# Best cinematic / epic percussion libraries ( cerberus, LA modern percussion, strikeforce , HZ )



## darkneo57 (Nov 3, 2019)

Hi, I'm french, 34 yo, piano teacher, I am a beginner in computer music. I'm looking for a versatile epic / cinematic percussion library.
It would be to make rather epic / cinematic orchestral music( two steps from hells, video games music...) 

By checking out on internet and reading posts, I have retained mainly four:
cerberus, LA modern percussion, strikeforce and hans zimmer percussion. 

I already have stormdrum 2 & 3 because I subscribed to the eastwest cloud composition, but I find it incomplete and I'm not really satisfied, there are some patches that are still very nice)

I currently have a strong preference for cerberus, could you give me your opinion on this library and the others. 
Sorry for my poor english.

Thank you so much.


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## cqd (Nov 3, 2019)

Stormdrum 2 & 3 are not incomplete..


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## erica-grace (Nov 3, 2019)

cqd said:


> Stormdrum 2 & 3 are not incomplete..



If round robins is your thing, yes they are.


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## erica-grace (Nov 3, 2019)

darkneo57 said:


> Hi, I'm french, 34 yo, piano teacher, I am a beginner in computer music. I'm looking for a versatile epic / cinematic percussion library.
> It would be to make rather epic / cinematic orchestral music( two steps from hells, video games music...)
> 
> By checking out on internet and reading posts, I have retained mainly four:
> ...



There are a couple of good threads here:






Good VST for epic percussion


hi, currently I own stormdrum 2 & 3, because I subscribed to the Eastwest composercloud. I'm looking for epic percussions VST for orchestral epic music. Although I'm a beginner, I find that stormdrum lacks a little bit of epic sounds, I liked lord of toms, beast, persian battle drums, but...




vi-control.net










Epic percussion.


Hi guys, I am looking for some epic percussion. I got the CinePerc Core as my main percussion library. I also have StormDrum 2, Drums of War and Metropolis Ark 1. I am not looking for a traditional library and I don't want to spend a lot of money. First things I found was Soundiron's Apocalypse...




vi-control.net










Epic Percussion


Hey guys, since Kontakt works much better for me i want to move away from my East West Composers Cloud. I already got the Hollywood Orchestral Percussion but i am searching for a more Epic Percussion library for modern Trailer stuff like Daniel James is doing. Which library should i get or take...




vi-control.net


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## jononotbono (Nov 3, 2019)

I have HZ Perc, Strikeforce, and LA Modern Perc. They are all excellent and sound very different to each other.

Also be sure to check out 8Dio’s frequent sales where you can pick up the “Epic” Percussion libraries (I believe some of them went down to $28 which was just great). Haven’t bought Cerberus but I will at some point. They are all excellent.


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## darkneo57 (Nov 4, 2019)

any other comments about cerberus, LA modern percussion, strikeforce and HZ ?
I'll buy one of them for the black friday.
thank you
have a nice day


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## darkneo57 (Nov 4, 2019)

by the way, although stormdrum contain some good patchs ( persian battle drums, lord of toms, the beast , gozilla hits ... ), there are no snares, and although i can't name all the instruments, i really think it's not enough modern.


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## tav.one (Nov 4, 2019)

I have HZ Perc Pro and love it to the core, I use just JXL Mixes though.


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## axb312 (Nov 4, 2019)

LA Modern percussion sounds incredible but the lack of RRs is Irritating, plus it's pretty expensive. 

HZ perc does not seem to get very dry (if you need that) from the walkthroughs. HZ Perc Pro costs extra and takes up way more space but all I've seen people talk about so far is the JXL mixes. 

Strikeforce seems detailed but doesn't sound as good (imo) as the former libs. 

8dios epic perc is excellent. Particularly the frame drum ensemble. Buy em on sale at 28 USD as someone mentioned earlier.


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## 5Lives (Nov 4, 2019)

I have HZP Core and love the sound. It’s definitely less modern, hyped that something like Strikeforce but I prefer that organic quality.


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## Living Fossil (Nov 4, 2019)

I really like HZPerc for this kind of stuff (usually the JXL mixes).

