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Epic / orchestral percussion libraries with rhythms / loops

Geomir

Geomir

Senior Member
Hello everyone! I am new to the forum!

Do you have any nice suggestions for orchestral / epic percussion libraries that are focused in loops / rhythms? Preferably the ones that do not required Full Kontakt, and the ones that automatically sync to your DAW's current project tempo / bpm. I am mainly interested in natural sounds, not synth sounds!

Everything started Dark Era Library! I bought it for the folk/pagan/viking/tribal instruments, and then I noticed a category named "Epic Loops", and I thought "let's give it a try"! And... OMG the song I am composing suddenly became loud, alive and epic! I would need months to achieve such rhythms by myself (after all I am a piano player, not a drummer)!

I was also shocked by the ease that even if the rhythm says 110 or 140 bpm, it automatically adjusted perfectly to my current song project (90 bpm)! But Dark Era has just a few ready-to-use loops, it is not focused on that!

So I wonder what libraries exist that maybe offer hundreds of organic epic drum loops! Is Action Strikes one of them? Is it nice sounding for the price? Any other suggestions?
Click to read more...
 
Welcome to the forum! Action Strikes is nice, but a bit too wet for my taste. Definitely fast and easy to use, and it comes with loops and individual hits. Sound is good, but yes, the low end is sometimes hard to get right in a mix.
 
Geomir said:
Hello everyone! I am new to the forum!

Do you have any nice suggestions for orchestral / epic percussion libraries that are focused in loops / rhythms? Preferably the ones that do not required Full Kontakt, and the ones that automatically sync to your DAW's current project tempo / bpm. I am mainly interested in natural sounds, not synth sounds!

Everything started Dark Era Library! I bought it for the folk/pagan/viking/tribal instruments, and then I noticed a category named "Epic Loops", and I thought "let's give it a try"! And... OMG the song I am composing suddenly became loud, alive and epic! I would need months to achieve such rhythms by myself (after all I am a piano player, not a drummer)!

I was also shocked by the ease that even if the rhythm says 110 or 140 bpm, it automatically adjusted perfectly to my current song project (90 bpm)! But Dark Era has just a few ready-to-use loops, it is not focused on that!

So I wonder what libraries exist that maybe offer hundreds of organic epic drum loops! Is Action Strikes one of them? Is it nice sounding for the price? Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

Hey Geomir,
Welcome to the forum. I am not big into that subject, but I think The deep percussion beds I and II are worth to look at. They have a lot of loops which you can also adjust to tempo. But there are many many more available on the market.

Maybe and maybe just a little tip for you that the search function on this forum can help dramatically, click also here:

Search results for query: epic percussion loop

vi-control.net vi-control.net
 
Thank you very much for your welcome and your suggestions! After searching several hours here (LOL thanks for the advice Alexander, I should have done that before I post maybe!), I came to the conclusion that there are choices, but really not too many!

As gtrwll already suggested, my obvious choice for organic epic cinematic percussion loops would be Action Strikes!

As Alexander also suggested, a fantastic choice for me could have been Deep Percussion Beds I and II, especially now that they are both on sale, and they seem easier to use than Action Strikes! I am crying with black tears, because they are not available for the Free Kontakt Player!

Another choice would be the good old loud Heavyocity Damage, but - even if it offers several organic percussion loops - I think it's heavily oriented towards an industrial type of sound! Please correct me if I am wrong!

And last, but not least, I just discovered Soundiron's David Oliver's Rhythmic Odyssey: a 12 GB, 24-bit, 48 kHz library focused on percussion loops, and compatible with the free Kontakt Player! I am going to watch some demos, reviews and walkthroughs! Has anyone a first hand experience with that one? Its normal price is HALF than Action Strikes and Damage price! (150 vs 300 vs 300)
 
I don't find the loops in Damage very useful, it's been years since I used them, but industrial might be a good word to describe it.

But wow, 300 for Action Strikes? That's quite steep, but it's hard for me to estimate it's real value, because I got it bundled in Komplete Ultimate. Have you checked if someone would be selling their license?

Edit: Tony above beat me to it.
 
