OP
OP
WarpIV
Active Member
Hi Everyone,
It's been a long time since I've posted anything and I thought it would be good to give you an update on the status of the WarpIV PRO 3D Monster Drum Kit Library. Sorry for the long post, but there is a lot of information for me to post since the last update.
After a lot of thought, I realized that I was rushing getting the product out before it was really ready. There are a number of things I want to perfect before I release the library.
First, I realized that I needed one more (tighter) tuning for all of my snares, especially the larger ones with 6.5 and 8 inch deep shells. I retuned them tighter and they really came alive with more of a crack tone that I really like. In addition, I am adding 48 snare-wire versions for the 14 inch snares and 30 snare-wire versions for the 13 inch piccolo snares. This tightens them up a little more. I also bought one more high-end snare, 14x5 Noble & Cooley with a Maple shell, to add to my collection. It has a unique tone that I really like (and I think users will really like too). It has a unique 3-band snare-wire grouping configuration that create a different kind of sound. So, when all is said and done, the library will have 21 snare instruments recorded from 8 high-end snares with different tunings (each with 36 articulations) plus 3 special effects snares (each with 5 snare variations). The Noble & Cooley snare will also be recorded without its bottom head to turn it into another pair of timbales with high and low tunings. With 14 instruments, the timbale collection (created from snares without bottom heads) in this library is quite extensive and they all sound great...
Second, I have also decided to add two more crash cymbals, the 16 and 18 inch Zildjian K Sweet Crashes. I think that these two crashes will be very popular. They are thin, quick, and have a very nice tone that works in virtually all genres. I might also add one more cymbal, the 18 inch Zildjian K Dark Crash. It is a little thicker than the sweet crashes and has a longer ring. The Zildjian "K" series are the highest product line from Zildjian and are used a ton in studio recordings of all styles. If you watch videos of professional drummers, you will almost always see at least one of their crash cymbals having a "K" marking...
Third, I have been working on the effects chain and have come to realize that the best way to do things is to remove the effects from the output channels (which is what I was doing during testing) and put them directly into each instrument. That way each instrument (e.g., snare, kick, crash, etc.) can be uniquely optimized and we can also directly save presets in the instrument. I want each instrument to have a set of default presets to make it easy for users to quickly get the professional sound they want. In addition to defaults, users will also be able to create/save their own presets. There will still be separate output channels for kick, snare, hi hat, rack toms, floor toms, crash, ride, percussion and room (reverb). So, users can always add Kontakt effects to each channel and/or separate output channels in their DAW to use higher-end plugins. The key to making this library come alive will be how the effects combine to produce great sounds. Remember, everything in the library is recorded totally dry, and with extremely accurate flat-frequency mics to capture organic sounds, so getting reverb (and other effects) just right is critical.
Fourth, I have added a special processed version of each snare "Stick" articulation (where the drum is hit in the center of the drum head) called "Crack" that very much shortens the tail in a natural smooth (exponential decay) manner (much better than a simple fade out). What this means is that users will not have to shorten the tail of all articulations in the instrument to get a tight crack sound. Rather, you can just use the Crack articulation while still having the full ringing tone for the other articulations. I am going to extend this to some of the other instruments as well so that there will be Crack kick and tom articulations too. This will be the only non-organic processed sounds in the library. Everything else is the natural sound without any processing artifacts other than changing the normalization of the recording and applying a small fadeout in the tail. This means that all processing to dial in the tone of each drum is done through plugin effects.
Fifth, I think I have settled on the plugin chain that will be provided for each instrument. It starts with 3 resonance filters that are specialized for each instrument. This lets you enhance or reduce the three dominant resonances. This is probably the most important effect that users will want to play with to really control the tone of each instrument. Next, there are two filters for high-pass and low-pass frequencies. After that, the next effect in the chain will be another (more general) EQ with default frequencies and Q settings specialized for each kind of instrument. Then, the Transient Master effect (next in the chain) will provide attack and decay controls that let you dial in the pop and ring of the instrument. Finally, each instrument will optionally add a very small amount of reverb to simulate close mic room leakage that would occur in a studio-recorded drum kit. In addition, each instrument in the Kontakt multi representing the full drum kit, has an output to a common "Room" channel so that everything can be fed into a common reverb plugin. I am trying out different Kontakt reverbs to find what sounds best, but I suspect real users will not want to use any of the built-in Kontakt reverbs, but instead separate the output Room channel from Kontakt in their DAW to use their own high-end reverbs (e.g., the same reverb used by the rest of the composition). Nevertheless, I want to have something that still sounds great just using Kontakt.