However, i'd also highly recommend 8dio's frame drum ensemble.
It's quite wet, but using Neutron's multiband transient designer on it can make it really dry.


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## babylonwaves (Nov 4, 2019)

axb312 said:


> LA Modern percussion sounds incredible but the lack of RRs is Irritating, plus it's pretty expensive.
> 
> HZ perc does not seem to get very dry (if you need that) from the walkthroughs. HZ Perc Pro costs extra and takes up way more space but all I've seen people talk about so far is the JXL mixes.
> 
> Strikeforce seems detailed but doesn't sound as good (imo) as the former libs.



@axb312 Which of those libraries do you actually own or did work with? I always find it really difficult to make statements like yours from listening to a demo or walkthrough.

The RRs in LA Modern percussion are not really an issue when you're prepared to work a bit differently. In fact, spreading out the velocity layers is really growing on me. Only issue is that they used only white keys which becomes a problem when you want to tone down a section without moving every single note manually.

HZ Percussion gets dry. At least it was always dry enough for me when I needed dry. If you want something really dry, Air is the wrong place to record it in anyway.

Strikeforce sounds great. less natural, more bombastic - if you're after a typical Trailer sound, SF or the Heavyocity Ensembles are a great way to start.


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## Mike Fox (Nov 4, 2019)

I'm personally not a big fan of HZ perc. It's overpriced, imo, and really lacks a lot of the basics. It's also really wet, which really isn't my thing (it relies heavily on the reverb in the room to achieve a big sound. Use just the close mics, and it becomes anemic). I think it's a great library to layer with other perc libs, but overall too wet and too niche to be a go-to. Oh, and it's a resource hog that takes way too long to load, and I'm running it off an SSD. Obviously, not my favorite.

That said, i highly recommend APE, any of the epic perc from 8dio, Damage (and other offerings from Heaviocity), and even Cineperc, which is more conventional but does include include some heavy hitters. It absolutely obliterates HZP in every imaginable way, and doesn't rely on the room's verb to sound huge.

I've yet to try the newer epic perc libs (Cerebrus, Strikeforce, LA Modern).


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## Nick Batzdorf (Nov 4, 2019)

Add Audiobro LADD to the list.

But also, there are things you can do to create - what I think you mean by "cinematic" is "big" - percussion.

The first is simply big reverb, as long as the dry signal is up high (it'll have the reverse effect if not!). Just the sustained sound alone will make it sound heavier.

Second, parallel compression: add a slammed-compressor version to the original sound to create a hard-hitting sound with some of the original dynamics. Parallel compression also adds a sustained body.


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## Jack Weaver (Nov 4, 2019)

ahh... you probably mean LADD.

.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Nov 4, 2019)

A lot of compressors have a wet/dry control (aka input/output) balance control, so you can just insert them without setting up sends to them.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Nov 4, 2019)

Jack Weaver said:


> ahh... you probably mean LADD.
> 
> .



Fixed. Just so no one thinks Jack is a loon, I first wrote LASS by mistake.


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## Michael Antrum (Nov 4, 2019)

True Strike from Project Sam may be an older product, but it sounds terrific and is very good value for money.....


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## Gauss (Nov 4, 2019)

Thunder X3M by Strezov.


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## Andrew Wox (Nov 4, 2019)

LADD +1 (ugly UI but awesome sound)
Heavyocity MS Collection 
Metropolis Ark 3 (wooooooow)


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## Loïc D (Nov 4, 2019)

I may suggest *Sample Logic Drum Fury*.
It's made of multiple kits with only a few sounds each (hence you'd need many tracks).
But the energizer & polisher sliders can turn a somewhat loud sound into epic.
I picked it a very low price last year (something like 79USD) so I'd suggest to wait for potential BF/Xmas sales.
_PS : I'm French too. Bienvenue!_


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## Nick Batzdorf (Nov 4, 2019)

LADD has parallel compression presets, by the way.


