Computer Music
SDX: The Metal Foundry – Toontrack
For the second SD2.0 expansion, Toontrack have gone back to their roots with a massive metal-focused kit recorded at Atlantis Studios in Stockholm. Naturally, there are two kick drums: for the right, you can choose from 12 different types, while the left one has matching drums for five of them. Turn on the Alternate option in the main kick’s control panel and the program will switch between the two drums with each hit. Sonically, there’s everything from tight, clicky and punchy, to big, beefy and downright boomy.
For snares, there are 14 on offers, and most are of the high-tuned variety, including the 7x13” Tomas Haake Engineering model and a Pearl Ian Paice 6.5x14”. For a thumping rock snare, the 6.5x14” Pearl Reference Low Pitched and 12x14” WFL Marching Snare do the trick. There are three rack and two floor toms, with around eight kits’ worth of drums to pick from. And for cymbals, you’ll find five sets of hats, four rides and a jawdropping 40 crashes, splashes, Chinas, and so on. Oh, and a cowbell! All we can suggest that might enhance the ‘instant metal’ experience would be a few layerable pads with the sort of processed ‘triggered’ drum hits that are common in modern metal, but you can always use an external sampler for that.
Mic channels include all the usual suspects, with points of interest being four snare mics, ‘snare trash’ (a 1940s mic), four ambience channels and a reverb ‘chamber’. There are some cool mixer presets too.
With the likes of name metal producer Daniel Bergstrand listed on the credits, it’s clear that Toontrack haven’t cut corners with Metal Foundry SDX, and the sound quality is fantastic. And while these kits are indeed great for metal, due to their punchy nature, they’re great for genres like pop, funk and rock too.
Rating: 9/10
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