Kurzweil Drum Series I

Sonic Implants
Format: Kurzweil CDROM

Review by Clif Marsiglio
Sunday, October 01, 2000

If you are looking for realistic drum sounds, look no further. Nearly 10 years after my initial purchase, my K2000 has constantly amazed me. One can take a perfectly good sounding sample and warp it into something entirely new and unexpected or take something normally ordinary-sounding and make this machine sound truly alive. In the hands of a competent programmer, the latter will be indiscernible from the 'real' instrument once you plug into your PA or hit tape. Sonic Implants is one of these masterfully designed discs that if blindfolded, you'd be hard pressed to spot the difference.

Sonic Implants, headed up by the former Chief Sound Designer of Kurzweil Jennifer Hruska, is producing some of the best sounds on the market. While mostly focusing on the sound font front, they have released a few high quality discs for the Kurzweil market. While most sound designers are simply content to release sounds on a Kurzweil format disc utilizing only the stock programming that comes with the initial conversion (see Peter Schouten's (another excellent sound designer) take on this practice) Sonic Implants is not content with this practice:

"Sonic Implants is committed to take full advantage of the VASTness of Kurzweil synth programming. All our Kurzweil products include Programs that utilize this technology. Initially we include Programs that use VAST to make our samples extremely playable and realistic, using velocity layers and FUNS to tame the top end, etc. Following that we include programs that utilize the many Filter Algorithms giving you different EQ versions and different timbres entirely. Finally we take things to the outer sonic edges using Kurzweil's non-linear algorithms, Shaper, Distortion, Warp, Gain and Amp Mod algorithms, Internal Oscillators, Sample & Holds, LFO's, FUNS, Random Function Generators and more."

The programming on this disc is top notch and makes all the difference between this and other discs. I have heard other discs, which shall go unnamed as I only focus on the good, that have been well recorded and superbly engineered but always fall short because of their lack of programming and subsequent lack of cohesiveness as an instrument. To be honest, the only product that I have in my possession that would come as close to the realism of the drums present here is the Keysolutions Volume 1. Keysolutions makes a great 'meat and potatoes' disc which contains a little of everything and was programmed by Mike Martin, another Kurzweil engineer. If you are already familiar with this product, imagine the excellent drum section but presented as an entire disc instead of just a few selections.

Ok, enough praise for this disc, lets look at the make-up of the disc. It is set up into 10 main areas: Blue Jay Small Ambient Drums 1, BJ Small Ambient 2, BJ Large Ambient 1, BJ Large Ambient 2, BJ Loose Kit, Session Drums 1, Session Drums 2, Session Brush Drums, Session Cymbals, Session Kicks and Snares. The bulk of these sounds were recorded, as the name implies, at Blue Jay Studios utilizing several of their acoustically unique recording rooms. Most reverb and ambience is a direct correlation to the room used. There are enough variations in drums and kits that you will probably find one that is perfect for your needs. Additional cymbals, snares and kicks are thrown in their own programs just in case.

Every kit has a dozen or so variations, VAST'd and processed and warped into drums completely different than their original recording. Drums are given the overdriven distortion treatment for inclusion into standard rock songs where the average engineer wants to hit red every time or pitched up and truncated for that breakbeat feel. Every kit has some unique program that makes you just want to use it in some song, even if ya have to write the song just to use the patch. The only complaint I had with any of these is that Jennifer went overboard on at least one program and I couldn't load the entire thing into my stock K2000 as I didn't have enough PRAM. I had to open the file and select a subset of the patches I wanted to hear just so I could fit them into memory. Users of the K2500 and above will not experience this, but its always a good idea to know how to load only the sounds you need or you may run into this problem yourself if you rely on your Kurz as your main workstation and use a lot of VAST intensive programs.

One final note: Most drums are multisampled, with some giving up 4 samples per the note. This just adds to the realism provided for by the recordings and VAST processing.

Conclusion:

If drums are your thing, this is the product for you. To get the most out of the sounds, you will probably need to pick up a percussion controller and a set of pads or learn how to beat the hell out of your keyboard. I know I probably need to find a new scale, but if I were rating this disc, I'd have to give it all 5 out of 5 stars. I've had several of these perfectly rated discs lately, but I can only account for this by knowing the Kurzweil community has several top-notch programmers. If Sonic Implants' other products are as good as this, I'd have no problem recommending them as well.

Demos and Notes:

MP3 Realism 1
MP3 Realism 2
MP3 Filter
MP3 Distortion
MP3 Vast

Sonik Admin Jonathan Adams Leonard has been utilizing this disc for several compositions as of late: this is his first attempt at their usage: diagonal.mp3*

Jennifer Hruska has an excellent tutorial on how to get the most polyphony out of your Kurz and explanations of some of the darker secrets behind sound management. Take a look at it here: Channel Stealing Aid

*Ed Note: temporarily unavailable.