# 8dio ZEUS Drum Library - UPDATE: `Bleed' Included in Mixes AND 2 Extra sample songs



## zacnelson (Dec 29, 2013)

Here is my first attempt to use ZEUS. This mix and arrangement will probably change a bit over the next few days, however I think it's at a stage where it is complete enough to post on here for anybody interested in how ZEUS holds up in a full song context.

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F121801661&secret_url=false[/flash] 

https://soundcloud.com/the-dead-storm/dying-for-more

If anyone has any queries regarding the techniques I applied in this track, and specifically questions about the ease of use of ZEUS, please feel free to ask anything and I'll do my best to provide a detailed response.

UPDATE Jan 1st 2014:
Here are 2 more tracks I have applied ZEUS to, which help show different applications and mixing styles.

DOMINOES (drums come in 50 seconds into the song)

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F101974403&secret_url=false[/flash] 

https://soundcloud.com/the-dead-storm/dominoes

INDESTRUCTIBLE

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F121715441&secret_url=false[/flash] 

https://soundcloud.com/the-dead-storm/indestructible


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## germancomponist (Dec 29, 2013)

*Re: A New Song Featuring 8dio ZEUS Drum Library*

I like your song and the sound of the drums. But, what makes it so special?

I write this not to bash the library, as I said, I like the sound, but what is so special?


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## mark812 (Dec 29, 2013)

*Re: A New Song Featuring 8dio ZEUS Drum Library*

Great song, Zac. A bit overcompressed for my taste, but overall great production. Live guitars?


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## Blackster (Dec 29, 2013)

*Re: A New Song Featuring 8dio ZEUS Drum Library*

I like the track, but I agree with mark812, the compression destroys the mix, especially when the distorted guitars kick in. To my ears, it's too much.


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## zacnelson (Dec 29, 2013)

Thanks for the advice re the compression. I'm definitely very open to suggestions regarding this and also other elements of the mix! I am planning to have this song (and a couple of others) professionally mixed in a few weeks, however in spite of that I do endeavour to improve my mixing skills as much as possible.

Mark, they are live guitars in the sense that I played them myself and didn't use samples, however I used software to generate the amp sounds.

Thanks for listening!


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## zacnelson (Dec 29, 2013)

Gunther, that's an excellent question. I would start by saying, that as an owner of about 6 different well-known drum software programs and libraries, I have had to experience the annoying `learning curve' and familiarisation process over and over again. With ZEUS, it was definitely the quickest and least stressful adaptation period so far! I found that all the kit pieces just worked immediately and sat nicely in the mix, historically I have had great difficulty getting sampled kicks, toms, and ride cymbals to satisfy me, whereas these were all a great highlight of ZEUS! I had to do very little to the sounds at all. Also, I was particularly impressed at the sense of `natural variability' that the library produced, without requiring me to spend all day switching between different articulations or tweaking velocity hairpins in order to create the illusion of randomness.


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## Arbee (Dec 29, 2013)

*Re: A New Song Featuring 8dio ZEUS Drum Library*

Thanks for posting Zac, nice work. I own Addictive Drums but might have to put Zeus on the shopping list after hearing this.

.


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## zacnelson (Dec 30, 2013)

Tonight I have uploaded a new version where I backed off a lot on the master bus limiting, I hope this will be felt to be an improvement, thanks again to those that suggested this alteration.


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## germancomponist (Dec 30, 2013)

zacnelson @ Sun Dec 29 said:


> Gunther, that's an excellent question. I would start by saying, that as an owner of about 6 different well-known drum software programs and libraries, I have had to experience the annoying `learning curve' and familiarisation process over and over again. With ZEUS, it was definitely the quickest and least stressful adaptation period so far! I found that all the kit pieces just worked immediately and sat nicely in the mix, historically I have had great difficulty getting sampled kicks, toms, and ride cymbals to satisfy me, whereas these were all a great highlight of ZEUS! I had to do very little to the sounds at all. Also, I was particularly impressed at the sense of `natural variability' that the library produced, without requiring me to spend all day switching between different articulations or tweaking velocity hairpins in order to create the illusion of randomness.



Good to know. Thanks for your answer!


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## Alexis (Dec 30, 2013)

*Re: A New Song Featuring 8dio ZEUS Drum Library*

*zacnelson*, since you've mentioned you own six other libraries, may I ask how dry Zeus drums are with all FX turned off (say, compared to SSD)? Looking into this library as well, but curious whether it's actually very dry or it's been recorded with some ambience burned into the samples?

Thanks for posting the demo and greetings to everybody as it's my first post here.
Alexis


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## zacnelson (Dec 30, 2013)

Hello Alexis, congratulations on making your first post! Welcome to the forum. The drums in ZEUS are very dry, there are two separate faders on the UI mixer for `room' and `overheads' which is where the recorded ambience is found. In my mix the `ambience' is a combination of the room and overheads channels, and also an external reverb I have used in Pro Tools. I hope this helps.


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## Blakus (Dec 30, 2013)

That updated master is much better to me  Nice work man.


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## zacnelson (Dec 30, 2013)

Ah excellent, thanks for listening a second time Blake! I'm glad the difference was that noticeable (despite the sound degradation in Soundcloud!!) 

I'm certainly very pleased with the change. I have SO much to learn about compression and other mixing techniques.


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## SymphonicSamples (Dec 30, 2013)

*Re: A New Song Featuring 8dio ZEUS Drum Library*

Hey zac , the updated version feels better overall compared to the first upload . Great track/production man , I was meaning to comment the first time I heard , thanks for sharing o-[][]-o


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## Alexis (Dec 30, 2013)

zacnelson @ Mon Dec 30 said:


> I hope this helps.


