Big Big BIG Drum samples

[robogone]

Does anyone know where I could get samples of some large drums? I'm thinking about something that is probably ethnic in origin, and slightly loose skinned. I'm thinking of maybe one huge drum for slow regular beats, and one or more smaller (but still pretty large drums) to beat out some rhythms on.

Nothing I have really sounds the way I want it to sound, either too drumkit like or not deep enough sounds.

[Shane Sanders]

There is an EastWest disc created for promoting their libraries which was free except for shipping charges. It has a Kompact player loaded up with various things from their collection, including some massive StormDrum hits of a Japanese kodo (hugest drums on the planet). They are ear shatteringly cool. And there's other stuf on there, too, from non-percussive collections.

[Gregjazz]

Check out ChineeKong, that has some pretty big drum samples in it.

[sonarman]

Not really ethnic but... I sometimes use the concert bass drum from EW Silver to get a really low, powerful hit. There maybe a free soundfont of one somewhere.

[Elhardt]

Gee, why don't people synthesize the sounds they want? If I want large drum sounds, I create my own. You're slaves to samples. And if you can't synthesize, at least you can manipulate samples into something else. Like simply pitching a drum sound down so it sounds bigger and deeper. And envelope it or filter it differently if needed. Hell, I even remember a Synclavier employee creating a good bass drum sound from a sample of a basketball bounce.

-Elhardt

[Shane Sanders]

Gee, why don't people synthesize the sounds they want? If I want large drum sounds, I create my own. You're slaves to samples. And if you can't synthesize, at least you can manipulate samples into something else. Like simply pitching a drum sound down so it sounds bigger and deeper. And envelope it or filter it differently if needed. Hell, I even remember a Synclavier employee creating a good bass drum sound from a sample of a basketball bounce.

-Elhardt

That's true to an extent--one ought to experiment and make the most of what can be done. But it's probably impossible to simulate the complexity of something like a giant frame drum or kodo drums without taxing CPU to the point that you'd be better off with a sample (assuming one wanted a specific sound rather than just a deep sound). The head and shell of a drum is a complex thing and it's hard to get them to sound and react realistically to playing. It might be fine for a one-hit thing that's masked in a mix, but to capture the nuances in an actual performance from only synthetic drums is going to be more trouble than it's worth, imo.

Check out my percussion-only pieces on my website. Do you know of a method/synth that could do that? If so, please tell me because drums are just about my favorite instrument.

That being said, I think PhysMod is going to get better and better as CPU's get more powerful and more devs explore it. I like to mix synthetic stuff and real drums together a lot.

[robogone]

I did experiment with some Moog generated percussion sounds and FX, but when the drums are naked in the mix they just don't sound right.

Shane is right - it's the complexity that is missing when you synthesize the sound, as you don't get those complex frequencies and odd resonances.

[bduffy]

Gee, why don't people synthesize the sounds they want? If I want large drum sounds, I create my own. You're slaves to samples. And if you can't synthesize, at least you can manipulate samples into something else. Like simply pitching a drum sound down so it sounds bigger and deeper. And envelope it or filter it differently if needed. Hell, I even remember a Synclavier employee creating a good bass drum sound from a sample of a basketball bounce.

-Elhardt

Not everyone is a Synclavier employee, Elhardt. Some (most?) musicians are better at playing music than sound design, not to mention time constraints like deadlines. I'd have a hard time explaining to my boss why I took hours to synthesize my own custom drums, instead of using it for composing and mixing, because I'm concerned about being "a slave to samples". Just becuase that's the way you would do it doesn't mean it's the way we all should.