RIFFS plug-ins...
separate nature; this is drumming Armageddon, make no mistake about it! Heavy metal is a musical genre that seems particularly close to Toontrack’s heart and Metal Heads features some of the most ferocious and technically stunning metal drum performances that we’ve heard, as played by the phenomenal Tomas Haake, whose day job is beating the skins for Swedish extreme metal band Meshugga.
SRP: £49.00 Contact: Time + Space 01837 55200
www.timespace.com
Drum sample libraries are an extremely convenient and efficient way for any recording musician to capture authentic sounding sampled drum sounds and grooves. Thanks to Scandinavian-based company Toontrack even those with little or no experience at playing real drums or even programming their own drum parts from scratch can still create some very convincing sounding percussion performances. Toontrack’s EZdrummer sample-based softsynth plug-in has proved to be a real winner in this regard. Recorded using real drums in professional studios by experienced producers and played by some of the world’s best drummers; the EZdrummer series contains an
Sounds The software comes in the form of a DVD and is compatible with both Mac and PC (minimum requirements are Mac OS X 10.4 or G5 1GHz with 512 MB of RAM for PC users). Metal Heads features EZdrummers familiar
architecture with a clear layout that includes a large visual display of the entire virtual drum kit and a simple menu that opens the sample library and mixer. Besides adjusting the individual sampled instrument levels the mixer section also offers control over the bleed between individual microphones for better isolation whilst increasing the bleed-factor for a
Metal Heads EZX baby Toontrack
Lock into some powerful metal grooves laid down by Meshuggah drummer Tomas Haake.
Custom Designer or a 1970s 14x26” Ludwig Amber Vistalite for a more John Bonham-esque vibe! The vast selection of cymbals is sampled
Metal Head’s mixer includes the new facility to adjust snare and kick drum trigger levels
from Haake’s formidable Sabian stage setup and ranges from a tiny eight-inch splash cymbal to an enormous 22-inch power bell ride – ouch! Impeccably recorded in all their thunderous glory by producer Daniel Bergstrand, Tomas Haake’s drum samples are stunning, combining
Metal Head’s stunning drum samples pump iron into your metal tracks…
Haake’s eye view of Metal Heads massive drum kit…
impressive range of kits and diverse musical styles including from generic rock and pop to country, jazz and even some seriously twisted metallic percussive styling’s that are directly inspired by Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs LP. Metal Heads features metallic drumming of an entirely
40 pickup
more ‘breathy’ sounding drum track. A brand new feature, used for the very first time on a Toontrack’s product, is the facility to adjust the levels of kick and snare triggers, adding extra dynamic range and ultimately a more realistic sounding performance. The user-friendly drag-and-drop MIDI library contains thousands of samples of real drums that can be either selected as preset patterns and looped in any order to create original drum tracks, the loops can even be ‘humanized’ by adding an element of slight tempo shift to create a more natural feel. For those who are more adept at playing in their own drum patterns, individual samples can also be recorded using a MIDI keyboard to trigger individual drum samples. The sampled drum sounds are based mainly on two kits: the tom toms offer a choice of either a DW Collectors Series or a Sonor Tomas Haake Custom Designer series, whilst the snare drums are a 6.5-inch x 14-inch Ludwig Supraphonic 402 and an identical sized Pearl Reference snare. Interestingly, the bass drums offer a choice between an 18x22” Sonor Tomas Haake
jaw dropping technical skill with the unbridled ferocity of a Viking hoard descending on some hapless mediaeval village!
Unleashing the fury... This sample library differs from many of its competitors by virtue that in addition to the individual samples it also includes complete performances of 12 ‘classic’ Meshugga songs. Each song is organized in sections (Intro, Theme, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Bridge, Solo, Outro) with a full song versions of each track. The individual sections can be mixed and matched with the sounds from the extensive sample library and used as separate building blocks to create entirely fresh and spontaneous sounding drum tracks. This is a very powerful and inspiring sample set that effectively puts you well and truly in the drum stool. Even if you couldn’t play a parradiddle to save your life, so long as you have a good feel and an understanding of how to use even a fairly basic drum pattern to get started, Metal Heads is a phenomenal way to inject some iron into your metal. PM
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