Retro drums from Iconic Instruments and Slate
Posted: Jul 13, 2026 8:27 am
A few weeks ago, Iconic Instruments released Detroit Drums, a set of two kits — an L-model and an S-model — that were recorded the way drums used to be recorded back in the day. ‘Back in the day’ meaning: the golden era of Motown. Iconic did a truly excellent job with the recordings: the drums do sound totally authentic and convincing, and best of all, they’re also perfectly useful for lots of other styles and genres besides (neo-)Motown, provided it’s music that is served well with unhyped, natural sounding acoustic drums that have a vintage patina.
A bit of a shame, I find, that the two kits each come in their own plug-in, so you can’t switch from one kit to the other within one plug-in, and the mapping is also somewhat unusual which means that ‘finger playing’ these drums is a dexterity that has to be relearned if you trained yourself on Toontrack or BFD-mappings. (Apparently, Iconic is working on extended mapping options that will be included in an update.)
There are a few other peculiarites which some people might consider an issue, but these are all the result of the authentic recording method that was followed. For example: except for the kick and the snare, there are no close microphones, which means that if you want to raise the level of, say, the toms, hi-hats or cymbal, you have to raise the overheads (and that changes the overal sound as well of course). Me, I usually load up a second instance if I want more control over the toms especially. (Fantastic sounding toms, by the way. Instantly among my favourites of all the sampled toms I have.)
Iconic paid special attention to the options for tuning and dampening the drums. Dampening these drums does more than merely change the envelope — which is what you do in Toontrack software to dampen a drum — it also alters the timbre ever so slightly giving a much more convincing simulation of a dampened drum. I don’t know how they did that, but it works really well.
The tuning range is also well chosen. Nothing ridiculously excessive, but within limits that sound perfectly OK across the entire tuning range. Nice.
Before Iconic released these drums, the company was known (and widely applauded) for their audio processing plugins. They’ve got a really good pre-amp, a nice plate reverb, a more-than-decent tape simulator and a strong Fairchild emulation. The reason I mention this is because basic versions (= tweaked for ‘drum use’) of all these tools are included in the drum plug-in. So there’s that as well.
Each Detroit Drums kit costs $79, the two bundled costs $129. (These are introduction prices.)
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Just released: Slate Classic 70’s, an expansion pack for SSD5 and Trigger. Recorded and produced by Marc Daniel Nelson and Ken Callait, the latter best known for recording Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” and “Tusk” albums. (Callait also co-authored a brilliant book about the recoding and production of “Rumours”, by the way. An indispensable read if you’re interested in that album and/or that era of audio recording.)
The production team went the distance to record these drums in exactly the same way — using exactly the same locations, equipment and recording techniques — as the originals, and that is immediately apparent the second you load up these drums and start playing them. It’s creepily accurate. Quite amazing.
I’m never been, and never will be a fan of SSD5 (as a piece of drum software, I mean), but there are a few outstanding packs available exclusively for this software — the Blackbird kits, the Patrick Carney ‘Black Keys’ kits, the Duality set, … and now this Classic 70’s pack — which are so sensationally good that I gladly put aside all my misgivings about working with the software and simply get on with the work and enjoy the sound.
The classic 70's expansion is being introduced at $79. (Regular price will be $99.)
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A bit of a shame, I find, that the two kits each come in their own plug-in, so you can’t switch from one kit to the other within one plug-in, and the mapping is also somewhat unusual which means that ‘finger playing’ these drums is a dexterity that has to be relearned if you trained yourself on Toontrack or BFD-mappings. (Apparently, Iconic is working on extended mapping options that will be included in an update.)
There are a few other peculiarites which some people might consider an issue, but these are all the result of the authentic recording method that was followed. For example: except for the kick and the snare, there are no close microphones, which means that if you want to raise the level of, say, the toms, hi-hats or cymbal, you have to raise the overheads (and that changes the overal sound as well of course). Me, I usually load up a second instance if I want more control over the toms especially. (Fantastic sounding toms, by the way. Instantly among my favourites of all the sampled toms I have.)
Iconic paid special attention to the options for tuning and dampening the drums. Dampening these drums does more than merely change the envelope — which is what you do in Toontrack software to dampen a drum — it also alters the timbre ever so slightly giving a much more convincing simulation of a dampened drum. I don’t know how they did that, but it works really well.
The tuning range is also well chosen. Nothing ridiculously excessive, but within limits that sound perfectly OK across the entire tuning range. Nice.
Before Iconic released these drums, the company was known (and widely applauded) for their audio processing plugins. They’ve got a really good pre-amp, a nice plate reverb, a more-than-decent tape simulator and a strong Fairchild emulation. The reason I mention this is because basic versions (= tweaked for ‘drum use’) of all these tools are included in the drum plug-in. So there’s that as well.
Each Detroit Drums kit costs $79, the two bundled costs $129. (These are introduction prices.)
- - -
Just released: Slate Classic 70’s, an expansion pack for SSD5 and Trigger. Recorded and produced by Marc Daniel Nelson and Ken Callait, the latter best known for recording Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” and “Tusk” albums. (Callait also co-authored a brilliant book about the recoding and production of “Rumours”, by the way. An indispensable read if you’re interested in that album and/or that era of audio recording.)
The production team went the distance to record these drums in exactly the same way — using exactly the same locations, equipment and recording techniques — as the originals, and that is immediately apparent the second you load up these drums and start playing them. It’s creepily accurate. Quite amazing.
I’m never been, and never will be a fan of SSD5 (as a piece of drum software, I mean), but there are a few outstanding packs available exclusively for this software — the Blackbird kits, the Patrick Carney ‘Black Keys’ kits, the Duality set, … and now this Classic 70’s pack — which are so sensationally good that I gladly put aside all my misgivings about working with the software and simply get on with the work and enjoy the sound.
The classic 70's expansion is being introduced at $79. (Regular price will be $99.)
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