Ultimate Studio Drums Group Buy VITAL INFO THREAD

[Reverend Rhythm]

For those who are wondering about delivery of Phase 2 and 3:

Phase 2 will likely be Thursday and Phase 3 either Friday or Monday (or in between). So far it is looking good with the server and downloads. That's good. Ironing out a few kinks with the graphics and minor settings. We'll do a patch update for any of those little things that were found (so far just Kit 1, Kit 2, Kit 8 and Kit 13 had little things to change, not show stopper stuff just graphics and settings - most of which COULD be done by you guys but we'll do that stuff so it is more consistent and then give everyone an easy patch update).

One good thing about our custom library installer is that it does do easy patch updates.

[Squids]

Taos Drums, Timbales, Roto-toms and Drum Masters II

Hi Squids, I see that one of the bonus MT kits is the NDV Premiere. Can you please confirm that it does indeed come with the timbales and roto-toms as shown here:
http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=2404

if not, do any of the kits in this GB have them?

Also wondering if those funky TAOS drums are\will ever be available as a kit.. they appear to be a groove product only so far?
I did ask this once before many pages ago so I apologize if I missed your response..

Thanks

I dreamt that you had asked that and I hadn't answered... I guess it WAS real! Haha.

The TAOS kit IS being released! It sounds UNNNNNNNNNbelievable!!!!!!!! It is very different than your usual kit though. But WOW is it good. The bass drum is over 40 inches or something like that. Calf skin. Ridiculously huge. That will be in the new Drum Masters 2 Platinum and Platinum Kits Only (that replaces the Complete Kits Collection). It will also be available in a Deluxe Drummer Pack with just Jerry.

The NDV Premier kit in the GB does NOT have the timbales and rotos. But they ARE in the Drum Masters Signature Kits Vol. 1 They're also in the Deluxe Nick D'Virgilio Drummer Pack (replaces the Complete Nick D'Virgilio title we have now).

Pretty soon you'll start seeing the old Drum Masters 1 stuff go away (last chance to get some of that stuff and remember the DM2 upgrade patches for them ARE free) and the refreshed new (and different) Drum Masters 2 line replacing it. I'll give you some info on that. Here's what is replacing it. Imagine ALL of it is going away and there will only be:

Drum Masters 2 (main title) Multitrack Kits & Grooves

Drum Masters 2 Platinum - Now has all of the Artists and Style Multitrack Kits & Grooves to date

Drum Masters 2 Platinum "Kits Only" - same as above but without the audio grooves... for people who just want playable discrete multitrack kits galore.

Then there's the Signature Kit Series:

DM2 Signature Kits Vol. 1 - Focuses on "kits only" STm (Stereo Kit Pieces/Multichannel Mixing) of mainly artist kits (the kits that used to come with DM1 Silver)

DM2 Signature Kits Vol. 2 - A mix or artist and style kits with mostly previously unreleased STm "kits only" (apart from some in this group buy). It includes samples of signature kit brands that have artists like Stewart Copeland, Dennis Chambers, Dave Weckl... and it has Octobons!

Those are the only two about to be announced but following those will be Signature Percussion, Snares, Kick and Toms, Hats, Cymbals... huge collections of very rare instruments including Danny Gottlieb's rare cymbal collection with famous Jazz cymbals owned by Joe Morello (the ride used on Brubeck's Take 5), Don Lemond, Mel Lewis (including one vintage ride that makes you sneeze when you take it out but sounds amazing) and many more samples that have never been released before.

Then there's the Drummer Packs:

Bill Bruford (King Crimson, Yes)
Steve Gadd (Steely Dan, Paul Simon)
*Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel)
*Danny Gottlieb (Pat Metheny Group)
*John Blackwell (Prince, Patti Labelle)
*Ed Greene (Donald Fagen, Barry White)
*Nick D'Virgilio (TFF, Spock's Beard)

All of the above will have STm kits and grooves (if you want just the kits then get Signature Kits Vol. 1 which has them compiled). The grooves will be both for Infinite Player AND in Rex, Apple Loops & Wave format for you as well at no extra charge (the R.A.W. version will now come FREE with the pack... nice deal there).

