Drum Masters 2 Signature Kit Tour

[Squids]

Here is an interactive manual/tutorial on the features and interface of Drum Masters 2 Signature Kits. Feel free to ask any questions (that's the interactive part).

First, an explanation of what the Drum Masters 2 Signature Kit Series is all about:



Introduction to Drum Masters and Studio ProFiles

Several years ago Sonic Reality created a label called "Studio ProFiles" for a range of sound libraries made in various sample formats that shared a common theme of focusing on the sounds of famous studios, legendary musicians and producers including some of the most iconic and desirable high-end instrument sounds. Within that label the Drum Masters series was created to thoroughly cover the category of Drum Kits and Grooves. A variety of different titles in the Drum Masters series offer those seeking the best value, variety and flexibility in sampled drums options at various price points to build their sound collection.

In order to make all of the drum kits, grooves, instruments and sound effects from the massive Studio ProFiles range accessible to anyone who owns a modern Mac or PC computer, Sonic Reality licensed Native Instruments' popular "Kontakt Player" sample playing "virtual instrument plug-in". To make it possible for the FREE Kontakt Player (or Full Kontakt for those that own it) to play all of Sonic Reality's new Kontakt-based sounds, a special "gateway" called the "Studio ProFiles Infinite Player" was created. After installation it shows up as a library module within Kontakt like this:



Once the Studio ProFiles Infinite Player is authorized via an Infinite Player serial number activated with NI's service center, it can then be expanded to play a wide variety of Sonic Reality instruments and effects - including the sounds of the Drum Masters series.

Drum Masters 1 vs. 2

Drum Masters 1 was mainly concerned with SR's iMAP and GM kits along with accompanying audio REX grooves. These were done in both stereo as well as in discrete multi-track for both kits and grooves which is something that has never been done in a virtual instrument before. Now with the Drum Masters 2 series, new developments have been made to offer increased realism with "round robin randomization" of alternating hits, more control over performance articulations and additional mapping features for both V-Drums and ANY e-Drum or Pad controller via a CUSTOM map mode with midi learn. On top of that there are new built-in effects, convolution reverb "Impulse Responses" for adding a variety of studio ambiences and drum room sounds to work with, flexible individual mixing control and more.

Drum Masters 2 SIGNATURE KIT series

The Drum Masters 2 Signature Kit Series from Sonic Reality focuses on "Midi Playable Kits Only" (as opposed to the main Drum Masters 2 Multitrack Kits & Grooves and individual Artist Packs which focus on the drum kits AND audio grooves of legendary drummers). The kits in this series are what we call "STm" kits (stands for "Stereo/multichannel"). "STm" kits are kit "Multis" that have the drum set broken down to individual stereo kit piece instruments (stereo kick, stereo snare, stereo hats...) and while you cannot mix the individual discrete microphones of the kit you CAN still mix the volume, pan and effects processing of each stereo kit piece. This can be done either inside the plug-in or inside your DAW with the 16 individual outputs per kit.



Note: These are the same type of kits that were featured in the recent "Ultimate Studio Drums" bundle group buy. The Drum Masters 2 kits in the group buy were taken partially from the upcoming titles Signature Kits Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. A list of what kits were used from these two volumes will be available soon so those that purchased this bundle can see what else there is in these two powerful Signature Kit Volumes to further expand their collection.

...to be continued

[Squids]

A Full Drum Kit in the Drum Masters 2 Series for the Infinite Player is done with what Kontakt calls a "Multi". A "Multi" is a combination of instruments all loaded together in one patch. Each "instrument" is a kit piece such as a kick or a snare or a hi hat etc. In the Infinite Player menu for loading drum sounds the "Multis" section is for loading full kits and the "Instruments" section is for swapping out kit pieces of a kit you have loaded or just loading specific kit pieces to start with.



When you click on "Multis" on the left side of Kontakt under the "Infinite Player", you then navigate to the folder of patches for the kit you want to load. Within the kit's folder you'll see 3 different "pre-mapped versions".

_GM: The one labeled "GM" at the end is mapped to work in General Midi standard format for compatibility with just about everything out there - including Standard Midi File sequences and "Midi Grooves" from other companies.

_IMAP: The one labeled "iMAP" is mapped to Sonic Reality's proprietary "IMAP" format (an "Interactive Map" designed for enhanced expression and performance articulation variance across the keyboard for finger drumming).



