How do you make acoustic drum tracks without the actual drums? Turn to the latest innovation from Native Instruments -- Studio Drummer, a new virtual instrument that provides the host environment, the tools, and the sounds needed to create studio-quality acoustic drum tracks.

Studio Drummer's main features include sampled drum kits, a comprehensive studio-grade mixing environment, and a library of professional grooves and drum sounds for use with pop, rock, metal, jazz, and related music styles.

The Kontakt-based Studio Drummer instrument makes full use of Kontakt 5's advanced new features. At the heart of the instrument are three premium drum kits from Pearl, Sonor, and Yamaha that have been sampled at Teldex Studios in Berlin, using selected outboard gear and an array of up to 18 microphones. The resulting 17 GB of sample material incorporates up to 25 velocity layers with up to 6 variation samples for individual instruments; the resulting collection also includes over a dozen distinct articulations for snare and hi-hats, as well as an alternative snare option for each kit.

Along with the individual drum sounds, Studio Drummer offers an extensive groove library with over 3,500 rhythm patterns organized by 11 specific music styles. All patterns, including fills and variations, were recorded directly from a professional session drummer and converted into MIDI files for flexible usage in the Kontakt engine. All grooves can be adjusted for swing and tightness, and they can be transferred into a host sequencer via drag and drop for detailed editing and arrangement. In order to play the individual instruments in Studio Drummer directly, the software also offers a practical assortment of MIDI templates for various electronic drum sets and third-party drum software, combined with custom mapping functions.

The mixer section allows you to tailor each drum kit to the individual musical context. According to Native Instruments, detailed microphone settings with adjustable snare bleed, auxiliary mics, and specific room and overhead controls can be either set by hand, or through the several mix presets per drum kit. Studio Drummer also makes use of the classic EQ and compressor models derived from Native Instruments' new Solid Mix Series, as well as the integrated Transient Master and Tape Saturator algorithms.

Native Instruments plans on releasing Studio Drummer in September, 2011 for $169. Studio Drummer will also be included in the new Komplete 8 and Komplete 8 Ultimate bundles. For more information, visit native-instruments.com.