The collection is divided into two, complete kits on CD 1 and "Chromatic Sets" and "Reverb Kits" on CD 2.

On CD 1 there are 13 General Midi kits - General Midi only in so far of the keyboard mapping of the sounds, this collection of drums sounds is a long way from what you might think of as a "General Midi Drum Kit "!. The reason for mapping them this way is so that they are consistent with the large volume of existing GM Midi files around and also to make them consistent from one kit to another. This way of you want to try another kit or sound rather than the one you originally selected it will slot straight in with no bother at all with everything being in the same place.

The 13 kits are Platinum, Basic, Ambience, Ballad, Dry, Percussion, Latin, Jazz, Hip Hop, Rhythm and Blues, Soul, Rock and Funk. Each containing a representative collection of sounds from each genre it represents. In places there isn't much of a difference between the sounds, there isn't too much difference between a funk crash cymbal and a soul one, however over the whole range of sounds there are noticeable differences and the producers have done a good job, as far as they can with library CD of just percussion of giving a feel for each of the genres.

The sounds themselves are excellent. The recording is very clear, bright and transparent. Give the key a good press and you'll get a full loud sound, softer and the sound mellows out. The documentation states that each sound has four velocity sensitive sounds, I'm sure this is true, but in practice the differences in places are very subtle.

Really that's what the collection is all about, subtlety. There is certainly the material here just to introduce the next level of interest and professionalism to your music. To be able to tweak to produce subtle nuances to the rhythm elements of your track to add interest, make it sound more lifelike and add some minor variation. Nothing radical, but very realistic and authentic sounding.

The sonic quality is excellent, the samples are big, there is no looping and there are full tails to the sounds. I couldn't detect even the slightest glitch as the sounds decayed to silence. Aside from the Dry Kit, which sounds deliberately flat the kits sound totally realistic, I really don't think you could get a better sound. Turn the volume up and there could be a drummer in the room with you.

I don't think there is anything else the producers could have done to improve the sounds, they really would appear to be at the limit of today's technology. I'd normally insert here a line about the sample CD could only be improved upon by hiring a live musician, but here I'm not so sure. Unless that is you have access to a top notch studio and set up and even then I doubt if you would be able to produce significantly better.

On CD 2 we get the individual hits, a range of Kicks, Snares, Cymbals and Toms. The actual range of sounds is fairly limited though the range within each sound is as comprehensive as you could imagine with up to 27 variations. A 25Mb tom program for example. There are a few rolls and flams for good measure too.

Finally there five Lexicon 480 L programs, small, medium and long plate, with brick wall and gated ambience affects. Designed to be layered over other sounds to give the Lexicon effect to your percussive sounds. Not convinced this idea really works too well, but worth a try to be a little creative.

There isn't much really to add from what has already been said, excellent quality, lots of subtle variation and about as realistic as you can get.

Summary & Overall...