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 & Caboodle
The plug‑in occupies a single window, its simple layout and colour scheme giving it a ’70s retro look and feel. The display is split into three discrete areas — Waveform 1, Waveform 2 and a central Master section — working in combination to create the 1000+ presets. The two Waveform sections on the left and right are identical and enable you to load and manipulate the 120 supplied waveforms, which include multisampled variations with up to 38 velocity layers, multiple round robins and unique one‑shots.
Recorded using a range of high‑end studio mics, each waveform has been tuned across five octaves and re‑amped at Otterhead Studios, to offer close, overhead and room options that can be independently balanced. Looking at the list of waveforms, you begin to appreciate what sets this plug‑in apart and gives it its unique sound. In addition to drum shells hit with mallets and thumbs drawn across various drum heads (which sound incredible), there are also recordings of a broken china cymbal thrown across a room and floor tom legs played with a cello bow!
The Waveform section of the plug‑in offers a wide range of re‑shaping and manipulation tools, with pitch, pan and reverse parameters, coupled with the familiar ADSR, EQ (based on a one‑off German console) and LFO. A less conventional component is a discrete arpeggiator featuring Step, Octave, Speed and Swing parameters, enabling you to create ‘Reich‑like’ rhythms and melodies between the two waveforms, which can be incredibly effective with the more percussive examples.
Effects are also well catered for, with the inclusion of a great‑sounding distortion, delay, and a unique convolution reverb featuring springs and plates, alongside less conventional offerings such as stairways, bunkers, and a tunnel on the A34.
The centrally located Master section is where presets are loaded and saved, and the overall output volume is controlled. This is also where the sub‑oscillator resides, allowing you to introduce sine, triangle, saw, square and noise waveforms, which can add weight and body and make Dream Kit: Zenith effectively a three‑oscillator synth.
The presets themselves are divided into seven categories — Kits, Majetone, Reverse, Snares, Sustain, Synth and Toms — and cover all the bases you can imagine... plus a great many you couldn’t! You’d be forgiven for thinking Dream Kit: Zenith is a synth‑tweaker’s dream, but if you only ever used the 1000+ presets that ship with the plug‑in and never adjusted a parameter in anger, I think you’d be more than happy with your investment.
They say there’s a fine line between madness and genius. Dream Kit: Zenith sits very comfortably on the genius side.
Conclusion
Dream Kit: Zenith has its origins in the world of drums and percussion, and this is certainly apparent from many of the presets. However, the vast majority have been manipulated and morphed into something unique, inspiring, and worlds away from what you might expect. Ethereal pads, organic basses, retro electronica and eerie soundscapes sit alongside processed concert toms and snare drums, creating a unique and inspirational palette of sounds that is exciting, creative and (most importantly) very usable.
They say there’s a fine line between madness and genius. Dream Kit: Zenith sits very comfortably on the genius side.
Summary
Dream Kit: Zenth reimagines the drum kit as fully chromatic synth, transforming over 21GB of of drum samples into an extensive collection of processed percussion, ethereal pads, organic basses, retro electronica and much, much more.