What is it?
The DK+ Library is a great tool for the creation of songs and compositions, amusement and to discover new exciting rhythms. It is a collection of drum kits and a rhythmic patterns.
The collection is organized in 3 sections:
- Factory Library: with a pattern collection arranged per musical style.
- Custom Library: with an internal pattern set per kit
- User Library: the section the user may fill with his creations.
- - NOTE each section is user editable, but to retain compatibility with the DK+ Library updates we suggest that you modify only the User section.
Factory Library
The Factory Library in version 1.1 features 27 drum kits and 22 styles, for a total of over 4000 different patterns. More will be added at each DK+ update. Each rhythmic Style features a set of 8 patterns which can be exchanged with any other style, as they are all consistent with the same logic.
- A = standard rhythm long version, 2 or 4 or 8 bars
- B = variation rhythm long version, 2 or 4 or 8 bars
- C = standard rhythm short version, 1 bar
- D = variation rhythm short version, 1 bar
- E = fill 1, 1 bar
- F = fill 2, 1 bar
- G = intro, 1 bar
- H = ending, 1 bar
Using the above organization structure will let you build a song, by using a track of MIDI note messages, one note per pattern, and then switching the Style while keeping the song structure as you arranged it in your VST sequencer.
Moreover each drum kit in the Factory Library features a unique version of the style, this means that by switching the Drum Kit you get also a variation of the rhythmic patterns to musically match the sound of the kit.
So a great deal of musical content is available at your finger tips immediately
The table below shows the styles available in version 1.1 of the Library and a short description is given
Of course, sometimes a particular style could be useful for different musical genres just by changing the tempo (the speed at which it's played), so we suggest that you listen to each style with all drum kits and various BPM settings.
|
DK+ Factory Library Kit Styles |
| Style |
Description |
Indicative
Tempo Range |
| Ballad |
Slow 4/4 pop-ballad |
40 to 100 |
| Ballad 3 |
Slow triplet ballad |
40 to 120 |
| Blues Shuffle |
Vintage Groove, you may need this to jam. |
40 to 180 |
| Bossa Nova |
Vintage Groove acidized for modern music. |
40 to 145 |
| Breakbeat |
Dance rhythm with many variations. |
80 to 145 |
| Cha-Cha |
As Latin rock style, suitable to many genres. |
80 to 165 = Ska! |
| Drums'n'bass1 |
Dance rhythm with many rolls for fast tempo. |
80 to 145 |
| Electro |
Kind of New Wave rock rhythm, suitable to many genres. |
80 to 120 |
| Funk rock |
Modern rock rhythm, suitable for Metal style too. |
90 to 165 |
| Funk |
Vintage Groove, the way it comes from a drum machine,
suitable to many genres. |
80 to 145 |
| Funk Equipment |
Kit1a LE (15 pads, 10 layers each),
a reduced version of the big FE Set One |
80 to 160 |
| Fusion |
World fusion groove with a feel for Africa. |
80 to 145 |
| New Hip Hop |
An hybrid funk and ragamuffin beat, very twisted, like the new rap is. |
90 to 145 |
| Old Hip Hop |
The typical "tum tum cha" rhythm for rappers, suitable to many genres. |
80 to 145 |
| Pop 80 |
Typical 80's pop rhythm |
90 to 130 |
| Pop 90 |
Pop rhythm with little shuffle on 16th. |
40 to 165 |
| Reggae1 |
"One drop" reggae rhythm. |
90 to 180 |
| Rock |
Classic rock rhythm |
60 to 160 |
| Samba |
Vintage Groove acidized for modern music. |
80 to 145 |
| Swing |
Do some old jazz swing mate. |
80 to 190 |
| House |
Basic house rhythm (kick, snare, hihat) |
90 to 140 |
| Hard rock |
60 Hard Rock rhythm |
90 to 140 |
- - NOTE, when you select the Kit or Style using the two drop-down selectors:
- an asterisk (*) after the name of the style in the Style selection list means that the style has not been defined for the currently selected drum kit;
- likewise an asterisk after the name of the drum kit in the Kit selection list means that the drum kit has not been defined for the currently selected style.
Custom Library
The Custom Library in version 1.1 features 9 drum kits with an internal style.
The drum kits in the Custom Library section do not use the Style list, but they include a variable number of custom patterns inside the kit itself. In the Style selector, you will see "- Internal- " as a reminder.
The patterns are both examples for the use of the specific kit and a useful start point for compositions in musical styles which usually feature those kind of sounds or instrument, e.g. the Tabla kit features two Bhangra style patterns.
User Library
When you install the User Library it features only one kit as example.
It is simple to add your own kits:
- put your kit (made of WAV files and its bank.dk+ file) in a new folder inside the Dk+ "library" folder, for example D:\NuSofting\DK plus\library
- put a "U" at the beginning of the new folder name and your kit will be available from the DK+ Kit selector in the "User Kits" section next time you open it.
- - NOTE the bank.dk+ file saved by the main [MENU] will hold both the pads and pattern settings. Also, you can save and export the pattern in many other ways, please refer to
Kits, Styles and Banks section.
How to use the DK+ Library
The DK+ Library is a quick tool for the creation of the rhythmic part of songs and compositions, it's also easy to edit the kit and the patterns as you wish.
You may use it in many ways as the 3 sections suggest: Factory, Custom and User.
- The "Factory" collection will let you arrange a song using the standard parts such as intro, chorus, variation, fill, ending and then experiment swapping different styles or kits. You can do that while listening.
- "Custom" collection provides some special kits like percussions or kits we created with original sounds. Example patterns are loaded in the DK+ sequencer automatically when you choose a "Custom" kit from the "Kit" menu. Then you can save, edit and export anything as you wish.
- The "User" collection is your space in the library, where you can put kits with patterns that you have created, the ones you want to keep handy as you may use them often.