Drumdrops Yamaha Hybrid Kit Manual 1 The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Drumdrops. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by Drumdrops. “Native Instruments”, “NI” and associated logos are (registered) trademarks of Native Instruments GmbH. Mac, Mac OS, GarageBand, Logic, iTunes and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Windows, Windows Vista and DirectSound are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trade marks are the property of their respective owners and use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them. Contact Us Drumdrops 36 Leroy Street London SE1 4SP United Kingdom www.drumdrops.com 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction (p.5) 2. About Drumdrops Yamaha Hybrid Kit (p.7) 2.1 The Drum Kit (p.7) 2.2 The People (p.8) 2.3 The Pool Recording Studio (p.11) 2.4 The Recording Equipment (p.12) 3. The Samples Packs (p.15) 3.1 The Multi-Velocity and Single Hits Packs (p.15) 3.1.1 Pack Contents (p.15) 3.1.2 Sampler Patches (For Kontakt, Battery, Drum Rack and EXS) (p.16) 3.1.3 Drum Machine Patches (For Maschine, Geist, Studio One Impact and iDrum) (p.18) 3.1.4 Software Compatability (p.20) 3.1.5 Loading the Patches (p.20) 3.1.5.1 EXS24 3.1.5.2 Battery 3.1.5.3 Kontakt 3.1.5.4 iDrum 3.1.5.5 Geist 3.1.5.6 Maschine 3.1.5.7 Studio One Impact 3.1.5.8 Drum Rack 3.1.5.9 Reason Refills 3.1.5.10 Renoise 3.1.5.10 Renoise Sampler 3.1.5.11 TX16Wx 3.2. Drum Replacement Pack (p.23) 3.2.1 Slate Trigger Pack (p.23) 3.2.2 Drumagog Pack (p.23) 3.2.3 DrumXchanger Pack (p.23) 3.3. All Samples Pack (p.24) 3.3.1 Kontakt Pack Samples (p.24) 3 3.3.2 Multi-Velocity Samples (p.25) 4. Support and Account Notes (p.28) 4.1 Support (p.28) 4.2 Account Notes (p.28) 4.2.1 Use of the Packs (p.28) 4.2.2 The Drumdrops Account (p.28) 4.2.3 A Note on File Sharing (p.28) 4 1. Introduction Drumdrops is the one-stop shop live drum sampling company, begun in the year 2000 by head honcho engineer Mike Pelanconi. Over more than 10 years it has built up a catalogue of some of the most respected live drum tracks in the business. Drumdrops became known as the company to buy the highest quality multi-track drums, firstly specializing in Reggae but now covering most genres including Ska, Disco, Funk, Hip Hop, Rock, Blues and Pop. Each of the drum tracks can be bought in three different formats. Drum multi-tracks for those who want control over the individual drum’s sound, drum stems for completed mixes of the drums, and drum loops. What makes Drumdrops’ catalogue stand out from the crowd is the detail that goes into recording it. We have used some of the finest studios around the world including Olympic Studios, Tuff Gong and Hollywood Sound Recorders, which have great recording rooms. We find studios that have a great collection of vintage gear using old consoles such as Neves and APIs. The microphone collections are top-of-the- range and we record all of the drum tracks to 2” tape adding another level of depth to the sound. All of the kits we use are tuned to perfection and we always find the right kits for the job; Gretsch, Ludwig, Hayman, Rogers and Slingerland amongst others. Finally, the professionals we use are amongst the very best; incredible drummers and great recording engineers. All of this combined creates the formidable Drumdrops sound. In 2011 Drumdrops teamed up with Miloco Studios to work together to push the catalogue to the next level. First up was the new Drumdrops website, which was built to sell the catalogue direct to Drumdrops’ fans. The website allows all the catalogue to be previewed on a track- by-track basis and allows clients to purchase by track or by the full album. We then began recording new catalogue using a lot of Miloco’s studios, which offered new recording rooms and new equipment. This has helped make our catalogue even more varied but at the same time sound great. In 2013 Drumdrops began a brand new phase releasing the best sounding live drums as sample packs. We decided that we had to do this right and that our samples had to stand up against the best catalogues out there. So, we built a Drumdrops Kontakt Interface to give maximum control to the user. With the guidance of Channel Robot’s incredible programming skills, we worked on