Stormdrum 2

Name: Stormdrum 2
Price: 59 USD
Author: EastWest

by EastWest · Drum Instrument · Cinematic percussion library

Not rated yet

Stormdrum 2 is a 12 GB cinematic percussion library of drum kits, ethnic drums, metals, gongs and designed percussion, with over 100 MIDI performances.

It costs $59 on sale (regular $199) and runs in EastWest's Opus player.

Best for: Drums, Sound Design. Genres: Ambient & Cinematic.

Keywords: cinematic, world instruments, film & game audio, ensemble, sound design, acoustic drums, epic, heavy, multisampled, perpetual licence, subscription.

What it does

Stormdrum 2 is a cinematic percussion library for film and game scoring, produced by Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix and recorded on a Hollywood soundstage. It mixes huge ensemble drums with ethnic percussion, metals and processed sound-design hits.

Scale: 16,000 samples with up to 24 velocity layers, with material not found in the original Stormdrum.
Drum kits: the Black, Octaplus and Beast kits, played with sticks and brushes.
Ethnic drums and metals: drums from around the world (odaiko, dumbek, timbales, hang drum, a Roman war drum) plus gongs, bowls, Javanese gongs and bowed Asian bowls, many from Mickey Hart's and Remo's collections.
Woods, shakers and sound design: clacks, snaps and cracks, and a section of processed, distorted and reversed percussion.
SD2 Pro and Best of SD1: extra instruments such as brushed percussion, lion drums and Persian battle drums, plus a selection from the original Stormdrum.
MIDI performances: 106 multi-instrument performances, including intros and endings, that sync to any tempo without time-stretching.
Mixer effects: the player's effects, including SSL EQ and dynamics, a transient shaper, the SSL stereo bus compressor and reverb.

It runs in EastWest's Opus player (and PLAY 6). Purchase gives a perpetual licence, and it is also part of the ComposerCloud+ subscription, which has a 14-day free trial.

Source: EastWest product page

When to use it

Stormdrum 2 is the better pick when you need big, ready-to-score cinematic percussion on a small budget. Unlike Superior Drummer 3, Addictive Drums 2 and EZdrummer 3, which centre on a single acoustic kit for songs, it covers ensemble drums, world percussion, metals and sound-design hits for film cues. Compared with drum samplers such as Battery 4 and XO, it is a finished library with its own playable MIDI performances rather than a tool for building kits from your own samples. It is older and smaller than Stormdrum 3, which has more instruments and mic options, but it costs less.

Best for: epic ensemble hits, world and ethnic percussion, and percussion beds for trailer, film and game cues.
Genres: cinematic, trailer and game music, epic and world-flavoured scoring.
Look elsewhere if: you want an acoustic drum kit for songs (Superior Drummer 3, EZdrummer 3), a beat-making sampler (Battery 4, XO), or a larger, newer cinematic set (Stormdrum 3).

What producers say

Reviewers and users praise its power and variety; the complaints are mostly about system load, setup and a few odd instrument names.

Sound On Sound called it "imaginative, varied and astonishingly powerful," praising the natural room sound, the 106 MIDI files, the hang drum and the deep low-end ensembles.
Audiofanzine users rate it 4.3 out of 5 from 3 reviews (2010–2014), praising the sound's power and the value, but noting heavy system demands with many tracks.
Criticisms: Sound On Sound found some names misleading (a "Malaysian" djembe that sounds African, a soft Roman war drum) and warned popular samples can become recognisable in film scores.

Where to buy

EastWest: $59 (regular $199)

Tutorials and reviews

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