About the NDV Grtsch Stereo Drum Kit:

This product is a multi-sampled Gretsch® "Phil Collins-style" drum kit made to be played from Sonic Reality’s Infinite Player. It was recorded in Pasadena, California at "Mower Studios" with progressive rock drummer Nick D Virgilio. It is a 7 piece kit recorded in a brick walled live room modeled after the now defunct Townhouse studio in London where Peter Gabriel's ground breaking third album and Phil Collins "Face Value" was recorded. The sound of this kit is very much in the style of early 80's Phil Collins and Genesis. Ross Garfield, the Drum Doctor, provided the set for Nick with tweaking and tuning to reproduce this particular character drum sound. This kit was recorded with snares on. The snare of this set has a cutting "ping" to it that is similar to the snare sound of Bill Bruford and Stewart Copeland. This NDV Gretsch® kit is very crisp, punchy and diverse. You can get everything from a tight ghosting dry sound to a massive big tom fill room sound all in one!

ProFile on Nick D Virgilio:

Nick D Virgilio is one of today's top modern rock / progressive rock drummers.  He has worked with Genesis, Spock's Beard, Tears For Fears, Kevin Gilbert, Jordan Rudess, Mike Keneally, as well as numerous other side and solo projects.  Nick delivers everything from solid pop grooves to quirky odd time signature progressive rock rhythms and is one of the only drummers to have a fluid effortless feel on par with that of one of the most distinct sounding drummers in rock history, Phil Collins.

Sonic Notes:

Quote from Dave Kerzner of Sonic Reality about Nick D Virgilio: "I used to play with Nick in Kevin Gilbert's band. He is certainly one of the best drummers I ve ever played with and I ve always been blown away by his talents as a musician. He has been a tremendous help to Sonic Reality in many areas from assistance in the presentation of Ocean Way Drums and more. Like Nick I too am a fan of Genesis and Tears for Fears as well as the late Kevin Gilbert who we both had the fortune to collaborate with. So, for his ProFile we set out to do various sessions at Kevin's old studio to capture various classic BIG drum sounds we both liked. Even though Nick is a Mapex endorsed drummer, I suggested that we also sample a classic Premier® and Gretsch® kit to emulate a progressive rock and Genesis style sound. During those sessions at Mower we also sampled additional snares including the Tama® snare that was used on Nirvana's Nevermind album as well as a vintage 40's Leedy kit all of which are coming out separately for the Infinite Player as well. Those kit pieces and extra snares plus the NDV Premier and Gretsch kits provide some nice kit pieces for swapping when you re making custom kits since they share similar elements like the sound of that big room. While we didn t record many grooves for the Gretsch and Leedy kits, we DID record multi-track grooves from around 40 different Genesis songs plus grooves from Tears for Fears, Spock's Beard and Kevin Gilbert. Those multi-track grooves may eventually be released for the Infinite Player at some point as well."

Easy to Use, Intuitive and Flexible Graphic User Interface!

Whether you play from the keyboard, V-Drums™ or any electronic drum kit, Drum Masters 2 has some of the most advanced features for round robin randomization of hits, performance articulations like ghost notes, snare rolls, and hits from center to edge to rim. With new “ MIDI learn”, custom kits can be tailored for any drum pad set up. It includes GM, iMap and a new Performance mode for expressive MIDI grooves and universal compatibility all in one package. Top that off with ready to go mixes, built-in effects and infinite expandability, Drum Masters 2 is the ultimate virtual drum solution!

Example Drum Masters "Multi" Drum Kit Screen Shot

Drum Masters Stereo Drum Kits:

Drum Masters Stereo Drum Kits are great for quick loading and efficient use of your computer's power. Instead of discrete mic channel mixing like Drum Masters Multi-track kits, with the Stereo Kits you have a "Ready to Go" mix of the mics preserved in less channels taking up less polyphony. You still have a individual control of the overall levels for each kit pieces like kick, snare, toms, hats and cymbals which offers a balance of speed and convenience without total sacrifice of sonic flexibility. Additionally most of the drum kits mixed without additional processing for a natural acoustic sound with the flexibility to get a wide variety of produced sounds within your DAW using your favorite effect plug-ins. The kit pieces are also easily interchangeable for creating an unlimited number of customized kits. Drum Masters kits can also be combined with authentic played audio grooves from the same session for building the ultimate drum track with realism.