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## axb312 (Nov 4, 2019)

babylonwaves said:


> @axb312 Which of those libraries do you actually own or did work with? I always find it really difficult to make statements like yours from listening to a demo or walkthrough.
> 
> The RRs in LA Modern percussion are not really an issue when you're prepared to work a bit different. In fact, spreading out the velocity layers is really growing on me. Only issue is that they used only white keys which becomes a problem when you want to tone down a section without moving every single note manually.
> 
> ...



I own LAMP and some 8dio stuff.


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## Dex (Nov 4, 2019)

Michael Antrum said:


> True Strike from Project Sam may be an older product, but it sounds terrific and is very good value for money.....



Which one? 1 or 2?


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## constaneum (Nov 4, 2019)

Is LA modern percussion that bad ?? Really lacking RR?


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## 5Lives (Nov 4, 2019)

The thing that turned me off from LAMP apart from the crazy high price was lack of high perc. Funny how somebody said HZP lacks basic and is niche...LAMP is worse IMO.


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## karelpsota (Nov 4, 2019)

I consider myself a drum whore, owning nearly everything...
And I think 90% of drum libraries aren't mixed right.
They all sound flat EQ wise, washy reverb, lack of definition in transient.

The only ones that I can drop in a track, without massively processing are:

Heavycocity - Damage, Master Session
NI - Action Strikes
Audio Imperia - Decimator (doesn't exist anymore)
Everything else seems to require a lot of work to sit right in a mix.
I use HZ Perc JXL Mixes, but I still need to add 20 plugins behind to sound "pro".
LAMP has some RR missing, but I was told they were gonna add more.

I think the source of the problem is the mindset of "orchestral recording". Since the strings and brass are left natural-sounding... devs think the drums should be left natural sounding too. That's a false shortcut. All the drums we use and hear are massively processed.

Also, more companies need to do demo patches.
Just 1 tom is enough to tell if the library is gonna be good... or not.


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## Michael Antrum (Nov 5, 2019)

Dex said:


> Which one? 1 or 2?



True Strike 1.

True Strike 2 is a bit more exotic.


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## Anders Bru (Nov 5, 2019)

karelpsota said:


> I consider myself a drum whore, owning nearly everything...
> And I think 90% of drum libraries aren't mixed right.
> They all sound flat EQ wise, washy reverb, lack of definition in transient.
> 
> ...


Does Action Strikes still hold up? It's one of those libraries that I still find myself going back to the walkthroughs and demos, because it sounds really good (although a bit muddy and boomy at times), but I haven't bought it (yet). How does it compare to the others mentioned in this thread?


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## ScoreFace (Nov 5, 2019)

Agree, True Strike 1 is still sounding great and I still use it sometimes ion my tracks. Action Strikes is brilliant in my opinion, it sounds organic and totally epic at the same time and has not only single patches but a huge ensemble nki with tons of cinematic percussion loops. 

HZ Percussion was a big disappointment to me, as I just don't really like the general sound, just my personal taste.

NI Symphony Series Percussion sounds fantastic as well, I often use the Big Hits patch to get a very natural orchestra percussion sound into my track.

Damage is not very flexible but I use it for modern drum sounds sometimes.


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## karelpsota (Nov 5, 2019)

Anders Bru said:


> Does Action Strikes still hold up? It's one of those libraries that I still find myself going back to the walkthroughs and demos, because it sounds really good (although a bit muddy and boomy at times), but I haven't bought it (yet). How does it compare to the others mentioned in this thread?



It definitely holds up!

I think it doesn't get much love because it's advertised as a loop builder.
But the "Action Strikes - Hit" patch has some really well mixed perc with velocity and some few round robins.

I would agree with the boominess on some patches. If you select "master EQ 1", it fixes that boominess issue.

I got it with Komplete 9 or 10. You might already have it.

(Btw, the guys from Boom Library we're involved on the samples and production too).


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## Simon Ravn (Nov 5, 2019)

I love 8dio's taiko ensembles. Can really make your whole percussion section feel fuller and more weighty.


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## brenneisen (Nov 5, 2019)

karelpsota said:


> I use HZ Perc JXL Mixes, but I still need to add 20 plugins behind to sound "pro".



what kind of processing you usually do to mix them right?