producing an Interface that would do justice to the drum sounds we record. The Drumdrops Kontakt Interface gives full fader control over each 5 drum, offers reverbs and effects, has a randomization feature for added realism and allows the user to adjust the velocity curves on each drum. Most importantly it has an incredible amount of samples (around 7000 on the first one). However, Drumdrops is of course a drum sample company, so we have not limited our kits solely to Kontakt. We also offer the Multi-Velocity Pack that has 16 velocities per articulation and a simple Single Hits Pack which just three velocities per kit. These two packs can be loaded into any sample software. This offering from Drumdrops is a Yamaha Custom Hybrid kit, which is owned by Producer Ben Hillier (Depeche Mode, Graham Coxon) and resides in Miloco’s The Pool recording studio. This kit was setup by Martin Oldham from Drum Tech Support, using Pre International Remo coated Ambassador heads. It was as its absolute best before we began sampling. The kit was played by drummer Adam Falkner (Dido, Ed Harcourt, Suggs) who is a sampling expert, and recorded by Drumdrops’ in-house engineer, Ben Thackeray. The Pool is a fantastic studio and has been at the cutting edge of commercial releases over the last five years, recording acts such as Florence & The Machine, The Horrors, The Kooks, Graham Coxon and more. A three storey high warehouse-feel provides a great drum sound, but it is surprisingly controlled. The kit was recorded through 14 classic microphones onto an array of vintage Neve mic pres, and it sounds amazing. This Yamaha Kit is one of many kits that will be appearing at the Drumdrops site over the coming months. The Drumdrops crew have been busy sampling up many other kits and we shall be releasing a Vintage Rogers Big R Dub kit, a Mapex Rock kit, a 1970’s Ludwig kit, a Slingerland kit, two Hayman’s and a 90’s DW Collectors Series. And we are just warming up... 6 2. About Drumdrops Yamaha Hybrid Kit 2.1 The Drum Kit Most of Yamaha’s drums are manufactured at two different locations in Asia. Their factory in Osaka produces their high-end professional drums as well as all of their marching percussion. The research and development of new products also takes place there. Marketing is managed from the Yamaha Corp. headquarters in Hamamatsu. The factory in China produced the entry-level GigMaker kit and the intermediate-kit Stage Custom Birch. Their factory in Indonesia produces the Tour Custom and the newly introduced Rock Tour series drums. The Indonesian factory uses the same machinery and techniques in their drum shells and all of the craftsmen working there are trained by Japanese craftsmen from the Osaka site. The only difference between these two plants is that the Osaka plant uses the more exclusive woods (maple, birch and oak). This example is available in Miloco’s The Pool and consists of factory issue sizes and is fitted with Pre International Remo Coated Ambassador heads. The kit works well at different tuning pitches, but its big size makes it suitable for deeper rock- orientated numbers. This Yamaha Hybrid kit comprises a 24” bass drum, a wonderfully deep 18” floor tom and a 14” rack tom. The snare is a Ludwig 402 14” x 6.5”. The cymbals used were a Zildjian Dark 13” Hi-Hats, a Zildjian Constantinople 22” Medium Ride and two Zildjian Crashes - an 18” Constantinople Medium Light Crash and a huge 20” Zildjian Oriental Crash Of Doom. The kit has a black finish. 7 2.2 The People A huge amount of work has gone into both recording the Yamaha Kit, and of course sorting out the samples, and neither would be what they are now without the people we assembled to create these fantastic products. The process of recording the kit and building the templates is a lot of work. Firstly, the kit was sampled with every drum articulation being recorded, with up to 16 velocity levels. This takes two days for every kit we record. Once this part of the process had been done we began the epic task of sifting through the thousands of samples, choosing the best ones, trimming them down to size and grouping them. Usually this process takes about 4-6 weeks. The Drummer – Adam Falkner www.adamfalkner.com Adam Falkner is a busy UK session drummer and musical director.