Ultimate Studio Drums Group Buy VITAL INFO THREAD

[Squids]

Okay, just so the important info doesn't get lost in the monster GB thread in the marketplace here's the latest. Let's not use this thread for discussion but rather summary posts with the vital information for reference. Ask questions and comment in the other thread which is here: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... start=1650

CONGRATS WE HAVE PASSED 500! http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?Prod ... =USDKVRVIT

Here's the link to buy it with Paypal instead: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?Prod ... =USDKVRVIT

Am I counting right...that's like 30 unique kits, along with the 50 hybrids?

G

Most are unique, some have some shared kit pieces. I will mark the ones that have shared kit pieces with an X

It's 28 STm kits (not counting the 50 Hybrid Kits), 21 have all unique samples, 7 have unique snares and some other unique kit pieces but also share with other kits. So they are part hybrid/part unique but they sound different anyway. For example, the Collins and Duke kits are tweaks of the Premier and Gretsch kits (done in the style of Phil Collins as well) but with fatter snares and different tuning of the toms and things like that.

Plus, you can have the Jazz STm kit if you don't need the Infinite Player (only if you already have Infinite Player). You can also choose either EZ Player Pro or a Drum Masters MT kit (a multitrack version of one of the STm kits in this GB) and as ANOTHER bonus for reaching 500 you can have yet another Drum Masters Multitrack Kit.

So that's a total possible amount of (depending on what you choose in the extras) of 22 (or 23 with the Jazz) STm kits + 2 MT kit all with completely unique sample kits + 7 additional unique/hybrid kits + 50 hyrbid kits = Up to 82 kits for just $99. HELLO? If you can reach 600 it will be even more.

Here are the STm kits:

Ocean Way® Drum Kit 1 Dry
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 2 Medium
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 4 Dry
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 4 Ambient
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 5 Medium
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 6 Ambient
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 8 Dry
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 9 Dry
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 10 Dry
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 10 Medium * Bonus
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 10 Ambient
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 12 Dry
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 13 Medium

Drum Masters 2 NDV ST Gretsch® Kit
Drum Masters 2 NDV ST Premier® Kit (Direct)
Drum Masters 2 NDV ST Premier® Kit (Ambient)
Drum Masters 2 Collins Kit X
Drum Masters 2 Duke Kit X
Drum Masters 2 Doctor Nirvana Kit X
Drum Masters 2 NDV ST Blasticks Kit
Drum Masters 2 JB Tama® Brush Kit
Drum Masters 2 JB Session Sonor® Kit
Drum Masters 2 JB Sensitone™ Kit X
Drum Masters 2 JB Danger Ogletree Kit X
Drum Masters 2 JB Supraphonic™ Kit X
Drum Masters 2 JB Brady Deep X
Drum Masters 2 Bonhm Ludwig® Kit
Drum Masters 2 Stairway Levee Kit

Plus, the artist signature snare bonus which I believe is going to be the Steve Gadd snare. That will be integrated into the hybrid kits. I will confirm later today if that is the one but so far it looks to be.

Not bad huh?

Plus there's:

Convolution ambience from various studios we've recorded in.

150 ODD GROOVES (and a special upgrade offer for full Odd Groove titles that Per can tell you about - it's exclusive just for this group buy!)

SquidiMidi Files (those are iMap midi files made by me, Squids. They are being edited now so I don't know the exact number but... a bunch of those too coming probably next week or as soon as they're ready).

Of course the bonus Kit 10m from OWD which I integrated into the list above as well as the 50 hybrid kit patches...

Did I miss anything? Wow this was a big one. A lot of stuff for $99! Good. I hope everyone likes it.

Then there are coupons to save (in many cases as much as the value of the whole GB) off of:

EpiK DrumS HD - A Ken Scott Collection
Ocean Way Drums DL Edition
Ocean Way Drums Silver
Ocean Way Drums Gold
Ocean Way Drums Platinum
Drum Masters 2 Multitrack
Drum Masters 2 Multitrack Platinum Edition
Drum Masters 2 Signature Kits Vol. 1 (Stm kits with famous artists)
Drum Masters 2 Signature Kits Vol. 2 (Stm kits with artists & styles)


Those are the immediate things you will be able to save on within the next 2-3 weeks. Then we'll ALSO have $25 off coupons for Steven Slate Drums if you want those too (we'll be carrying them on esoundz - the EX series for download too), our upcoming Neil Peart Drums, Hugh Padgham Collection (featuring titles in the style of Phil Collins recorded at Genesis' studio and another in the style of The Police) plus some Floyd style kits, more Beatles style kits... we're going to take the combination of this and ALL of our past Infinite Player-based group buys and offer coupons off of these really cool forthcoming drum libraries for the Infinite Player.

