Tom-toms get the spotlight with the new Nine Volt Audio sample library, Stickbreakers Vol 1 – Tom Edition.
Stickbreakers is a collection for Native Instruments Kontakt 3 / 4, created with 12 tom-tom drums, 4 percussionists, 3 stereo microphone positions, 2 concert bass drums, and a 1,200 seat hall. According to its maker, Stickbreakers Vol 1: Tom Edition combines content and creativity with ease of use to form an audio palette of airy lows, rounded mids, and slamming high drum sounds.
Ensemble and solo tom recordings were captured from stage, balcony and hall microphone positions, each with at least 120 samples per drum or key. Four drums / pitches were captured for a range of natural tones with projection, resonance, and strength, while two suspended concert bass drums were recorded with many articulations to supply a rumbling, rich sound. This sample library provides about 2 GB of material with a total of 3,333 samples in all.
In addition to the natural drums, the Stickbreakers library offers 65 hybridized drum patches, which were created by combining various pitches, articulations, and microphone positions and applying EQ and effects. Nine Volt Audio comments that “these are not ‘listen to the crazy sound we made’ type of patches, but rather focus on highly useable and clearly categorized sound types a composer needs on a regular basis.”
Stickbreakers Vol 1 – Tom Edition features:
- 2.28 GB of 24-bit, 44.1 kHz samples (download is 1.06 GB)
- 82 Kontakt 3.5 / 4 instrument patches covering ensemble and solo toms, solo concert bass, and hybridized drum sounds
- Ensemble and solo recordings use 8″, 10″, 12″, and 13″ open back concert toms with extra long maple shells (three each for ensemble recordings)
- Over 120 samples per drum / key
- User interface controls are available to control the depth of automatic sample rotation and other humanization features
- Ensemble recordings were made with percussionists placed in suitable acoustic positions to accommodate composers wanting accuracy in stereo width and depth
- Ensemble and solo instrument patches are available with multi-microphone mix controls
- Solo concert bass drum recordings were made with two suspension mounted models: a 32″ x 16″ covered with natural animal skin and a 36″ x 18″ with a Fiberskyn head
- Solo concert bass drum articulations include open hits, muted hits, and crescendo rolls for one of the drums
- User interface controls include convolution reverb (with 14 custom IR WAVs), saturation; stereo width; Velocity curve; lowpass and highpass filters; delay; low, mid, and high EQ gain; AHDSR; remap knob; and humanization
- Two bonus “Big Hits” instrument patches are offered with 24 different keyswitchable FX chains
- Compatible with full retail versions of Native Instruments Kontakt 3.5 and up (the free Kontakt Player will only allow for 30 minutes of unrestricted use)
Nine Volt Audio’s Stickbreakers Vol 1 – Tom Edition is now available for just $79.99 instead of the regular price of $99.99. For more information, please visit ninevoltaudio.com.