“A flexible and impressive compendium that extends way beyond just jazz”: Toontrack SDX The Jazz Sessions review

Toontrack SDX The Jazz Sessions: What is it?

If somebody mentions jazz to you, you could be forgiven for conjuring an image of smoky clubs and a form of music that feels disconnected from current trends, but that could be a huge mistake.

Jazz has developed exponentially over the last hundred years or so. From the days of Duke Ellington, jazz has been one of the most influential styles of music, infiltrating commercial pop, R&B, rap, funk, drum & bass, and arguably many forms of electronica. Jazz has been enjoying a renaissance recently, through artists such as the Mercury prize winning Ezra Collective, and British drummer and band leader Moses Boyd. Being an American import, we can't ignore the influence of bands such as Snarky Puppy, who have spawned numerous artists, as well as their own label to support new music.

For the creation of a new jazz-centred expansion pack for the Superior Drummer 3, Toontrack has called upon the services of one of the best engineers in their class. James Farber has worked with contemporary jazz artists as diverse as The Brecker Brothers, John Scofield and The Yellowjackets, to name just a few. Moreover, this library has been recorded at Power Station in NYC, a studio with a proven track record for jazz recording.

Toontrack SDX The Jazz Sessions: Performance and verdict

The Jazz Sessions SDX makes extensive use of four different recording rooms. Studios A and C have been used, both as a main room for greater reverberance, and for their smaller booths, providing a drier and more intimate environment.

All four scenarios have something to offer, as do the seven drum kits that have been deployed across the recording locations. These kits vary tremendously, from the more contemporary Yamaha custom kit, through to several classic jazz kits, representing different eras of jazz.

The Swing Kit draws its inspiration from the big band era, where a large bass drum would have been used to compete with the band’s large horn section.

As a case in point, this kit features both 26” and 28” inch Ludwig bass drums, which sound enormous and powerful. Of course, in the purist sense, this is a very engaging acoustic sound to use, but thanks to the extensive control provided by Superior Drummer, it's possible to create exceptionally deep tones, which could compete with electronic counterparts.

As an equal and opposite, the bop kit and club kit both provide an eternally classic jazz sound, thanks to the capture of two beautiful Gretsch kits. These sound exceptionally authentic, in no small part thanks to the extraordinary playing from Toontrack regular, Norman Garschke.

One point that sets this library apart is through its extraordinary amount of sample and MIDI content. Toontrack has captured playing articulations using sticks, hot rods, mallets, brushes and even hands.

The accompanying MIDI files exploit these samples beautifully, with extended playing forms and phrases, between 8 and 64 bars. It's perfect for compiling exceptionally interesting drum tracks, or selecting a small section for use as a loop, for more commercial settings. Either way, it's flexible enough for all styles, whether working with MIDI in your DAW, or using Superior’s onboard song compiler.

The Toontrack way

Toontrack has been building up an armoury of exceptionally useful software and samples for many years now. Superior Drummer’s smaller sibling, EZDrummer 3, provides an equally impressive suite of great drum sounds. Where Superior brings even more content to the sample table through additional mic signals, deeper sampling and a larger number of articulations, EZDrummer provides the essentials in an affordably impressive package. By adding EZBass and EZKeys to your DAW, you can create a virtual band.

With most styles and genres of music covered, across all of its packages, you can conveniently move from heavy rock or metal, through to ambient cinematic styles, with the adoption of their extensive expansion packages. You can also buy additional MIDI content, to cater to or expand your stylistic horizons. This is particularly the case for jazzier styles, where it's possible to re-create an entire virtual jazz or Latin ensemble, as Toontrack will happily guide you with helpful content, providing groove-based inspiration.

Session roundup

The Jazz Sessions library is one of the most impressive that we have seen from Toontrack. The samples account for 161GB of data, which translates as a flexible and impressive compendium that extends way beyond just jazz. This is an expansion library, and requires the ownership of Superior Drummer 3, but if you are new to this product, it is guaranteed to impress. The flexibility in editing and mixing, to create the drum sound your production requires, is undoubtedly the best in the marketplace, with extensive possibilities for future expansion on all fronts, across all styles of music.

MusicRadar verdict: Despite the jazz branding, this SDX for Superior Drummer 3 is versatile and brimming with some of the best acoustic drum content available, in both sampled and MIDI content form.

Toontrack SDX The Jazz Sessions: The web says

"The attention to detail is quite remarkable, although given how long Toontrack have been at the top of their game, perhaps not unexpected. I’m always hesitant to say ‘perfect' but given I can’t find a single flaw, I guess that is the only word I can use here."
Production Expert

Toontrack SDX The Jazz Sessions: Hands-on demos

Toontrack

The Jazz Sessions SDX by James Farber | The Making Of - YouTube

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Shootie School

The Jazz Sessions SDX Overview | A Sound Expansion for Superior Drummer | Toontrack - YouTube

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Production Expert

Toontrack SDX The Jazz Sessions: Specifications

• System requirements: A working Superior Drummer 3.3.6 (or above) installation.
• CONTACT: Toontrack