The ones with * will also have a Deluxe Multitrack & STm versions (sort of like a "complete" of that drummer's material)

Then there's Producer Series titles like EpiK DrumS - A Ken Scott Collection (Beatles, Bowie, Floyd, Supertramp, Elton John...", Neil Peart Drums with Nick Raskulinecz (producer of Foo Fighters, Rush, Alice In Chains), Hugh Padgham Collection (Genesis, Phil Collins, The Police, Sting), Nick Davis The Farm Sessions (which not only has drums but samples of Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford's vintage keyboards and double neck guitars, basses, fx... can you tell I like Genesis? ) and then there's more stuff in the style of Ringo, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd and all the iconic drum sounds you could ever want really. Even some really unusual stuff like this: www.moleculesdrums.com We really mean it when we say we "Sample Everything".

ALL of the above will work with your SAME Infinite Player and Kontakt or Kontakt Player 3.5 or 4! At THAT point you can just buy them on line, on DVD or on the new Infinite hard drive coming out and you don't have to jump through any more hoops. Drag and drop install and you load them up and PLAY! Then the STm kit pieces all swap out with other STm kits, the MT kit pieces with discrete mic mixing all swap out with other MT kit pieces between everything. If someone had it all they could make ENDLESS hybrid kits putting together Copeland-like Octobans with HUGE Supertramp-style floor toms and a Bozzio snare with a Bonham-style kick and vintage Jazz ride cymbals. Is this going to be fun or what? I personally can't wait until it is all out. I don't want to say when because ummmm my predictions are notoriously off. Ehem (sorry) but it's getting very close. Some of this has been worked on since 2004 so... I think we're ready now!

Oh, individual kits and grooves may still be available for DM2 only on www.downloadablesoundz.com (no longer on esoundz after release). Not every kit and groove in the series but a nice selection for those that JUST want a cool kit or set of grooves.

[zedd]

Quick Mods to Kit Pieces

I'm including here my post from the other thread with regards to doing quick modifications of kit pieces:

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

In response to those who mentioned the kick drums being too boomy or the snare drums being too loose, you can easily change either of those things without switching kit pieces...

Just use the pull down menu on the GUI for the kit piece you want to modify and you will see a bunch of options including Envelope and FX. You can adjust decays and attacks, etc., with the envelope settings, and in the FX section you can apply EQ, compression and limiting.

With only a few quick seconds of tweeking I was able to take the boom of kicks, and make ambient snares sound like the most awesome close-miced tight snares. There is really a lot you can do with the kit pieces without leaving the front of the interface.

And if you have the full version of Kontakt, you can do further tweeks, like adjusting the volume of particular articulations of a kit piece, (e.g. raising and lowering their volumes, or tuning them separately).

[Squids]

About SR and Infinite Player

...the idea of Infinite Player, since it is based on Kontakt which has 24 bit disc streaming, Rex playback, round robin, scripting customization, key switching and the ability to be licensed to sound developers is to house ALL of the best Sonic Reality sample archives. What we do for SampleTank or in Reason is MORE than just sample archives - the patches and built-in DSP play a big part. But the SOURCE of that material as well as material we've done for various companies over the years like Roland, Alesis, Yamaha, NI, Propellerheads, Cakewalk, Mackie, Emagic, Steinberg, Camel Audio, M-Audio and all sorts of other Audios are sample archives that we own (including the original Miroslav Orchestral and Choir archives which still has unreleased material). So the BEST of all Sonic Reality sample archive sources will be made for Infinite Player and you can add it in. Squids Tron Collection for example is coming this Quarter for IP. A bunch of other things. Konstruction brings in the song construction loop titles from R.A.W. but makes them interactive and playable from the keyboard (and they will now come WITH R.A.W. as well for those that are interested in Loops).

The Infinite Player is the gateway to Sonic Reality sounds in Kontakt. The best sounds we've done up until now and the sounds we've never released because we needed to have these features I mentioned above to be able to do like say... a 10 velocity 11 foot Imperial Grand with 93 keys and recorded through the Dark Side of the Moon console with the assistance of Alan Parsons... full duration and with a special harp resonance technique that I came up with that is the most realistic I've heard. Stuff like THAT is coming as well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonicreali ... 264380129/

+

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonicreali ... 583794169/

=

[Reverend Rhythm]

Am I missing something?

I DL'ed Kontakt Player 4 from NI, and the custom skins from my soundz area, but I can't find either the redeem code nor the Infinite player in my DL area...

Please help,

Jon

I'm going to answer over on the Drum Masters & OWD Community Support Thread: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 0&start=30

[Chester Desmond]

About the 4 Multi-track Kits

I did a bit of digging today to help my brother out and figured I might as well share the results here. It is in regards to the MT kits which are available as bonus choices. We get to pick 2 of them (or 1 + Ezplayer Pro) I'd really recommend the JB Sonor audio demos if you want to get a better idea of the power of these MT kits. I have to say that I personally am leaning heavily towards the JB Sonor..it just sounds so powerful.


