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JeffTadashi « Huge library, most complete drum sampler! »
Published on 06/07/12 at 14:41Native Instruments Battery 3 is their flagship drum sampler, and it contains all sounds and samples from synthetic to acoustic, from rock to rap. It combines simplicity with complexity, and it a complete drum solution for almost any needs. Armed with over 12GB of drum samples, 100 professional drum kits, and a wide range of effects and features.
The library contains electric kits as well as acoustic kits, and the acoustic kits sound very realistic. A snare sound, for example, is layers at different velocities with dozens of individual samples, and the sounds were recorded very professionally. I personal have used the Pop Kit's hi-hats, cymbals, kicks, toms, and snares numerous times, and the quality of the samples rivals those of Superior Drummer (a drum sampler made with realistic sounds in mind, only).
You can easily make your own drum set, by using the individual cell library, Battery 3 compiles a mini-set of the best drum sounds, well organized and easy to find. This way, you can quickly browse various analog snag sounds, for example, as opposed to switching the entire kit and picking out individual sounds from that. You can also simply browse the samples with the built-in file browser, and the samples are well organized in folders. Be careful that the preview volume is not too loud, I find myself nearly blowing my speakers, since the volumes and velocities of the actual drum hits are usually turned lower.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
The samples are one thing, but the effects and other features are a whole other world. Battery 3 comes loaded with all the effects you could possibly need with drums, just short of amp distortion and cabinet emulation. It even comes with convolution reverb, alongside a regular algorithm reverb. This is nice, because the algorithm reverb is great for lightweight, low-cpu projects, where the convolution reverb has the better sound (with higher CPU usage). I find myself using the simple reverb most of the time, on snares and hi-hats.
Other effects and features include a saturator, an inverter (or panning switcher), decimator, filters and eq, compression, velocity curves, articulations, looping, LFO, modulation, and much more.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, Battery 3 is a perfect product for a solution to almost all drum sampling needs. It has the depth and capability to work with just about any project!
The library contains electric kits as well as acoustic kits, and the acoustic kits sound very realistic. A snare sound, for example, is layers at different velocities with dozens of individual samples, and the sounds were recorded very professionally. I personal have used the Pop Kit's hi-hats, cymbals, kicks, toms, and snares numerous times, and the quality of the samples rivals those of Superior Drummer (a drum sampler made with realistic sounds in mind, only).
You can easily make your own drum set, by using the individual cell library, Battery 3 compiles a mini-set of the best drum sounds, well organized and easy to find. This way, you can quickly browse various analog snag sounds, for example, as opposed to switching the entire kit and picking out individual sounds from that. You can also simply browse the samples with the built-in file browser, and the samples are well organized in folders. Be careful that the preview volume is not too loud, I find myself nearly blowing my speakers, since the volumes and velocities of the actual drum hits are usually turned lower.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
The samples are one thing, but the effects and other features are a whole other world. Battery 3 comes loaded with all the effects you could possibly need with drums, just short of amp distortion and cabinet emulation. It even comes with convolution reverb, alongside a regular algorithm reverb. This is nice, because the algorithm reverb is great for lightweight, low-cpu projects, where the convolution reverb has the better sound (with higher CPU usage). I find myself using the simple reverb most of the time, on snares and hi-hats.
Other effects and features include a saturator, an inverter (or panning switcher), decimator, filters and eq, compression, velocity curves, articulations, looping, LFO, modulation, and much more.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, Battery 3 is a perfect product for a solution to almost all drum sampling needs. It has the depth and capability to work with just about any project!