D16 - Plasticlicks

Plasticlicks is a library of 1,611 synthetic drum sounds from D16 Group, designed from scratch by sound designer S3MPL3X. It's for minimal, techno, electro and experimental producers who want electronic drums that don't come from the same old drum machine samples.

The sound

No existing samples went into it, so it doesn't sound like an 808 or 909 pack in disguise. There are tight, clean kicks (some with odd hums underneath), short aggressive percussion, long metallic stabs and a huge spread of hats. The range runs from obviously synthetic to almost acoustic, and the sounds are precise enough to cut through a busy mix with very little processing.

What's included

• Kicks (300), snare drums (216), snare substitutes (51), claps (39)
• Closed hats (298), open hats (227), FX hats (99)
• Synthetic percussion (109), percussion (74), mini percussion (20), metal percussion (16)
• Hits (60), SFX (33), shakers (40), cowbells (19), tambourines (10)

Formats

• WAV, 44.1 kHz 24-bit, with Akai S5000/S6000 .akp programs (four velocity layers per program), 1,130 MB
• SoundFont 2 (.sf2) with four velocity layers, 754 MB
• Loads in any sampler or DAW that imports WAV, AKP or SF2

Verdict

A big, well-organised box of electronic drums with a character of its own. Good value if your kits have started to sound like everyone else's.

SOUND7 is an authorised D16 Group reseller. Digital delivery: licence activation code sent by email.