About the John Blackwell TamStick Stereo Drum Kit:

This product is a multi-sampled Tama® Star Classic® drum kit made to be played from Sonic Reality’s Infinite Player. It was recorded at Dungeon Studios in Miami with R&B/Fusion/Pop/Hip Hop drummer John Blackwell. Multiple mic options and a medium to large sized live room make this a versatile kit to produce a wide variety of drum sounds from. The Tama Star Classic is the main kit that John uses with artists such as Prince, Timbaland and Justin Timberlake. This kit was played with sticks and snares on and features a Yamaha® Sub Kick for getting deep bass tones ideal for Hip Hop, R&B and Pop.

ProFile on John Blackwell:

John Blackwell is one of today’s hottest Pop/R&B/Hip Hop drummers both live and in the studio. He’s played with Prince, Diddy, Patti Labelle, Lauryn Hill, Cameo and was recently featured on Justin Timberlake’s “Future Sex Love Show”. John is known for flashy light speed drum riffs and tight funky drumming that suits many different styles of music. His sound and style of playing crosses the lines between Pop and Fusion, between old school R&B and modern progressive Hip Hop.

Sonic Notes:

Quote from Dave Kerzner of Sonic Reality about John Blackwell: "I first met John when he was sitting in at a gig with Sheldon Reynolds and Larry Dunn formerly of Earth, Wind & Fire. I was amazed at what a tight, funky and entertaining drummer John was. A true showman with style. His tutorial DVDs are some of the most popular amongst today's drummers and he is one of the most in demand performers for live shows and studio work. We re proud to have John as part of our Studio ProFiles Drum Masters series. He brings with him a unique sound, style and feel to every session."

Easy to Use, Intuitive and Flexible Graphic User Interface!

Whether you play from the keyboard, V-Drums™ or any electronic drum kit, Drum Masters 2 has some of the most advanced features for round robin randomization of hits, performance articulations like ghost notes, snare rolls, and hits from center to edge to rim. With new “ MIDI learn”, custom kits can be tailored for any drum pad set up. It includes GM, iMap and a new Performance mode for expressive MIDI grooves and universal compatibility all in one package. Top that off with ready to go mixes, built-in effects and infinite expandability, Drum Masters 2 is the ultimate virtual drum solution!

Example Drum Masters "Multi" Drum Kit Screen Shot

Drum Masters Stereo Drum Kits:

Drum Masters Stereo Drum Kits are great for quick loading and efficient use of your computer's power. Instead of discrete mic channel mixing like Drum Masters Multi-track kits, with the Stereo Kits you have a "Ready to Go" mix of the mics preserved in less channels taking up less polyphony. You still have a individual control of the overall levels for each kit pieces like kick, snare, toms, hats and cymbals which offers a balance of speed and convenience without total sacrifice of sonic flexibility. Additionally most of the drum kits mixed without additional processing for a natural acoustic sound with the flexibility to get a wide variety of produced sounds within your DAW using your favorite effect plug-ins. The kit pieces are also easily interchangeable for creating an unlimited number of customized kits. Drum Masters kits can also be combined with authentic played audio grooves from the same session for building the ultimate drum track with realism.

Features:

• Diverse Range of Kits: Unique custom and vintage drum kits from legendary drummers and top drum brands.
• Signature Styles and Sounds: Authentic techniques and recording equipment used in the session to recreate drum sounds from iconic Classic Rock albums to Jazz, Soul, Blues, Hip Hop, World, Pop and other styles.
• Ready to Go Stereo Mixes! Stereo mixed kit pieces with overall level control of the kick, snare, toms, hats and cymbals. Stereo Kits load fast and are incredibly efficient on your computer power. It's ideal for laptops!
• Unprocessed Natural Acoustic Sound: Recorded naturally with no additional processing for maximum flexibility to produce, process and engineer within your DAW.
• GM and iMap Drum Maps: Both General Midi and Sonic Reality’s award-winning iMap™ drum layouts for the ultimate in compatibility and expressive realism when creating drum tracks.
• Left and Right Hand Alternate Hits! Drum Masters iMap kits have left and right stick alternate hits on separate keys for avoiding machine gun effect and simulating a drummer’s natural alternating two hand playing.
• Dynamic Velocities and Multiple Drum Positions! Drum Kits are mapped both with multiple velocities and a variety of positions of each drum from center to edge to rim.
• Ideal Material to Use with Effect Plug-ins: Process each mic channel separately or together through your favorite studio effects plug-ins and channel strip EQ in your DAW.
• Unlimited Custom Kits Can Be Made! Drum Master kits are flexible and customizable allowing the ability to swap out kit pieces between kits to create your own custom hybrid drum kits.
• Uses the Infinite Player Software: All Drum Masters Kits and Grooves are played from Sonic Reality’s Infinite Player library for Kontakt, which works stand alone for the Mac and PC and as a plug-in for major DAWS like ProTools, Cubase, Logic, Sonar, Digital Performer and more.
• Endlessly Expandable Collection! With the Infinite Player you can expand and add more Sonic Reality drum kits, grooves and other instrument sounds to your collection.

Mapping Modes: iMap, GM, V-Drum, Custom

iMap

iMap is a proprietary MIDI note mapping/drum kit layout scheme developed by Sonic Reality that facilitates improved live performance of drum kits via MIDI keyboard. iMap places drums in their most flexible and intuitive position, allowing each of the fingers on both hands independent and coordinated control over the sampled kit. With little practice, it is possible to lay down complete drum grooves in a single take that have incredible feel and groove. I-Map has left and right stick positions per drum as well as a variety of positions from center to edge to rim. It includes additional performance articulations you don’t often get from other drum products such as left and right keys for snare rolls, separate ghost notes, hat foot open, chokes, crashing rides and more.

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GM (General MIDI)

GM is the classic mapping format for standard  MIDI files. Sonic Reality’s IMAP/GM remapping button works by putting selected IMAP notes remapped to GM notes instead. You can change an entire multi kit from IMAP to GM with one simple key switch. This offers the best of cutting edge expression without sacrificing universal compatibility with GM MIDI loops.

V-Drum

All Drum Masters 2 kits have been mapped for Roland's TD-20 V-Drum brain.  V-Drum mapping features include a snare drum rimshot/sidestick switch and intricate hi-hat articulation controls.   Round robin randomization and detailed articulation sampling introduce a realistic approach to e-drumming!

Custom

Assign any articulation of any instrument to any MIDI note!  By either using the MIDI Learn function or an interface knob, this mapping panel allows for ultimate flexibility for use with any electronic drum kit, multi-pad controller or any other MIDI device.

About Sonic Reality's Infinite Player

Infinite Player is a licensing mechanism that authorizes Sonic Reality sounds to be played in Native Instrumens Kontakt and the free Kontakt Player.  Kontakt is the industry's leading sampler and, combined with Sonic Reality's immaculate sampling and thorough scripting, allows for ultimate flexibility.

By registering the Infinite Player, any of Sonic Reality's sounds for Kontakt can be easily installed and expanded.  The Infinite Player library will appear in your Kontakt library in the same manner that the Kontakt Library, Akoustik Piano, or Elektrik Piano would.  After the one-time installation of the Infinite Library, all newly installed Sonic Reality sound sets for Kontakt will automatically appear!

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