Starts with my brother's question:

Can you point me in the direction of a comparison/description of the multi track kits?


I've posted links to all 4 below and there are audio demos on those pages. You can compare the kit pieces and mics below too.

The basic deal is that the 4 MT kits we can choose from are the multi-track versions of 4 of the Stereo kits we are already getting in the Group Buy.

The stereo versions will have the same kit pieces as listed below and the ability to control the level and pan (and fx sends) of nearly every piece in the Kontakt Player mixer. You can control the volume of every piece in its individual instrument header, it's just that some are routed into the Kontakt Mixer as a group (like the toms) so you can only control their level as a group in the mixer. Less resource hungry and more immediate but with a little less control over the sound the the MT kits.

The Multitrack versions will have control over each mic that was used on each piece in the recording session(plus several room mics) as per the lists below. So you can turn up just the bottom snare mic, or use just the distant room mics, or blend those in for a more ambient sounding kit etc...sickening level of detail . To use the tom example above, now you can control the level of each tom via the 4 tom mics (in the case of the John Blackwell kit, or 5 in the NDV Premier etc) which each have their own channel in the Kontakt Mixer.

The best way to understand the concept is to listen to the audio demos on the John Blackwell Sonor Multitrack kit page. Squids narrates it so you get a good idea of the flexibility. Highly recommended. The sub kick sounds cool too. I checked with Squids and none of these bonus kit choices come with rototoms or timbales. Maybe if there is some breathing room between downloading the DM kits and choosing the MT bonus kit, I'll be able to play the stereo versions and figure out which one I would like to have more detailed control over.
Here's the info:


John Blackwell Sonor Multitrack kit : http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=2378

Sonor Kick Drum: 22" x 18"
Brady Snare: 14" x 5.5" (Maple)
Sonor 3 Rack Toms: 8" x 8" & 10" x 9" & 12" x 10"
Sonor 2 Floor Toms: 14" x 12" & 16" x 14"
Sabian 14" Hi Hats
Sabian Artisan Ride Cymbal 20"
Sabian 2 Crash Cymbals 19" 20"

This kit includes the following mic channels:

Kick Direct
Sub Kick
Snare Top Direct
Snare Bottom
Tom 1 Direct
Tom 2 Direct
Tom 3 Direct
Tom 4 Direct
Overheads
Room 1
Room 2
Back Room

Nick D Virgilio Premier Multitrack Kit: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=2404

Premier Kick Drum: 22" x 18"
Mapex Snare: 14" x 6" (Brass)
Premier 3 Rack Toms: 8" x 8" & 10" x 9" & 12" x 10"
Premier 2 Floor Toms: 14" x 12" & 16" x 14"
Meinl 14" Hi Hats
Sabian Ride Cymbal 20"
Meinl Crash Cymbal 16"
Paiste Crash Cymbal 19"
Sabian HHX China 18"

This kit includes the following mic channels:

Kick Direct
Snare Top Direct
Snare Bottom
Tom 1 Direct
Tom 2 Direct
Tom 3 Direct
Tom 4 Direct
Tom 5 Direct
Overheads
Room 1
Room 2


Nick D Virgilio Gretsch Multitrack Kit: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=2401

Gretsch Kick Drum: 20" x 14"
Dunnett Cast Iron Snare Drum: 14" x 4"
Gretsch 3 Rack Toms: 10" x 6.5"; 12" x 8"; 15" x 12"
Gretsch 2 Floor Toms: 16" x 16"; 18" x 16"
Sabian 14" Hi Hats
Sabian Ride Cymbal 20"
Sabian 2 Crash Cymbals 16" 18"
Sabian China Cymbal 18"


This kit includes the following mic channels:

Kick Direct
Snare Top Direct
Snare Bottom
Tom 1 Direct
Tom 2 Direct
Tom 3 Direct
Tom 4 Direct
Tom 5 Direct
Overheads
Room 1
Room 2
Back Room

Nick D Virgilio Mapex Blasticks Multitrack Kit http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=2402

Mapex Kick Drum: 22" x 18"
Mapex Fosfer Bronze Snare: 14" x 5.5"
Mapex (2) Rack Tom: (10" x 6.25") & 12" x 7.5"
Mapex (2) Floor Toms: (14" x 9.75") & 16" x 13.75"
Meinl Byzance 14" Heavy Hi Hats
Meinl Byzance Ping Ride Cymbal 20"
Meinl Byzance Crash Cymbals 17" medium, 18" medium-thin
Meinl Byzance Rakes China Cymbal 16"

This kit includes the following mic channels:

Kick Direct
Sub Kick
Snare Top Direct
Snare Bottom
Tom 1 Direct
Tom 2 Direct
Tom 3 Direct
Tom 4 Direct
Overheads
Room 1
Room 2
Back Room

[Squids]

Alright! A little update is in order.

