All of the sonic nuances of DW Drums are available in DW Soundworks™, on Roland Cloud. This powerful, MIDI-enabled Virtual Studio Technology (VST) instrument offers the most authentic bank of hi-fidelity DW drum sounds available on the market. Each DW Soundworks acoustic drum sample was handcrafted (played) at DW’s in-house recording studio with artists using best-in-class microphones capturing up to 16 articulations of handcrafted, limited-edition, and vintage drums.
Drums Under a Microphone
All DW Soundworks sampling sessions for DW models are conducted like a classic Hollywood studio tracking session. The staff audio engineer uses preamps, compressors, equalizers, and a spread of best-in-class microphones at different positions, distances, and depths of space. This includes close-miking drums, placing mics under and overhead, and room (ambient) mics. This ensures players get all the sonic nuances that have made DW drum tone famous. The core sampling pack was recorded by longtime DW artist and touring and studio professional Chad Wackerman, whose credits include Frank Zappa, Allan Holdsworth, Barbra Streisand, and others.
"The staff audio engineer uses preamps, compressors, equalizers, and a spread of best-in-class microphones at different positions, distances, and depths of space."
However, unlike a typical studio tracking session, sampling drums requires complete silence and intense focus. Every recorded note requires repeated strikes at the exact same velocity or volume. For multiple strikes, the player must give the shell time to breathe between notes to ensure full vibration, tonality, and resonance from the drum. Roland electronics aid this arduous process of multiple samples to capture multiple layers of interpolations. This also gives DW and Roland the ability to use round-robin playback methodology for smoother, organic-sounding drums for any style.
"The best-sounding samples are curated and then categorized by playing genre, ambiance, and articulation to fit the exact sonic needs of the producer, song, or player."
Post-Production
After a sampling session for a complete kit or an individual drum (Collector’s Series Pure Maple™ or a True-Cast™ Snare, etc.), audio engineers evaluate all the recordings in post-production. The best-sounding samples are curated and then categorized by playing genre, ambiance, and articulation to fit the exact sonic needs of the producer, song, or player. From this point, the samples are mixed, tested, and compiled into a library of sounds. This is how DW builds a baseline DW Soundworks expansion pack.
Artist Packs
On top of the inspiring library of authentic DW Drum sounds and built-in processing tools, DW and Roland work with renowned artists to produce custom expansion packs. These artist-created packs feature artist-treated DW kits and custom presets to help you replicate and iterate on some of your favorite drum sounds. For example, the DW Soundworks Trevor Lawrence Jr. Expansion Pack features custom presets and samples made on DW Drums specially treated by Trevor—a legend of hip-hop with credits including Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and more.
"True to DW's innovative ethos and north star, each acoustic drum note captured for DW Soundworks was played by a DW artist on a handcrafted instrument."
Handcrafted in Every Note
True to DW’s innovative ethos and north star, each acoustic drum note captured for DW Soundworks was played by a DW artist on a handcrafted instrument. As these notes drop into your workflow by measure or punched in by bar and get processed and fine-tuned with the built-in processing tools of your taste of DW Soundworks and end up in your track, fundamentally, they’ll remain handcrafted.