Whew! Now, unfortunately because I sales pitched this post up galore I will only be posting this HERE on KVR in the MARKETPLACE forum where that sort of Squidspeak is tolerated But the basic information is there for anyone who wanted a summary. Let me know if I missed something! Congrats again. One of the best Group Buys we've had. Thank you from all of us for your enthusiasm and participation. That's what makes these work. Now go for 600 if you can!

----

[Squids]

And of course this beaut courtesy of Bronxsound:

***LOWEST PRICE TARGET HAS BEEN REACHED***

>>>Read Ocean Way Drums Review @ Sound on Sound Here<<<
>>>Watch Ocean Way Drums Videos Here<<<

-Thread at Gearslutz.com--Thread at Vdrums.com--Thread at Motunation.com-
-Thread at Sound On Sound--Thread at AcidPlanet (Music&Video Tech)-

Price triers:
1-24 Joined $149.
25-49 Joined $139.
50-99 Joined $129.
100-149 Joined $119.
150-199 Joined $109.
200+ Joined $99 - THE FINAL PRICE HAS BEEN REACHED
300 - Free Toontrack EZPlayer Pro - TARGET ACHIEVED
400 - Over 100 more midi grooves from ODD GROOVES, an extra Signature Snare from a famous drummer, Ocean Way Drums Kit 10 Medium for Infinite Player, FIFTY Hybrid Kits featuring mix and match kit pieces. - TARGET ACHIEVED
TARGET 500 ACHIEVED !!!

What You Get If You Join Now

Everything in the "Ultimate Studio Drums Group Buy" is downloadable exclusively from eSoundz.com This is a limited-time bundle that includes the following kits that are playable from Sonic Reality's latest Infinite Player plug-in powered by Kontakt 3.5:

• Sonic Reality's Infinite Player plug-in powered by Kontakt*
• 12 different Ocean Way® Drums DL mix kits from dry to medium to ambient
• 15 Drum Masters 2 Signature Drum Kits featuring drum kits of legendary drummers
• Ambient Impulse Responses from some of the best sounding studio rooms in the world to use with Infinite Player/Kontakt's convolution reverb
• Bonus Midi Grooves

* If you already own the Infinite Player you can get a brand new previously unreleased Drum Masters 2 Ludwig® Jazz Kit instead!

>>>Join here<<<

Feel free to refer me: lukianowicz

[Squids]

I think it would help if we bumped our threads the more time. And remember, it doesn't have to be "your" thread. We're all in this together! Here is the list compiled by Chester Desmond:

http://www.acidplanet.com/forum/?FID=8&TID=82442&TPN=1

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=1886881

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/equi ... p-buy.html

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-co ... ost4852625

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... uy#p325878

http://logicprohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=258571#258571

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=47684

http://forum.image-line.com/viewtopic.php?t=44769

http://vdrums.com/forum/showthread.php? ... post449464

http://www.vdrums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54905

http://www.synapse-audio.com/forum/view ... hp?id=7449

http://www.zynewave.com/forum/viewtopic ... 6324#16324

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/for ... ?ForumID=1

http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=293318

http://www.futureproducers.com/forums/s ... p?t=317399

http://www.toningenieur-graz.at/forum/v ... f=42&t=726 (GERMAN)

http://rayzoon2.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=28146#28146

http://zendrum.com/forums/index.php?topic=2327.0

http://www.macosxaudio.com/forums/viewt ... 49#p367549

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... p?t=649533

Now get out there and join a new forum! If we tell them, they will join!

[Reverend Rhythm]

Okay I have the coupon info part 1 which includes what you can use it on for OWD and EpiK DrumS. The Drum Masters 2 Coupons will come a little later and run through the end of February (so two weeks longer if that helps).

