Hertz Drums Quick Start Guide
Introduction
Thank you for purchasing Hertz Drums!
We’ve spent countless hours gathering samples, recording grooves, and tweaking the user interface, to create what we believe is the most complete drum replacement tool currently available on the market.
The initial idea behind Hertz Drums put forward by its creators Slawek and Wojtek Wieslawski, long-time sound engineers and music producers with 300+ albums recorded at Hertz Studio, was to make a tool for themselves to use in their own productions. The bar was set very high right from the start, and we’re proud to say that the final product exceeds every expectation of a drum plugin a sound engineer at any level can have.
This quick start guide will help you set up the software properly and start working with it.
Have fun and make your drums come true!
/The Hertz Instruments Team
Table of Contents
What is Hertz Drums?
Hertz Drums is a virtual drum instrument that works as a plugin in your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). Hertz Drums consists of the following components:
- Hertz Drums Software (referred to as the plugin or the software in the rest of this document) – the plugin itself that is connected directly to your DAW of choice. Important: The plugin is only the software shell of the instrument with no sounds and only default grooves built into it. All sounds and additional grooves are connected to the plugin in the form of the following extensions:
- Sample Packs (*.hdlib files)– libraries of drum samples produced at Hertz Studio, accessed via Lib/Sampler page of the plugin;
- MIDI-packs (*.hdmid files) – libraries of midi-grooves played by real drummers, accessed via Grooves page of the plugin.
Additionally, you can load your own custom samples (in the form of *.wav files) into the plugin to use them with the Sampler built into the plugin (see Sampler section of the full Instruction Manual for more info).
Installation and first launch
Installation
To install Hertz Drums please follow the steps below:
- Log in to your account at https://hertzinstruments.com/my-account/
- Go to the Downloads tab and download the software installer (select the version depending on your operating system) and the packs you have purchased;
- Once the downloads are completed, be sure to extract all of the files from the ZIParchives;
- Make sure your DAW is closed before proceeding with the installation;
- Open the installation file:
- HertzDrums.exe on Windows;
- HertzDrums.pkg on Mac OS.
(located inside the .dmg file you have downloaded at Step 2).
Complete the installation by following the steps on the screen.
Important: If you run into any problems at this stage, try disabling your antivirus.
First launch instructions
- Once the installation is complete, open your DAW and find the plugin in the Virtual Instruments section of the DAW. Open the plugin in the DAW;
- Upon the first launch the pulgin will request you to provide the e-mail you used to purchase the product. Please enter it in the textbox and click „Send”;
- After the authorization is complete you can start using the software.
Connecting Sample packs and MIDI-packs
Connecting Sample packs
- Open the Setup page of the plugin by clicking the Setup icon in the Top Panel;
- Go to the Audio Libraries section by clicking Audio Libraries button;
- Click the „+” icon in the bottom part of the main screen. Browse to the Sample pack you’ve downloaded (*.hdlib file) and double click it;
- The appearance of the full path to the *.hdlib file on your computer in the Sample Pack list indicates that the pack has been added successfully;
- The samples in the pack can now be accessed via the Lib/Sampler page of the plugin;
- The pack’s presets can now be accessed through the Preset menu;
- To remove a sample pack, select it in the list and click the Trash icon in the bottom part of the main screen.
Pic.1. Connecting a Sample pack to Hertz Drums plugin
Connecting MIDI-packs
- Open the Setup page of the plugin by clicking the Setup icon in the Top Panel;
- Go to the MIDI-Libraries section by clicking MIDI-libraries button;
- Click the „+” icon in the bottom part of the main screen. Browse to the MIDI-pack you’ve downloaded (*.hdmid file) and double click it;
- The appearance of the full path to the *.hdmid file on your computer in the MIDI-pack list indicates that the pack has been added successfully;
- The grooves in the pack can now be accessed via the Grooves page of the plugin;
- To remove a MIDI-pack, select it in the list and click the Trash icon in the bottom part of the main screen.
Important: in case you run into any problems when adding packs try running your DAW with Administrator rights.
Pic. 2. Connecting a MIDI-pack to Hertz Drums
Changing the MIDI-map
In order to make your transition from other drum replacement products as smooth as possible, Hertz Drums allows you to choose one of the several pre-configured MIDImaps, depending on what kind of drum software you were using before or what type of E-drums you’re connecting the plugin to.
To switch to another MIDI-map please follow the steps below (see Pic.3 for reference):
- Open the MIDI page by clicking the MIDI icon in the Top Panel;
- Open the MIDI Mapping drop-down and choose one of the options:
- Hertz Drums (default) – restore the default MIDI-map;
- E-drums Presets – MIDI-maps for some of the most commonly used E-drums;
- Other Presets – MIDI-maps for some of the most commonly used drum plugins;
- User Presets – the maps you create and save in the plugin using the Save As function as well as the maps you import into the plugin using the Load function;
- Save – save changes in the current MIDI-map click;
- Save as – save the current MIDI-map as a new map. In this case the new MIDI-map will be saved on your computer as an *.hdmapping file;
- Load – import a custom MIDI-map into the plugin in the form of an *.hdmapping file;
- Clear Preset – clear the current MIDI-map click.
Pic. 3. MIDI Mapping menu
