Review: Tom Factory by Fracture Sounds
Fracture Sounds give it some proper wallop with the massive sounding Tom Factory. It is a powerful and hugely playable addition to their Epic Ensembles, featuring a range of toms perfect for that high-octane action, blockbuster sound.
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Review: Tom Factory by Fracture Sounds
Any sample junky will attest to the fact that you can never have enough epic drum samples. They are simply too much fun to play! Fracture Sounds clearly agree with their recent release of Tom Factory. They have sampled not just your regular concert toms but other more unusual types, such as octobans, that are increasingly been used in modern scores for their punchy timbres.
Main
We get ensembles and solos, plus a range of playing techniques and mic set ups. Like their previous drum offering, Box Factory, there are a number of heavily processed options that can get you where you want to very quickly, alongside the raw recordings too. I reviewed and loved this approach with Box Factory and have been using it in my own work a good amount, so I was excited to get stuck into this library that shares the same aesthetic, but this time with more traditional drums. And although there is no cardboard involved this time, there is some clever use of paper!
Setup
Tom Factory normally sells for £149 from Fracture Sounds
Thoughts
What stands out here is not just how powerful, but how flexible this library is. The choice of contrasting tom types is a great move and on top of that you have 6 very different processed mixes across both ensembles and solos, all with a variety of playing styles. The result is that Tom Factory is capable of thunderous, low end battering worthy of a Marvel trailer, through to highly transient clicks for quick patterns, and everything in between. It also makes it a perfect library for layering with other percussion, as you can easily choose just the right patch to fit in nicely. This is all laid out in an intelligent way and in an interface that has just the right amount of tweakables available, plus a sequencer for instant pattern creation. It’s also worth noting that for what you get the price is really attractive, even more so during the intro offer.
My only minor moans are that there are no rolls or flams and no central panning option for the solo drums. I also encountered a bit of talking and excessive stick noise in the tail of a few samples, which hopefully is fixable in an update.
Rhythm
The recordings themselves are of the high quality we have come to expect from Fracture Sounds. It is a beautifully balanced recording space at The Nave Studios – lively and clear, with a dense reverberation of about one second that never gets too long and washy, thus making it ideal for drums. This collection of deeply sampled toms is up there with the very best and the more well known big hitters in this space definitely now have company, in the shape of Tom Factory, when it comes to huge, epic drums.
Facts
5 performers playing over 35 drums, including Concert Toms, Roto Toms, Octobans, Floor Toms and Kick Drums
82 articulations
Up to 6 dynamic layers and always at least 4
Up to 9 round robins per dynamic
3 mic positions
6 diverse mixes (from natural to super aggressive)
Housed in Fracture Sounds’ Factory Engine and includes a sequencer
72 NKI patches
15GB download (compressed from 43GB)
Works in Kontakt Player with full NKS support for Komplete Kontrol hardware
Tom Factory normally sells for £149 from Fracture Sounds
Demos of Tom Factory by Fracture Sounds
Videos of Tom Factory by Fracture Sounds
Contributor Sam Burt reviews Tom Factory by Fracture Sounds
“Fracture Sounds give it some proper wallop with the massive sounding Tom Factory. It is a powerful and hugely playable addition to their Epic Ensembles, featuring a range of toms perfect for that high-octane action, blockbuster sound.”