Important note about coupons: They cannot be used at the same time as any other promo or discount system such as epointz, membership discounts... if you have epointz and use the coupon the epointz will stay in your account to be used on something else (you can still earn more epointz with a referral though). Your membership discount is bypassed and it is the amount below taken off the price you'd see if you weren't logged in (to avoid confusion, that's all you have to do to see). So it is off "street price" or "base price" which is what we call it. However, that means it is even MORE of a discount off the MSRP than the street price already is in the first place... bottom line is that it equates to some really nice discounts for everybody in the group buy.

----------------

Pre-requirements to use these coupons: Purchase of regular Ultimate Studio Drums GB or the Paypal Version

What you can use the coupon codes on for special discounts only for those that joined this group buy. They will expire February 15th, 2010:

========================================


Ocean Way Drums Gold


Coupon Code: USDOWDG


Product links:

Boxed Version: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=1837

Download Version: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=2766

$149. off coupon (taken off non-login base price)


========================================


Ocean Way Drums Silver


Coupon Code: USDOWDS

Product links:

Download Version: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=2765

Boxed Version: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=2585


$99 off coupon


========================================


Ocean Way Drums DL Edition


Coupon Code: USDOWDL


Product links:

http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=2586

http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=2753


$49 off coupon


=========================================

Ocean Way Drums Platinum

Product link: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=1849

Coupon Code: USDOWDP

$300 off coupon

=========================================


EpiK DrumS HD


Product link: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=4116

Coupon Code: USDEPIK

$99 off coupon

NOTE about this one. Not only are we going to do $99 instead of just $50 off like we said before but purchases of this product between now and February 14th come with the Infinite Hard Drive for free (normally $150 more).

---------

Part 2 will include Drum Masters 2 coupons coming later. The product will go on pre-order starting next week. Availability of EpiK DrumS HD and Drum Masters 2 range will be in January (or possibly sooner but not later).

Whew! You can't say we don't try to please!

------------------------
Edit, by DarkStar
Link to Squids' original post (December 16):
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... &start=929

[Squids]

I think it would help if we bumped our threads the more time.

I just bumped mine over at Motunation, with a modified version of Squids' post with regards of all we are getting in this Group Buy in an easy to follow list. Here is that list:

-------------

For $99, here is what you will be getting so far (and there may be more):

(1) 28 STm kits (21 have all unique samples, 7 have unique snares and some other unique kit pieces but also share with other kits, marked with an X below):

Ocean Way® Drum Kit 1 Dry
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 2 Medium
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 4 Dry
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 4 Ambient
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 5 Medium
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 6 Ambient
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 8 Dry
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 9 Dry
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 10 Dry
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 10 Medium * Bonus
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 10 Ambient
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 12 Dry
Ocean Way® Drum Kit 13 Medium

Drum Masters 2 NDV ST Gretsch® Kit
Drum Masters 2 NDV ST Premier® Kit (Direct)
Drum Masters 2 NDV ST Premier® Kit (Ambient)
Drum Masters 2 Collins Kit X
Drum Masters 2 Duke Kit X
Drum Masters 2 Doctor Nirvana Kit X
Drum Masters 2 NDV ST Blasticks Kit
Drum Masters 2 JB Tama® Brush Kit
Drum Masters 2 JB Session Sonor® Kit
Drum Masters 2 JB Sensitone™ Kit X
Drum Masters 2 JB Danger Ogletree Kit X
Drum Masters 2 JB Supraphonic™ Kit X
Drum Masters 2 JB Brady Deep X
Drum Masters 2 Bonhm Ludwig® Kit
Drum Masters 2 Stairway Levee Kit

And all these kits have multiple velocity layers and round robin scripting, which is easily controllable by the user, PLUS scripting to allow easy reassignment of notes for use with V-drum kits.

(2) Plus, you can have the Jazz STm kit if you don't need the Infinite Player (only if you already have Infinite Player).

(3) You can also choose either EZ Player Pro or a Drum Masters MT kit (a multitrack version of one of the STm kits in this GB) and

(4) as ANOTHER bonus for reaching 500 you can have yet another Drum Masters Multitrack Kit.

(5) 50 Hybrid kits (mixing and matching kit pieces from the above kits).

(6) An artist signature snare bonus which I believe is going to be the Steve Gadd snare. That will be integrated into the hybrid kits.

(7) Impulse Responses -- Convolution ambience from various world class studios these drums have been recorded in.

(8 ) 150 ODD GROOVES (and a special upgrade offer for full Odd Groove titles exclusive to this group buy!)

(9) SquidiMidi Files (those are iMap midi files made by Squids. They are being edited now so the exact number is not yet known.

