Drum Styles

Pros:

- Large stylistic...

by Keyboard Magazine, USA

Pros:

- Large stylistic range.
- Flexible and easy to use.
- Well performed, recorded and mixed.
- Percussion loops are a bonus.

Cons:

- Percussion instruments not always identified in documentation.
- Drum set sound is almost too consistent.

Variety is the word that best describes this wider-ranging collection of Drum Styles. Featuring the diverse drumming talents of Holland native Taco Gorter, this DVD-ROM disc covers territory both exotic and contemporary. Drum loop categories include Afro, baion, batucada, bebop, blues, bossa, comparsa, crossover, drum 'n' bass, funk, gogo, highlife, hip-hop, house, jazz, Latin, New Orleans, pop ballad, raga muffin, reggae, rock, samba, shuffle, soul, sungo, trip hop and tumbao.

Gorter's playing is tight, ranging from driving to laid-back and simple to complex. Single-hit drum sounds were sampled at multiple velocities. This category consists of crashes, cymbals, floor toms, hi-hats, high toms, kicks, rides, snares, and sticks clicking. Some of the "single hit" samples are actually rolls and flams. A variety of sticks were used for these hits as well, including cotton tip, brushes and rutes. Rim shot and slap techniques were also recorded. I was particularly grateful for the inclusion of cymbal crash hits, as they very rarely occur within the loops themselves. There's also an assortment of percussion loops involving agogo bells, congas, cowbells, shakers, tambourine, timbales and woodblocks. They're so solidly performed that it's unfortunate they're not consistently identified in the documentation. This can slow down your search for an appropriate loop, especially if you're using the WAV files alone. Fortunately, there are many methods of accessing the sounds.

The inclusion of REX files, Reason NN-XT programs and Native Instruments Intakt/Kontakt patches seriously enhances the usability and flexibility of this library, offering plenty of opportunity for both managing and mangling the samples and loops. There is only one area that could have used a little more diversity: the actual drum kit sounds. You could criticize it for being almost too consistent, but on the other hand, it's tuned and recorded so well that you could take this as a good thing.

In the overcrowded field of drum loops, Zero-G Drum Styles manages to stand out from the packby offering variety, quality and flexibility in a reasonably priced package. If you want a far-reaching diversity of styles from one product, this could well be what you're after.