Phase 2! All put together and pending a dinner break it will be placed into everyone's user area. DM2 kits! Bonus Gadd Snare, the extra JB Tama and Chicago Gretsch... will soon be yours to play with.

We ran into a minor hitch with Phase 3 though. In order to use the redeem code system to choose EZ Player and the MT Kits we're going to have to replace the redeem code you have now for picking the Infinite Player and/or Jazz kit. Now the good news is that about 90% or more of you have already used that code anyway so this won't affect you. But for the 10% left that haven't YOU MUST REDEEM YOUR CODE FOR INFINITE PLAYER OR JAZZ KIT BY MONDAY! If you don't then it will be reset for the phase 3 to redeem either EZ Player Pro or an MT kit - and to also pick out another MT kit as one of the bonuses.

This will also be sent out as an email tonight to everyone. But don't worry. Even if you missed the first redeem code part you can just contact support and Allen will do it manually for you. You won't MISS anything you paid for. But, it'd be less convenient if you don't redeem your code by Monday perhaps so I wanted to tell you as soon as I just found out we have to do it that way. By Monday I mean by just after Sunday at midnight EST.

So, this means the schedule will be Phase 2 delivery tonight and Phase 3 delivery on Monday. It will also give us enough time for any final patch fixes if anyone finds anything. So far no bugs have been found, just minor things with settings and cymbals not assigned to slots (something that takes two seconds for anyone to do). Tomorrow I am looking at a preliminary manual for the new features that we'll get everyone who wants to dig in deeper.

[Squids]

All of these are hybrid kits utilizing bits from the other DM kits

Drum Masters 2 Collins Kit X
Drum Masters 2 Duke Kit X
Drum Masters 2 Doctor Nirvana Kit X
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

The only thing sticking out as unknown is:

Drum Masters 2 Stairway Levee Kit

Should this have had a red X all along or is it a full kit?

That one needed a red X too. But there is something different about these hybrid kits. They're not part of the 50 PURE hybrid kits (pure meaning that there are no new samples in the 50 hybrid kits - they only pool from other kits). In THESE partial hybrid kits they may have a unique kick or snare, toms etc. but share other kit pieces. This was initially so we can get you some more flavors and kit pieces to pool from for making hybrid kits.

The only thing that isn't in a kit yet is the bonus Gadd snare. That will make its way into the 50 Hybrid Kits in a patch called something like "Gadd to Meet U Kit" or "Gadd This is Over" or "Sure Gadd U Got This Huh Kit".

Anyway, the kits above are now in your download area as one zip called 'DM2 Misc Kits". Download away! Phase 2 is complete.

Now onto phase 3. We may have found a way to do this tomorrow instead of Monday. I will let you know! 50 Hyrbid Kits, 25 convolution impulses and a partridge in a pear treeeeeeee. Also a redeem code to get you a free MT kit and either a FREE $50 value EZ Player Pro or your choice of ANOTHER MT Kit.

Can you BELIEVE this was all only $99? I hope we made some friends on this one. Even if it took us a while to deliver and we didn't say that upfront (we honestly didn't know it was going to be this hard) you have to admit this is some serious value!

Lastly, the information on DVD options will be available soon but might be delayed a week because of NAMM. We'll do our best. Same for Hard Drive options. Allen and half the crew will still be back in the office though while the rest of us are tap dancing on the NAMM show floor. A lot going on this month. But we're dedicated to making you a happy esoundz customer and Drum Masters 2 and OWD user!

[Chester Desmond]

Can you BELIEVE this was all only $99? I hope we made some friends on this one. Even if it took us a while to deliver and we didn't say that upfront (we honestly didn't know it was going to be this hard) you have to admit this is some serious value!

"I'm so Gadd, I'm so Gadd, I'm Gadd I'm Gadd I'm Gadd"

All considered, I think it's been pretty quick and painless (for us) for so many people downloading so much...

[DarkStar]

Activating Infinite Player

[transferred from the eSoundz Group Buy thread]

In Kontakt player do we have to Activate the Infinite Player? If so than how since this goes to NI in SC?