(10) Mp3s demos of each of the kits for easy auditioning of the default kit sounds.

(11) Some serious discount coupons for other eSoundz products. These coupons allow you to save, in many cases, as much as the value of the whole GB:

EpiK DrumS HD - A Ken Scott Collection
Ocean Way Drums DL Edition
Ocean Way Drums Silver
Ocean Way Drums Gold
Ocean Way Drums Platinum
Drum Masters 2 Multitrack
Drum Masters 2 Multitrack Platinum Edition
Drum Masters 2 Signature Kits Vol. 1 (Stm kits with famous artists)
Drum Masters 2 Signature Kits Vol. 2 (Stm kits with artists & styles)

So my friends. I am not sure why anyone would want to pass up on this offer. We're talking about Up to 82 kits for just $99 plus a whole heap of extras. If it reaches 600 there will be even more goodies added... so today and tomorrow are the days to act if you are interested in this crazy deal.

You can join here and thank me later:
http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?Prod ... ode=USDKVR

[Squids]

Yes, and I might include a few bonus kit pieces from some other kits in there too from Drum Masters to round it out. Some of the stuff we did in Nashville would be nice. We'll spice it up. The Hybrid Kits may have some additional samples that aren't in the main ones just for even more variety of sounds. Don't worry. I'm going to do that even if we don't hit 600 but if we do? Great! Good for you. 600 = more. At this rate you may just do it!

Squids,

I really like the idea of being able to swap out drum and cymbal pieces from various kits. I don't know what your plans are, but I think that would be a cool way to add on to these kits in the future too. For instance, the Danny Gotlieb cymbal collection you've mentioned or a snare drum collection or a deep toms collection or roto toms (that would be great!) -- is that how you plan that how you've planned this to work? I think it would be a really great way for users to get just the samples they want in a kit -- really, just like the way we drummers put together our own kits (e.g., choosing the right snares and cymbals to get the combination we like).

Is it relatively simple for the average user to swap out/add in kit pieces from various kits on his/her own?

- eDrummist

Yes, that is what the Drum Masters Signature Kit Series is about. The MAIN Drum Masters 2 Multitrack series is about Kits and Audio Grooves with engineer/mixing mic channels. But the Drum Masters Signature Kit Series with these "STm" kits (which are stereo kit pieces but the kits are multichannel - just without discrete mics per kit piece) are for people that want kits to play with midi either from the keyboard or e-Drum set up they have and with EASE they can customize and make their own kits or use the vast amount of patches that come with each collection (like the 80+ that come with this GB bundle for example).

Here's a sneak peek at what's going to be in the Drum Masters 2 Signature Drum Kits Series and each one of this will be something people who join this group buy can upgrade to for a nice discount:

DM2 Signature Kits Vol. 1 - this has the STm kits of the original DM artists such as Danny Gottlieb, Jerry Marotta, Steve Gadd, Bill Bruford, John Blackwell, Nick D'Virgilio and Ed Greene... but with DM2 features. It includs some previously unreleased Gadd and Bruford kit content that's pretty good and of course all of it has the new scripts/features.


DM2 Signature Kits Vol. 2 - this one has STm kits that are mostly of previously unreleased samples. It includes signature kits and snares like the Stewart Copeland Tama (and Octobans!), Dennis Chambers Pearl, Dave Weckl Yamaha, Steve Gadd Yamaha (which comes with this GB as the bonus) plus some MORE Blackwell and Nick D'Virglio stuff, some GREAT all new Bonham style kits including the Moby Dick HANDS style kit and other cool stuff. Ringo kits and more.


DM2 Signature Snares Vol. 1 I don't have the final list but these are going to be ALL snares. It will be out in February/March or sooner if possible. It will have snare brands like Pearl, Sonor, Tempest, Fibes, DW, Ludwig, Grestch, Rogers, Slingerland, Tama and others. It will also have some more artist snares. I don't know if Manu Katche's will make it onto this volume or the NEXT volume of snares but that one was sampled as well. Oh yeah, we mean business.

Then besides that we have the Danny Gottlieb Cymbal library which we may split up into individual Signature Cymbal titles or a hats one and a ride and crash one... not sure yet. But that's coming and it has an ubelievable variety of hats and cymbals including some famous ones he used on Jazz records and cymbals of Joe Morello, Don Lemond and Mel Lewis - jazz legends. I did a post about it earlier but... who knows where that is now! Lost in cyberness.

