over/besides native Ableton instruments such as Simpler/Sampler, Drum Racks, Impulse is.

I'm working with Ableton's instruments for some years now so I know their capabilities. The impression that I get from some reviews is that Battery could offer:

- A more intuitive and tactile approach;
- Detailed control over every element of your percussion/groove
- The idea of 'one-box-for-your-percussive-needs'; to have a go-to instrument.

Reasons why it could be superfluous: all functions of Battery are already available in Ableton, racks can be set up to meet all needs.

I'm trying to figure out whether Battery could enhance my workflow, or that it would mostly be just another routine to learn which will just distract me from writing music.

Thanks !

[Khazul]

I find battery a bit of a pain vs using drum racks in Live. Personally I dont really like its built in processing either, though some of it is nice - vintage sampler emulation comes to mind.

The huge plus and the reason I use it however is if I think there is a chance I may want to move the entire project into Logic for some reason (This to me was also the huge value of Kore as well - moving racks between different DAWs). Also if you are likely to move a project between machines meaning you need to find samples again, then battery is 100s of times faster at relocating your samples.

Other plusses:

If you dont have Ableton's Samplers, then the envelopes and general sound shaping is more useful than Simpler - I personally find Simpler often too limited from breathing some natural sounding velocity resposnsiveness into drums - particularly snares - mainly because filter velocity sensitivity works the wrong way round.

The kits that come with Battery asre IMHO very so-so, but depends on music style I guess - for some styles they may be considered great, but Kontakt with Modern Drums may be far better for example.

A number of useful articulation can be applied to specific drums - not sure I like the way that works (I would prefer switch control keys instead of having to make a snare with a normal hit then another share with a flam for eg on it), but is useful.

I was thinking of buying battery at one time before I got Komplete - in the end Im glad I didnt - I wouldnt buy it at its asking price on its own. As part of Komplete 7, its useful.

If you are working entirely within Live then nothing actually beats the ease of setup and flexibility of drum racks and instances simplers/samples/operator or whatever. If you use battery, then you can setup multiple audio outs and use external istrument plugin in live to deal with midi and audio routing etc, but its a pain vs just using a normal native drum rack.

Bottom line - dont buy it. Also I think that i has a very limited lifetime at the moment:
- Maschine was touted as a justifciation for killing Kore.
- To me killing battery is far more justified by the existance of maschine than the death of Kore software ever was.
- Kontakt drums (Modern drums, 70, 60 etc drums) are far better sounding if you want to midi record/programme good natural sounding drums (rock, D&B/jungle or whatever), though if thats you thing, then there are more useful alternatives that come with midi phrases etc).
- Battery looks and feels old - to me it just seems way way overdue for a huge cosmetic and functional facelift, but I dont think it will ever get it - on its own it seems very overpriced by the standards of vastly richer alternatives.

If you got it as part of komplete - then enjoy - its sometimes useful, especiall if you use several DAWs, but otherwise dont buy on its own - far better alternatives for your money.

[kitekrazy]

If you got it as part of komplete - then enjoy - its sometimes useful, especiall if you use several DAWs, but otherwise dont buy on its own - far better alternatives for your money.

It seems like what can be done in Battery can be done in Kontakt.
Battery would be fine for your own customization but even the popular 3rd party drum libraries like Steven Slate use Kontakt.

[BassTooth]

my favorite is the kits in Synthetic Drums 2, which has been discontinued by NI.

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4617562 ... VSTi_Sampl

load em up into Battery and your ready to go. drum racks are good for some things and Battery is better for others ...never bothered to load those kits into drum racks...

[1pauluzz1]

Thanks Khazul for your elaborate reply. I also saw some useful posts here (not a big fan of gearslutz by the way, but this discussion had some useful remarks).

I work only in Ableton so I don't have to worry about compatibility with other DAWs.

I had several kits that I made to be my go-to drum/percussion palettes, but I never turned the Simplers into Samplers. Which makes a lot of sense. I did that now and am exited about the tremendous control it offers, far more detailed, flexible and intuitive than simpler. (By the way, it would be great if turning Simplers into Samplers could somehow also be 'copied to siblings', the same goes for Samplers interpollation settings).

Conclusion: I haven't read about any features that Battery could offer over the native Ableton instruments. Filtering, modulation, shaping, pitch enveloping, send effects, you name it; with drumracks using samplers I have full control over all these elements.

Thanks, another timewaster put to sleep