I'm in a somewhat similar spot. Already own Soundiron Apocalypse Elements and am wondering how well Deep Percussion Beds 2 would layer with it. I'm thinking those two together would probably suffice (I'm a hobbyist) for some time to come... if they layer decently after trying to make them as dry as possible and adding my own 3rd party reverb (e.g., Sonsig).

Does anyone have experience layering Apocalypse with Deep Percussion Beds 2? I'm definitely after a bombastic sound for the most part vs. delicacy. I'm avoiding Heavyocity for now unless next year I upgrade to Ultimate or whatever it is that has that included, same with Action Strikes, etc.

Saga sounds nice from the demo, but I don't think (?) it has loops.
 
If you're looking for pure drums/percussion, here are a some Kontakt Player libraries to try:
  • Taiko Creator - IMHO simply the best Taiko VI out there. Great detailed samples, and lots of MIDI loops and patterns to play with.
  • EPIC Cinematic Drums & Sound Design - Packs a lot of percussion into a seemingly small package. Comes with a wide variety of loops and drums. The samples aren't necessarily the most refined, but when integrated in a mix, they do the job.
  • Apocalypse Percussion Elements - I love Soundiron stuff, but this is my least favorite library of theirs. Somehow these drums just don't work well for me, and tend to sound anemic in a mix, unless I put a lot of processing on them... but YMMV.
 
I agree with all the previous posts that 300 is too much for a 3 GB Loop library... But thank you for sharing your opinions, I am happy to see that I agree with you, I just needed someone else to confirm it!


NekujaK, thank you so much for your suggestions! Let me see, one by one!

1) THANK YOU for this! It's the first time I hear about this! The price is perfect and it's really made for the free Kontakt Player! I will check it thoroughly asap! Normally I should reply after I check it, but I am already ecstatic from the interface graphics, they offer me INSTANT inspirations: I can see Bamboo Forests, Dreamy Pagodas, Dark Cityscapes, and so so so many others!

2) I am aware of this, but I never mentioned to anyone here, because I can ONLY find 1 video review about it in the WHOLE INTERNET (no exaggeration here)! I respect SoundsAndGear, but this specific video review is the worst they ever made! He pressed random notes for 1 second, and then moves on! You cannot understand the loops sounds from that video! Do you have ANY OTHER source of information for that library? Because it really looks interesting, nicely prized, and offers many inspiring percussion loops and cinematic sound effects! Do you own it personally?

3) I also love and respect Soundiron, but I think APE is not a loop library! On the contrary, that one is their percussion loop library:

soundiron.com

David Oliver's Rhythmic Odyssey

Percussionist David Oliver performs a vast collection of multi-track percussion loops for Kontakt, covering a variety of instruments, tempos, styles & genres. The library includes 6648 loops, per-track FX routing & sequencing, auto tempo-syncing, slicing, loop & song browsing, tags, favorites...
soundiron.com soundiron.com

It seems really nice (rich content and great value for money) but NO ONE ever says anything about it! Is it so bad? Or is it just underrated? No one ever used it? I would like an real opinion about this one!
 
@Geomir, replying to your comments:

1) I can't imagine you'll be disappointed with Taiko Creator. It's a beautifully designed product from one of my favorite library creators. Keep in mind, the loops are MIDI, and not audio loops. I find this useful because I can learn from the loops, tweak them, and even apply them to different drum samples if I choose.

2) Yes, I own this library and use it quite often. You're right that it doesn't seem to get any notice or mention - and I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because of the bare-bones design. There's only one simple UI screen and the loops and samples are laid out across the keyboard with no indication of how they're organized, so you need to audition the keys until you find what you want. I don't mind because the product sounds good and offers a lot of content, so for me it's a useful library for drum/percussion loops

3) APE does offer a substantial collection of MIDI loops.

4) I've considered Rhythmic Odyssey several times, but somehow never pulled the trigger... yet :)

Good luck!
 
@NekujaK

Thank you for taking your time to help!

1) Taiko Creator looks and sounds so good, but I did not find any video showcasing the midi loops, and I am afraid that at this point I would prefer "traditional" audio loops, that are easier for me to use and automatically sync with my current DAW project.