Then there's going to be either a volume just for kicks or kicks AND toms together - more likely. That too will include a lot of different brands and a full set of Rotos (the hi AND low ones) plus more.

All of these additional libraries of individual Snares, Cymbals and Kicks/Toms are new unreleased material for the Infinite Player. So you can customize until the cows come home. It really is like having a collection of vintage and custom/rare drums and cymbals to make any sort of "hybrid kit" you want. We'll teach everyone how to do it but it is so easy it's ridiculous. You just load a multi kit and then click the "X" of the kit piece you don't want and then go to the Kontakt/IP instruments folder and load in the kit piece you DO want and then save back the multi. Couldn't be easier. So it's going to be quite INFINITE (more infinite the more kit pieces you have to swap).

So, now, so people understand why I STRESS that this Group Buy is a MUST HAVE. If what I just wrote appeals to you then PLEASE understand that to have OCEAN WAY DRUM kit pieces in this is a ONE TIME DEAL! After this limited lifespan of this Ultimate Studio Drums Bundle is over we will NO LONGER be able to sell you OWD kits for the Infinite Player to mix and match with all of these other kits. It's not my choice. We got permission to do this once is all. So don't miss it and regret it later. We won't be in the position to do anything about it. I don't know when we will officially have to stop making it available at all but I am pretty sure it won't be any longer than 5 months from now if that. Fair warning on that one and I only say it because to have Ocean Way Drums kit pieces to mix and match with Drum Masters Signature kits is REALLY great. It expands the flavors for Hyrbid Kits SO much more. Many of you will see soon what I mean. But even conceptually it's got to be exciting. Think about it. A hat from this, a tom from that, a kick and snare of this brand or that... a lot of material to play with to get your own unique sounds.

[Squids]

Motown stuff we have a bunch of and there's a nice Motown style kit in Signature Drum Kits Vol. 2 coming out (being in this group buy will get you a $99 off coupon toward that title... essentially making this GB FREE if you look at it that way). (snip)
http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=2763

Awesome and awesomer!

As for Keltner... well, I am doing some drums in the style of Steely Dan. Not sure if we'll have him or Rick Marotta (Jerry's brother btw) or some other guys (we already have Steve Gadd and Ed Greene on Signature Kits Vol. 1 coming out). But Keltner is great too. I sat in on a session with him once. I drove Patrick Warren there who was doing keys. Not sure the artist. Tony Berg was producing and it was at The Complex which is a really cool studio in West LA. Nice to meet Jim Keltner. What a talent.

Cool story, must have been fun. Signature Kit 1 you say? I believe I'm on board with that! Or the EpiK or the, geeze, what a selection over there!

EpiK DrumS is really amazing. However it is at the other extreme in that just TWO kits from it are larger than this entire Group Buy of 28+ kits (80+ kit patches). Just the kits alone in it are over 110 gigabytes in size and it's not downloadable. Plus they take some power to run. But man they are just incredible recreations of multitrack drum sessions and kits in the style of David Bowie (with the original drummer Woody), Mahavishnu Orchestra (with the original drummer - Cobham!), Missing Persons (Bozzio!), Dixie Dregs (Rod Morgenstein!) and Supertramp (Bob Siebenberg) and all of it is recorded with the original equipment from the 60's and 70's by the producer/engineer who recorded those albums in the first place, Ken Scott. Also included are a 60's Downbeat "Ringo" style kit with tea towels just like they did back then and also a "Nigel Olsen" style kit from 70's Elton John records. Ken recorded Rocket Man, Daniel, Mad Man Across the Water and other classics. It doesn't get any more authentic than that. http://www.epikdrums.com

However, I have some good news for people that want individual drummers. We will be releasing "Drummer Packs" with STm kits and stereo audio grooves in Rex, Apple Loops and Wave (as well as Infinite Player mapped) with the following drummers, including the EpiK drummers:

Jerry Marotta
Ed Greene
Nick D'Virgilio
Bill Bruford
John Blackwell
Danny Gottlieb
Steve Gadd

(those are all from the Drum Masters 1 series but there's now kits for Gadd and Bruford and they all have the STm Drum Masters 2 scripts, the grooves now come in both Rex AND Apple Loops, Acidized Wave - the RAW comes with it for free). This will be released next month.

