ddAug2011v2_Layout 1 9/07/11 1:34 PM Page 45
--vst-Product review: Virtually Erskine IT’S GOOD TO see a new sample offering optimised for lower-end VSTs, and the newest collection from Cymbal Masters and Platinum Samples, Virtually Erskine, is designed for the BFDeco entry product as well as its BFD2 package. For those unfamiliar with Peter Erskine, whose website simply describes him as “Drummer. Composer. Professor”, he is perhaps best known for his four-year stint in Weather Report. He has 500 albums and film scores under his belt, and has toured and recorded with Steely Dan, Diana Krall, Chick Corea, Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Virtually Erskine library consists of two collections, sold separately. The first is the Sound Library, the second is a collection of MIDI Grooves. All the grooves and samples are played by Erskine and meticulously recorded and produced by John Emrich, not only an e-drum guru, but also a Zendrum virtuoso and digitalDrummer contributor. Emrich did the recordings in Erskine’s own personal studio to capture his signature sound, something that is evident in a stunning promo video which shows the original kits and the samples played side by side. The recordings are done mostly with Shure overhead mics to which Emrich added one stereo room mic. He didn’t bother with the Amb3 channel because “it was not needed to capture Peter’s signature sound”. I tested the Sound Library together with its companion Brushes Pack, trialling both on a TD-20based kit and a Zendrum.
The Sound Library is designed for smaller kits. When you have as much talent as Erskine, you don’t need a ton of gear, so the samples cover bass, snare, two rack toms, a floor tom, hi-hat, ride and two crashes. There are two kit set-ups, both DW - The Jazz Series and the Collectors VLT rock kit. With the smaller jazz kit, you can choose between an 18” or 20” bass drum, the two snares common to both kits, a 14”x4.5” wood jazz series snare or a more aggressive 14”x6.5” stainless steel snare. The rock kit is built around a 22”x16” kick and a three-tom line-up of a 10”x8”, a 13”x9” and a 16x16” floor tom, all sporting Evans G2 heads. The Zildjian cymbal samples include 14” New Beat hi-hats, an A Series 14” Thin Crash and a K Series 18” Dark Crash, a 22” Swish Knocker and a few rise choices - 19” Armand Ride with rivets, a Zildjian 20” Prototype, a 21” Armand Ride and a 20” Left Side Ride. These are two very different kits, one smooth and subtle, the other punchier but still crisp and compact. The samples are richly nuanced, with a wide spectrum of articulations that are especially useful for the Zendrum. There are drags and flams, crossstick and side-stick samples, for example, providing the snare with plenty of depth and variety – even more so when the anti-machinegun option is selected to ensure the same samples aren’t triggered twice. At $80, the sample library is very keenly priced. However, it’s available only as a download and at 5 GB, that can be a challenge, especially for those with slow Internet connections.
For review suggestions, contact editor@digitaldrummermag.com digitalDRUMMER, AUGUST 2011
45