KVR Audio

funkychickendance · Post by **funkychickendance** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 1:19 am

I've been thinking about this collection ever since East-West announced its halfprice sale.

What I can't figure out is the good old value-for-money equation, even at $198 (or $180, pretty much all over).

What I don't need is mountains of more conventional drum kits: I need plenty of ethnic drums -- big, loud ones, subtle ones -- to liven up my music.

Stormdrum demoes are pretty convincing, but then anything can sound pretty good when combined with giant reverb, and the high quality choirs they spray all over them.

I like the 'cinematic' idea over the usual ambient/ethnic directions, so I'm kinda asking: how easy is it to get from Stormdrum to those demo sounds, and do you end up acquiring a lot of conventional drum kits en route?

/fnx
who already has ChineeKong, BTW

taijiguy · Post by **taijiguy** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 1:46 am

Can't comment on Stormdrum, but ChineeKong is excellent if you like Chinese percussion. Lots of variety. In fact all of the Kong Audio VSTi are excellent.

iain_morland · Post by **iain_morland** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 1:56 am

ChineeKong indeed has very good, and varied, samples and is of course a good deal cheaper than Stormdrum. It is also nice to support an indie developer.

However the interface is a little cramped and the reverb is on by default, which can be irritating.

Download the free 'Kong Loop pack' from the Kong Audio website for some very Stormdrum-esque beats created with ChineeKong.

I'm not sure if this makes sense, but I'd say ChineeKong makes me NOT want Stormdrum BUT if I'd had more money to begin with, I would probably have opted for Stormdrum because of its larger range of sounds and clearer interface.

I hope this helps.

kenn michael · Post by **kenn michael** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 2:01 am

A lot of that Stormdrum sound that is in the demos is actually what you get. You don't have to put reverb on them to make them sound like that. They're already HUGE.

woodie · Post by **woodie** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 2:18 am

funky....you can't wrong with Stylus RMX....simply awesome. There are "elements" to help you roll your own "beat", so if you have the money and you're looking for easy drums for your music (no serious programming, but it DOES allow serious if you want)....it's heaven-sent.

Also...on the more ethnic-side....check out Ethno-Techno from Ilio, which is one of a few RMX Xpanders they offer and as I understand it, was produced by Eric P (spectrasonics): www.ilio.com

Xnah · Post by **Xnah** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 10:46 am

I have Stormdrum, Stylus RMX and KongAudio (all of them).

First: Stylus RMX is not really comparable to the other two, although it contains some (ethnic) percussion as well.

Second: StormDrum contains quite a few great round-robin drumkits.

But the strength of Stormdrum is the great collection of world/ethnic percussion, both as single hits (Kompakt), and as loops (Intakt). In comparison: ChineeKong has only chinese percussion, and is really good at that. Stormdrum has lots of things from all over the world. The loops are grouped together with silly names (just like all the Stylus RMX patterns), but each group contains less and more filled loops with the same groove, so you can build up your track with that.

If you like percussion, you won't regret getting Stormdrum.

funkychickendance · Post by **funkychickendance** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 1:53 pm

What I love about KVR is that you can get such good objective advice.

Thank you, guys.

I already have the whole Kong family -- they are fabulous instruments, and I'm hoping they add a few more in 2007.

I think you've collectively talked me into Stormdrum.

And yes, Stylus RMX is on my list for springtime.

/funxi

Michael Render · Post by **Michael Render** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 3:56 pm

Just to pile on. I just received Stormdrum and it is huge sounding. I got it for ethnic/alt drum sounds and it sure delivers.

Talk To Me About Stormdrum