Steel Drums
Beautifully crafted steel pans
Beautifully crafted steel pans
In this page:
- Hard drive delivery available at checkout
- You can buy now and download any time
Spitfire Audio App required
Steel percussion
7 mics / 3 mixes
eDNA engine
Kontakt Full
Listen to Steel Drums
Spitfire's founder Christian Henson has always had a fascination with steel drums, known for their emotional mellow tones, sub-bass harmonics and rich timbral and dynamic range. Having collaborated with Frank Ricotti on many percussion projects, including the seminal Hans Zimmer Percussion, we went back to The Hall at AIR Studios to expand our percussion range even further. Our aim was to record these steel drums for a multitude of uses, using various microphone positions to capture different perspectives. Our Tree mic position works for those looking to work steel drums into their orchestral film, games and TV scores, while Close and more focused positions are more suited to RnB & electronic tracks. We have captured a versatile and touching tone at softer levels, up to louder, brasher dynamic layers for a more traditional Caribbean sound.
Steel Drums is presented in two interfaces — the standard multi-mic, designed for those familiar with our orchestral range, with front-end instant tweaking of articulations and microphones. We have also loaded the steel drums into our sophisticated eDNA engine, with dozens of instantly playable presets designed by our award winning team of composers, producers and sound designers. Every note was recorded by AIR Studios' expert resident engineer Jake Jackson using an array of priceless vintage microphones via Neve “Montserrat” pre-amps and a beautifully serviced Studer 2” tape machine, then into digital at 96k via the best Prism AD converters.
Originally of Trinidadian tradition, bamboo sticks were used to hit kitchenware, trash cans and drums, which grew into a movement in the 1930s od all-steel bands and becoming a a popular carnival instrument by the 1940s. In film scoring, they can be found on seminal works by Jaco Pastorius, Cliff Martinez and Hans Zimmer, and on popular dance and RnB tracks across the globe. Percussionist Frank Ricotti is a living legend. Beyond being one of the most in demand percussionists in the world for top recording artists, he has played on countless blockbuster film scores such as Inception, Skyfall, Twilight Saga, Madagascar, Interstellar, Narnia, Fantastic Mr Fox and the Bourne series.
The overview panel
General controls panel
The Ostinatum
eDNA Engine
What's included
Instruments main mics
- Steel Drums
Individual patches
- Cello Pan - Hits
- Cello Pan - Large Beater
- Cello Pan - Rolls
- Cello Pan - Small Beater
- Ensemble - Hits
- Lead Pan - Hits
- Lead Pan - Rolls
Instruments alt mics
- Steel Drums
Individual patches
- Cello Pan - Hits
- Cello Pan - Large Beater
- Cello Pan - Rolls
- Cello Pan - Small Beater
- Ensemble - Hits
- Lead Pan - Hits
- Lead Pan - Rolls
Instruments stereo mixes
- Steel Drums
Individual patches
- Cello Pan - Hits
- Cello Pan - Large Beater
- Cello Pan - Rolls
- Cello Pan - Small Beater
- Ensemble - Hits
- Lead Pan - Hits
- Lead Pan - Rolls
EDNA patches
- Amazing Hit Super Bright - Use Ds
- Amazing Hit
- Angry SEQ - RT Fast - MW Fun
- Awesome Filthy SEQ - RT Fast - MW Fun
- Awesome Saturated SEQ - RT Fast - MW Fun
- Bright Dirty Pans SEQ - RT Fast
- Bright Dirty Pans SEQ 2 - RT Fast - MW Fun
- Bright Dirty Pans SEQ 2 dry - RT Fast - MW Fun
- Descending Robot Insects - MW is Gate
- Distorted Super Duper Tight Hits
- Distorted Super Tight Hits
- Extra Jamaican Hits Flashy
- Extra Jamaican Hits Gated
- Extra Jamaican Hits
- Good Bass Provided You Like That Note MW is Pitch
- il-Defined Pad In Church With Robots - MW is filter
- Lo Fi Organ Pad - MW is Filter
- Low End Long Hits Dry And Farty
- Low End Long Hits
- Massive Distant Hit Low End
- Massive Hit Low End
- Mellow Gritty SEQ - RT Fast - MW Fun
- Mellow Pans - RT - Wet
- Mellow Pans - RT Fast - Wet
- Phased Power Chords Gated - MW is Filter
- Poorly Refined Pad - MW is filter
- Power Chords - MW is Filter
- Power Chords Gated - MW is Filter
- Prehistoric Pad - MW is Filter
- Rusty Gate Pad - MW is filter
- Scaffolding Hits Dry
- Scaffolding Hits
- Simple Lovely SEQ Fatter - RT Slow - MW Stutter Gate
- Simple Lovely SEQ Trips - RT Slow - MW Stutter Gate
- Simple Lovely SEQ Trips n Filter - RT Slow - MW Stutter Gate
- Siren Gate - MW is Filter
- Slow Stutter SEQ - RT Fast - MW Fun
- Slow Stutter SEQ 3 - RT Fast - MW Fun
- Slow Stutter SEQ lpf - RT Fast - MW Fun
- Soft Attack and Wet Hits
- Steal Side RT - Wet
- Steel Drone - MW is filter
- Steel Drone 2 - MW is filter
- Steel Drone 3 - MW is filter
- Super Massive Distant Hit Low End
- Super Tight Great Played Quietly
- Super Tight Xtra Jamaican Hits
- Surprisingly Useful Punchy Fart Bass
- Tight and Dry Hits - MW is Formant
- Underwater Organ Pad - MW is Filter
- Very Angry SEQ - RT Fast - MW Fun
Mics & mixes
Microphones
- Close
- Tree
- Ambient
- Outrigger
- Close Ribbon
- Stage
- Gallery
Mixes
- Fine
- Medium
- Broad
Tech specs
Mac system requirements
Mac OS X 10.10 to OS 12
Machine must be connected to the internet during install
32-bit DAWs not supported
PC system requirements
Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 (latest Service Pack, 64-bit)
Machine must be connected to the internet during install
32-bit DAWs not supported
File size
~9280 samples
7.4 GB download size
14.80 GB disk space required during install
Too large to download? Choose hard drive delivery at checkout.
Kontakt player
Kontakt Full 5.6.8 or higher required
For more information on Kontakt Full click here