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STORMDRUM 3
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Electronic Musician Editor's Choice Award Winner
— Electronic Musician
Stormdrum 3 includes EastWest’s PLAY 6 software. PLAY 6 includes SSL FX Suite from Solid State Logic, the industry leader in mixing technology; and an upgraded “true stereo” EastWest reverb. The FX section includes a SSL EQ and Dynamics Channel Strip, Transient Shaper, and SSL’s legendary Stereo Bus Compressor; plus an upgraded "true stereo" reverb from EastWest plus new features. EastWest also added it’s Amp Simulator and Ohm Force’s Ohmicide multi-band distortion software to enable unlimited sound design for film/games etc. Now, with it’s combination of the new PLAY 6 software, the best sound processing tools available, and world class percussion instruments, Stormdrum 3 is the most advanced percussion virtual instrument to date and a must-have.
Features the best instruments from the private collection of Mickey Hart.
Features additional instruments from the Remo private collection, hand picked by Remo himself.
Played by master percussionists Mickey Hart, Greg Ellis and Chalo Eduardo.
Produced by Nick Phoenix, "Two Steps From Hell" composer and creator of Stormdrum 1 and 2, epic percussion collections.
Includes tempo synced percussion performances directed and played by Mickey Hart, with Greg Ellis, Chalo Eduardo and Nick Phoenix
Includes 5 user-controllable mic positions for each instrument.
Recorded in the world famous EASTWEST Studio 1, the home of major Hollywood soundtracks and television themes.
Includes new PLAY 6 64-bit software on both MAC and PC, more user control and detail than any other collection.
The new FX section is included with SD3, and available as an optional upgrade for all other legacy EastWest PLAY virtual instruments.
The FX section includes a SSL EQ and Dynamics Channel Strip, Transient Shaper, and SSL's legendary Stereo Bus Compressor; plus an upgraded "true stereo" reverb from EastWest plus new features.
As with previous versions of Stormdrum, the quality of the recordings is consistently high, with plenty of transient detail and just enough room ambiance (which, of course, can be fully controlled via the mixer) to give the instruments space to breathe. SD3 (still) marks itself out as one of the finest ethnic/cinematic percussion libraries money can buy. — Music Tech
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Big Drums: These are the larger drums that do not fall in the Taiko family. Many of them include large, deep and booming sounds, but others are more complex in nature. There are some real gems in here from Mickey's magical warehouse of one of a kind hand drums. Highlights in the epic genre here are The Beast, Double Headed Tree Drum, Lord Of Toms Ensemble and Dragon Ensemble.
Gongs Clocks Waterphones: These instruments provide the iconic sounds of several gongs and waterphones, some played underwater! The "Clockworks" patches are the result of Nicks field recordings in 6 antique clock shops.
Metals: This group includes bells, deep bowls, chimes, and cymbals collected by Mickey on his world travels. Some are well known like the Brazilian berimbau (which is played on a metal wire), others are unusual, such as hammered copper pots and handmade doorstop drums.
Shakers: The instruments in this group include several made from naturally occurring objects, such as snake rattles, seed pods, and deer hoofs, in addition to the more common ganza, modern shakers and Mickeys mighty rainsticks. Playability here is key.
Small Drums: Here you'll find a very large collection of smaller drums. Some have names you're probably familiar with, such as bongos, frame drums, and tambourines. But there are so many others that will surprise and delight you. Many of the Indian drums in this category are particularly special, such as the tuned tablas and madal. Performance techniques are stellar.
Taiko Family: This collection includes taiko drums ranging from huge to small. Many of the sampled instruments came from the collections of Mickey Hart and Remo to create a wide variety of sounds. Others came from the top taiko builders in Japan. They are played both individually and in ensembles. This is the Holy Grail of taiko samples. Finally.
Woods: In this group you'll hear unpitched sounds from wooden resonators; tuned chromatic instruments, such as a gourd marimba and a balaphone; the mighty gourd drum, a playable 12 ft. long redwood tree branch and wonderful scraped sounds, such as the Thailand frogs.
