Nice photos Todd
A few reasons to still do a live drum kit are:
You can use it to trigger, so you don't have to program the vst
You will get a more human drum pattern
You have full control of where to place the kit wrt room boundaries
You chose how to tune the kit
You have much more control over micing - number, placement and types - so can get a better sound just as you say Todd
You can do neat ambience tricks with mic placement that as far I know the vsts can't/don't do yet.
Oh and it will teach you a lot about recording, mixing and how to set up a drum kit.
Well said! Using a real drummer has a sound all it's own vs using programmed tracks and you can use the drums to trigger a vst kit and then mix to two together which is what we ended up doing. Resulting in a truly massive sound leveraging the best of live and vst.
Not to mention, as you say, learning how to mic/mix a kit. If you have a band, being able to record the drummer is a handy thing.
Yeah, can't beat the sound of a real kit.
You really can't. I'm a big fan of software, but on some level it always sounds like software to me. Having a real drummer use hi hat articulation, ghost notes, even slipping on the timing a bit here and there gives a track a very organic feel that is virtually impossible with a VST alone.