2) Hahaha OK I have noticed that in the only-one-available review: You just have to press each note to check the sound! It's OK for me, it's easy to do, and I can show the patience required!

So between Action Strikes and Epic Cinematic Drums and Design, which would you choose, considering also the price? (for organic epic orchestral percussion)

If I owned full Kontakt, would "Deep Percussion Beds I + II" be my best choice?
 
The Looploft sells Cinematic drums loop packs which you can buy in a bundle or each pack separately (they include individual samples also). Really nice quality, but as they are loops and not a Kontakt instrument, they are set BPM only.
www.thelooploft.com

The #1 Source For Drum Loops, Samples, Reason ReFills, Ableton & More!

The Loop Loft offers a range of drum loops, percussion, guitar, bass, saxophone loops. Its productions are recorded using only real musicians, not machines.
www.thelooploft.com www.thelooploft.com

If you had Kontakt, Maliki might have been a nice library for you as it includes a lot of drum loops and midi patterns. Occasionally goes on sale. This library could 'possibly' work in Kontakt player, but only in demo mode, which is about 10-15 minutes at a time.
(broken link removed)
 
@Geomir

1) I can understand if you prefer not to work with MIDI loops, but I just want to assure you that Taiko Creator comes with tons of MIDI drum patterns/loops and an integrated browser that makes it really easy to audition them. It's a brilliant library.

2) I don't own Action Strikes, so I can't say how it compares to Epic Cinematic Drums. It's certainly a very polished product, and I like the notation display. It's on my list as a future purchase.

I don't own the Deep Percussion Bed libraries, so can't comment. I almost bought them on a couple of occassions, but never pulled the trigger for some reason.

Regarding Loop Loft, mentioned by @Morning Coffee... I own just about every drum loop package made by Loop Loft, and even personally know a couple of the drummers who recorded the loops. Unless I've missed out on some recent releases, I don't recall them having much in the way of organic epic cinematic loops. They have a Cinematic series, but for pulse-pounding action percussion typically associated with trailers and epic scores, I would look elsewhere. But as far as all-around drum loops go, Loop Loft is great.

@Morning Coffee's suggestion of Maliki is definitely worth considering. I use it on occasion.
 
I am pretty new to the virtual instrument scene and also have been looking for organic cinematic/orchestral loops for a while as I much prefer my music to sound organic than synthetic or industrial. I first picked up Deep Percussion Beds 1 on sale and have used it quite a bit. It is pretty simple without much options for changing the loops other than just using different stems rather than the whole ensemble loop. Here is an example of a song I wrote with deep percussion beds that comes in (allong with cymbals from Albion ) towards the end of the song (3:00 minutes on)
Listen to Into the Light by Owen Woodfield Smith on #SoundCloud


Here is another one with Deep Percussion Beds starting at 1:00
Listen to To The Source by Owen Woodfield Smith on #SoundCloud


I also have Maliki which has a good sound, but can sound a bit stretched when the BPM of your project is very different from the bpm of the original loop. (On deep percussion beds I get around this by manually setting the bmp of the loop to double the BPM of my slow tracks). I got Maliki for 10 bucks and think it is well worth it. You also get lots of midi loops with it.

I also have the epic ensembles by 8dio (which I also got when they were on sale which is pretty frequent) which can be useful for the patterns you can create and then you can add in your cymbals and drum rolls from other libraries. I like the sound of the Taikos, but it is a bit wet and you can't get rid of the wetness easily. the other two I have, frame drum and toms have more options to get rid of the wetness by reducing release etc. I used 8dio epic frame drum on this track starting around 1:30:
Listen to Breath of Life by Owen Woodfield Smith on #SoundCloud


I also have heavyocity's drum ensemble and evolve which I haven't gotten alot of use out of until I recently found a basic loop in evolve that is organic and went well will the feel of the song I was writing. I think I'm going to audition it more as it sounds pretty good and I feeling it sat easily in the mix. The parts I don't like alot personally about alot heavyocity stuff is how processed and industrial they sound. They are great if that is your style but if your going for organic not as much (though Evolve does have a decent number of organic (dramatic) loops that sound pretty good and are pretty basic). Here is the one I just used starting at 0:57. At 1:17 I add in a simpler metal loop from evolve to add a little variation.

