Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars
Simon Phillips earned his spurs working with Mick Jagger, the Who, Jeff Beck, Peter Gabriel, Joe Satriani, Judas Priest, Pete Townshend, Stanley Clarke and David Gilmour while still in his 20s. Later career milestones include a 21‑year stint with US stadium‑fillers Toto, explosive collaborations with piano phenomenon Hiromi, and five excellent self‑composed albums with his band Protocol. A serial poll‑winner, Grammy nominee and inductee into Modern Drummer’s Hall of Fame, a lifetime achievement award surely awaits this hard‑working musician.
If you ever daydreamed about getting Mr Phillips’ drum sounds on your productions, your wish has been granted: our man has created three drum expansions for Steinberg’s Groove Agent, all recorded at Phantom Recordings Studios in LA in conjunction with his long‑time friend and business partner Chris Marr. The most recent release is Simon Phillips Vintage Drums (10GB), featuring the large Ludwig Octa‑Plus drum kit used in his 1970s and early ’80s work.
As befits a drummer who has rocked arenas the world over, this large kit boasts a double kick, main and side snares with a choice of six different snare drums, nine toms ranging from six‑ to 18‑inch, three crash cymbals, a china cymbal, ride cymbal and hi‑hat. Articulations include straight hits, rimshots, sidesticks, cymbal bell hits and many hi‑hat variations. The kit is immaculately recorded, dynamically sensitive, clean and open‑sounding, featuring Phillips’ signature booming, timpani‑like toms, a deep resonant kick and the crystalline splash of premium‑quality Zildjian cymbals. You can make extensive tonal adjustments to each part of the kit (not that these drums need a lot of EQ!).
Powering these rocktastic samples are 12 groove styles created by Chris Marr, which run the gamut from urgent, driving hard rock to big, epic half‑time backbeats. Also included are a mid‑tempo heavy funk feel, a Tamla Motown onbeat groove, inventive variations on a hustling blues shuffle and a fast 180 bpm jazzy swing style. Mercifully, with the exception of one 3/4 pattern, all are in 4/4 time.
Being programmed MIDI patterns, these beats will sync to any song tempo, and you can drag patterns onto a MIDI track in your DAW for editing purposes.
Each style incorporates four intros, 12 main patterns, eight fills and four endings, which can be assigned to one of 128 pattern pads and triggered by a MIDI note in your DAW. The main patterns are graded in complexity from a simple sparse beat to busier and more intense performances, while the fills range from straightforward snare breaks to fantastic high‑speed tom‑tom salvos. Being programmed MIDI patterns, these beats will sync to any song tempo, and you can drag patterns onto a MIDI track in your DAW for editing purposes.
Also available are Simon Phillips Studio Drums (6GB, featuring his enormous signature recording kit, 14 groove styles and a brilliant MIDI realisation of a barnstorming improvised drum solo) and Simon Phillips Jazz Drums, a 7GB collection of brush hits and patterns performed on Phillips’ Tama drum kit.