The sixth thing that needs to be in place before I release the library is the pattern interface that lets you create patterns (involving multiple articulations for an instrument) that are triggered by a key. I have the interface that lets you edit the patterns basically in place, but still have to do the programming to play the patterns when a key is pressed. Also, I need some built-in preset patterns for each instrument. Examples of instrument patterns might include snare drum rolls (such as 5-stroke rolls created from buzz articulations, etc.), cymbal swells or rolls of different durations and dynamics, hi hat beats, brush patterns with swirls, etc. I might only provide a minimal set of built-in patterns in the first release of the library. In addition, I would like to eventually incorporate already created MIDI patterns (perhaps from other drum kit libraries) that would let users play full drum kit beats. Support for MIDI might come in a future release. One of the challenges in using already created MIDI drum patterns is that it assumes a drums kit configuration and how each articulation in each instrument are mapped to keys. My library allows users to configure their kits any way they want. So, this is a detail I will need to work out. Users will probably want to have preconfigured kits with standard key-to-articulation mappings.
Finally, I am hoping by the end of summer to have some professional demos available. The demos I have produced so far are not that great, partly because I programmed (rather than played) all of the tracks myself, which means that everything is perfectly on the beat (not very realistic). Really, the demos I produced were tests (done during development) for me to hear how the drums sound with other instruments and to play with effects chains so I could learn what needs to be provided. I do have an electronic kit that I will probably use to record some live playing down the road. I'm an ok drummer, but not great... In my earlier tests, everything worked great. One of the tests was to play rolls on my electronic kit from normal snare "Stick" articulations and see if they sound realistic. They sounded great. So, I think the drum library will be very useful for electronic drummers as well as composers.
If I can find time to work on all these things, I am hoping to have a first release of the library by the end of the year. But, I don't want to release the library until it is really ready...
Anyway, I hope this update is helpful...
Best,
Jeff Steinman
It's been a long time since I've posted anything and I thought it would be good to give you an update on the status of the WarpIV PRO 3D Monster Drum Kit Library. Sorry for the long post, but there is a lot of information for me to post since the last update.
After a lot of thought, I realized that I was rushing getting the product out before it was really ready. There are a number of things I want to perfect before I release the library.
First, I realized that I needed one more (tighter) tuning for all of my snares, especially the larger ones with 6.5 and 8 inch deep shells. I retuned them tighter and they really came alive with more of a crack tone that I really like. In addition, I am adding 48 snare-wire versions for the 14 inch snares and 30 snare-wire versions for the 13 inch piccolo snares. This tightens them up a little more. I also bought one more high-end snare, 14x5 Noble & Cooley with a Maple shell, to add to my collection. It has a unique tone that I really like (and I think users will really like too). It has a unique 3-band snare-wire grouping configuration that create a different kind of sound. So, when all is said and done, the library will have 21 snare instruments recorded from 8 high-end snares with different tunings (each with 36 articulations) plus 3 special effects snares (each with 5 snare variations). The Noble & Cooley snare will also be recorded without its bottom head to turn it into another pair of timbales with high and low tunings. With 14 instruments, the timbale collection (created from snares without bottom heads) in this library is quite extensive and they all sound great...
Second, I have also decided to add two more crash cymbals, the 16 and 18 inch Zildjian K Sweet Crashes. I think that these two crashes will be very popular. They are thin, quick, and have a very nice tone that works in virtually all genres. I might also add one more cymbal, the 18 inch Zildjian K Dark Crash. It is a little thicker than the sweet crashes and has a longer ring. The Zildjian "K" series are the highest product line from Zildjian and are used a ton in studio recordings of all styles. If you watch videos of professional drummers, you will almost always see at least one of their crash cymbals having a "K" marking...