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## karelpsota (Nov 5, 2019)

brenneisen said:


> what kind of processing you usually do to mix them right?




Here's a before-after, of a "Mad Max / 2WEI" mix attempt.








HZ01 - Surdos (A:B).wav


Shared with Dropbox




www.dropbox.com





That's the chain on JXL surdos. 









Pro-Q is just doing a counter-clockwise tilt. Reverb is run in parallel and EQed seperately.
Don't get distracted by the numerous EQs - I turn EQs on and off depending on context.


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## Steve Wheeler (Nov 5, 2019)

Andrew Wox said:


> LADD +1 (ugly UI but awesome sound)
> Heavyocity MS Collection
> Metropolis Ark 3 (wooooooow)


+1 on MS collection and Ark 3
In Session Audio's Taiko Creator is pretty sweet too for Taikos only.


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## brenneisen (Nov 5, 2019)

karelpsota said:


> Here's a before-after, of a "Mad Max / 2WEI" mix attempt.



crunchy crunchy

thanks


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## constaneum (Nov 5, 2019)

So i were to choose between Hans Zimmer percussion and LAMP (since Strikeforce is more processed), which one would you recommend?


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## Jack Weaver (Nov 7, 2019)

constaneum said:


> So i were to choose between Hans Zimmer percussion and LAMP (since Strikeforce is more processed), which one would you recommend?


I have both of these. Please note that all the perc libraries mentioned so far have their own style and artistic vision. They have different recorded instruments. 

I don't own Strike Force (yet, waiting for BF sale hopefully) or Cerberus - which has a great interface but is really only a glorified drum kit. 

LAMP and HZP are probably the most similar of all the above libraries. HZP has more types of instruments (timpani, snare-y things that LAMP doesn't have). LAMP has more epic and ethnic drums. However LAMP sounds _hands down_ better. The recordings are pristine, deep and have tons of mic positions. These days perc gets processed a lot by the time it gets to a mix. But having better source sounds is a key to having great tracks. 

To date, they both are 'roll your own' - in that there are no loops or sequencer options like you might find in Cerberus or other similar libraries. LAMP is promising a free upcoming update that is supposed to include a sequencer and artist multis. 

Honestly, I seldom even look at HZP anymore. A lot of people have used HZP successfully. 

.


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## darkneo57 (Nov 11, 2019)

Hi, thank you for your answers.

After careful consideration, I think I'll buy strikeforce and damage for the BF. Wishing to make cinematic music, I think strikeforce will be useful for organic percussion, and damage for more electronic and modern sounds as well as for drums. Can someone please confirm my analysis?

Regarding damage, I looked at several walkthroughs, but for loops modes, especially the single loop mode, can we really use samples to create new rhythms? Does it really work well? 

Thank you very much.


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## axb312 (Nov 11, 2019)

darkneo57 said:


> Hi, thank you for your answers.
> 
> After careful consideration, I think I'll buy strikeforce and damage for the BF. Wishing to make cinematic music, I think strikeforce will be useful for organic percussion, and damage for more electronic and modern sounds as well as for drums. Can someone please confirm my analysis?
> 
> ...



Look for damage in the second hand section of KVR or on here. A lot of users bought it on sale for 150 USD or so, which means you should be able to bring the price down even further...


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## richardt4520 (Nov 11, 2019)

LowweeK said:


> I may suggest *Sample Logic Drum Fury*.
> It's made of multiple kits with only a few sounds each (hence you'd need many tracks).
> But the energizer & polisher sliders can turn a somewhat loud sound into epic.



I'd second advising to check Drum Fury out as well. It's a lot more versatile than some libraries that were mentioned because it is very organic sounding. It can get just as brutal but it doesn't suffer as much from the scooped midrange of a lot of epic libraries so it doesn't just become a tiny ticky sound when you sit it in a dense mix. It still sound huge. All the libraries mentioned should get you there though.


