Spitfire Audio Percussion Swarm

Bring your scores to life

A one-of-a-kind, encyclopaedic collection of beautiful cloud-like evolutions, pointillistic textures and single hits created from tuned and untuned percussion. This new world of dynamic sounds is a collaboration with three of the world’s most renowned percussionists, equipped with their enviably rare and extensive range of instruments.

Following the same groundbreaking concept as our celebrated Swarm series, various techniques were performed simultaneously at random intervals in the inimitable resonance of The Hall at AIR Studios — resulting in undulating textures and swarm-like swells ranging in sparsity and density, with a staggering 16 signals to choose from. Percussion Swarm also offers you 30 warped pads and rhythmic textures, and 235 snapshots, presented in our Mercury Synth engine.

Widescreen percussion innovation

A distillation of months of musical experimentation and innovation, this epic and versatile set of tools follows the blueprint of our celebrated Swarm libraries, designed to add movement, depth and a modern edge to your TV, film or game scores. We have taken all of the sampling techniques we learned over the last three years and applied it to percussion, asking ourselves, what if you take percussion instruments, and play them as if they are strings? Percussion Swarm features truly stunning performances from some of the world’s finest percussionists, equipped with their enviably rare instrument collections: Paul Clarvis, Frank Ricotti and Gary Kettel, who have performed on our existing percussion libraries and are renowned for their prolific film work.

Uncharted territories

We selected a huge range of both well-known and lesser heard tuned and untuned percussion instruments, from Glockenspiels and Tubular Bells to Angklungs and Udus, most of which do not sustain naturally. Using performances and the resonance of the world-renowned Hall at AIR Studios combined with unconventional playing techniques, including bows and rubber balls to lengthen each sound, we have added breadth, depth and harmonic range to each instrument, transforming them into a liquid-like form that dances along the picture. Expertly recorded by engineers Jake Jackson and Fi Cruickshank, these sounds will blend seamlessly with our other orchestral and percussion libraries, providing the perfect textural addition to any orchestral composition.

Percussion Swarm offers plenty of room for your own experimentation and fine-tuning with 16 signals: six standard microphone positions from Close to Ambient, plus the Close Pans section, allowing you to hone in on any of the equally spaced three players or mix and match, for much more immediacy and detail. We also give you four distinct mixes curated by Jake Jackson, for instant playability. The 'Clouds' are long, looped notes made up of a glorious patina of uneven repeated hits, with a slider to control density, while the Swarms range from thunderous rolls, to swells and bowed metallic sheens, where each individual hit is imperceptible, with a slider to control the speed of the swarm and note length. We have also recorded short, single hits for each instrument, useful for creating your own rhythm tracks. Percussion Swarm offers you a unique experience impossible to replicate live, adding something truly unexpected to your scores.