Bunker Perc

A percussion library made from the sounds of a WWII bomb shelter bunker..

The bunker is where Bunker Samples was borne: a civilian bomb shelter in Copenhagen constructed at the end of WWII. After the Cold War the city started renting them out, and many musicians jumped on the chance to have a dead quiet underground studio, albeit with no toilet facilities, heat or running water. It was the birthplace of Bunker Samples, and where Bunker Strings Vol. 1 and 2 was conceived and recorded.

Unfortunately, the bunker is no more (as a recording studio at least), but we managed to capture the sonic memory of it that have now become Bunker Perc. The result is a highly unique and malleable percussion library that offers a fresh alternative to traditional drums in concert halls.

THE BUNKER DNA

The sonic DNA of the Bunker is embedded in each and every sound in this library – the sound of a damp, underground space full of metal and concrete. These sounds are raw and full of texture: big blast doors being slammed and hit, air ducts struck with mallets and locks and heavy metal handles clicking into place, captured in great detail with a pair of AKG 414s.

You not only get all the 21 original sounds exactly the way they sounded in the Bunker, but also 62 organic sound designed hits, divided into impacts, low booms and low, mid and high hits.

All together this collection offers a refreshing and highly versatile alternative to traditional drums that can be tweaked to create a percussion ensemble that's unique to you and your music. And best of all, you also get every single sound as WAV files, ready to drag and drop into your DAW for further manipulation.

THE ENGINE

Easy and intuitive to use, yet powerful, the PERC engine gives you the flexibility to sculpt each individual sound in detail, letting you create your own completely unique percussion ensemble in minutes.

To edit a sound, simply play it and start moving controls, no menu diving necessary. Radically transform any sound by tuning it up or down and adjusting attack, release and sample start offset to your liking. The velocity controlled filters adds dynamic realism to your performance, while the 3 band EQ let's you sculpt the sound in subtle or extreme ways. The punch control can add transient emphasis or extreme snappiness to any sound. Finally you can use the tube compressor to add some analogue grit and saturation to the combined output of the engine.

BUILD YOUR STAGE.

At the centre of the interface is the positioning grid which lets you place each individual sound in a room of your choice, from small ambiences to a huge sounding car park. Together with the per-sound stereo width control, the grid makes it easy to create front-to-back depth and precise panning for each instrument in your ensemble – simply play a sound, move the white puck to your preferred position in the room, done.

REVERSES MADE EASY

Have you ever bounced out a sound to reverse it and use as a transition, maybe going into a hit? Bunker Perc's reverse patches makes this process easy, hold a note, it plays any sound in the library in reverse, and (if you want it to), when you let go of the key, it plays the corresponding hit. All you have to do now is adjust the length of the MIDI note, line up the end of it with the beat you want the hit to land on, and done! And best of all, you can edit the reverse or hit independently or together – it's completely up to you.

Features AT A GLANCE:

• 83 sounds.
• Wav files included.
• Per-sound control of everything.
• Attack, release, sample start offset controls.
• Velocity controlled filters with selectable filter slope.
• 10 different room impulses.
• Intuitive placement grid.
• Tune, stereo width and volume trim.
• 3 band EQ.
• Punch control.
• Reverse engine with hit-on-release.
• Global tube saturator/compressor.