[Sonic Reality Announces Neil Peart Drums Vol 1: The Kit]

As I'd mentioned on Friday, at this week's Winter NAMM show sound development company Sonic Reality unveiled their Neil Peart Drums Vol. 1: The Kit sample library for Neil Peart's Snakes & Arrows kit as part of their Drum Masters series. I'd first reported that Sonic Reality had completed a Neil Peart drum sampling session engineered by Nick Raskulinecz way back in April of 2008 but it's taken nearly 2 years to develop the end product. From the press release (thanks Doug B):

... Neil Peart, legendary drummer of the band “Rush”, has collaborated with Sonic Reality and producer/engineer Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, Foo Fighters, Alice In Chains) to bring the authentic sound of Neil’s “Snakes and Arrows’ Custom DW® Drum Kit into the digital domain. With advanced features such as deep level dynamics, humanized random alternating hits, discrete multiple mic mixing and more, this deluxe sampled kit is an ultra-realistic recreation of Neil’s actual acoustic set as used live on tour and in the studio.

Now, for the first time, e-drummers, keyboardists and composers can play rock drum samples with the iconic signature sound of drum legend – Neil Peart and have a world-class, hard-hitting drum kit suitable for many styles of music from Progressive Rock to Heavy Metal! Producer Nick Raskulinecz engineered the sample sessions with over 20 channels of Neve® mic preamps, deluxe vintage tube mics and multiple room positions for one of the most elaborate sampled drum kits ever. With the assistance of Don Lombardi and DrumChannel.com, every detail of “The Kit” was captured both in high-resolution audio and documented on video with a thorough explanation by Dave Kerzner of Sonic Reality on how the drums were sampled.

“To sample Neil Peart’s incredible drum kit for our Drum Masters series was truly an honor and it fit perfectly with our focus on capturing the most desirable character drum sounds.” Says Dave Kerzner, CEO of Sonic Reality. “We’re also honored to be able to record it with ‘Rush’ producer – Nick Raskulinecz to help us capture the authentic, signature Neil Peart drum sound.”

“The Kit” features 8 Toms, a vast array of cymbals including 3 Chinas, 4 Crashes, 3 Splashes, Ride, 2 Snares, Massive Kicks, Percussion – such as Cowbells and more. It comes mapped in GM, iMap™, V-Drum and a Custom Map mode to be controlled by any electronic drum kit. It includes both discrete mic mixing and album-quality presets right out of the box for instant gratification. ...

You can listen to a demo sample at this link or by using the player below:

Neil Peart Drums Vol 1: The Kit will ship sometime in the next couple of months and be available in standard and deluxe size versions for FXPansion's BFD software and for Sonic Reality's Infinite Player software powered by Kontakt.

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