The Props have released Reason Drum Kits version 2.0, a refill sample library for Reason 3.0. For those who are not aware of what RDK is or does, it’s basically a massive sampled drum kit library with many velocity layers for dramatic and lively rhythm sequencing. These are not loops, they are straight samples. But they are more than just samples, they are what the props are calling “hypersampled” drums. When you mic up a drum kit, you use several close-up mics, overhead mics, and room mics which are mixed into a complete drum sound. In most cases with sample libraries, all of these signals are mixed and delivered as stereo sample files. With RDK, each of these signals are directed to separate audio output jacks on the NN-XT, and you can mix them to fit with a production.

For those who have RDK 1.0, you are going to love the combinator patches in RDK 2.0. Instead of having combinations of drums fixed into single patches, each set is loaded into separate NN-XT samplers. If you want to change the kick drum, all you do is load a specific kick drum patch while the snares, hats, cymbals, etc. remain the same.

Bundled with the refill are some very nice preset combinator patches created by serious RDK abusers called “Producer Kits” where eq, reverb, and compression settings are preset and ready to go. Having everything organized into combinators now makes RDK a breeze to use, and dozens of MIDI sequence files are included to quickly create drum grooves along with the custom kit.

The Propellerhead Website has a cool little Video infomercial that demonstrates these features, as well as example audio files. The video even features a new way to use your old copy of Power Tools for Reason 2.5: as a mouse pad! Clever idea, indeed

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