Keyboard magazine - October 1994 excerpts from Drumtrax version 2

MIDI Files: Drumtrax
"Not everyone is a great drum programmer," says Drumtrax in their latest advertisement.  Boy, they got that right.  If we had a dime for every stale, bloodless drum machine groove we've heard...
Drumtrax to the rescue.  Here's a chance for non programmers to get their hands on grooves that actually groove.  the folks at Drumtrax have captured the performances of living, breathing humans playing electronic pads, and compiled them into a two floppy disk set.  Styles range from rock,to dance to Latin.
Formatted to General MIDI percussion mapping scheme, the Drumtrax files are designed primarily as building blocks for songwriters.  Electronic performers who use sequences onstage will also find plenty of tools to work with.
How realistic these patterns actually sound depends on a couple of factors.  First and foremost is what MIDI module they'll be played back on.  Great grooves played back on cheesoid modules will probably sound, well, cheesy.  We tested the Drumtrax material on a batch of MIDI modules and found that some beats kicked butt on some, yet fell flat on others.
The second consideration is what sequencer you're planning to import the files into.  Drumtrax created this material using Mark of the unicorn's Performer (running 480 ppq).  If you use a sequencer or drum machine with an unusually coarse clock resolution, you might inadvertently turn a fat funk pattern into a stiff slice of white bread.
We had no problem importing and playing back the files.  It's obvious that real drummers (or at least people who know how drums are played) recorded these patterns, fills, and pickups.  In particular, we found plenty of useful material in the hip-hop section; cool shuffles driven by ultra-funky bass drum figures, and lots of variations.  We did find a few train wrecks or two (you know, drumfills that sound like someone pushed the kit down a flight of stairs), but luckily they were few and far between.  One of our test listeners, a jingle producer, agreed that the hip-hop and dance material was a standout, but he had to massage most of the patterns before he felt they were ready to be plugged into his tune.
the documentation and supporting materials Drumtrax provides are excellent.   Drumtrax did an equally good job with the MIDI files themselves.
We enjoy programming our own grooves, so these disks aren't necessarily the first thing we'd opt to spend 99 bucks on.  But for non programmers or those who don't have the time to program, the Drumtrax disks could be one of the best musical investments they could make.  There a a few trainwreck patterns and fills, but overall Drumtrax is a solid, useful, well-conceived package that should find favor in many MIDI studios.  And from an educational perspective, it's a great way to expand one's knowledge of rhythms. - Greg Rule