Rail at Platinum tells me that soon, all of his Platinum Samples libraries will be ported over to the Accent player and I can't wait. I find using this system powerful and completely intuitive within my Pro Tools sessions.

Accent downloads as two files with the over 6GB of drum samples. I inserted it into my Pro Tools session as an Instrument track and store all the libraries on an external hard drive.

- Platinum Samples Accent Ocean Way Drums  Mouse Over To Pause--iPad and Smart Phone Refresh--

There are four full kits with crash, splash, China and ride cymbals plus four bonus kick and snare drums. I liked that you get all the realism of an actual studio drum recording with this collection. For example with kicks and toms, there is a choice between samples recorded with the snare strainer both on and off--just like I always hear when recording drummers. You also get the snare drums recorded with two microphones: Shure SM57 and AKG C12A. I've never used a C12A for snare drum because I would be afraid this awesome but vintage mic would get bashed!

A major feature of this collection is the choice of blending in three different sets of stereo room microphones in addition to the closer overheads. And that is what using Studio B at Ocean Way for drum recording is all about--the gigantic sounds!

To promote that idea properly, producers Sides and Miller created six "mix presets" per kit to instantly show off how they would mix the drum kit for an actual record. But these mixes are continuously adjustable and range from completely dry to extremely ambient.

The Accent player/mixer is available as AAX64, VST2 and AU and supports sample rates up to 96kHz/24-bit. It uses a 32-bit floating-point mixer, supports multi-channel outputs, has four inserts per channel, actual solo/mute buttons, solo isolate, and phase (polarity) flip capabilities. I love the one-touch switch from drummer perspective over to audience perspective! Music producers who are also drummers rejoice!; music mixers who are part of the audience--relief!

The Accent mixer also includes it's own internal effects with gain, filter, four-band EQ, compressor, limiter, gate and reverb. The Internal Effects window show/hides right next to the channel you've put it on--saving valuable horizontal screen space. In addition, there is support for 3rd party plug-ins--VST2, VST3 and AU on OSX and VST2 and VST3 on Windows PCs.

With a resizable user interface and familiar DAW style mixer I found the Accent mixer beautiful looking and easy to get around while dialing in a great drum sound. Everything in the mixer makes sense including a great feature where you can control the amount of "bleed" for each individual sample in the mix. So you can turn off or mix in to any level of the sonic "contribution" of any the stereo Room 1, 2, or 3 mics for any drum kit piece. Pretty cool sez me!

Very powerful is the Instrument Settings button on every channel of the Accent mixer. Like the Bleed dialog window, a 'drawer' pops out next to the channel you want to adjust that drum's individual parameters and articulations--more like the whole character of the sample really--on a drum-by-drum level. For example besides adjusting the inherent pitch of a snare drum you can adjust the MIDI note number and separate adjustable levels for rough/drag, center hit, rim shot, side stick, off-center hits and ghost note articulations. Furthermore each drum has its own ADSR--Attack, Release, 2-step Sustain and Release envelope generator.

So I am highly recommending Accent and the Ocean Way Drums Library; it includes Platinum Samples Grooves Volume 1 with over 2,000 groove variations. Platinum Samples Accent Ocean Way Drums sells for $149.99 as a download at: www.platinumsamples.com/accent/oceanwaydrums.php.