_VDRM: The one labeled "VDRM" or "VDRUM" is pre-mapped for use with the V-Drum TD20 or other e-Drum kits (note that other e-Drum kit brands and models may have to have pads remapped at the hardware unit to be used with kits in V-Drum mode OR individual kit pieces CAN be set to a "CUSTOM" mode to have each performance articulation mapped to the pad the other way. Also note that position sensing such as with the snare are only available on certain units such as the snare of the TD20 and others that send a CC message as well as the note message. More details on this available soon.)

[Squids]

Once a Multi is loaded all of the individual kit piece instruments are editable separately. Each have "panels" of knobs and buttons on the graphic interface that can be chosen with a drop down menu in the upper left side of the kit piece instrument. The panel choices are:

VOLUME
PAN
ENVELOPE
FX
MAPPING
VELOCITY

In "STm" kits such as the ones found in Signature Kits Vol. 1 and 2 (and the main kits of the Ultimate Studio Drums group buy) usually show the "Mapping" panel first by default.

Here's a tour of each of these panels and an explanation of what the knobs and buttons do as well as the features and functionality of Drum Masters 3 "STm" kits.

VOLUME



Here you can adjust the volume of that stereo kit piece. Note: You only have ONE stereo volume knob as opposed to the Multi-track Drum Masters 2 kits where you have multiple knobs - one for each discrete mic for the possibility of mic mixing between directs, overheads and room per kit piece. One trade off, however, is that STm's stereo kit pieces are less intensive on polyphony/computer power and the kits also load faster

PAN


Here you can adjust the PAN of that kit piece. Since the kit pieces are mixed in stereo in "STm" kits it usually has the intended spacial positioning within the stereo spectrum already. However, this pan adjustment allows you to alter that positioning further should it be desired.

ENVELOPE


The "Envelope" is for shaping the amplitude of the kit piece in terms of the sharpness or softness of attack, the shaping of the decay or more importantly for drums the RELEASE setting determines how long the sound plays out after being struck (on a keyboard it is how long it plays out after the key is released and on e-Drum kits it is how long it plays out after the pad is hit). While the envelopes are already set for natural response, it is possible to adjust the envelope for creative variation and/or shaping to suit a different "tightness or looseness" that may be desirable.

IMPORTANT: In order for the Envelope controls to "take effect" the envelope must be ENGAGED. For the STm kits you can simply click on "Select All" to engage the envelope OR you can click the button at the bottom that is the name of the kit piece (By hitting "Select All" it will automatically turn on that kit piece button at the bottom as shown below). In "STm" kits the "Solo Edit" button has no different function than "Select All" (Note: "Solo Edit" is a carry over feature from the Multi-track kits which is used for selecting SPECIFIC mic channels. Since "STm" kit pieces only have ONE stereo mic channel it is therefore the same to "Select All" or "Solo Edit" since there is only the one either way).



FX

In Drum Masters 2's Infinite Player/Kontakt Player virtual instrument you have built-in effects now BOTH in the output mixer as well as inserts on individual kit pieces. The FX panel on each kit piece is for the inserts at the instrument level (effects per kit piece). For the kit piece insert effects you get a choice of the following in series:

EQ1
EQ1
EQ2
Compressor 1
Compressor 2
Limiter

Each EQ is a 1 band fully parametric equalizer. You can use all three together in series for a 3 band EQ. Each of the effects is applied to the full stereo kit piece (in Multi-track kits there is flexibility to apply effects to individual mic channels).



In order for the EQ settings to work the effect needs to be "Engaged" (ie. turned on). To do that you need to click either "Select All" or the button that has the name of that kit piece on it at the bottom as shown in the image below. This sets that the effect is to be applied to that instrument (note this may already be set - the way to tell if the button is on is if it is white).

In addition you need to hit the "Engage" button to actually turn the effect on.



You can also choose two compressors in series.



To engage (turn on) the compressor you only need to hit "Select All" or the button at the bottom of the instrument interface with the name of the kit piece. (In the example below it would be the "kick" button which is turned white which indicates that it is "on" and therefore the compressor is engaged. To turn it off just click the button so it is no longer white.)



You can also choose a Limiter and like the Compressor it too is engaged by the kit piece button at the bottom being "on" (white).



