“I’ve personally taken a lot of inspiration from the UK dance music scene": Mixwave just captured Sleep Token’s drummer – II – and trapped him inside a plugin

Mixwave just dropped their latest drum library, one that’s certain to get the metalheads among us excited. Now, for the first time anywhere, anyone can have access to not only the distinctive sounds but the unique play-style of Sleep Token’s enigmatic drummer, II.

Featuring their Collector’s Series topline DW kit, Sleep Token - II is all of II’s classic 5-piece captured inside your computer. There are three different snares to swap in and out, two toms plus floor tom and a total of 11 crashes, rides, china, stacks and hi-hats along for the gig too. All – they say – sampled by II, at Mixwaves studio.

MixWave: Sleep Token - II - YouTube

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In case you’re not familiar with Mixwave’s libraries, they’re instruments carefully crafted within Native Instrument’s Kontakt using all of the market-leading sampler’s skills and unique graphical capabilities to bring sounds to life alongside easy-to-understand animations that let you see what’s going on and configure and play the kit in any way you want.

And you don’t need to own the full version of Kontakt to play them. All of Mixwave’s libraries load up in the latest version of NI’s free Kontakt player (supplied with the kit) allowing you to place them inside your choice of DAW.

Mixwave claim that they’ve captured every facet of II’s sound and style, capturing not only individual drum hits but, an expanded arsenal of articulations, and multiple velocity layers and tones.

You can customize the MIDI mapping to wherever you’d like it on your keyboard or drum pads, select your perfect velocity curves to suit your playing style and even activate Auto Double Kick, to automatically alternate between left and right sampled kick hits, delivering a more realistic performance.

And if playing II’s kit sounds like too much effort, let them take the strain with built-in grooves performed by II themselves. Simply drag and drop riffs and loops from the library to have one of metal’s most revered drummers play along with your composition.

The Offering

And, thanks to Mixwaves careful curation and Kontakt’s abilities, the sound of II’s kit comes through completely ‘mix ready’. There’s built-in snare and tom reverbs, and master overall, compression, EQ and saturation to tweak, giving you the sound of Sleep Token kit in a single stereo out.

Alternatively go in depth and choose the ‘mixed’ or ‘unmixed’ output to isolate and control each separate element and get your own ‘Token-inspired sound.

And, in an interview with Drumeo last year, II revealed some of the secrets that make their style so distinctive.

“I’ve always personally taken a lot of inspiration from the UK dance music scene,” II explains. “And listening to various subgenres of drum and bass, specifically, allows me to incorporate stylistic traits from those genres into my vocabulary as a drummer.

“I’m also a big fan of R&B and pop which has worked its way into my playing. I grew up primarily playing metal, so the next obvious step for me was to blend these other styles in amongst heavier playing to add versatility to my drum parts.”

An Offering From Drumeo | Sleep Token II - YouTube

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“These days, I would describe my playing style as a mixture of that signature Abe Cunningham, Deftones-inspired, heavier sort of grooving with a linear style gospel influence.”

Here’s that full list of all of the bespoke Sleep Token artillery on board Mixwave: Sleep Token – II:

Kick
22 x 18" DW Collectors Series Maple/Mahogany

Snares
13 x 6" DW Collectors Series Custom Maple/Walnut/Maple Edge
13 x 6.5" Craviotto Custom Shop Steam Bent Cherry
13 x 6.5" DW Collectors Series Steel

Toms
10 x 7" DW Collectors Series Maple/Mahogany
12 x 8" DW Collectors Series Cherry/Mahogany
16 x 16" DW Collectors Series Cherry/Mahogany

Hi-Hats
13" Istanbul Agop Traditional Medium

Extras
Stick clicks

Crashes
17" Istanbul Agop Traditional Dark
18" Istanbul Agop OM
16" Istanbul Agop Xist Ion
19" Istanbul Agop Xist Dry Dark Brilliant

Ride
22" Istanbul Agop Idris Muhammad Signature

Stacks
10" Istanbul Agop Traditional Mini China & 10" Istanbul Agop Turk Splash (Stacked)
18" Istanbul Agop Xist Ion Crash & 16" Istanbul Agop Turk China (Stacked)

Splashes
8" Istanbul Agop Xist
10" Istanbul Agop Trash Hit

China
18" Istanbul Agop Turk