Percussion/Drums - which library/product?

[Xander S.]

Listening to a lot of film music, I wonder how composers manage to blend their symphonic writing with what I call "heavy percussion" (complex and powerful things that you can't say what it actually is, using the entire stereo panorama etc.). Maybe someone here can answer those two questions:

1. Do composers really set each and every nuance in each and every percussion cue? Or do they rather have libraries at hand, which they modify to fit the composition? I'd assume the latter, because they all sound so similar to me, but honestly I don't know.

2. Which libraries/products do they probably use? Which ones do blend well with a VSL composition? I'm not so much talking mix-wise, but style-wise. For example, my Stylus RMX does not blend well with it (imo), to me it's a different world of sound. So no, I do not want the Zimmer sound. Having said that, which percussion/drum-engine would you think actually fits in and is state-of-the-art right now?

Thanks!

[jasensmith]

For percussion I like parallel compression. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_compression

[Xander S.]

Thanks, jasensmith, for mentioning that technique - I'm going to look into that (though it doesn't sound simple).

However my primary question still being, which ryhthm/percussion/drum-pattern based product best to use with symphonic orchestras beside the percussion section itself. Any suggestion to start with will do!