Ocean Way or Drum Masters?

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Hello to everybody, there's this great offer at esoundz and I'm wondering which library to go for. Sometimes there's not much info on them. I'd like to do June Kontakt 4 crossgrade then.

Well, I was actually thinking of a drum library and found Ocean Way Drums SE and Drum Masters 2 Signature Kits. What can you tell me about these libraries? What usabilities do they have? Is their sound quality comparable or do you find one of them superb?

And, what are the differences between Ocean Way SE and current Ocean Way Drums? I've already found that these are different samples but considering their usabilities? What are the differences in mixing etc.? Can you make your own kits, mix how you like, put effects and so on? Or is it just unchangeable set of ready kits?

And also how about these things with Drum Masters 2 Signature Kits?

Thanks in advance!
Tom

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We programmed them both and here are some important differences to understand:

For both OWD and Drum Masters there are two different types of kits: Multichannel (aka Multitrack with multichannel mixing of each direct, overhead, room and discrete mics as well as kit pieces overall) and Stereo (aka STm or Stereo Kit PIeces but multichannel mixing of each kit piece)

Type 1: Ocean Way Drums Silver, Gold & Platinum as well as Drum Masters 2 Multitrack Kits a la carte and the Drum Masters 2 Platinum Kits Only are of the "Multichannel/Multitrack" discrete mic mixing type.

Type 2: Ocean Way Drums SE and Drum Masters 2 Signature Kits are of the "STEREO" kit piece type.

In BOTH types (Stereo Kit Piece or the discrete Multichannel) you can mix and process each individual kit piece (each drum of the kit - ie. put effects on just the snare, on just the kick, on just the toms etc.). But in the first type of multichannel kits you can also process the individual DIRECT mics vs. the OVERHEADS vs. the AMBIENT ROOM mics or even things like snare bottom mics or sub kicks and other extra channels that vary from kit to kit and product to product. Because these multichannel kits have "layers" of these different mic channels playing simultaneously they take up more polyphony and CPU power/hard drive access power. They're also longer to load because they are larger in size. BUT it's really cool to be able to mix a kit that deeply and it is very similar to how you would mix a kit recorded in a live studio session.

The benefits of the second type are that they load faster, they take up less computer power and they are a little easier to manage and even to process. It's pre-mixed per kit piece but still unprocessed by effects so you can take simply the specific drum or cymbal and put any effect you want on it. It can sometimes be easier to get a specific sound you're looking for.

The biggest benefit of the second is of course the price and variety for the money. There are a few other specific features I mentioned in the other thread that happen to be different between the SE and the Gold of OWD but that may or not be of consequence. I think it comes down to budget mostly. But even if you could afford the full Multitrack versions the stereo versions are still handy for the reasons I described. You don't ALWAYS want to load the bigger kit - maybe sometimes you want to conserve some CPU such as in a sequencing situation. Or maybe you just want to simply process the stereo kit piece... and it is certainly a LOT easier to swap kit pieces BETWEEN multiple libraries when the kit pieces are stereo. (in other words, it is easier to make your own hybrid kits between OWD SE and Drum Masters 2 Signature than it would be with OWD Gold and DM2 Platinum - the mic channels would not be the same).

So, bottom line is this. The multichannel kits are great for discrete mic mixing. Great value considering how much it would cost to record drums in any of these studios let alone Ocean Way which is one of the best in the world. If you're used to mixing live drums or want to get into it then these two (and EpiK DrumS A Ken Scott Collection) are beautiful things to have. In addition to that if you want to make your own hybrid kits using different kit pieces and have an efficient library to work with that doesn't take up as much CPU then OWD SE, Drum Masters 2 Signature and Epik Drums SE are ideal to have.

Hope that helps in addition to the other posts in other threads about this subject too.

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Thank you. I posted this before you answered in the other thread. However, this new post is also a great feedback and explains a lot. I think you know that's the right way to gain customers :)

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IMO,

OWD = Fantastic raw drum sounds.

Drum Masters = Fantastic "Character" drums.

It's really hard to choose tbh....
KVR >Gear Slutz! Change my mind! :clap:

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VSTJuNkiE wrote:IMO,

OWD = Fantastic raw drum sounds.

Drum Masters = Fantastic "Character" drums.

It's really hard to choose tbh....
yeah its hard to choose they are both great at what they are, if I had to choose it would probably be the OWD though.
Nobody's a nobody...

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Easy solution... EpiK Drums!!
Somewhere in the background zedd

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You can't go wrong here. We are talking about the best drum libraries in the market, period. Some times I'm tempted to buy one of the great drum plugins avaliable (you know which ones I'm talking about), just because they look so nice and they are good too......but at the end of the they it's a superfluous expense when you got these ones.

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Tommybear - I take it you don't already have the Infinite Player? Something to keep in mind is that even after you pick up the full version of Kontakt 4, you'll still need the Infinite Player plug-in to use these drum kits.

The special edition of OWD currently includes the Infinite Player. The DM Signature Kits package currently does not.



Also, there are two other packages worth noting...

Zedd mentioned EpiK Drums. Keep in mind there's also a lower-cost EpiK Drums SE version, and the SE version is still multitrack.

The Neil Peart kit may only be one kit, but it's a big whopping multitrack kit - plus it also comes with the Infinite Player plug-in.

Unless Squids announces a new promotion soon that throws in the Infinite Player as a freebie (which might happen with July 4 right around the corner), it might turn out to be the best bang for the buck as far as scooping up the Infinite Player, qualifying for the upgrade, and getting some killer drums all in one shot.

For that matter, if you decided you liked the Drum Masters or EpiK Drums packages best, it might be worth adding on the Snakes and Arrows kit in order to get the Infinite Player.

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Yeah, I didn't have Infinite Player and haven't notice the differce between OWD and DM2 SK concerning this thing. Hopefully I chose OWD, and that's like minutes ago! :) However, I can't find it anywhere in my account :D. I've asked about it in another thread, I don't know if there should be a seperate file for IF or not or probably I'm just blind or stupid ;).

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If you meant IP rather than IF, then the IP Serial Number is assigned by Allen - he's probably fast asleep (or gigging) now - he'll be in the office in about six hours (eSoundz is in Florida). The it will be listed in your Downloads Area.

The actual software that you need is Kontakt 4 or Kontakt 4 Player. I think there is (or will be) a link on your Downloads page.

HTH
DarkStar, ... Interesting, if true
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