Features:

• Diverse Range of Kits: Unique custom and vintage drum kits from legendary drummers and top drum brands.
• Signature Styles and Sounds: Authentic techniques and recording equipment used in the session to recreate drum sounds from iconic Classic Rock albums to Jazz, Soul, Blues, Hip Hop, World, Pop and other styles.
• Ready to Go Stereo Mixes! Stereo mixed kit pieces with overall level control of the kick, snare, toms, hats and cymbals. Stereo Kits load fast and are incredibly efficient on your computer power. It's ideal for laptops!
• Unprocessed Natural Acoustic Sound: Recorded naturally with no additional processing for maximum flexibility to produce, process and engineer within your DAW.
• GM and iMap Drum Maps: Both General Midi and Sonic Reality’s award-winning iMap™ drum layouts for the ultimate in compatibility and expressive realism when creating drum tracks.
• Left and Right Hand Alternate Hits! Drum Masters iMap kits have left and right stick alternate hits on separate keys for avoiding machine gun effect and simulating a drummer’s natural alternating two hand playing.
• Dynamic Velocities and Multiple Drum Positions! Drum Kits are mapped both with multiple velocities and a variety of positions of each drum from center to edge to rim.
• Ideal Material to Use with Effect Plug-ins: Process each mic channel separately or together through your favorite studio effects plug-ins and channel strip EQ in your DAW.
• Unlimited Custom Kits Can Be Made! Drum Master kits are flexible and customizable allowing the ability to swap out kit pieces between kits to create your own custom hybrid drum kits.
• Uses the Infinite Player Software: All Drum Masters Kits and Grooves are played from Sonic Reality’s Infinite Player library for Kontakt, which works stand alone for the Mac and PC and as a plug-in for major DAWS like ProTools, Cubase, Logic, Sonar, Digital Performer and more.
• Endlessly Expandable Collection! With the Infinite Player you can expand and add more Sonic Reality drum kits, grooves and other instrument sounds to your collection.

Mapping Modes: iMap, GM, V-Drum, Custom

iMap

iMap is a proprietary MIDI note mapping/drum kit layout scheme developed by Sonic Reality that facilitates improved live performance of drum kits via MIDI keyboard. iMap places drums in their most flexible and intuitive position, allowing each of the fingers on both hands independent and coordinated control over the sampled kit. With little practice, it is possible to lay down complete drum grooves in a single take that have incredible feel and groove. I-Map has left and right stick positions per drum as well as a variety of positions from center to edge to rim. It includes additional performance articulations you don’t often get from other drum products such as left and right keys for snare rolls, separate ghost notes, hat foot open, chokes, crashing rides and more.

click to enlarge  

GM (General MIDI)

GM is the classic mapping format for standard  MIDI files. Sonic Reality’s IMAP/GM remapping button works by putting selected IMAP notes remapped to GM notes instead. You can change an entire multi kit from IMAP to GM with one simple key switch. This offers the best of cutting edge expression without sacrificing universal compatibility with GM MIDI loops.

V-Drum

All Drum Masters 2 kits have been mapped for Roland's TD-20 V-Drum brain.  V-Drum mapping features include a snare drum rimshot/sidestick switch and intricate hi-hat articulation controls.   Round robin randomization and detailed articulation sampling introduce a realistic approach to e-drumming!

Custom

Assign any articulation of any instrument to any MIDI note!  By either using the MIDI Learn function or an interface knob, this mapping panel allows for ultimate flexibility for use with any electronic drum kit, multi-pad controller or any other MIDI device.

About Sonic Reality's Infinite Player

Infinite Player is a licensing mechanism that authorizes Sonic Reality sounds to be played in Native Instrumens Kontakt and the free Kontakt Player.  Kontakt is the industry's leading sampler and, combined with Sonic Reality's immaculate sampling and thorough scripting, allows for ultimate flexibility.

By registering the Infinite Player, any of Sonic Reality's sounds for Kontakt can be easily installed and expanded.  The Infinite Player library will appear in your Kontakt library in the same manner that the Kontakt Library, Akoustik Piano, or Elektrik Piano would.  After the one-time installation of the Infinite Library, all newly installed Sonic Reality sound sets for Kontakt will automatically appear!

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