Acoustic drums are always difficult and there are loads of sample sets around.
EZ Drummer, Superior Drummer, FXpansion BFD, Addictive Drums and so on.
I tend to go for the Native Instruments Kits (The one recorded at Abbey Road are as good as any I’ve heard) mainly because I’m familiar with the software and it runs well on my system.

Thanks for your response. I hear a lot of good sound from people using NI. So far the expense and the learning curve have kept me from it. I’ve explored EZ Drummer online, I like the sound of their jazz kit (which is what I’m looking for). I hadn’t heard of Superior or Addictive. Just took a look, Superior - expensive, Addictive - hmm, two jazz kits, also sounds good.

If you are thinking of Jazz have a look at the Native Instruments Vintage Drummer.
It has two kits sampled with brush and stick articulations and it
works fine in the free kontakt player. It also has built in drum maps for general midi, V drums drumit five. IMAP etc. Also if you’re not in a rush NI usually has about two half price sales a year, next one will probably be around Christmas time.

Thanks Shelflife,

I’d agree however meticulous the sampling is it won’t replace a good drummer. I don’t mind a slight variance in tempo either, playing in time and in tune is something I aspire to rather than achieve. Drum Kits however take up a lot of room and aren’t the easiest things to mike up so I’d say a good set of samples and some drums pads are the next best thing. Doing jazz type brushes is still probably the hardest to recreate.

Another thing I thought I’d mention re drums is to go out and invest in a decent snare and hi hat. They take up less room and when recorded live and used to augment samples they can bring a percussion track to life. I have often had compliments on my drummer when all it was was me and a few choice samples!!

You must have read my mind I used to do that over midi drums a lot in the late 80’s
A snare is definitely worth having. These days though I’m just trying to have an easy life.