Music Tech magazine
SDX: The Lost New York Studios – Toontrack
Last summer, Toontrack released version 2.0 of its flagship Superior Drummer software, along with an extensive sample bank of drums recorded from Avatar Studios in New York. The new engine and interface featured an impressive array of built-in Sonalksis effects and masses of routing options to help shape the tone of the drum sounds. SDX: The Lost New York Studios is the company’s latest expansion pack for Superior Drummer, featuring recordings from Hit Factory NY and Allaire Studios, two legendary recording rooms that are now sadly closed.
The pack features seven kick drums, 13 snares and a wide variety of cymbals, recorded not just through close setups, but also through a range of ambient mics designed to capture the sound of these amazing rooms. You have the option to install just the basic close mics or the full set of recordings, which takes up 12GB of disk space and requires a fairly hefty amount of RAM to run smoothly. You’ll also need a working version of Superior Drummer 2.0 installed.
The drums from the Hit Factory have a natural sound and are ideally suited to rock or ballads. Conversely, the drums from Allaire Studio have a tight and harder sound that would work well in modern R’n’B, pop and dance tracks. By increasing the mix of the various ambient mics you can really hear the sound of the rooms, giving your beats a wonderful natural reverb. A new selection of very usable MIDI grooves played by Nir Z can also be downloaded from the Toontrack website.
Verdict: A deep-sounding expansion pack for serious drum connoisseurs
Rating: 8/10
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