The New Alien Drum overview
The New Alien Drum VST (aka Hand Pan) is a unique tone based percussion instrument, which is almost impossible to come by, since there is only one maker in the world and less than 1000 drums in circulation. The instrument has a soft, sorrowful, melancholic tone to it and is a perfect companion for emotional or ambient type of scores. The 8Dio Alien Drum is unique in the sense it was recorded at an average of 15 velocity layers and with 10 round-robin repetitions pr. layer/note, so you will never experience any repetition in the articulation.

We used custom microphone set-ups to capture the delicate resonance both inside and outside the drum, since the resonance defines the true sound of the drum. Additionally we sampled multiple playing techniques with fingers, palm, slaps, hand brushing and the back-side of the drum, which has the similar properties to the Udu. Multiple versions of all multis allow for a variety of ways to switch or fade between articulations while playing.

The New Alien Drum also contains several morphed patches – where the Hand Pan Drum was morphed with other acoustic instruments (ex. modified piano, modified tonal percussion, modified stringed instruments, synths etc) and 20 carefully crafted ethereal ambiences. This is the first virtual instrument designed to match the SETI program and we are proud to announce it has been approved by the IGMP (Intergalactic Music Program).

Emotional Percussion
The New Alien Drum is one of the greatest sounding tonal percussion instruments in existence. It has an emotional quality that is hard to define, but it oozes of life, past memories and we sampled it incredible depth at up to 15 velocity layers and 10 round-robin (repetition) pr. layer. This means you have an incredibly flexible, playable and real sounding alien emo-drum at your finger tips. We sampled it using a variety of techniques, including fingers, palms, slaps, muted, hand-brushes, back side of drum which emulates a tonal Udu.

Presets and Control
The Alien Drum is incredible easy to use and lends itself very well to alternative instrument design. We created a variety of morphed presets that mixes the Alien Drum with other instruments from the custom 8Dio sample catalogue (ex. modified piano, plucked piano, tonal percussion, custom string instruments, synths etc). We also created a 3D animated interface (be sure to check the video) – and you have front-face controls, including Attack, Release, Dynamics and a nice 3-Band EQ.

Alien Effects
The New Alien Drum also comes with a gorgeous set of built-in effects. We added Delay, Amp/Screamer Emulations, Lo-Fi (Bit-Crusher), Fuzz, Rotator and two different types of convolution reverbs. The first convolution reverb contains a variety of custom natural space we’ve recorded over time. This includes some of our favorite recording environments in churches and cathedrals. The second convolution reverb contains a large selection of more experimental convolution shots – great if you want to sound design your Alien Drums