I've done a few digital drum metal projects. I think moving metal into the digital age will be HUGE soon. Look at what our man Scott Hull has been doing with Agoraphobic Nosebleed... outside of the fact that it's physically impossible to match how fast the drums are, they sound realistic. You're riding a wave sir. If you plan on preforming this stuff live too, a drum machine is perfect, a lot of them allow real time manipulation of what you've already got down. I'd say shop around for drum machines, all you really need is the spec sheets. I'd make sure to get one that has space for extra samples, as you obviously dont want to use just what your unit comes with, and one thats going to have a lot of control over the individual sounds. I started with one of these, the V-Edit mode is awesome as far as sound control over samples:
http://www.rolandus.com/products/det...31&ProdID=TD-8