Hi acousticglue,

After you have downloaded your Infinite Player (in more practical terms, this is not a player per se, it is a library for the Kontakt Player or full Kontakt), you will receive a serial number in your 'My Downloads' section of your esoundz account. It will be under the heading 'Here are your product serials'. This authorization serial number will consist of only numbers, as the NI/SC serials do not contain letters.

Copy that serial number and then start your Kontakt or Kontakt Player (standalone). Look in the libraries section of your Kontakt application and you should see a library called Infinite Player. on the upper right corner of the Infinite Player box, you should see an activate button. Hit the activate button and it will open the NI Service Center and take you to the page where you can enter the serial number that you copied from your esoundz page. Hit 'ok' or whatever it is that needs to be done to finalize the input and close the service center. The activate button should now be gone from the Infinite Player library in Kontakt (maybe you need to close K/KP and re-open it to see this disappear). You should now be able to use the various Sonic Reality/Infinte Player instruments/multis in full mode (ie, no mention of DEMO in the names when they are loaded in K/KP).

And now the fun part ... Play !

Note: Sometimes there can be a delay in getting your NI/SC serial number in your esoundz account. We have been advised that releasing NI authorization serials is a manual operation and so there can be a delay between the time you download the Infinite Player and the time that you get the NI/SC serial.


I hope that helps.

[johnno]

eSoundz Newsletter with Phase 2 and 3 Update
In case anyone didn't get it:

Hello Ultimate Studio Drums Group Buy Customer,

Thank you for your patience. We are pleased to let you know that both Phase 1 and Phase 2 digital delivery of your Ultimate Studio Drums bundle is in your download areas of eSoundz and DownloadableSoundz.com If you have not yet merged your eSoundz and DownloadableSoundz accounts please do so in the member's area of esoundz. Remember you must choose "Infinite Player" if you don't already have it as this is needed to be able to play thee sounds in Kontakt Player!. It must be activated with NI with the supplied serial number (after you redeem the code from esoundz you can choose Infinite Player or the Jazz Kit - if you are new then you choose Infinite Player and the download and serial number appear in your DOWNLOADABLESOUNDZ user area. Then the Serial is under Product Serials tab on the left).

So, now onto the sounds... there sure are a lot of them! That's a good thing. In Phase 1 you have 13 different Ocean Way Drums Kits from the DL series custom made exclusively for this bundle. With a lot of hard work just for this group buy we managed to give it the same feature set as our brand new Drum Masters 2 series just about to be released. You're the first to use it before Drum Masters 2 release world-wide.

Phase 2 that is now in your download area of esoundz has all of the DM2 "STm" kits including the two bonus kits JB Tama® Stick and Chicago Gretsch®. Please download the zip called DM2 MISC KITS last as this has a variety of the remaining DM2 kits that share kit pieces with the other kits. ALL kits must be downloaded and installed for these kits and also the upcoming Hybrid Kits from phase 3 to work as they cross reference different kit pieces.

Phase 3 should be ready for download by the end of the day Monday. At that time we will also have a "Global Patch Update" zip which will incorporate minor changes in settings as well as fixes for any issues with the patches all resolved in one easy drag and drop update. Note that if you make any changes to the patches yourself you should resave them with a DIFFERENT NAME so that the patch update doesn't replace them. Do not move the original patches out of their folder hierarchy. The patch update will replace the patches of the same name and folder structure only.

On Monday we will send another email and post news about how you can pick EZ Player Pro or a Drum Masters 2 Multitrack kit as well as pick another Drum Masters 2 Multitrack kit for download to add to your collection- all some incredible bonuses on the best deal you'll ever find for sampled drums! We hope you're enjoying all of the extra goodies! It's hundreds of dollars of extra sounds and software thrown in (and don't forget the free Deluxe Piano!).

Support!
We realize this mega bundle is complex and that's why we have made a community support thread: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... &start=195 Feel free to ask questions there and a variety of knowledgeable people are there to help each other. If you're new to this or stuck DO NOT WORRY your sounds will not go away and you WILL be able to use this product. A DVD and Hard Drive option will be made available soon for anyone having trouble downloading. You can always contact support <<(A.T.)>> esoundz <<(D.O.T.)>> com for assistance. We will be doing thorough video tutorials and manual soon for anyone wanting to learn more about the infinite possibilities.

Thank you again for joining this exciting Ultimate Studio Drums Group Buy Bundle! Special coupon code upgrades to the full versions of Drum Masters 2 Multitrack, DM2 Signature Kits Vol. 1 & 2, Ocean Way Drums, EpiK DrumS A Ken Scott Collection and more will be made available to you soon.

