Hello Composers! Mike here, with my review of Master Sessions – Ensemble Drums by Heavyocity.
My Overall Impression: Ensemble Drums is an instant epic percussion tool box, with a great interface that gives you lots of control to dial in the perfect sound. I love it, and it has a well deserved place in my percussion template.
Main Specs and Features
- 3.5 GB (1,650+ samples)
- 470+ NKIs (5 Multis)
- The Stage for easy stereo placement
- Playable Trigger FX™ for real-time control
- Loop Mutator™ for real-time re-composing of loops
Learn more about Master Sessions – Ensemble Drums here. Get a full overview and specifications, listen to audio demos etc.
Sound & Features
As a composer I have lots of percussion libraries, so why should I bother with yet another one?
Well, as always it’s about colors, tone, features, workflow, layering…But also, Ensemble Drums is one of those libraries with instant playability and ease of use. Few patches but great sound.
Since the percussion instruments were recorded as ensembles you get that instant mega epic sound, and I already found it to be very easy to layer with other libraries.
It also features the punish knob, which is a one knob solution to really add grit and power to your sound. As well as the twist knob that can add motion and movement in various ways. Simple but effective.
The sound and character of Ensemble Drums is very big, bold and powerful. Every patch has that “extra oomph” that you get with ensembles playing in unison.
Playability & Workflow
The playability and ease of use of this library stood out the most to me. This is not a library of thousands of patches where most are “meh”, this library is about quality over quantity.
I am a huge fan of the stage feature where you can place the drums in a stereo field as well as depth field from using a very simple visual interface. This is extremely helpful, especially if you want to push back some of the drums in the mix, and give more separation in the overall percussion mix.
The punish knob is simply a huge “smile creator”, and I’m sure you will very rarely have it set at zero.
The loops are great, and so is the mutator feature where you can adjust the loops. But I have personally never been that much into loops and phrases, so I’ll leave that exploration to you.
My Final Thoughts
Ensemble Drums is not your go to percussion tool for classic orchestral drums. No, this is all about huge percussion with lots of power. Which makes it great for trailer and epic music compositions.
However, it can also be used as an extra “power layer” to other types of orchestral music, which is why I personally have it in my default percussion template.
Learn More
Learn more about Master Sessions – Ensemble Drums here. Get a full overview and specifications, listen to audio demos etc.