By late February/March time we'll release Drummer Packs for:

Bill Cobham
Terry Bozzio
Bob Siebenberg
Woody Woodmansey
Rod Morgenstein

The Neil Peart Drum Library is not yet planned as an STm/Groove Drummer Pack yet. Still working things out with record labels on that one but cross your fingers. The kit itself will be released in discrete multitrack for Infinite Player and BFD2 in the next month or two. It's almost done.

[Squids]

Q&A from the other thread:

1)...What I want are amazing drum sounds/kits. How many does this come with? It sounds like I can't have the Ludwig kit as I will need the player, though I already have Kontakt.

You'll have about 81 kits unless you choose EZ Player Pro then you'd have 80 kits.

2) I have Kontakt and Battery. How much better is this than what those two offer out of the box for what I'm after?...

Better is a subjective term. But these are more elaborate in features and this has the unique sound of these great studios like Ocean Way Recording (where artists like Radiohead, Green Day, Paul McCartney, Kanye West, Eric Clapton, Red Hot Chili Peppers, No Doubt, Beck, Rolling Stones, Fiona Apple, Rush, Dido, Michael Jackson, Eminem, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Elton John, Ray Charles, Bonnie Rait, Elvis Costello and... oh I think you get the idea!) or the sound of drummer's kits such as John Blackwell (drummer for Prince, Diddy, Justin Timberlake) or Nick D'Virgilio (drummer for Tears for Fears, Genesis, Spock's Beard) or Steve Gadd signature Yamaha snare or drums in the style of John Bonham of Led Zeppelin... Kontakt and Battery don't come with that so that's why third party sound companies like Sonic Reality do that work and use formats like Kontakt for their products. We'd have done it in Battery but Kontakt gives us more capability to have custom features that we program into our "Infinite Player" which is an expandable library that resides inside Kontakt.

3) Why should I get this as opposed to BFD or one of the other competitors? Or just buying some drum sounds for Kontakt/Battery?

These are drum sounds for Kontakt first of all. It's just that it comes with a library authorization for it to run inside Kontakt or Kontakt Player (and Kontakt Player for those that don't have Kontakt is free). As far as getting this as opposed to BFD... price would be a good reason. There are a LOT of great drum products out there these days and BFD2 is certainly one of them. But the difference between this and all of the other products on the market for drums - the biggest difference - is that this is the only one that has THESE sounds. If you like what you hear, if you like getting over 80 kits (made from 24 sampled kits and additional kit pieces all with built-in effects and convolution impulse responses from great studios around the world), if you like the price of $99, if you like that it is downloadable so no shipping cost... then this one's for you!

The beautiful thing about drum virtual instruments is that they're not mutually exclusive. That means that just because you get this doesn't mean you can't at some point also get BFD2 or something else. And Visa Versa, if one owns BFD or SD or anything else they shouldn't deprive themselves of this if the like the sounds. Nothing wrong with having more than one virtual instrument for drums. More variety. More material to inspire. If you had to get just one and this is your first one at least you get some REALLY good bang for the buck with this one. It may be all you need or you can expand it too with other sounds from us.

[Squids]

what's a hybrid kit?

Well, as I was posting earlier with the kit details, you have 21 kits that have their own kick, snare, toms, hi hat, ride, crashes and sometimes chinas and splashes too. Then you have 7 more kits that have unique snares and some unique kit pieces but then they also share with kit pieces from the 21 kits ... mainly from the Drum Masters kits - like the Collins kit which shares between the Premier and Gretsch kits, two kits Phil Collins used to use, along with a separate Ayotte snare for instance that happens to be FATTER and lower than the snares that are normally with the NDV Premier or Gretsch kits. Same thing for the Duke kit but that one has a special snare from Ross Garfield the Drum Doctor. The Nirvana Tama kit has the actual snare used on Nirvana's Nevermind album along with some Tama Star Classic Toms and various other kit pieces borrowed from the other Drum Masters kits of that 21. So those 7 are semi-hybrid kits.

But then there's those 50 patches we call bonus "Hybrid Kits". Those mostly don't have any unique samples of their own - they are patches that reference the different kit pieces of the 21+7 Stm kits that DO have a variety of kicks, snares, toms, hats etc that can be swapped out and combined to make NEW kits... what we call "Hybrid Kits". The other thing these Hybrid Kits have is built-in effects processing so they sound like an album right out of the box. The 21+7 main STm kits do too but they're more natural acoustic sounding than the Hybrid Kits which are more for Metal, Hard Rock, Pop, Hip Hop and other styles that really integrate effects as part of the production style.