Note that these insert effects only affect that kit piece. Any additional effects added at the output mixer still do not replace the instrument's insert effects but are in addition to and applied after in the chain.

[Squids]

MAPPING

As explained above you have 5 different mapping mode options:

•Performance
•IMAP
•GM
•V-Drum
•Custom

Performance Mode



Performance mode is a lighter version of Sonic Reality's IMAP that is shifted an octave higher and has only 3 tom slots instead of up to 6 tom slots. The purpose of this map is both to fit smaller sized keyboards such as 61 and 49 key controllers as well as to offer larger sized controllers the ability to split the keyboard between a drum kit in performance mode and audio grooves. Since audio grooves are not included in the Drum Masters Signature Kit series there is nothing mapped in Performance mode. But it is always available as an option.

IMAP Mode



IMAP is Sonic Reality's proprietary map for more expressive "finger drumming" than standard midi mapping. By having more performance articulations spread across the keyboard than formats such as GM, Sonic Reality's IMAP kits are able to offer more realism and performance nuances when played from the keyboard.

Since iMap has the largest amount of performance articulations of all 5 mapping types, here is a list of the performance articulations of IMAP that other maps also pool from:

Kick: 2 (plus 2 "extra keys"*)

Snare: 7 (plus 4 "extra keys"*)

Center, Edge, Rimshot, Sidestick, Roll 1, Roll 2, Ghost

Hi Hats: 8 (plus 2 "extra keys"*)

Inside Closed, Bell, Edge, Foot Open, Foot Shut, Open, Open Edge (formerly referred to as "Bonham-style Open"), Choke.

Toms: 2 (plus 1 "extra key"*)

Rim, Center

Note: Toms can now be assigned to one of 6 tom "slots" across the keyboard so you can make any custom combination you want and both articulations get moved to the right positions depending on the slot you choose. For example, in iMap the tom "Rims" are always on the black keys so when choosing different slots (sets of 3 keys - for the two articulations plus extra key) the rim always ends up on the black key of that slot. This makes it a more "intelligent" feature than a simple "transpose".

Ride: 4 (plus 2 "extra keys"*)

Bell, Center (aka "Edge"), Crash (refers to "crashing" the ride), Special (additional misc performance or position on the ride).

Crash/Splash/China: 2

Inside, Edge

Note: Crashes, Splashes or Chinas can now be assigned to one of 5 different Cymbal "slots" across the keyboard so you can make any custom combination you want and both articulations get moved depending on the slot you choose.


Articulations, Alts & Round Robin

You can selection which performance articulation you want to edit with the drop down menu under "Articulations". You then see a full panel of knobs and buttons that adjust and save settings for that articulation (note you must save back the entire kit as a multi to save the settings permanently at the end of your session).

To the right of each articulation you will see the "Alt" section. An "Alt" is an alternate hit of that performance articulation. These alternate hits can be used either in a "round robin" which is a cycling or randomization of hits with subtle changes each time you hit the drum or they can be assigned to be played from an "extra key*" (when an extra key option is offered). The number of Alts available varies from articulation to articulation, kit piece to kit piece and even kit to kit. Generally speaking, larger sized kits will tend to offer more variation in alternate hits.

When turned on (button turned white) per ALT, Round Robin causes the ALTS that have it on to "cycle" changing which ALT hit is played so that each time you play that note it changes the sound to another alternate hit. This is to not only offer more animation and realism but also to avoid the "machine gun" effect when played in fast succession. Below it there is a special "Randomize" button which only has to be turned on ONCE and all of the ALTS of that articulation will play in random order instead if in a sequential cycle. This helps avoid predictable repeats of tone and often adds even more realism and unpredictable variation to animate the sound of the drum.



Note: You can adjust the "Trim" of the articulation to get the right balance of snare sidestick vs. snare center for example and other volume level adjustments you may want to do per articulation.

* Extra Keys Explained: The "Extra Key" feature is only used in IMAP mode. It allows any of the ALTS of a performance articulation to be assigned to an additional key on the keyboard from the "Extended IMAP". These are usually a key that is an octave away on the same note. For instance, a CENTER snare articulation is on D2. The "Extra Key" for the CENTER snare would be on D1 (an octave below). The EDGE snare is on E2 and the "Extra Key" for the edge would be on E1. In the case of the Rimshot and Sidestick the "Extra Keys" are two octaves away. Everything is shown on the IMAP image below which has all of the extras (which will only have samples there if assigned to the "Extra Key" button which is now optional).



