It's power seems hidden but is actually in plain sight in the form of the sfz format. Add to this the secret techniques of Evil Joe Barresi and drummers who suck. Beautifully recorded, with ultimate flexibilty no kit need ever sound the same. The free SFZ plugin from cakewalk does not let you adjust attack/release and finding an alternative is frustrating, at best.
The Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra is one of the best free orchestral sample libraries available, but it is shipped in SFZ/wav format.