The Black Oyster Drum Kit Mixed by Darrell Thorp - Kontakt Edition

The Black Oyster is Drumatica's signature virtual drum instrument from 10x-Grammy engineer/producer Darrell Thorp, built to deliver the big, punchy, and natural ROCK sound of his radio-ready drum mixes and heard on platinum-selling Foo Fighters, Switchfoot, Beck and Twenty One Pilots releases. Darrell knows how to dial in acoustic drums that really stand out, and this Kontakt instrument delivers the goods.

At its core is a warm Ludwig black oyster pearl shell pack with plenty of cymbals and complimentary kit pieces. Choose from an assortment of 22", 24", and 26" Kicks, multiple Snares (from large to small, maple to brass), Floor and Rack Toms, and a versatile cymbal set —giving you a ton of sounds right out of the box. And with 500+ custom Classic Rock & Alt-Rock MIDI grooves built in, you can sketch, arrange, and finish polished drum parts from right within the instrument.

If you're looking for a virtual drum instrument built specifically for Rock styles, this is the instrument for you.

Built to ROCK

In a sea of sound-alike Metal drum libraries, this kit stands out.

The Black Oyster Kontakt instrument is a rock-focused kit with a familiar look and sound. Rooted in the iconic Ludwig Black Oyster set Ringo Starr and the Beatles introduced to millions on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, its distinctive sound can be heard on performances and recordings by artists such as Ringo, Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones, Keith Moon of the Who, Bill Ward of Black Sabbath ("Black Sabbath," "Paranoid" albums), John Bonham of Led Zeppelin ("Led Zeppelin II"), Marcus Mumford of Mumford and Sons, and Dave Grohl.

Our sampled Black Oyster kit is slightly larger than its predecessor and even more projecting. It's big full sound is a natural fit for Hard Rock, Alt-Rock, and Classic Rock styles - giving your music that familiar, unforgettable drum sound found on countless iconic rock albums.

Multi-Platinum Mixed

Darrell Thorp mixed every instrument, every microphone channel, and every preset to sound as natural, yet radio-ready, as his multi-platinum mixes for other artists. His long history tracking and mixing Dave Grohl's drums ensured the kicks are beefy (but not muddy), the snares have that signature 'crack' you'd expect, the toms are punchy, and the cymbals add that perfect amount of shine on the top end. The perfect tone for ROCK.

REAL drums mixed to sound like real drums, by the Foo Fighters' long time engineer.

Further Shape Your Sound

An easy-to-use, yet extremely powerful mixer and submixer section - along with an SSL-modeled EQ, 1176-modeled Compressor, and array of Reverbs & FX - let you further shape the sound to your liking.

Dial in individual mic settings, and control your ambience with customizable room-mic and reverb settings for each kit piece - so the snare can sit drier while toms reverberate and the kick stays focused. Whatever you want.

Enhance the mics by enabling the 'Electrify' button (lightning bolt), adding subtle excitement and saturation. Perfect for the room mics.

And choose from a huge selection of exclusive Classic Reverb IRs to give your mix some extra dimension and sparkle. We spent thousands of dollars to get our hands on these reverb units so you don't have to.

But the best part? You don't have to scroll page after page of confusing UI to find what you're looking for. It's all right in front of you on the main instrument screen. Dial in your perfect sound in a few clicks.

More Human, Less Robot

Because feel matters, Black Oyster's Anti-Machine-Gun (ATMG) switch prevents identical back-to-back hits so that your drum performances always sound authentic - not like a drum machine. Additionally, our exclusive Rim Blend tech adds controllable rim presence to the snare (both Center and Edge articulations), delivering a more hard-hitting "crack." Face it, some songs just need a little more attitude, and Rim Blend gives you more of that rim vibe, while still maintaining separate Rimshot and Shallow Rimshot articulations for a whole collection of unique rim-style sounds, from subtle to pingy to cracking.

You can also tap into a deep articulation set that goes well beyond most drum libraries for maximum realism. Perfect for e-kit playability, we've included: (5) OPEN/CLOSED states on the hi-hat across the Edge, Center, and Tip locations; Mutes and chokes; plus multiple Snare hit types that include Sidestick, Center, Edge (off-center), (2) kinds of Rimshots, (2) kinds of Flams, (2) kinds of Ghost Strokes, and the aforementioned Rim Blend option to add even more character.

Every feature here serves one goal—deliver a virtual instrument that sounds and plays like a real drummer, not a machine.

Groove Is In The Heart

And speaking of real drummer feel, our included 500 MIDI Grooves are performed by a real L.A. session drummer. They drop in any DAW and just work. Each included groove draws from the most iconic rock songs in history - from 70s to the 00s - and includes plenty of custom variations and fills for every section, giving you hundreds—even thousands—of ways to arrange, customize, and make these songs your own.

10 legendary songs and all their variations = nearly 500 grooves right out of the box (plus, we're adding new grooves to each new update to the kit). And if that's not enough, you can extend your beat collection even further with our new MIDI Groove Packs (*coming September 2025).

Mix, Match, Make It Yours

Expand the Black Oyster kit with included add-on kicks, snares, toms, and cymbals. Every kit piece includes a simple dropdown, so you can swap sounds easily. Build your own combinations in seconds and lock them in as presets for instant recall:

• Kicks: choose kicks that shift from tight, focused punch to big, room-filling Zep-inspired thump.
• Snares: swap for different shells and tunings—from crisp crack to fat backbeat—plus perfect companions for Rim Blend.
• Toms: pick tom sets that change resonance and character for the right depth and attack.
• Cymbals: select rides and crashes with distinct stick, bell, and decay behaviors to shape the groove.

And don't forget Darrell's incredible presets you can access from the Factory settings. From 70s classic rock, to 80s power ballads, 90s alt-rock and 00s nu-metal...the sounds (and grooves) are here for you.

Add Your Own Samples

Add even more sound possibilities by dropping in your own Kick & Snare samples to the 1-Shot Trigger Editor - or choose from some of Darrell's own favorites. This greatly expands the available sounds you can work with.

Sample layering is a common production technique for creating interesting drum textures and sounds. The one-shot editor provides a straightforward way to implement this approach.

The editor includes controls for velocity, decay, tuning, pan, and volume adjustments, allowing you to customize how the layered samples behave within your mix. Need just a subtle 'hint' of a 1-shot? No problem, you can fine-tune the exact amount to blend.

A World Class Drum Room

We recorded the Black Oyster kit at the ultra-modern Sweetwater Studios facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Artists such as Anthrax, Mr. Big and Counting Crows have all recorded at Sweetwater Studios.

Located within the campus of the U.S.'s largest online music instrument retailer, Sweetwater, Sweetwater Studios offers three world-class rooms designed by acclaimed recording studio designer, Russ Berger. We tracked the drums in their largest room – Studio A – a 29'x 26' live room outfitted with a gorgeous Rupert Neve Designs 5088 console - along with a plethora of vintage & modern microphones, EQs, pre-amps, processors, and outboard gear. Practically any piece of gear we needed for the session was available to us.

A pair of $10k overhead mics? Sure, why not? A mono room mic considered to be the 'holy grail' of British studio mics? No problem. If we wanted it, we got it, and used it to record this beautiful kit.