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## constaneum (Nov 12, 2019)

LA modern percussion on sale is it ?.I'm using my phone to check on the website and it seems it's priced at 399. I recalled it was like 499? But somehow I didn't receive any promo news from the subscription as well as website didnt seem to mention anything on sale on what


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## DanPhaseMusic (Nov 12, 2019)

Nothing hits the low end quite like HZ perc in my opinion but when mixing it usually has to be tamed quite drastically anyway. I’ve got most of the libs mentioned and all of them are very good. I’ll always mix and match but HZ and Strikeforce are my most used.


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## Brian Nowak (Nov 12, 2019)

constaneum said:


> LA modern percussion on sale is it ?.I'm using my phone to check on the website and it seems it's priced at 399. I recalled it was like 499? But somehow I didn't receive any promo news from the subscription as well as website didnt seem to mention anything on sale on what



I see that it's listed at $399, but I wonder if it's an adjustment for perceived market value rather than a sale. During the introductory sale the "normal" price was crossed out and the sale price was displayed next to it - at least as far as I recall. 

$400 is still pretty pricey. At that cost I am considering picking up Cineperc if they do the normal BF sale. A lot more content for the price, even though LAMP has a lot of cool options...


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## Brian Nowak (Nov 12, 2019)

Thought I'd shimmy back in here and say I just saw a post on Facebook. That $399 is the sale price on LAMP.


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## Greg (Nov 12, 2019)

Strikeforce is amazing for fast high end and chunky mid range parts.


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## Drundfunk (Nov 12, 2019)

darkneo57 said:


> Hi, thank you for your answers.
> 
> After careful consideration, I think I'll buy strikeforce and damage for the BF. Wishing to make cinematic music, I think strikeforce will be useful for organic percussion, and damage for more electronic and modern sounds as well as for drums. Can someone please confirm my analysis?
> 
> ...


Definitely don't buy Damage from a seller. Rather buy it from someone who is selling their copy (which is doable since it's done via Native Instruments). I sold my copy a few months ago for $80 or something (which was probably a little bit cheaper than it had to be), but most are selling them around $100+ (check the "For Sale" section on this forum). Also don't expect much discount for Strikeforce. The last two Black Fridays they gave a solid $40 discount  (which is why I never bought it).


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## Thundercat (Dec 2, 2019)

axb312 said:


> Look for damage in the second hand section of KVR or on here. A lot of users bought it on sale for 150 USD or so, which means you should be able to bring the price down even further...


I'm sure it's too late to be helpful, but I was going to buy Damage for the good BF discount 50% off. Then I realized I could get it with an update to Kontakt 12 Ultimate. I got not only Damage but other libraries I wanted (Like the Riser) for a great price that made a lot more sense than buying directly from Heavyocity.

Again probably too late to be helpful, but I learned to look at what's included in NI Kontakt updates before buying any of their libraries individually.


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## David Kudell (Dec 3, 2019)

Thundercat said:


> I'm sure it's too late to be helpful, but I was going to buy Damage for the good BF discount 50% off. Then I realized I could get it with an update to Kontakt 12 Ultimate. I got not only Damage but other libraries I wanted (Like the Riser) for a great price that made a lot more sense than buying directly from Heavyocity.
> 
> Again probably too late to be helpful, but I learned to look at what's included in NI Kontakt updates before buying any of their libraries individually.


Also you should have action strikes in there too.


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## KallumS (Dec 3, 2019)

Check out Auddict PercX, I've been having a lot of fun with it.

(Fine, I promise I'll stop going on about it at some point )


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## bfreepro (Jan 7, 2020)

I actually did a recent video kind of comparing and contrasting some epic perc libraries here, and I'm going to do one on the loop/sequence based libraries as well (percx, damage, action strikes, RRA cue builders, etc)



I think they all have their strengths, LAMP has that instant blockbuster sound, possibly more than any other library straight out of the box, but it's expensive and can take a while to explore and learn all it has to offer. Cerberus has an amazing and dry, punchy sound, but it is not nearly as organic and realistic. 8dio epic percs are the opposite, very realistic but also very roomy, even with close mics, and can lack punch and can get lost in a mix. Drum fury is a nice balance of everything, but not as "Hollywood" sounding as LAMP, but a nice price for so much content, but it lacks detailed controls.


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