FXpansion Drum Nine previewed at NAMM

Along with SoL, FXpansion also previewed Drum Nine, the eventual successor to the classic DR-008.

Based on an open, modular architecture, Drum Nine allows you to integrate sampled and multisampled percussion, analogue-modeling and digital synthesis, audio and MIDI loops, VST instruments, and VST and built-in effects, in to a single easy environment. It allows you to combine these elements in any way you see fit to build expressive, great sounding percussion tracks with unmatched ease and efficiency.

Its open architecture means that Drum Nine is open to expansion with new components from FXpansion and third parties. The collection it ships with includes, amongst others, synthesis algorithms from MDA and Smart Electron:x, and effect algorithms from PSP Audioware and Vellocet. Drum Nine also incorporates FXpansion's innovative "Captivator" technology, allowing you to sample or capture audio from anywhere in your DAW on-the-fly ready for playback and editing in the Drum Nine environment.

Drum Nine ships with an uncompromising multi-GB sound library featuring content licensed from industry leading names such as Sonic Reality, Wizoo, Yellow Tools and others, providing hundreds of premium quality ready to use drum and percussion kits suited to all styles of music.

Drum Nine, like SoL, is also tentatively scheduled for a spring/summer release in "all the formats under the sun" for Windows XP and Mac OS X, with an expected price of around $299 USD.