These "Extra Keys" from the "Extended IMAP" are now optional. In previous IMAP products that had "Extended IMAP" their purpose was to allow the user to have tonal variation via the use of additional keys on the keyboard. This was to imitate having a left and right stick position of the drum (a center and slightly off center snare for example). It allowed there to be a deliberately played tonal variation just by switching which key was hit for the articulations that had extra keys (such as snare, hi hat closed and open edge, ride center and bell, tom center/edge). Now, with the new Round Robin feature these tonal variations can optionally be used as part of the main articulation's round robin group simply by turning round robin ON for that articulation ALT and turning OFF the "Extra Key" button (so it is not white).

Note: As an added bonus enhancing the Extended IMAP "Extra Key" feature, any ALTS that are assigned to an Extra Key are automatically put into their OWN "Round Robin" group separate from the main articulation key.

The following is a vertical layout of the new Drum Masters 2 IMAP which incorporates past "Extended Imap" features in a more flexible system:

[Squids]

GM GENERAL MIDI MODE



GM is the most popular format for drums used in midi grooves, sequencers, standard midi files and more. It may not be the most powerful map in terms of performance realism but it is the most universally compatible. For those that are just used to this popular map or want instant compatibility with most hardware and software midi devices we offer the GM Maping format option.

Note: In Sonic Reality's GM kits we replace the usual "Clap" with a more Drum Kit-oriented "Rimshot" and use the kick and snares for one kit as opposed to a variety. GM Percussion is often not included in Drum Masters 2 Signature Kits but will be available separately as an add on.

V-DRUM MODE

This mapping mode is set up to respond to the Roland® TD20 V-Drums including advanced "position sensing" and other advanced features. However, it can also be used with other e-Drum kit brands and models as long as that hardware controller's pads are assigned to play the V-Drum map of Drum Masters 2. [An exact midi note listing and graphic is coming and will be added to this page]

In the V-Drum snare you have the ability to choose if you want the snare drum rim to trigger a Sidestick:



or a Rim Shot:



You can also adjust the amount of Center to Edge from the position sensor of the snare pad of a TD20. [The switch between Center and Edge is done via a Midi CC - more detailed information on this and other advanced position features will be forthcoming]

CUSTOM MODE

If you don't want to touch your hardware set up's mapping and want to do it all from the software side this could be more tedious because it would have to be done per kit. But the good news is that it is not only possible but EXTREMELY easy to do with Sonic Reality's proprietary "CUSTOM MAP MODE" in Drum Masters 2. Here you can assign ANY performance articulation of a kit piece to ANY incoming midi note via "Midi Learn".



All you have to do is choose the performance articulation, be sure you are in CUSTOM mode by changing the Mapping Mode drop down to CUSTOM. Then click on "Midi Learn" and hit the pad or midi note you want that articulation to be assigned to. It will "learn" the incoming note and automatically assign it (you can see that note show up visually below the midi learn button). If you want to reassign it just hit midi learn again and the next incoming midi note will then be assigned. You would have to do this for every articulation you want played from your e-Kit controller and then save the whole kit back as a "multi" (check your Kontakt Player manual on how to load and save Multis and Instruments).



Tip: When saving back your own custom variations of mappings or other settings it is a good idea to change the name at least with one character different so that future patch updates don't over-write your patch changes as they are done by replacing factory patches of the same name.

Note: You can adjust the "Trim" of the articulation to get the right balance of hi hat closed vs. foot for example and other volume level adjustments you may want to do per articulation.

VELOCITY

On this panel you can adjust the dynamic response of that whole kit piece by adjusting the "Velocity to Amp" parameter. As an extra tool for expression you can also adjust the "Velocity to Pitch" which is particularly useful for instruments such as Toms which can increase in pitch the harder you hit them in real life. While the pitch variance in a real drum might depend on the looseness or elasticity of the drum head, by adjusting the "Velocity to Pitch" anything from realistic to drastic variation can be achieved for either enhanced expression or for a cool dynamic effect.

