The Samples
The kit itself contained 7 unique instruments; kick, snare, hi hat, crash, ride, high
tom and low tom. Additionally, some instruments are provided with a number of
different articulations - for example the hi hat has three articulations; a closed hat
hit across the main section of the cymbal (‘closed hat bow’), a closed hat hit on
the edge of the cymbal (closed hat edge) and an open hat.
We recorded Darren playing each articulation in gradual steps across the full
range of velocity, from the very softest touch (velocity ‘1’) right up to a hard bash
(velocity ‘127’) – this process was repeated several times for each articulation,
giving us hundreds of samples for each articulation, from which we selected the
best 18 samples.
There are a total of 16 unique articulations provided:
1. Kick drum isolated (ki) – this was recorded without the snare present
and all other instruments dampened to ensure only the kick can be heard
2. Kick Drum with Snare (ks) – this kick was recorded with the rest of the
kit, this tends to give a more natural ‘kit’ kick sound.
3. Snare (sn) – a snare drum hit in the centre of the head
4. Snare Side Stick (ss) - a hit on the snare rim using the fat end of the stick
while resting the thin end on the head
5. Snare Rim Shot (sr) - a simultaneous hit of the snare head and rim
6. Snare ‘drag’ (sd) – a short snare roll
7. Snare flam (sf) – a very quick double snare hit
8. Snare Edge (se) – a hit on the very edge of the snare head
9. Closed Hat Bow (hc) – a closed hat hit at the centre
10. Closed Hat Edge (he) – a closed hat hit on the very edge of the cymbal
11. Open Hat (ho) – the same hi hat hit while 3/4 open
12. Crash Cymbal Edge (ce) – hit on the edge of the cymbal
13. Ride Cymbal Bow (rd) – a ride hit at the centre of the cymbal
14. Ride Cymbal Bell (rb) – a hit to the bell of the cymbal
15. High Tom (th) – centre hit on a high rack tom
16. Low Tom (tl) – centre hit on a low rack tom