[Squids]

Well you guys are getting closer to 600 so there is a chance you'll get it. The prize this time will be TWO more STm kits. I am not sure yet whether we can do another OWD Kit or not but if we can it will likely be Kit 11 since that was requested. The other kit will be the Chicago Gretsch kit from Drum Masters and if we don't end up doing the OWD kit 11 then it'll be another kit from the John Blackwell session - a Tama kit. But, let's see. Maybe if you hit 650 you can have all three.

[Squids]

I keep seeing the "STm" acronym being thrown around, but I don't actually see a definition for it anywhere. Can someone help a brother out and tell me what that means?

STm is the name for the new enhanced Stereo kits. You don't see it yet because it was dubbed that part way through the Group Buy when trying to explain the new Stereo/Quasi Multichannel kits. There was a great post on that oh about a hundred pages or so back...

The short version answer is that the kits are STEREO kit pieces (no discrete mic mixing like the Multitrack kits) but the kit pieces come as multichannel mixable kick, snare, toms, hats etc. at the bottom like this:



Then there are still some separate multichannel elements to mix in such as convolution reverb rooms with impulses from various studios these drums were recorded in and other famous studios around the world, echo chambers etc.

[Squids]

DELIVERY STAGES AND PROCESS - PHASE I

Okay it seems we have to do this in phases of delivery. For bandwidth purposes we have to split the content out in several phases plus it is going to take a little more time to get some of the extras integrated in the best way so...

The good news is that I don't think we're going to skew who gets it first. That will be up to YOU if you can hold off and wait to download. Since we don't know who anxiously must get started we're going to try just make the first phase available to everyone in the GB starting first thing tomorrow (or even possibly late tonight after midnight since we'll be pulling some late shifts on this one).

So, what is in Phase 1? The following:

1) Everyone will get an Infinite Player Installer and a Kontakt Player 3.5 Installer in their user area. (If you want Kontakt Player 4 which also works with it you can download it right now from NI).

NOTE: This is just to make sure everyone has it but you still MUST choose Infinite Player in the next step to get the SERIAL NUMBER to activate it (otherwise the sounds will run in demo mode which is 30 minutes per session then it times out and you have to restart).

2) Everyone in the GB will get a Redeem Code to use here: www.downloadablesoundz.com/redeem.php Where you will enter that code and it will take you to a page where you can CHOOSE between the Infinite Player SERIAL -OR- if you already have an ACTIVATED Infinite Player (meaning you had a serial before and activated it with NI's service center from a previous purchase) then you can alternatively choose an STm Ludwig Jazz kit.

NOTE: Both of these - the serial or the Jazz kit - will be put into your DownloadableSoundz.com user's area instead of esoundz. This is the place where we can do individual and multi-choice downloads... we can't do it the same way on esoundz. You'll need to link your esoundz account to a Downloadablesoundz account and all you have to do is go into your esoundz member's area and check the box to link your account to DownloadableSoundz.com. Then you can use your SAME login data there. We DO apologize for that extra step but this is to accommodate the people that already have Infinite Player and we want to make them happy too!

3) The custom Ocean Way Drum kits for Infinite Player. We'll start everyone off with these to play with in this Phase 1. There will be 13 different kit sample zips to download and 1 zip that will have the patches for them all. Each download I believe is no more than a gig in size on average (if that helps anyone). These will be in your ESOUNDZ member's area in MY DOWNLOADS.

4) The 150 ODD GROOVES from Per are ready so they will also be in your esoundz downloads in your member's area.

That's what is in PHASE 1. Next post I will give you an idea of what will be in phase 2 and I think some of you will be happy with new news there.

[Squids]

DELIVERY STAGES AND PROCESS - PHASES II & III

After we see how the servers handle hundreds of people downloading Phase 1 content over New Years (we're told by our server company and AT&T that this is a very high traffic time for some reason) we will make Phase 2 available which will include:


1) The Drum Masters 2 STm kits (also available as individual downloads of samples and patches separately - we're trying to make each one sized so it is easiest for everyone)

2) Steve Gadd Signature Snare Bonus

3) TWO more Bonus STm kits from Drum Masters Signature - the Tama kit from the Blackwell sessions and the Chicago Gretsch kit. But wait, didn't we say you had to hit 600 to get it? Don't worry. To make up for having to split this in phases you'll all get this anyway - even if we don't hit 600. So relax and sit back. If you want to watch and see if we hit 600 anyway but rest assured you got another prize already added to the pile.