Listen to Hope Remains by Owen Woodfield Smith on #SoundCloud


I have Soundiron Apocalypse Elements, but have had trouble (just because I'm pretty dumb) at using the midi loops in FL studio. Otherwise it sounds pretty good, but not usually my go to for drums.

I also have had my eye on Action Strikes and Epic Cinematic Percussion. I think Action Strikes would suite my style well and from the sound of what your looking for I think it might be good for you too. It seems to have some features like syncing when you add other loops or stems together while playing it that make it appealing over Deep Percussion Beds and has single hits, variations and you can build up with the modwheel (rather than just increase the volume like I do). It is always on sale over BF, but I get tempted by other sales and have been bad at saving for it.
I also have been scared away from Epic Cinematic Percussion and Sound Design by the silence regarding it. Thanks to NakujaK for your feedback on it.

Hopefully my feedback was a little useful. Sorry for all the song shares. Basically wanted to show what I was talking about and that loops can help an amateur like me to make their tracks come alive a bit more. I'm learning to write without the loops, but certainly help give me inspiration and save time in the meantime.
 
Owen Smith said:
I am pretty new to the virtual instrument scene and also have been looking for organic cinematic/orchestral loops for a while as I much prefer my music to sound organic than synthetic or industrial. I first picked up Deep Percussion Beds 1 on sale and have used it quite a bit. It is pretty simple without much options for changing the loops other than just using different stems rather than the whole ensemble loop. Here is an example of a song I wrote with deep percussion beds that comes in (allong with cymbals from Albion ) towards the end of the song (3:00 minutes on)
Listen to Into the Light by Owen Woodfield Smith on #SoundCloud


Here is another one with Deep Percussion Beds starting at 1:00
Listen to To The Source by Owen Woodfield Smith on #SoundCloud


I also have Maliki which has a good sound, but can sound a bit stretched when the BPM of your project is very different from the bpm of the original loop. (On deep percussion beds I get around this by manually setting the bmp of the loop to double the BPM of my slow tracks). I got Maliki for 10 bucks and think it is well worth it. You also get lots of midi loops with it.

I also have the epic ensembles by 8dio (which I also got when they were on sale which is pretty frequent) which can be useful for the patterns you can create and then you can add in your cymbals and drum rolls from other libraries. I like the sound of the Taikos, but it is a bit wet and you can't get rid of the wetness easily. the other two I have, frame drum and toms have more options to get rid of the wetness by reducing release etc. I used 8dio epic frame drum on this track starting around 1:30:
Listen to Breath of Life by Owen Woodfield Smith on #SoundCloud


I also have heavyocity's drum ensemble and evolve which I haven't gotten alot of use out of until I recently found a basic loop in evolve that is organic and went well will the feel of the song I was writing. I think I'm going to audition it more as it sounds pretty good and I feeling it sat easily in the mix. The parts I don't like alot personally about alot heavyocity stuff is how processed and industrial they sound. They are great if that is your style but if your going for organic not as much (though Evolve does have a decent number of organic (dramatic) loops that sound pretty good and are pretty basic). Here is the one I just used starting at 0:57. At 1:17 I add in a simpler metal loop from evolve to add a little variation.

Listen to Hope Remains by Owen Woodfield Smith on #SoundCloud


I have Soundiron Apocalypse Elements, but have had trouble (just because I'm pretty dumb) at using the midi loops in FL studio. Otherwise it sounds pretty good, but not usually my go to for drums.

I also have had my eye on Action Strikes and Epic Cinematic Percussion. I think Action Strikes would suite my style well and from the sound of what your looking for I think it might be good for you too. It seems to have some features like syncing when you add other loops or stems together while playing it that make it appealing over Deep Percussion Beds and has single hits, variations and you can build up with the modwheel (rather than just increase the volume like I do). It is always on sale over BF, but I get tempted by other sales and have been bad at saving for it.
I also have been scared away from Epic Cinematic Percussion and Sound Design by the silence regarding it. Thanks to NakujaK for your feedback on it.