As with previous versions of Stormdrum, the quality of the recordings is consistently high, with plenty of transient detail and just enough room ambiance (which, of course, can be fully controlled via the mixer) to give the instruments space to breathe.
SD3 (still) marks itself out as one of the finest ethnic/cinematic percussion libraries money can buy.
Stormdrum 3 combines stellar sounds with exceptional playability. For big, beautiful drums and percussion, you simply won't find better.
— Computer Music
Stormdrum 3 deserves its place by deftly bridging the world music and cinematic paradigms. In fact, I'll go so far as to say it's one of the best-sounding percussion libraries anyone has created to date.
As with all EastWest instruments it's the detail which draws you in. I would go as far as to say that it is the best sounding set of acoustic sampled percussion I have ever heard. Highly recommended.
A must-have for film composers. The combination of 86GB of incredible percussion layered into the PLAY 6 software makes SD3 once again an impressive and versatile virtual percussion instrument that's sure to inspire.
I love this library! It sounds exactly as a percussion collection of the highest caliber should sound. I especially love the very warm, direct sound that EastWest has captured.
— Amazona.de
Stormdrum 3 is definitely the best ethnic percussion virtual instrument on the market. Its 90 GB of sounds are more realistic, more expressive and more musical than anything else you can find.
An Aladdin's cave of exotic world percussion, pristinely recorded from five mic positions. Features powerful ethnic drums and percussion ensembles, and some great tuned percussion.
An Aladdin's cave of exotic world percussion pristinely recorded from five mic positions. Mickey Hart's 40-year love affair with ethnic percussion spills into the digital realm with this excellent new sample library. Based on the drummer's personal instrument collection and featuring a superb set of taiko drums and slamming ensemble impacts, Quantum Leap Stormdrum 3 contains over 150 instruments performing hits, licks and multi-percussion loops.
I can't think of a more varied and inspirational library of percussion than Stormdrum 3.
— Electronic Musician
The third in EastWest's acclaimed Stormdrum series sees producers Nick Phoenix plundering the percussion collections of The Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart and Remo Belli, founder of the Remo drum company. We've never come across a more expansive collection of massively multisampled drums, metals, woods and shakers. The whole lot weighs in at 90GB and can be bought either on a stack of DVDs or a portable 1TB external USB3 hard drive (€439). To be clear, this is very much a percussion library in the 'ethnic' sense of the word – there are no kicks, snares or hi-hats here.
The highlights are too numerous to list in full, but the extraordinary Taiko Family category might well sit at the top, closely followed by the Dragon Ensembles, Punjabi Dhol, a couple of Berimbaus, most of the Metals… It's all spectacular stuff, ultimately, and the round-robin implementation and extensive range of articulations available to each instrument make it incredibly easy to create convincing performances with any of them via a MIDI keyboard or pads.
As well as all the individual instruments, 23 loop patches enable you to string together and layer up looped 'snippets' of superb multi-instrument performances by Hart, Phoenix and Chalo Eduardo, to great effect.
The new PLAY 6 engine that powers SD3 is impressive, enabling multiple instruments to be loaded onto their own (or shared) MIDI channels and blended in the onboard mixer, with five discrete mic channels recorded for eeach and everyon one – Close (an eight-mic array), Mid (room), Main (Decca tree), HiFi ('super-clean' room) and Ribbon. Dynamics and EQ processing come courtesy of a licensed SSL channel strip, while further effects include Tuning, Delay, Reverb, amp Envelope and low-pass Filter modules. We did experience the odd glitch with PLAY 6, but nothing show-stopping.
Stormdrum 3 combines stellar sounds with exceptional playability. For big, beautiful drums and percussion, you simply won't find better.
