SDSE stands for Simple Drum Sounds Exporter (or Super Drumkits from Sweden).

The requirements are the same as the VST and enough space on the hard drive.

Absolute minimum
RAM: as low as 0.5GB (512MB) for a VST that doesn't use a lot of memory.
Hard drive: 0.5GB (512MB) of free space.
Screen: as low as 800x600.
OS: Windows XP SP2

Recommended
RAM: 4GB or more to be comfortable. 8GB and more is perfect to export from bigger sound libraries.
Hard drive: 10GB or more of free space while exporting, to convert big kits in the best quality.
Screen: big enough to display the whole VST without scrolling
OS: Windows 7, 8 or 10 64-bit

You can find a guide on how to run Windows on a Mac with VirtualBox (free) here.

 The steps are:

1. use Boot Camp (free), or install VirtualBox (free) or install Parallels.
2. install Windows - can be free if you have an old license from a previous computer
3. install your drum VSTs in Windows (it should be possible to share the sound files
4. install SDSE

It will take a bit of time to set up depending on how many drum VSTs you have but you'll save a lot more time by using SDSE to export your drum sounds.

Yes, what is set in the VST is what is exported. You can use all the settings available in the VST and that's what will be rendered and converted to .wav or to the DrumIt format. It is also possible to add external effects.

Bleed

If the VST supports it you will get the bleed from the Snare wires in the Kick sound even if you are only exporting a Kick. For instance in Superior Drummer 2 the snare wires can be heard in the Kick sound even if the snare is disabled. When "bottom wire snares" is disabled in the Tool Settings menu of Superior Drummer 2 the Kick and high toms will sound different. For other VSTs you may need to export the whole kit to get the bleed sounds, or at least the kick, snare and toms at the same time. You can export from a single piece to a full kit at a time.

With some VSTs like Superior Drummer, EZDrummer, BFD, the amount of samples in the resulting files (one sample per .wav file or .dsnd for the DrumIt Five and DrumIt Three) can be identical or very close to the amount of samples contained in the VST. It is also possible to adjust the "Export Mode", "Remove duplicates" and "Samples" settings to get the exact amount of samples you prefer to use for each instrument and zone.

You don't need to download and install REAPER separately, it will be downloaded and configured during the SDSE setup.

SDSE requires REAPER to render from the VST.
REAPER has a 60 days fully functional trial after which it's $60 for private use.

When SDSE installs REAPER it will configure it with the recommended settings. You may just need to set the paths to your drum VSTs if they are not located in the default locations.

No, those settings are meant for playback and recording, not rendering. You can safely use Wave Out in the REAPER version that was installed by SDSE and you won't miss on sound quality at all. REAPER renders the sounds directly to files so we don't need the low latency benefits of ASIO. It's OK to set it to DirectSound or Wave Out. The .wav files should be 100% identical between WaveOut, DirectSound and ASIO.

Here's a list to get an idea about each VST:

• EZdrummer 2 - lots of expansion packs, not many samples, more processed sound
• Addictive Drums 2 - has expansion packs, not many samples, more natural sound
• DrumMicA Kontakt library - free, about as many samples per kit piece as BFD Eco/Abbey Road, 3 zone cymbals.
• BFD Eco - compatible with the BFD2 expansion packs but limited to 24 samples (48 for the snare) even if the pack contains more samples
• Abbey Road Drummer / Studio Drummer Kontakt libraries - 3 kits at most per library, 3 zone cymbals
• Superior Drummer 3 - SDX packs have about twice the amount of samples as EZX packs, 3 zone cymbals for new SDX, more natural sound compared to EZdrummer
• Steven Slate Drums 4 - has a few expansion packs
• Drumasonic 2 and Drumasonic Luxury Kontakt libraries - no expansion packs, a clean sound said to be interesting to people who know how to mix a drum kit
• BFD3 - has expansion packs, many samples (the biggest libraries) so requires more RAM, 3 zone cymbals, sounds more natural.

The following VSTs contain at least one cymbal with 3 zones:

• Superior Drummer 3 and its new SDX libraries
• Superior Drummer 2 with Music City SDX or Roots SDX
• EZdrummer with Funkmasters EZX (only 1 crash cymbal, not many samples)
• BFD3 (many samples, requires a recent PC)
• BFD3/BFD2/BFD Eco with Zildjian Digital Vault expansion pack (BFD Eco can load it but won't use all samples)
• Native Instruments Abbey Road series, Studio Drummer, Modern Drummer for Kontakt 5/Kontakt Player
• Sennheiser DrumMicA for Kontakt 5/Kontakt 5 Player (this one is free)

Each of the following VSTs have at least one cowbell with two zones:

• Metal Foundry and Rock Warehouse for Superior Drummer each have one cowbell
• BFD3 stock library: 2 cowbells
• BFD2 stock library: 1 cowbell
• Abbey Road 70's, Abbey Road 80's, Modern Drummer, Studio Drummer each have one cowbell

SDX libraries usually contain about twice as many samples as EZX libraries and sound less processed.

