In today’s review, we’ll be taking a look at the Driven Machine Drums library by ToneBuilder (who has kindly provided an extra set of 21 free samples from the full DMDSB library exclusively for BPB readers)!
In the section below, you can download exclusive free Driven Machine Drum samples or purchase the entire Driven Machine Drums 3 Bundle for just $47 in total. The bundle contains 5,159 designer drum samples for electronic music.
Hear DMD In Action!
- Download 21 Free DMDSB Samples (BPB exclusive!)
- Download 131 Free DMD3 Samples
- Purchase DMD3 + MD Bundle ($47)
A Peek Inside DMDSB
Just like the original DMD library, DMD 3 + Miami Drums Bundle features a set of individual drum hits that were generated using a variety of analog and digital sound sources and then further processed with a selection of high-end audio gear. Apart from some well-known classic drum machines such as the Alesis HR16, Roland TR-808 and TR-909, the gear list also includes a range of more exotic tools such as the Cwejman modular synthesizer, Thermionic Culture Vulture, Empirical Labs Distressor, and plenty of other sound processing gizmos that will make your gear lust-o-meter go off scale. Here’s a quote from the DMDSB website:
It’s a bit tough to present a gearlist because of the methodology. Everything was combined in a more modular fashion, some stuff was real instruments, some used physical modeling, some used current analog synthesis… and then those were perhaps combined.
The bundle contains 5,159 individual samples, which are all conveniently organized into folders by sound category. Along with the folders containing the usual sound types such as kicks, snares, claps, and so on, there’s also a folder labeled as Unknown Electronic sounds which is sort of a “fun box” with 333 samples which couldn’t be fitted into any conventional drum hit category. Each sample category is further grouped into subfolders, which makes it easier to pick out the appropriate type of timbre or style. For example, the kicks are categorized into chest thumpers, beatbox, soft analog, rectum ticklers (lol!), etc.
Having different stuff labeled like this makes folder browsing a lot quicker and more convenient than just having to dwell through one big pile of drum samples. Speaking of samples, according to the official website, 90% of the DMDSB content is brand new material, while the remaining 10% are completely refurbished sounds from the original DMD library, processed from scratch with new tools and gear.
The Evolution Of Driven Machine Drums
Being familiar with ToneBuilder’s previous work, I had pretty high expectations for DMD 3, quality-wise. To be fair, there was little doubt for me that this was going to be a good drum library, but I was very eager to see how it will compare to the original DMD pack and whether it will go even further in terms of quality.
And yes, after spending quite some time testing the new samples, I am happy to say that DMD 3 is exactly what I was hoping for – an evolution of the original Driven Machine Drums concept, taken in the right direction. Now that I think about it, I almost wish that there was something wrong with this collection of samples – some nasty little flaw that I could mention in this review so that I don’t have to write the rest of the article sounding like an overexcited fanboy. It feels a bit silly being a reviewer sometimes, as you tend to get disappointed by things that are exceptionally good.
The One Inch Punch!
The first thing that draws attention while browsing through different folders for the first time and randomly previewing DMD 3 sounds is how the samples are loud, yet don’t sound overcompressed or smacked down to utter dullness. But things get even better after spending some time working with these samples and using them in a few mixes. It is astonishing how little extra effort is needed to get a loud drum mix with DMD 3 samples, without losing the punch or messing up the dynamics. Just a bit of bus compression and a few dBs of careful limiting and the RMS meters should be hitting just about the right value.
Things usually aren’t this easy when mixing drums and I often find myself tinkering with the drum bus for ages, trying to find the right balance between loudness and proper dynamics. I was quite amazed to see how smooth things went when mixing DMD 3 sounds.
Apparently, a big part of what makes this possible, besides properly taming the transients, is the application of certain psychoacoustic principles in order to increase the loudness without sucking the life out of samples. I’m far from being an expert in the field of sound design or acoustics, but, as far as I could understand (and I might be wrong here), the thing is that our ears are more sensitive to the changes which happen in a sound’s timbre, rather than its amplitude – thus, it’s possible to make the sounds less dynamic, but still exciting enough to the human ear by adding movement to its texture. And it seems like this is exactly what the reason was for using all that fancy audio gear while making the library – finding a way to make loud drums with plenty of character. Obviously, it worked.
It’s All About The Details
It’s clear that a lot of effort was put into the trimming and editing of each individual sample, thus continuing the great tradition of the original DMD library. There are no nasty pops, clicks, bad endings or unnatural fade-outs with these sounds, saving the end-user from the hassle of fixing these sorts of things inside the sampler or messing up the workflow due to sloppy MIDI triggering. On top of that, all the samples have been normalized to around -1.5 dBFS, leaving some safety headroom available when further shaping the sounds in a mixing environment.
Basically, it’s tiny details like these that separate great sample libraries from the rest, and I’m quite impressed with this aspect of DMD 3. The samples are pretty much plug-and-play and require zero preparation before use.
Nevertheless, a fair amount of included samples have been edited with longer decay and release times, leaving the possibility of further shaping the sounds using the sampler envelope.
Taking Over The Dancefloor
There’s plenty of variety to the included samples, ranging from softer hits to full-on saturated dirty electronic sounds. I’m all for musical experimentation and against boundaries in music. That said, if we talk genres, DMD 3 samples fit like a glove in various kinds of contemporary electronic music – from electronica and any type of EDM you can think of, to all sorts of modern urban styles. Basically, the included sounds are conventional enough to fit a wide variety of genres, yet packed with enough character to sound different and fresh. The library also includes a nice selection of just plain weird noisy electronic sounds which are a real joy to use!
Final Thoughts And A Nice Surprise
So, the conclusion is quite simple – DMD 3 Bundle definitely is the Episode V of drum sample libraries (this means it’s pretty awesome, in case you’re not a Star Wars fan). The sounds are punchy, exciting, carefully trimmed and suitable for use in a variety of different electronic music genres. I just couldn’t find any flaw, and if you were looking to refresh your drum sample library this Holiday season, DMD 3 is a perfect choice!
Finally, here comes the coolest part! Nathaniel has been kind enough to provide a free set of 21 samples exclusively for BPB readers! The samples are picked from the full library and are not included in the demo pack which you can download for free on the DMDSB website. Many thanks to ToneBuilder for this and for including some pretty cool samples in the BPB demo pack!
Not much else to add here except that DMD 3 is a great choice for any beatmaker. Enjoy the free sounds and consider purchasing the full release if you like the freebies.
Links
Download Exclusive Free DMDSB Samples: click here
Download 131 Free DMD3 Samples: click here
Purchase DMD3 + MD Bundle ($47): click here
Last Updated on November 11, 2019 by Tomislav Zlatic.
