Session Drums is a carefully multisampled library of acoustic drums that reproduces the nuances of a recording session and puts you in the engineer's seat. It contains 20 Standard Kits and 20 MPE Kits appropriate for various musical styles, as well as a variety of MIDI grooves to speed up the production process.

Session Drums: Have a Seat

Created in collaboration with ChocolateAudio, makers of the acclaimed Imperial Drums, Session Drums delivers great natural-sounding acoustic drums to Ableton Live users. Session Drums covers a wide range of styles and offers deep customization capabilities, all from within Live's familiar workflow.

Session Drums puts you in complete control of the drum mix. Each drum uses a separate channel, so you can conveniently mix, add effects and swap drums to customize your kit. Load up a brush kit, replace the snare, tune the kick drum down a bit, or customize to get just the sound you want.

Key Features

• 10 GB of drums sampled at 24-bit

• Carefully multisampled in a variety of velocities and articulations. All samples are preprocessed for a well-balanced sound.

• Drum Racks with an inline Session View mixer for versatile mixing. Each drum channel can have its own effects and routing.

• Each drum in a Drum Rack features eight preprogrammed macro controls for quick tweaking of parameters such as drum tuning.

• 20 Standard Kits, professionally produced and mixed down, delivering a variety of popular drum sounds ranging from 70s rock to funk to country.

• 20 MPE Kits that allow for extra control and nuance when played on MPE-enabled pad controllers like the new Push.

• A versatile selection of drums, including:

  • Kicks of various sizes with felt, wood or plastic beaters, recorded with dynamic or condenser mics.

  • Snares of many sizes and materials, including maple, birch, chrome, brass and bronze. Samples of different striking areas, from the center to the outer portions of the drum head to the rim, and alternating left- and right-hand hits for each velocity.

  • Hi-hats in a variety of sizes with samples played via the pedal and tip of the stick. Features control of the hi-hat pedal, perfect for controlling with a mod wheel, pedal or MPE controller, allowing dynamic playing of the width of the open hi-hat. Includes samples of alternating left- and right-hand hits for each velocity.

  • Ride cymbals featuring samples played on the bell, middle and edge of the cymbal. Also includes crash, splash and china cymbals.

  • Toms in various sizes with alternating left- and right-hand samples for each velocity.

  • Cowbell and tambourine samples

  • MIDI grooves in various styles and patterns by professional session drummer Shawn Pelton.

  • Perfectly integrated into Live's environment,the kits are loaded via Drum Racks containing multiple Simplers, which are included with Live

  • Uses SmartPriming, Live's resource-efficient sample engine, which optimizes CPU resources and lets you work with an impressive number of instruments in your compositions

Drums included with Session Drums

Kit
Ludwig (BD + 3 Toms) VistaLite

Kick
DW 22" x 18": Collector's/Maple/Seashell
DW 22" x 16": Collector's/Maple/Laquered Royal Blue

Toms
8",10",12",14",16": Collector's/Fast Toms/Maple/Seashell

Cymbals
Paiste China 14": Rude
Paiste China 18": 2002
Paiste Crash 14",16",17",18": Signature
Paiste Splashes 8",10",12": Signature
Paiste Ride 20": Dark Ride Signature
Paiste Ride 20" Flat: Flat Ride Signature
Paiste Ride 20" Full: Full Ride Signature
Paiste Ride 20" Dark Full: Dark Full Ride Signature

HiHat
Paiste 13": Thin/Heavy Dimension
Paiste 14": Medium Signature
Paiste 15": Medium Signature

Snare
Ludwig 14"x6.5": Brass/Supraphonic
DW 14"x5": Maple/Seashell
Yamaha 14"x5.5": Birch/9000 Series/Black Laquered
Premier 14"x5.5": Maple/Vintage '50
Ludwig 14"x5": Chrome Metal/Super Sensitive
Remo 13"x3.5": Bronze
Yamaha 8"x5": Cocktail Drum

Microphones

Kick
AKG D112 (Inside)
Audio Technica AE2500 (Dynamic + Condenser) (Inside + Close)
Neumann U87A (Close)

Snare
Beyerdynamic M77TG (Top)
Neumann TLM170 (Bottom)

HiHat
AKG 414B-TLII
AKG C391B

Ride
Neumann KM84
AKG C391B

Toms
Sennheiser MD441
Sennheiser MD421
Beyerdynamic M201TG
Beyerdynamic M77TG

Overhead
AKG battery powered condensers stereo set
AKG C2000B stereo set

Room
Neumann U87A stereo set
Groove Tubes GT61 stereo set