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Cinematic Thunder: Epic Orchestral Toms | Sample Library Review

Reviewer: Don Bodin Back to Cinematic Thunder: Epic Orchestral Toms product details

Dedicated to delivering powerful Tom drums, Vir2’s Cinematic Thunder is extremely intuitive and sounds great right out of the gate. Despite a few minor limitations, this hyper-focused percussion library does one thing and does it very, very well..

As the title suggests, “Cinematic Thunder – Epic Orchestral Toms” is a hyper focused percussion library dedicated to powerful playback of Tom drums. In this, the 1.5 version of the library, Vir2 Instruments have gone back to the great sounding samples sets and re-edited and newly de-noised the library as well as develop a new interface.

Thoughts

Cinematic Thunder is divided into 4 main Kontakt presets: Sticks, Mallets, Group Hits and Group Big Hits.

Both the Stick and Mallet patches offer six different drums spread across the keyboard including 18” Toms, 16” Toms, 14” Toms, 12” Toms, and 10” Toms and a newly recorded Surdo. The patches also contain “combo hits” which playback samples of two toms being struck simultaneously.

The Group Hits patch contains a collection of two-drum flams for each of the individual drums that have been sampled and the Group Big Hits patch contains only single hits and flams played at maximum striking volume. These Toms all playback with plenty of punch and impact and contain up to 14 velocity layers, and 3 round robins which make them easy to get natural playback out of them.

The newly re-designed GUI makes getting around the instrument extremely intuitive. The library uses color coding in the Kontakt keyboard so it is easy to navigate. The “violet” keys trigger standard left and right hits, “aqua” keys for flams and the “green” keys trigger a dynamic control over rolls via the modwheel.



The interface also allows access to the main “Processed Mix” output as well as 3 additional mic positions which can each be adjusted to custom create a Tom sound of your liking.



In addition, a new sequencer panel has been added. This simple yet effective sequencer makes it easy to program in rhythms and patterns that can be triggered when holding down the keys. This sequencer has the basics functionality with controls for velocity controls, the ability to change the length of patterns and subdivision, but lacks any way to save or load sequence patterns.



In additional, there is an effects panel for the instrument. This page offers 6 different FX with controls for Reverb, Delay, Limiter, Distortion, Compressor, and Stereo Width, a Transient Master and EQ controls. I tend to use dedicated premium plugins if I really want to get in and manipulate the sound, but the reverb and Processed Mix mic positions will probably work wonders into many tracks if you aren’t too precocious about simulating an actual orchestral room. If I am going to be really picky I would have liked to have seen a Master Effects ON/OFF button just for ease of comparison.

Vir2 has also included full Komplete Kontrol & Maschine integration with the instrument so those utilizing the NKS system will have another easy to navigate library.

There was only one “rolls” sample in the Mallets patch that seemed to have some strange noise when you fade down to silence, but other than that this library sounds stellar and all this library is all about the tone.

Cinematic Thunder: Epic Orchestral Toms sample set is clean and clear with lots of presence, punch and bite. The “Processed Mix” is powerful and delivers a very bold, impactful sound. With the additional mic controls and effects you could really get in and craft something to your own liking and develop your own Tom sound.

This hyper-focused percussion library does one thing and does it very very well.

As with all our reviews be sure to check out the official demos and videos (below) to make sure this library is right for your unique needs.

Facts

Cinematic Thunder: Epic Orchestral Toms downloads as 4.92 GB. For the review we were looking at the new Version 1.5 of the library which contains a new GUI and the team has re-edited all of the sample and newly “de-noised” them.

The library contains 4 Kontakt presets of: Sticks, Mallets, Group Hits, and Group Big Hits

The sample set is from a collection of Tom Drums which were captured in a “large concert hall California” and contains samples of 18″, 16″, 14″, 12″, and 10″ Toms as well as a new Surdo samples set. Cinematic Thunder comes with up to 14 Velocity Layers & 3 Round Robins per instrument as well as 3 Mic Positions and a “Processed” out mix.

Cinematic Thunder: Epic Orchestral Toms is a Kontakt Player Instrument and is compatible with both Full & Free Kontakt.

PROS:
- Great Sounding Toms
- Sound is Flexible with 3 Mic Positions
- Main “Processed” Out Sound Epic as Promised
- New GUI is very easy to Use
- Komplete Kontrol Compatible

CONS:
- No Load/Save Sequence Settings
- One sample has an odd noise to it

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