Sincerely,

The eSoundz Team

[DarkStar]

[from the Community Support thread, 12 January]

Whew good news. ...

EZ/Multi-track Kit Bonuses
We solved the multiple redeem code thing. You will have a new redeem code soon to be able to pick TWO out of the following:

• EZ Player Pro
• NDV Premier MT Kit
• NDV Gretsch MT Kit
• the Blasticks MT Kit
• JB Sonor MT Kit

(Sorry I don't have exact kit names above)

USD_Global_Patch_Update_1
This needs to be kept zipped for drag and drop into Infinite Library Installer by user. This fixes patches and also skins in one shot for the whole thing. The user DOES have to have already installed all of the stereo kits first for these to work of course. This will be put in EVERYONE'S (of the GB and PayPal version) user area of eSoundz automatically.

Note: Sock and Ebow - this has all of the kits modified to be able to do BOTH of your favorite hi hat modes... I did it myself and it took me forever but you had good points and I agree so... there you go. Enjoy!

I think we got most issues but let us know if there's anything else and when we get back from NAMM we'll do another global patch update if necessary. These are minor things - so no worries to newbies! Accommodating everyone here. Finger drummers and e-Drummers.

Ultimate Studio Space
This needs to be unzipped and a folder called "Ultimate Studio Space" has 51 raw waves in it (have fun you can use it in other IR programs if you want). The user drags and drops this folder (not the contents of the folder but the folder itself) into the root of their Infinite Player folder (right next to their Multis and Instruments folders). To use these impulses they can either use them in the various hybrid kit patches that reference them OR they can drag and drop them into the convolution reverb which can be inserted on ANY of the output channels or aux channels. More info on how to do this will come. Note there are TWICE as many Impulse Responses given that originally said... the extra (double) is a gift to our patient customers.

Hybrid Kit Multis
They are MULTI PATCHES ONLY and need to be in a hierarchy like this Multis/Ultimate Studio Drums/Hybrid STm Kits. They go to everybody in the GB and PayPal. They need to be kept zipped for drag and drop onto the Infinite Library installer.

-----
SquidiMidi extras will have to come later but I'll make it good no worries. I explained why earlier.

[Qdraw]

note to IE users... "Dont hit your rebate code link from esoundz with a right click -open in new tab... appears to work until you have to pick you kits."

[Squids]

An update for those that still want more!


1. DVD Option Upgrade will be available by tomorrow (or late tonight). $50 plus shipping, 6 DVDs and includes ALL of the extras (all 4 Multitrack kits + even the STm Jazz Kit).

2. Hard Drive Option Upgrade will be available this week as well. $199 comes with ALL of the extras + a 250 gigabyte portable hard drive with 7200 rpm, FW 800, 400 and USB 2.0 (slick "Infinite HD"). All sounds from the GB pre-installed (pre-requisite is that you purchased the Ultimate Studio Drums Group Buy - otherwise it'd be an additional $99 for the sounds if you haven't purchased them already).

3. EXTRA iMAP MIDI FILES (including a bunch of funky SquidiMidi - ie. groovy ghosty funk finger drumming by your friendly neighborhood Squid + a variety of additional grooves on top for those patient enjoyers of iMap!). Exact count I don't know but it will be more than we originally said.

4. STILL doing drum-only audio examples for each of the Drum Masters kits similar to what we had for the OWD kits (sorry we didn't have that earlier which would have been ideal for buying but we're still doing it for the regular release of Drum Masters 2 Signature Volume 1 and 2 as well as for current Ultimate Studio Drums users to have their own mp3 demos on hand in case they want to use it for quick auditioning purposes before loading kits... which was a request from users we have not forgotten about!).

5. STILL doing video demonstrations which will be an on-going thing once we have that off the ground. Not quite there yet but we should be some time this month.

6. The SOUND MANUAL! Yes, we have one with explanation of each panel of the new GUI. It will be available before the end of the week. Not long after we'll have screen shot tutorials as well with tips and tricks.

7. MORE sounds... Drum Masters 2 Signature Kits Volume 1 and 2 are now available for pre-order on www.esoundz.com However, we have a unique surprise this week regarding them which may be of interest to those that joined the Ultimate Studio Drums Group Buy. More exciting news on that coming...

[Squids]

For those that had download problems... or for just getting a good deal for all the kit extras. Here's the DVD option: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=4166