Dream Kit: Zenith

Dream Kit: Zenith occupies a single window but includes a wide array of editable parameters. However, the 1000+ presets are so impressive you may not feel the need to edit anything at all.

Built entirely from percussion sounds, but not for percussion, Dream Kit: Zenith is a synth like no other.

Question: when is a drum kit not a drum kit? Answer: when it’s a synth. Let me explain...

The drum kit, or indeed synth, in question is Dream Kit: Zenith by Majetone. It’s a VST and AU instrument for Mac and Windows that reimagines the drum kit as a fully chromatic, synthesizer‑style sound source, featuring over 21GB of multisampled waveforms that utilise not just drums themselves, but a wealth of component parts such as lugs, shells, hoops and even squeaky pedals.

Despite its name, Dream Kit: Zenith is not your regular virtual drum plug‑in, but neither is it your regular synth. While all the waveforms originate from drum and percussion sources, the primary goal of James Yates, the creative brain behind Dream Kit: Zenith, was to make some part of a drum kit stand in for each of the major food groups found in synths: Rhythmic, Harmonic, Melodic, Bass, and Sound FX. So has he achieved this?

Kit &...