 This does help, thanks for clearing this out. 8Dio do not always make it clear in their demos what was recorded dry and what processed. Great to hear they are very dry, and thanks again for putting out a real example! I like the sound of this library.


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## Kralc (Dec 30, 2013)

Man, everything sounds so good!

Really enjoyed the song, it's got a great chorus.


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## lux (Dec 31, 2013)

Very cool Zac! Sounds great.

Luca


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## Mike Marino (Dec 31, 2013)

Sounds great Zac! Well done brother!

- Mike


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## zacnelson (Jan 1, 2014)

Thanks so much for listening and commenting Luca, Mike, Clark, and Matthew. It's nice to get some encouragement regarding my song writing.

Now if you will permit me, I'd like to delve a bit further into the wonders of ZEUS. It's been quite a few days of solid `immersion' in the library, and I feel I am far more familiar than before. It is in my opinion the greatest drum product I have ever tried. Generally with sample libraries I find that they often impress at first use, but it is only with detailed use that you truly appreciate the excellence. I find the samples to all be recorded so perfectly that there is no nuance of frequencies or tone that distracts or disappoints, and the sounds are seemingly infinitely capable of moulding. I don't feel like the sounds are at all pushing me in a certain direction or preventing me from achieving certain outcomes. This is true of each and every element of the kit; I have had other libraries where I felt I could heap praise on one or 2 elements, but I was let down by some kit pieces. Not so on ZEUS!! 

The first time I posted `Dying For More' I was using only the LITE drum patch; this patch only plays in each channel of the mixer the exact sample of that kit piece (eg the hats channel will only ever include hats and no bleed of snare etc). I was very happy with the sound and CPU/RAM performance of this patch, and it was a good starting point to familiarise myself with the instrument. Since then, the last couple of days I've been using the MAIN drum patch, and it is mind-blowing how realistic and pleasing ZEUS operates with this! In the main patch, the full bleed of all drum kit pieces are present in each channel, with a realism and effectiveness I would have never dreamed of! Troels often advertised the fact that ZEUS contains 38,000 samples; with extended use it is increasingly obvious what a difference that level of detail and variability brings. The results are unlike any other drum library I have experienced when it comes to the `bleed' element. I also really love the fact that there is no way within the `MAIN' patch to control the bleed amount in different mics. I prefer not having that tweak-ability; it forces me to concentrate and get the job done!


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## zacnelson (Jan 1, 2014)

To follow up from my previous post, I have re-mixed `Dying For More' using the MAIN patch (with the bleed) and I have also applied the ZEUS instrument to 2 other songs, linked to below. I find that when using the MAIN patch that the hats and ride really bed in well to the overall drum mix, and it feels more cohesive, previously the hats in particular sounded a bit odd being used as an isolated source. It's really interesting the different perspective you get on each member of the kit when you hear it through mic channels other than the direct close mic. I'm thrilled with how efficient this whole thing runs too; with the MAIN patch, I'm only taking up between 150MB and 250MB, with standard buffer settings in Kontakt. (I use `purge unused' once I have settled on my drum part).

The 3 songs I've done so far provide some good analysis of the different approaches you could take; in all 3 I have used the same snare (there are 3 to choose from, I have stuck with the 2nd snare). So in Dying For More I have gone for a more explosive, gut-hitting deeply compressed snare. In Dominoes the kick is doing 4-on-the-floor so I felt I shouldn't mix too much bottom end into the snare, and the floor tom is also a vital element in getting the groove for the song so I had to be careful to use plenty of overhead mic to prevent the floor tom sounding too `separated'. For Indestructible I actually de-tuned the snare very slightly with the `fine-tune' knob to help it sit in the mix better. I LOVE the fine-tune knob! So effective! I think on one of the songs I also cut the attack off a little on the hi-hats using the `attack' knob.

DOMINOES (drums come in 50 seconds into the song)

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F101974403&secret_url=false[/flash] 

https://soundcloud.com/the-dead-storm/dominoes

INDESTRUCTIBLE

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F121715441&secret_url=false[/flash] 

https://soundcloud.com/the-dead-storm/indestructible


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## SymphonicSamples (Jan 1, 2014)

Hey Zac , 2 more great tracks . I also picked up Zeus , wonderful sound and flexibility . Haven't had a chance to use it in any music , but enjoyed playing with it and the fact it didn't sound like all the other Drum libraries . By the way are you singing on the tracks also ? Cheers o-[][]-o


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## zacnelson (Jan 2, 2014)

Hi Matthew, good to hear from you again. No, it's not me singing on the tracks, but I did everything else!  

I'm excited to hear how you go with Zeus! Have you spent much time with it the last couple of days? I'm looking forward to hearing some examples of your work with it! Feel free to contact me if you want any tips!


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## Folmann (Jan 2, 2014)

Zac - great use of Zeus and nice to hear it used in so many ways - from more acoustic/exposed to more hard/compressed. We are excited to host these tracks as official 8Dio demos. Keep it up!


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## Penthagram (Jan 2, 2014)

Zac, sound absolutely fantastic. What a meticulous work full of great musical moments. my congratulations.


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## zacnelson (Jan 3, 2014)

Thanks Troels and David! I was very excited to get an email from Troels yesterday, he offered to use my tracks as demos for ZEUS! They are currently on the 8DIO soundcloud page, and also on the 8DIO official website. I am very thrilled about it!


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## SymphonicSamples (Jan 3, 2014)

Congratulations Zac /\~O Great news , that would have been a nice email to start the day with


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