Patch List

PP – Ens – Anvils.nki
PP – Ens – Bongos.nki
PP – Ens – Low Drums 1.nki
PP – Ens – Low Drums 2.nki
PP – Ens – Low Drums 3 (soft).nki
PP – Ens – Low Drums 4 (soft).nki
PP – Ens – Low Drums 5.nki
PP – Ens – Low Drums 6.nki
PP – Ens – Muted Sus. Cymbals.nki
PP – Ens – Muted Taikos.nki
PP – Ens – Piatti.nki
PP – Ens – Snare Drums (snares off) – Soft Mallets.nki
PP – Ens – Snare Drums (snares on) – Drumsticks.nki
PP – Ens – Sticks (p1).nki
PP – Ens – Sticks (p2).nki
PP – Ens – Tenor Drums (snares off) – Drumsticks.nki
PP – Ens – Tenor Drums (snares off) – Soft Mallets.nki
PP – Ens – Tenor Drums (snares on).nki
PP – Ens – Toms.nki
PP – Sl – Anvil 1 (p1).nki
PP – Sl – Anvil 2 (p1).nki
PP – Sl – Anvil 3 (p2).nki
PP – Sl – Bass Drum.nki
PP – Sl – Muted Taikos.nki
PP – Sl – Piatti.nki
PP – Sl – Snare Drum.nki
PP – Sl – Sus. Cymbal (swells) – Rods.nki
PP – Sl – Sus. Cymbal (swells) – Soft Mallets.nki
PP – Sl – Tenor Drum.nki
PP – Sl – Timpani 1.nki
PP – Sl – Timpani 2 (bonus).nki
Multis (Jungle Chase, Moon Chase, and Orchestral Tutti)

Library Limitations

Here are some aspects of the library that might affect your purchasing decision. Putting together this list is always very subjective when I’m in the final stages of production, and just because something appears in library limitations here doesn’t mean it isn’t an “issue” in other PS libraries where I didn’t mention it in that library’s “limitations” area. But in general, I tried to think of various points about the library that may not work for potential customers. In no particular order:

Noise

Some room/player noises here and there.

Pre-Note Ambience

These are rep-based (multiple speeds from slow to fast) and sometimes you’ll hear some pre-note ambience (decay from the previous note in the repetition pattern that was recorded), despite there being slower reps as well. In these cases, one that will help is bringing down the far/room mic.

Performance Looseness

There’s a level of looseness in some of the performances, primarily some of the larger ensemble drums and snares, that are more audible on faster reps.

Misc

There’s no melodic percussion and there are no pre-recorded (dedicated) roll patches.

The RR are somewhat limited (esp. on slower rep patterns).

“Low Drums 3” and “Low Drums 4” are very soft dynamic recordings and will sound quieter as if there’s something wrong with the patch. Since the natural dynamics have been retained, you can increase the volume (perhaps with the makeup volume on the B page).

The “Timpani 2” patch doesn’t have the expected resonance that “Timpani 1” has, despite it having a more extensive register. I like “Timpani 1” but “Timpani 2” is generally far less useful and sounds a bit like a cardboard box that was left out in the rain.

No 2nd violins, just 2nd timpani.

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All details and/or pricing subject to change, at any time, for any reason, in Performance Samples LLC’s sole discretion, in each instance. Qualification for loyalty pricing subject to verification by Performance Samples LLC, in each instance.

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Manual

Playability / Functionality

Much (not all) of the library is based on repetition sampling. I recorded the musicians playing at different speeds (say, four different speeds), take-selected and timed the repetitions from each speed to click (for accuracy) and grafted tails, and then built the instruments so that they trigger into faster speeds if you play faster, including allowing quasi-rolls.

Sample offset is something which is modifiable in this library. I generally think that truncating the attacks with a short sample offset chips away at the life of the sound, but the option is there because it’s not hard to implement on one-shot samples like percussion samples. I am defaulting to 80 ms for these patches which is where I’d start, and then you can modify it as you please.

