Toontrack SDX: The Drum Factory

Unhinged Creativity

Industry legend Sylvia Massy brings you seven kits for Superior Drummer 3.

To Sylvia Massy, there's nothing that says you can't run sound through a garden hose, reengineer an old rotary phone into a mic, or use the pickups on a guitar as a secondary room mic for drums.

Everything she does carries a playful twist, adding a unique layer of character that makes every sound unmistakably hers.

That fearless curiosity has made her one of the most distinctive engineers in modern recording, earning recognition across genres and credits with artists ranging from Tool and Sevendust to Johnny Cash and Jason Isbell.

For this project, she brought that same boundless creativity to Southern France - and one of its most legendary studios - to create her ultimate expansion for Superior Drummer 3.

Expect the unexpected.

Tucked away at the end of a village road in the Saint-Rémy-de-Provence countryside, the once 19th-century silk-spinning mill houses one of Europe's most iconic studios, La Fabrique.

Inside, squeaky doors open into labyrinth-like hallways, creaky staircases wind between weathered stone walls, and every room you walk into is lined with an eclectic mix of vintage and modern gear.

That - combined with the fact that it's housed anything from Rammstein to Radiohead - makes it hard to imagine a place more fitting for Sylvia's creative spirit.

The studio features four unique ambiences, each carefully paired with handpicked kits. In the massive 100-square-meter Dark Room, with its 10-meter-high ceiling, an eight-tom set with octobans was recorded.

Surrounded by centuries-old stone walls, this space delivers a powerful, hard-hitting smack - perfect for loud rock and metal.

In the more intimately set Library, two distinctive vintage 1960s oddities with eccentric, space-age-looking shells were captured - both sounding as bold as they look.

Across the courtyard, the Arcades - measuring 33 by 10 meters with a six-meter ceiling – offers another expansive, reverberant environment.

Here, a wooden ceiling and heavy curtains diffuse reflections off the stone walls, creating an ambience that contrasts beautifully with the Dark Room.

Finally, in the Mill, two 2000s-era kits were sampled.

The tone in this room, built entirely from 12th-century stone, has a natural, hall-like reverb unlike anything else.

In addition to the drums, this SDX comes with a basic collection of MIDI as well as close to 70 mix-ready presets.

These presets utilize different mic blends, routing and saturation - some even have layers of Sylvia's own one-shot samples for extra augmentation, smack and attack.

It's been said that Sylvia once threw a guitar and amplifier off a cliff to capture the fall, feedback and noise it made on the way down.

During the recording of this SDX, no drums were harmed, but - rest assured - with Sylvia at the helm, ordinary isn't on the setlist.

This is one you need to not only hear, but experience.

If you're ready to unhinge your creativity, welcome in to Sylvia's world.

Features

• Produced and engineered by Sylvia Massy (Tool, Sevendust, System of a Down), Grammy Award-winning producer/engineer/mixer with over 25 gold and platinum-album certifications
• Assisted by Ian Rickard, Grammy Award-winning engineer/producer/mixer
• Recorded in four different rooms at the La Fabrique studios in France
• A total of seven complete drum kits as well as several extra snares, kicks and cymbals
• Ideal for rock and metal – great for anything in between and beyond!
• Selected kits recorded with additional ambience and surround mics
• Comes with a collection of MIDI tailored specifically for the kits in this SDX
• Includes mix-ready presets engineered by Sylvia, featuring layers of her own one-shot samples

The Dark Room

Measuring 10 meters from floor to ceiling, this windowless, 100-square-meter stone room sounds exactly like you'd imagine - even without drums: big, thunderous and echoing.

Place a kit in there, and it's pure, unstoppable energy.

The Library

Drenched in natural light from tall French doors, this wood-lined room - with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and instruments scattered throughout - is the heart of the studio.

Despite its 150-square-meter size, it has a warm and focused tone, making it ideal for capturing drums with an organic vibe.

The Arcades

Although it measures 33 meters across, nine meters in width and has a six-meter height, the wooden ceiling beams in this room break up the diffusion beautifully.

For this session, the kits were also blocked off by thick textile curtains, making the natural reverb perfectly mid-sized.

Frankly, a dream room for controlled but loud drums with an attitude.

The Mill

This 100-square-meter room, built entirely from 12th-century stone, has a unique, dark echo to it.

Sylvia placed the kits in the corner at the very back of the space, projecting the energy of the drums straight into the open room.

The result is a tone with a direct, tight and controlled attack - but a long and beautiful tail of natural reverb.