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[supernova777]

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep06/articles/sampleshop_0906.htm
Tekniks Drumm EAR
http://www.timespace.com/


This library comprises over 4GB of mapped drum kits, kit components, and performed rhythm loops driven by MIDI files. The drums are played by Oslo session drummer Eirik A Rydningen, the concept being to provide convincing-sounding acoustic drums for rock and pop work. Kits recorded include an old Gretsch kit, a Yamaha Custom birch kit, and a 24-inch Premier kick drum. There's also a Ludwig kit with a huge 26-inch kick drum, and a spectacular assortment of cymbals.

The mapped kits are multisampled with around half a dozen velocity levels per drum, which is enough to sound authentic without being excessive. Retro Ambient, Big Ambient, Power Drums, Hali B, and Beefy Ballad kits are included, but there are also menus of snare drums and cymbals which can be used via the EXS24 copy and paste system to create customised user kits or simply to play as individual sounds. The mapped kits go far beyond GM, with seven or so different snare articulations per kit mapped to different keys, and far more cymbal samples than you'd normally expect. Again you could use the EXS24's capabilities to rationalise these to simpler GM kits in very little time, but the sheer breadth of what is on offer here is impressive and contributes towards a natural-sounding performance. All the recordings were made in a top Oslo studio and have varying degrees of natural room ambience.
sample drummear.s

In the grooves section are samples which have been chopped into slices (in a similar way that Recycle does), and these have corresponding MIDI files that are used to trigger them. This provides a useful degree of flexibility over tempo. Furthermore, two of the kits have a spill component that can be added to emulate mic bleed. You also get separate sample groups for direct or close-miked versions, the room mics plus overheads, and a mix of both room and direct sound. The Big Ambient and Retro Ambient kits comprise multi-mic samples, where there are as many samples as there were mics on the kit. This is similar to the approach taken in the Toontrack DFH and FXpansion BFD drum instrument plug-ins, though there's no front end to do the mixing, so any balance changes have to made in the EXS24 Edit page.

Subjectively, the drums come across as very natural, with a good variety of flavours that should suit most music where conventional acoustic drums are appropriate. Most of the sounds are great just as they are, which is just as well given that editing in EXS24 is rather long winded. The MIDI groove library is also particularly welcome. Even if you tend to use mainly grooves, having the separate kit samples enables you to program rhythms and fills that aren't in the groove library while maintaining a cohesive sound, and having MIDI files to control the grooves gives you some flexibility for adjusting the tempo before the end result stops sounding natural. Thoroughly worth four stars, though inevitably not as straightforward to drive as a sample-based instrument. Paul White
EXS24 CD-ROM,
£59.95 including VAT.
Time + Space +44(0)1837 55200
www.timespace.com
www.tekniks.co.uk