Third, I have been working on the effects chain and have come to realize that the best way to do things is to remove the effects from the output channels (which is what I was doing during testing) and put them directly into each instrument. That way each instrument (e.g., snare, kick, crash, etc.) can be uniquely optimized and we can also directly save presets in the instrument. I want each instrument to have a set of default presets to make it easy for users to quickly get the professional sound they want. In addition to defaults, users will also be able to create/save their own presets. There will still be separate output channels for kick, snare, hi hat, rack toms, floor toms, crash, ride, percussion and room (reverb). So, users can always add Kontakt effects to each channel and/or separate output channels in their DAW to use higher-end plugins. The key to making this library come alive will be how the effects combine to produce great sounds. Remember, everything in the library is recorded totally dry, and with extremely accurate flat-frequency mics to capture organic sounds, so getting reverb (and other effects) just right is critical.
Fourth, I have added a special processed version of each snare "Stick" articulation (where the drum is hit in the center of the drum head) called "Crack" that very much shortens the tail in a natural smooth (exponential decay) manner (much better than a simple fade out). What this means is that users will not have to shorten the tail of all articulations in the instrument to get a tight crack sound. Rather, you can just use the Crack articulation while still having the full ringing tone for the other articulations. I am going to extend this to some of the other instruments as well so that there will be Crack kick and tom articulations too. This will be the only non-organic processed sounds in the library. Everything else is the natural sound without any processing artifacts other than changing the normalization of the recording and applying a small fadeout in the tail. This means that all processing to dial in the tone of each drum is done through plugin effects.
Fifth, I think I have settled on the plugin chain that will be provided for each instrument. It starts with 3 resonance filters that are specialized for each instrument. This lets you enhance or reduce the three dominant resonances. This is probably the most important effect that users will want to play with to really control the tone of each instrument. Next, there are two filters for high-pass and low-pass frequencies. After that, the next effect in the chain will be another (more general) EQ with default frequencies and Q settings specialized for each kind of instrument. Then, the Transient Master effect (next in the chain) will provide attack and decay controls that let you dial in the pop and ring of the instrument. Finally, each instrument will optionally add a very small amount of reverb to simulate close mic room leakage that would occur in a studio-recorded drum kit. In addition, each instrument in the Kontakt multi representing the full drum kit, has an output to a common "Room" channel so that everything can be fed into a common reverb plugin. I am trying out different Kontakt reverbs to find what sounds best, but I suspect real users will not want to use any of the built-in Kontakt reverbs, but instead separate the output Room channel from Kontakt in their DAW to use their own high-end reverbs (e.g., the same reverb used by the rest of the composition). Nevertheless, I want to have something that still sounds great just using Kontakt.
The sixth thing that needs to be in place before I release the library is the pattern interface that lets you create patterns (involving multiple articulations for an instrument) that are triggered by a key. I have the interface that lets you edit the patterns basically in place, but still have to do the programming to play the patterns when a key is pressed. Also, I need some built-in preset patterns for each instrument. Examples of instrument patterns might include snare drum rolls (such as 5-stroke rolls created from buzz articulations, etc.), cymbal swells or rolls of different durations and dynamics, hi hat beats, brush patterns with swirls, etc. I might only provide a minimal set of built-in patterns in the first release of the library. In addition, I would like to eventually incorporate already created MIDI patterns (perhaps from other drum kit libraries) that would let users play full drum kit beats. Support for MIDI might come in a future release. One of the challenges in using already created MIDI drum patterns is that it assumes a drums kit configuration and how each articulation in each instrument are mapped to keys. My library allows users to configure their kits any way they want. So, this is a detail I will need to work out. Users will probably want to have preconfigured kits with standard key-to-articulation mappings.
Finally, I am hoping by the end of summer to have some professional demos available. The demos I have produced so far are not that great, partly because I programmed (rather than played) all of the tracks myself, which means that everything is perfectly on the beat (not very realistic). Really, the demos I produced were tests (done during development) for me to hear how the drums sound with other instruments and to play with effects chains so I could learn what needs to be provided. I do have an electronic kit that I will probably use to record some live playing down the road. I'm an ok drummer, but not great... In my earlier tests, everything worked great. One of the tests was to play rolls on my electronic kit from normal snare "Stick" articulations and see if they sound realistic. They sounded great. So, I think the drum library will be very useful for electronic drummers as well as composers.
If I can find time to work on all these things, I am hoping to have a first release of the library by the end of the year. But, I don't want to release the library until it is really ready...
Anyway, I hope this update is helpful...
Best,
Jeff Steinman