[Squids]

Multichannel Mixing in the Output Mixer

In the Drum Masters 2 Signature Kit Series, the kits are more than just stereo. While the kit pieces themselves are pre-mixed to stereo and there is no discrete mic mixing between directs, overheads and rooms there are OTHER ways to achieve dry to ambient control, balancing between the different volumes and pans of kit pieces and individual processing of each drum with the new "STm" (Stereo/multichannel) kits of this series. You have the ability to mix the individual kit pieces in the output mixer and can even add back in additional studio room ambience and other effects via the Convolution Reverb and bundled exclusive Sonic Reality Impulse Responses captured from famous studios all over the world.

Output Mixer Channels

While there is Volume and Pan control per kit piece on the instrument's interface you also have slider-controlled channels in the output mixer for the following:

Kick
Snare
Hats
Toms (this is a buss for all of the toms assigned to one stereo output channel)
Ride
Crash (this is a buss for all of the crashes assigned to one stereo output channel)
China
Splash
Misc 1
Misc 2 (Misc 1 and 2 are open for any kit pieces to be assigned for individual processing).



Each channel in the output mixer can have up to 4 insert effects of its own with a choice of over 18 different insert effects including:

Compressor
Limiter
Inverter
Saturation
Lo-Fi
Stereo Modeller
Distortion
Skreamer
Rotator
Twang
Cabinet
Phaser
Flanger
Chorus
Reverb
Delay
Convolution
Filters (including Analog Synth Filters as well as various EQs)

To see the Output Mixer just click on the Mixer icon at the top of the Kontakt Screen:



To assign an insert effect just choose one from the 4 drop down menus per output channel. Double clicking on the effect initials opens up the parameter window of that effect.



To the right of the output channels are 4 Auxiliary Returns that submix the signals sent from each individual kit piece's Auxiliary Sends. Note: Sometimes Aux 1 and Aux 2 are renamed "Amb 1" and "Amb 2" indicating their intended use with the included convolution impulse "studio ambience" but they can be used the same as any of the other auxiliary channels. They are just named differently.

To use these auxiliary effect sends per kit piece you need to click the small "Aux" button to the far right of the instrument's interface.



Once you click it a row of 4 sliders appears under that kit piece.



You can then adjust the level of each Amb/Aux 1-4 which determines how much of that kit piece will be sent to the output mixer's Auxiliary channel of the same name/number.



Once that sound is sent to the auxiliary channel an insert may be applied to that channel so that the auxiliary sends have an effect applied to multiple kit pieces at once. The most popular use of this feature would be to apply a digital reverb or convolution impulse response-based reverb to multiple kit pieces (without having to put a reverb or convolution on each kit piece's output channel as an insert which would take up a lot more CPU to do and reverb is generally not a common "insert" effect in a recording studio but used more with send/return auxiliary channels).

Note: Most often you will want whatever effect you choose as an insert on your auxiliary channel to be 100% wet with no Dry sound. This will allow the direct sound not to be duplicated since it is already going through the individual outputs. The auxiliary channel would then be used solely for the mixing of the processed or ambient sound. But, of course, it depends on the sound and mix you are going for.

To use the bundled Sonic Reality Impulse Ambience you need to select a Convolution effect as an insert effect (most likely on the AMB 1 channel - the first of 4 auxiliary channels so you can do individual kit piece send/return effects for adding in ambient control as described above). Double click on the insert to see the parameters including the screen that says "Drag Impulse Sample Here".



If you have successfully installed the included Impulse Responses of Drum Masters 2 Signature Kits or the Ultimate Studio Drums Bundle they will reside inside the Infinite Player folder. For the Group Buy the folder of impulse responses is called "Ultimate Studio Space":



Open that folder and select one of the wave samples and drag and drop that wave right into the window of Kontakt's Convolution reverb. (where it says "Drag Impulse Samples Here"). Just drag one wave.



After you have dragged in one wave you can adjust the parameters of that impulse (read Kontakt manual for more information about working with Convolution reverb parameters) and you can also select OTHER impulses from that folder simply using the arrow keys at the top of the Convolution effect.



The variety of Impulse Ambiences in the Drum Masters 2 Signature Kit Series (and Ultimate Studio Drums Bundle) offer a range of additional sounds you can achieve by using different size spaces as well as studio effects to shape the sound with infinite additional possibilities. Whether you want to give a dry kit some added ambience or you want to take a medium ambient kit and give it a new acoustic timbre, the convolution impulses are a unique feature and something new for the Drum Masters series.