— Computer Music
System Requirements
86 GB Free Hard Disc Space
MAC MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2.1GHz or higher (PPC not supported)
8GB RAM
Mac OSX 10.7 or later
7200 RPM or faster (non energy saving) hard drive for sample streaming
PC MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
Intel Core 2 Duo, or AMD Dual Core 2.1GHz or higher
8GB RAM
Windows 7 or later
Sound card with ASIO drivers
7200 RPM or faster (non energy saving) hard drive for sample streaming
MAC RECOMMENDED SYSTEM
Mac Pro Late 2013 edition (current model with round enclosure) or above
16GB RAM or more
Mac OSX 10.7 or later
SSD (Solid State Drive) for sample streaming
PC RECOMMENDED SYSTEM
Intel Core 2 Quad, or AMD Quad Core 2.66GHz or higher
16GB RAM or more
Windows 7 or later (64-bit Windows/Host Sequencer)
Sound card with ASIO drivers
SSD (Solid State Drive) for sample streaming
All Systems
iLok account required for machine (electronic) license placed on your computer or use optional iLok Key; internet connection required for one-time product activation
Included for both PC and Mac:
64-bit standalone and plug-in versions included (for 32-bit compatibility please use PLAY 4.3.5).
Check the compatibility chart for supported hosts.
EASTWEST PLAY Host/Sequencer Compatibility Matrix
Tested DAW
Mac OS
10.9 - 10.12.3
WIN XP
(32-bit)
WIN XP
(64-bit)
WIN 10, 8, 7,
Vista (32-bit)
WIN 10, 8, 7,
Vista (64-bit)
Required Version
Standalone
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
Ableton Live
YES
YES
YES
YES1
6.07 or higher
Cubase/Nuendo
YES2
YES
YES3
YES
YES3
6 or higher
FL Studio
YES
YES
YES
YES
7 or higher
GarageBand
YES
3 or higher
Logic
YES4
7.2 or higher
Digital Performer
YES4
YES
YES
6.02 or higher
Pro Tools5
YES
YES
YES
7.4 to 10
Pro Tools 11 or higher5
YES
YES
YES6
11 or higher
Sibelius
YES7
YES
YES
6 or higher8
Sonar
YES
YES
YES
YES
6.2 or higher
VE Pro
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
4.0.54 or higher
Studio One
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
2 or higher
Reaper
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
3 or higher
1: Play 5 (and above) is compatible with all 64-bit hosts that use VST, AU, or AAX plugins. Use Play 4 for 32-bit hosts.
2: Mac OS 10.7 or newer is required.
3: Cubase/Nuendo 4.1 or later are required as 64-bit hosts.
4: WordBuilder is not supported in Logic 7 or lower, and DAE (RTAS in Digital Performer and Logic) is not supported at this time.
5: Ethernet control surfaces are not officially supported (ex: C24).
6: Windows 7 or 8 Home Premium Supported. Pro Tools HD 11 does not support Windows 8.
7: Sibelius 6.0.3 or higher is required to run in Mac OS 7.
8: Sibelius 6.2 is required to run in Mac OS 10.9 (Mavericks).
Features the best instruments from the private collection of Mickey Hart.
Features additional instruments from the Remo private collection, hand picked by Remo himself.
Played by master percussionists Mickey Hart, Greg Ellis and Chalo Eduardo.
Produced by Nick Phoenix, "Two Steps From Hell" composer and creator of Stormdrum 1 and 2, epic percussion collections.
Includes tempo synced percussion performances directed and played by Mickey Hart, with Greg Ellis, Chalo Eduardo and Nick Phoenix
Includes 5 user-controllable mic positions for each instrument.
Recorded in the world famous EASTWEST Studio 1, the home of major Hollywood soundtracks and television themes.
Includes new PLAY 6 64-bit software on both MAC and PC, more user control and detail than any other collection.
The new FX section is included with SD3, and available as an optional upgrade for all other legacy EastWest PLAY virtual instruments.
The FX section includes a SSL EQ and Dynamics Channel Strip, Transient Shaper, and SSL's legendary Stereo Bus Compressor; plus an upgraded "true stereo" reverb from EastWest plus new features.