Hopefully my feedback was a little useful. Sorry for all the song shares. Basically wanted to show what I was talking about and that loops can help an amateur like me to make their tracks come alive a bit more. I'm learning to write without the loops, but certainly help give me inspiration and save time in the meantime.
Click to expand...

Great post and examples!

Can I ask what cymbal wash patch you're using in your examples (mainly the first abs second I believe) as your transitions? Did you say Albion One?

Cheers!
 
@Owen Smith WOW indeed amazing examples, thank you for this!

It is so difficult to choose, especially when you are on low budget (I am talking about me) and you realize that you cannot afford to make a "wrong choice"!

It seems that Action Strikes, even if it's expensive for a 3GB Loop Library, maybe it's the best solution for epic organic orchestral percussion! It has been tested and has a great reputation for what it is!

Still I am not taking my eyes away from Epic Cinematic Percussion, because it has many tempo-synced loops (including various categories) plus many extra ready-to-use cinematic "effects"!

And I just discovered this (LOL more options to get us more confused):

heavyocity.com

Heavyocity Master Sessions Ensemble Drums Collection

Embark on a rhythmic journey with Heavyocity's Master Sessions Ensemble Drums. It features multi-sampled ensemble kits and over 300 tempo-synced loops.
heavyocity.com

Any opinion? Any experience? It seems reasonably priced, plus it offers many loops + the instruments as playable kits!
 
Sopranos said:
Great post and examples!

Can I ask what cymbal wash patch you're using in your examples (mainly the first abs second I believe) as your transitions? Did you say Albion One?

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Thanks Sopranos! Yeah, I think for almost all of the cymbal wash/swells and crashes I was using Albion 1. I have swells in Symphobia 3 and Red Room Audio Saga, but Albion 1 was one of my first libraries and a go back to it quite a bit for the cymbals and a few other patches. I also use the percussion some from The Orchestra, but most of the examples above are from Albion 1. There is also a suttle drum swell from Albion 1 used a few times in the first track I shared (Into the Light). These patches and the cymbals are in the Darwin Percussion Ensembles folder in the legacy patches folder.
 
Geomir said:
@Owen Smith WOW indeed amazing examples, thank you for this!

It is so difficult to choose, especially when you are on low budget (I am talking about me) and you realize that you cannot afford to make a "wrong choice"!

It seems that Action Strikes, even if it's expensive for a 3GB Loop Library, maybe it's the best solution for epic organic orchestral percussion! It has been tested and has a great reputation for what it is!

Still I am not taking my eyes away from Epic Cinematic Percussion, because it has many tempo-synced loops (including various categories) plus many extra ready-to-use cinematic "effects"!

And I just discovered this (LOL more options to get us more confused):

heavyocity.com

Heavyocity Master Sessions Ensemble Drums Collection

Embark on a rhythmic journey with Heavyocity's Master Sessions Ensemble Drums. It features multi-sampled ensemble kits and over 300 tempo-synced loops.
heavyocity.com

Any opinion? Any experience? It seems reasonably priced, plus it offers many loops + the instruments as playable kits!
Click to expand...

Hey Geomir, Master Sessions Ensemble Drums is the one I have and I don't recommend it for organic acoustic percussion. It doesn't have any cymbals that I can find and the loops are very processed and kind of "mangled." It sounds like there is built in filter on every patch. Definitely not the same as Action Strikes or Deep Percussion Beds, or Epic Cinematic Percussion. For some people (perhaps more trailer style composition) Master Sessions Ensemble Drums would be really good, but it hasn't been useful to me yet at all.

Action Strikes should be on sale at least around Black Friday. Typically it is %50 off then. Epic Cinematic Percussion I have seen on sale a few times as well around BF and in Big Fish Audio's weekly sales. Typically it's price comes down to around 100.
 
@Owen Smith OK so it's better to wait for a sale, it seems like Action Strikes and/or Epic Cinematic Percussion are my best choices for what I am looking for! Thank you for your help so far!

But IF anyone here has any first-hand experience with Soundiron's Rhythmic Odyssey, PLEASE help here! It is such a pity that no one knows anything about this nicely priced (even without sales) Kontakt Player 24-bit, 48khz, 12GB Percussion Loop Library! It might be EXACTLY what I am searching for!
 
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