That concludes the first part of the tour! I hope this was useful to you. If you have any questions about any of the above just let me know. Let's try to keep this thread just about "how it works" and not general discussion which can be done in other threads. This is an experiment in "interactive manual/tutorials" that we've been talking about doing. Accompaying this WILL be some screen-capture video tutorials as well which will help explain certain processes step by step - including some of the ones described in this thread.

[Squids]

thanks Squidz this is very helpful, question about the alts round robin. So lets say there is one hit in the sample pool for the kit peice I don't like or doesn't suit what I'm going for, So I can isolate it by finding out which alt it is 1st and then deselecting round robin for that alt and that will exclude it from the sample pool?

I want to point out that this question and answer is for advanced users. This isn't something someone has to understand to be able to use the product. But it sure is some exceptionally powerful control over the round robin alt system...

So the answer is yes you are correct. In that case you would want to make sure "Randomize" was turned off so they would "cycle in order". You'd have to do it by ear but you can turn each ALT on or off to keep it in or out of the pool.

Tip 1: In the case of IMAP which is the only map that makes use of the "Extra Key" you can also make a separate pool for that extra key. This can be useful if say there's an ALT that you DO like but you don't want popping up randomly and want it more for the occasional variation which you can deliberately trigger on that extra key whenever you want it.

Tip 2: Sometimes the ALTS intentionally have a few that are not even meant to round robin in the same pool unless someone wanted more drastic timbral variation OR something with a different flavor to put on the extra key. However, those ALTS are either already assigned to an extra key or not turned on when it comes to the "factory presets" (that Multis and Instruments that come with the product). But they may be there in the ALT pool to turn on and see.

Also regarding working with impulses , I've found sometimes when trying to add extra ambience to a kit the snare sample will ring the room harmonic? or something like that, but that other kit pieces sound fine , this was one of the ocean way kits and I was matching it...[edit] Any setting I can change to deal with that problem or should I just pick a different impulse to work with?

I find that one has to experiment with the impulses to get the result you're after. The best is to use your ears and make it sound right. I wouldn't just go by the theory of matching like studio rooms.

Tip 1: In a case such as the one you described a good tip might be either to pick a different impulse to work for the whole thing OR what I would probably do is run the rest of the kit through the one and the snare with AMB 2 (Aux 2) through another similar impulse. I find that using a few different impulses gives it a little more animation anyway.

I love the convolution impulse ambience concept. For the Signature Kit series it is so handy for getting such a wide variety of different sounds by mixing and matching them to the STm kits. But, of course, the Multi-track kits of the Drum Masters 2 series that have a discrete room mic are much more animated (less flexible to use that room with anything else though since it is a part of that kit and not separated out like convolution impulses are). So, when working with the STm kits I might use a couple of convolution impulses when I want more animated tonal variance. But it all depends on how the kit sounds through them. Fun to experiment!

Tip 2: You can also simply just try out another single impulse and tweak the parameters of the Convolution Reverb which I often do as well. You can EQ/Filter the beginning separate of the trail... you can even adjust the size! I find that taking out some of the low end often makes it a nice subtle effect without being overbearing.

[looseidrummer]

Thanks a ton for posting this Squidward. I was having a hard time understanding how to manipulate all those little switches and drop down boxes but this makes it very clear. do you know if the various knobs and sliders can be mapped to a midi control surface so that commonly tweaked parameters can be twisted on the fly vs clicking through menus and using the mouse to move the knobs??

[Squids]

Thanks a ton for posting this Squidward. I was having a hard time understanding how to manipulate all those little switches and drop down boxes but this makes it very clear. do you know if the various knobs and sliders can be mapped to a midi control surface so that commonly tweaked parameters can be twisted on the fly vs clicking through menus and using the mouse to move the knobs??

Yes, the knobs can be assigned to CC's. It should be detailed in your Kontakt Player manual. At some point we might take the functionality of Kontakt from the manual and do our own... that might be helpful to integrate it. It just takes a while to do all that but worth it IMO. Although maybe just video demonstrations of things like that will do the trick. I'm leaning more towards that.