• Avatar (Superior Drummer 2) : Pop/Rock (EZdrummer)
• Legacy of Rock SDX : Classic Rock EZX
• Music City SDX : Nashville EZX
• Metal Foundry SDX : Metalheads EZX
• Rock Warehouse SDX : Rock Solid EZX
• Roots SDX: Jazz EZX
• Custom and Vintage SDX : Vintage Rock EZX

Exporting can take a long time for cymbals and hats, here are ways to improve the speed:

• if C:\ is not the fastest drive in your computer for writing, go in the SDSE Options/General and set Destination Path somewhere on your fastest drive.
• move your VST sound library to your drive which has the fastest reading speed. For Superior Drummer SDX, move the "SL-..." folder to your faster drive. In SD2/Settings, use "Remove" then "Add Path" and select the "Sounds" folder located in the "SL-..." folder.
• make sure no other program is using CPU while you render.
• avoid exporting Presets when you just want the default sound for a kit: with all drum VSTs, rendering will be much longer if you load a kit through the Preset menu. If you just want the raw sound make sure not to use the Preset menu from the VST before exporting and only load pieces as a kit (Construct menu for SD2).
• Export Mode "Medium": if you set Export Mode to "Medium" in Options rendering will take about half the time for a kit with cymbals and hats, but will find slightly less samples.

Tip: Use "Medium" mode to try various kits on your module, then go back and use "Per VST" (same as "High" for most VSTs) to make final versions of the kits you prefer the most.

Samples dynamics

If you notice that exported instruments lack dynamics check that the VST preset doesn't have too much compression. Excessive volume can also have the same effect.

Velocity curve

You may be interested in trying the Velocity curve settings in Options/Export. If you set it to 2box DR1, DR2 or DR3 you'll get almost the same curve as the 2Box DrumIt Editor curve but it will go lower. The result is that the softer hits will produce quieter sounds which increases the perceived dynamics between soft and hard hits. Try DR1, DR2 and DR3 settings on your favourite snare to see if you prefer it to the default curve.

There can be several reasons for latency issues which can make it hard to troubleshoot. Something that can make all the difference for someone may not apply to your kits or setup. Inversely, you may not need all the suggested changes.

If you don't use the original SD card make sure to try a different card, ideally one recommended on the Unofficial 2box forum by someone who has also tested it with bigger kits.

SDSE Options

The following SDSE options can help produce smaller files that will lower the risk of getting latency:

• Options > Convert: set Max Tune Up to 4. When Max Tune is used it allows tuning up the dsnd on the DrumIt but lowers the sound quality a bit. It also produces smaller files as a side effect.
• Options > Samples *: lower the maximum amount of samples for cymbals, ride, hats
• Options > Samples **: lower the maximum sample length for cymbals, ride, hats

DrumIt Unit settings

• try disabling X-Talk related settings as much as possible
• try increasing the Mask settings as much as possible without missing hits (this was found by Karbonfaiba and halftime on the unofficial 2box forum)

DrumIt Kit settings

• try setting the Decay to 10 instead of Infinite for some or all pads.
• try setting the Kick Voice to Mono (this was found by edcito)

Creating smaller versions from existing dsnd instruments

You can use DrumIt Manager to create smaller versions without exporting the sounds again:

• double click on a .dsnd to open it in DSound Manager, or right-click on a pad button in DKit Manager and select Edit to open the dsnd in DSound Manager.
  You can also batch convert a whole kit by selecting the .dsnd files with Browse or drag and dropping them to DSound Manager on the Tune page.
• on the Tune page, set Max Tune to 4, select a maximum length, click Tune
• the new .dsnd files will be created next to the original files, with +4 appended at the end of the filenames.

You can now prepare a kit to go with the smaller versions, or just adjust your kit to use the new versions:

• open your kit bank in DKit Manager and select your kit
• optional: on the first Kit page select Copy near the bottom
• optional: select a kit you'd like to replace, click Paste near the bottom
• optional: you can change the name of the kit, next to Prog at the top of the page, for instance adding "+4" to remember that it's an alternate version
• for each pad click on the name of the dsnd and press Down on the keyboard to select the next dsnd from the same folder (if you have created an alternate version with a max tune of 4 the next file will have "+4" appended at the end)

You can use a tool like Rename-It (freeware) or similar to select each folder tree for each kit individually and add a suffix before the .dsnd extension: "_RV" for reverb.
Drag the folder with the files you want to rename to Rename-It, select "Rename > Filename with extension" in the menu, then "Add filter > Search and Replace", then "Find:" .dsnd and "Replace:" _RV.dsnd
You will have to make a new .dkit file once you have adjusted the filenames. If you added "_RV" to the filenames, then open AD and SDSE, set up the same kit and press F8 (there is a button for this in SDSE 2.0). SDSE will create a .dkit file for the current kit and with the suffix you wrote in the text field. The .dkit should match your renamed files.

The 64-bit version of Superior Drummer 2 is available on the Toontrack website as the update to v2.3.2, it contains installers for both 32 and 64-bit.

EZdrummer: "can't read kit information"

If you get this error message from SDSE you may have a file permission issue with your Windows installation that prevents EZDrummer from saving presets. A quick way to solve it for EZdrummer is to reinstall it in the "My Documents" folder.

No sound from BFD2 version 2.3.0.38 or 2.3.1.6

A possible solution recommended by Fxpansion is to install ASIO4ALL
For Windows 8 install ASIO4ALL 2.11beta2 or newer.