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Phase 3 will follow on Monday or Tuesday of next week with the following:

1) SquidiMidi (still working on that - I want to make it good for you guys. You have Odd Grooves to play with in the meantime).

2) 50+ Hybrid Kit Patches (might throw in some extra)

3) Convolution Ambience for Drums (we're going to see if we can make these unprotected and raw waves that you can try to use with other Convolution Reverbs but we make no claim how they will work as these were made for use with Kontakt... but I think this may allow some of you to do what you wanted to do with them. There are 25 different ambiences and a detailed list will be provided along with some info about the space etc. )

4) A SECOND Redeem Code for DownloadableSoundz that works the same way but this one will allow you to pick TWO out of the following choices (each are normally worth $50!):

- EZ Player Pro from Toontrack

- SR's Drum Masters 2: NDV Premier Discrete Multitrack Kit (with mic mixing per kit)

- SR's Drum Masters 2: NDV Gretsch Discrete Multitrack Kit (with mic mixing per kit)

- SR's Drum Masters 2: NDV Mapex Blasticks Discrete Multitrack Kit (with mic mixing per kit)

(We may also make the JB Sonor MT kit an option in this as well)

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If by chance it does reach 650 though there will automatically be an additional OWD Kit (probably Kit 11 dry) added to everybody's esoundz download area automatically when it is available (we'd have to update it with the new scripts and everything and will only do that once we know it has reached 650). Because that IS going to be a fair amount of additional work (as if we don't have enough!) we are going to be strict about the number reaching 650 by midnight EST (Florida time) so in this case (unlike the other case where we're giving you the 600 bonus regardless), even if it hits 649 - sorry. 650 or more! Okay so we're back to edge of the seat anticipation again.

[Squids]

This email is going out now:

Thank you for participating in the Ultimate Studio Drums Group Buy! The turn out was massive with over 600 people joining in less than a month. Many extra sounds and bonuses were earned from the additional people joining beyond the expected 200. We are working hard through the holiday in order to start delivering the many downloadable items to so many people around the world. We have run into a few minor delays and hope to have the first phase of downloads ready this weekend. For up to date discussion please feel free to visit the forum thread: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... start=2130

Because we so much appreciate everyone's patience we have also included as an unexpected bonus a Yamaha C7 Deluxe Grand Piano for the Infinite Player.

Stay tuned for more news and forthcoming instructions on how to download the OWD Kits and Infinite Player (or Jazz Kit if you already own Infinite Player) as well as the bonus piano and phase 2 and 3 soon!

We thank you for your patience. It will be worth the wait!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sincerely,

The eSoundz Team

[Squids]

Okay... so, we ran into a minor "aesthetic" problem that we tried to work around and can't seem to. Apparently NI sent us an updated file that is messed up and the person we need to fix it is on VACATION until Monday. We didn't notice the problem because all of our computers have the development folders on them. So as a final test (this stuff is hot off the press) we noticed that the library image is missing in the latest info.nkx when installed. But it does have the latest GUI for the OWD and DM kits... what a dilemma. Granted this is just aesthetics not a functionality thing but it wasn't what we had in mind.

So right now it shows it like this:



and it is supposed to be this:



So, I guess what we're going to have to do is live with that for the weekend (not the biggest deal really) until some time next week where we can get a replacement of the Studio ProFiles_Info.nkx file that has that library image in it. Then you can swap it out to get that image how it is supposed to be there.

Really a minor thing because it doesn't affect performance or anything. Just an aesthetic. But it was a trade off. New GUI for OWD and DM and woops they left out the Infinite library image. In all fairness I did make the guy at NI RUSH before his vacation to do this for us and... well, what can we do? It's the holidays...

Anyway, on the good news side we're giving you all a $59 Deluxe Grand Piano for free for the Infinite Player. We will have the OWD kits and Infinite Player/Jazz Kit ready to download later tonight.

My suggestion is to download Kontakt Player 4 from NI now so you already have that part OR you can download Kontakt Player 3.5 from the support section of www.sonicreality.com