In Summary

Recorded at Riksmixningsverket (RMV Studio) in Stockholm, Toontrack Stockholm SDX for Superior Drummer 3 delivers drum sounds from one of Sweden’s best-sounding hit-making spaces. It includes five kits, twelve snares, nine kicks and three sets of cymbals, as well as MIDI performances for use within the Superior Drummer 3 ecosystem. Here our panel of Experts give their verdict.

Going Deeper

What Is SDX?

Many reading this will be familiar with Toontrack’s Superior Drummer 3. This virtual drum instrument expands upon the company’s EZdrummer 3 VI in several ways. Although the quality of the sounds between the two can be comparable, SD3’s expanded mixing functions, sample replacement chops, and immersive-ready sounds set it apart from the immediacy of its stablemate.

On top of the sounds and MIDI that come with SD3, Toontrack also offers a number of expansion packs for SD3. Known as SDX, these add to SD3’s core sounds with extra genre-specific kits and expanded MIDI with extra beats, licks, tricks, and fills to the same end.

Toontrack Stockholm SDX Overview

Adding to the SDX line is its twenty-second flavour; Stockholm SDX. This sets out to bring the drum sounds of Riksmixningsverket (RMV Studio) in Stockholm, one of Sweden’s best known recording spaces to SD3. This expansion marries the RMV Studio room’s vintage recording gear to its unique acoustic of stone, glass, wood surfaces, and sprung floor. As well as the vintage console central to the control room, the studio’s inventory also features an extensive mic collection including a distinctly Swedish design - the triangular diaphragmed Ehrlund EHR among others. The entire suite has been meticulously captured by Linn Fijal (assisted by Vilma Colling), with the touch of Josephine Forsman on drums.

Toontrack Stockholm SDX Features

• Recorded at Riksmixningsverket (RMV Studio) in Stockholm, Sweden.

• Includes five kits, twelve snares, nine kicks and three sets of cymbals.

• Kit selections designed to cover anything from mellow to loud.

• Comes with a broad collection of mix-ready presets for each kit.

• Includes a custom MIDI library of drum grooves and fills.

• Engineered by Linn Fijal, assisted by Vilma Colling.

• Played/Sampled by Josephine Forsman.

Toontrack Stockholm SDX Sound

Below we run through some of Stockholm SDX’s kits, grooves, and mix presets. The kits include offerings from Gretsch, Yamaha, and Tama, and an acrylic-shelled Vistalite, as well as the less ubiquitous Sonor Prolite kit. Metals come courtesy of Meinl and Paiste. In concert with Josephine Forsman’s grooves, we soak up some of Stockholm SDX’s presets as dialled in by Linn Fijal.

Expert Panel - Hit or Miss?

In every Expert review we ask three of our team of contributors to give their first impressions of the product. We ask them to give the product a hit or miss, based on factors such as originality, innovation, usefulness, quality and value for money. For each hit the products gets an Expert Award. One hit and it gets our bronze award, two hits gets silver and for a hit from all three of the panel it gets a coveted gold award. Of course if there’s three misses, there’s no award.

Ronan Macdonald On Toontrack Stockholm SDX

Perfectly capturing the percussive pop/rock sound of Sweden, Stockholm SDX takes Toontrack’s monster virtual drums platform into new territory in every sense of the word. The earthy physicality of RMV’s recording room is palpable in every sample, the drum sounds and production draw confidently on retro and modern sensibilities alike, and there’s a depth and warmth to the whole thing that’s truly beguiling.

In terms of the drums themselves, the Sonor, Gretsch and Vistalite (well, of course) kits are real highlights for me, and I just love fabulous collection of extra snare drums, most notably the Craviotto and Sonor Steve Smith Signature; but everything that is here fully deserves to be. The onboard MIDI grooves, meanwhile, make a for a fine collection of driving beats and tasteful, economical fills, beautifully executed by drummer Josephine Forsman, and the preset library provides ready access to a plethora of imaginative mix and processing setups. Fantastisk! HIT.

Luke Goddard On Toontrack Stockholm SDX

With Superior Drummer 3 landing with a drive-busting amount of sounds, you’d be forgiven for thinking that any expansion runs the risk of overkill. The thing is that most people (I include myself here) will actually use only a handful of favourites out of all of these, having spent hours, days, or possibly weeks of use narrowing down their favourites. With everyone having their preferred ‘thing’ such as low fat tunings, or cranked ambient liveliness, the choices from even a very large instrument begin to narrow as a large number of sounds can be redundant. This is where the SDX options become useful where the composer can find more go-tos that tick all their own boxes.

Stockholm SDX is less genre-specific in its sounds and MIDI than some other SDXs (if you take labels such as Pop to have a broad number of uses). On paper the kits and MIDI don’t break any new ground, however they actually contain a really far reaching palette of acoustic drum sounds. Helped along by Linn Fijal’s masterful capture and mix, these span everything from dry versus ambient, low versus cranked, and open versus damped. The recordings and presets also span softer-edged vintage sounds right through the kind of poky, scooped contemporary sounds that could cut through sheet metal!

One thing is absolutely clear about Stockholm SDX: its sounds really are superbly tuned, played, and recorded, meaning there are sounds for any almost genre despite their understated names. A definite HIT.

Russ Hughes On Toontrack Stockholm SDX

A moment of complete honesty here. I’d offered to take a listen to this SDX before my life got really busy. So I came to it as a matter of duty, rather than joy, my heart wasn't really in it. So, imagine my surprise when I fire up the Stockholm SDX, loaded some of the grooves and clicked through the kit presets, to find an outstanding set of drum sounds. I wanted to play them loud to simulate being in the room with the drummer, I couldn’t help myself.

One might think that any SDX can be a one-trick pony, with Stockholm you’d be wrong. As an example I switched between two of the Heavy presets, one called ‘Basic’ and the other ‘Compressed’ they couldn’t have sounded more different. Both were outstanding, but the basic was laid back and open, the other really present and in your face. I had to check several times to make sure I hadn’t jumped SDX libraries. The Stockholm library can offer everything from loose, old school sounds, to in your face rock kits. There isn’t a bad sound in the entire library. If I have one small criticism it’s that the names like ‘Basic’ don’t do these kits justice at all, typically Swedish understatement.

I couldn’t let this SDX pass without playing on the name. If you buy this then it won’t be long before Toontrack has you captive and you form a bond with this SDX, yes, real Stockholm syndrome. I feel like a broken record with Toontrack reviews but this one is a keeper. HIT!

Toontrack Stockholm SDX gets an Experts Gold Award.

A Word About This Article

As the Experts team considered how we could better help the community we thought that some of you are time poor and don’t have the time to read a long article or a watch a long video. In 2023 we are going to be trying out articles that have the fast takeaway right at the start and then an opportunity to go deeper if you wish. Let us know if you like this idea in the comments.