Controls / GUI

There are descriptions for controls which are visible if you engage the “Info” pane in the Kontakt header. That said, the following information will hopefully help fill in.

There are overlapping circles below the volume sliders. Click and drag on these to control stereo image.

On the Instrument page, you can see the different drums in the patch. A lot of patches are just one drum. Some patches like “PP – Sl – Muted Taikos” have multiple drums (or multiple playing variations, like “PP – Ens – Toms” which has two tunings). You can control the different drums in a patch independently with these controls. By default the drums are setup so that you can play back-and-forth between two adjacent keys, but this can be adjusted. 

The same on the Advanced page – you have individual control over the different drums (if applicable). The “Info” pane will come in handy here.

Misc

The majority of patch names are self-explanatory. Here is some additional information.

The Low Drum patches are mixtures of various large & orchestral drums. “Low Drums 3/4” are going to sound unusually quiet when you pull them up, as these patches were focused on really soft dynamics.

Timpani 1 and Timpani 2 are different sets. I much prefer Timpani 1 as it’s more resonant, though it has a smaller range of just over an octave.

All of the taikos have mutes on them. There are multiple sizes of taikos for the solo taikos.

Sticks are wood sticks.

Mallet type information is available in some cases per the patch names.

The “(p1)” text refers to position on stage. Position 1 and position 2. This indicates that I recorded the same instruments at different positions in the stage, so you can expand the stereo imaging/depth by doubling the patches, etc.

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All details and/or pricing subject to change, at any time, for any reason, in Performance Samples LLC’s sole discretion, in each instance. Qualification for loyalty pricing subject to verification by Performance Samples LLC, in each instance.

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Here are a few demo patches for Pacific – Percussion. I included the solo bass drum (normal + towards the rim [alt playing technique]), solo tenor drum (snared), and two ensemble sticks patches recorded at different places on the stage. Ensemble toms and taikos are also included. All of the patches have repetition sampling with multiple speeds of repetition as well, triggering in based on playing speed and allowing playable rolls on select patches (really fast reps). Sample start is set to a bit more delayed by default, but can be adjusted to something more responsive for playing in live if you’d like, and then turned back to the delayed setting to optimize cohesion.

There’s no register to limit since they’re atonal, and I certainly didn’t want to limit the dynamics, so these are essentially just fully-functional patches from the library that you may find use for even if you decide not to grab the full Pacific – Percussion library upon its release. These patches will be available until the end of the intro period (subject to change).

• Pacific – Percussion – Ens. – Toms DEMO FREEBIE.nki (14/13 DYNAMICS – low/normal tuning)
• Pacific – Percussion – Ens. – Taikos DEMO FREEBIE.nki (16 DYNAMICS)
• Pacific – Percussion – Ens. – Sticks 1 DEMO FREEBIE.nki (18 DYNAMICS)
• Pacific – Percussion – Ens. – Sticks 2 DEMO FREEBIE.nki (17 DYNAMICS)
• Pacific – Percussion – Solo – Bass Drum DEMO FREEBIE.nki (16/18 DYNAMICS – main/alt playing style)
• Pacific – Percussion – Solo – Tenor Drum DEMO FREEBIE.nki (21 DYNAMICS)

As with the Pacific – Strings freebie, these are not quite final, release-candidate patches. They are beta stage, and the final patches in the release may contain adjustments to the GUI controls, editing/timing/the samples themselves, and scripting/behind-the-scenes/playability functionality. However, these patches are pretty close to complete. Enjoy! — JB

Download is via Continuata’s Connect.

* 48kHz / 24bit
* NCW-compressed, ~3.21 GB total
* Built for Kontakt 6.6.0 and above – FULL, RETAIL VERSION OF KONTAKT REQUIRED (NOT KONTAKT PLAYER)
* Download via Continuata

Please note that, like all other PS products, you can generate manual links (direct HTTP links) by inserting the download code you receive on the Continuata Manual Links Generation webpage.

Performance Samples freebies can be used for commercial musical work — there are zero limitations in this regard — the freebies adhere to the same EULA that the paid products do.