Toontrack Stockholm & Stories SDX Expansions

€179 per pack

In its quest to create the most flexible drum suite on the planet, Toontrack hit the road. Roland Schmidt is hot on its tail

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Ever since Toontrack premiered EZDrummer nearly 25 years ago, it’s carved a unique path. The upgrade provided by the next-level Superior Drummer suite has extended drum sampling to new heights, with ever-more packed in via their SDX expansion packs. Let’s look at two of the more recent of these additions…

From Sweden…

The first of the SDX releases we have for review was forged at Riksmixningsverket studios, in Stockholm, Sweden. Originally an old naval

warehouse, RMV was lovingly developed – and equipped – by ABBA’s Benny Andersson. And it was there that Toontrack undertook the task of sampling five different drum kits, across 12 snares, nine kicks and three sets of cymbals.

There’s an enormous variance across the different kits. While the influence of Stockholm steers toward the poppier side, there is a ton of acoustic colour to choose from. Extensive use has also been made of the live room; it’s not the largest room that Toontrack has ever used, which means that in some instances the

acoustics can sound ambiently boxy, but with their usual attention to detail, the ambient mics can be blended to suit your production style. The most distant combo is a pair of Neumann KM 184 mics, with the closest mic placed right behind the drummer, in the form of an AKG C24.

Sample capture has been engineered by Linn Fijal, who also provides a host of productionready mixes. The channel-split content across these mixes does vary, as does the acoustic sound of each of the five kits. Our preference was firmly for the tighter-sounding kits,

provided by the ‘Tight’ and ‘Punchy’ kit options, while the ‘Rock’ kit, hosting up to 24” of kick, provided a looser feel. As is always the case with SD3, if a drum isn’t to your liking, you only have to swap it out for another kit element, or visit the mixer page to vary the channel blend. With 42GB of sample content, Stockholm feels extensive, but acutely manageable.

Both impressive, in different ways; Stockholm pledges unique pop… Stories punch and depth

The end result is an extensive package of very useable drum content, accompanied by a stylish set of MIDI grooves, providing rhythmic makeup with four different mid-to-uptempo song styles. The playing from drummer Josephine Forsman is forensically stylish, but while the MIDI is great, a larger number of groove options would have been useful.

…to New England

The second release crosses the pond to the USA, and New England’s legendary Power Station studio complex. Guest engineer Frank Filipetti has worked with artists from Kiss and Foreigner, to Madonna and George Michael. The Stories SDX sampling philosophy goes deep, c