Drum Kit Live™ is the groundbreaking, powerful MainStage template built for live electronic & triggered drums.
To get the drum sounds you love in today’s music, you need the ability to play samples or layer sounds on top of your acoustic kit. The problem is today’s e-drums manufacturers are going after this the wrong way.
A lot of modules sound bad. The good ones are expensive, and even then they’re annoying to use, with SD card file transfers (what?) and limited effects. And once you send a stereo mix to front of house, there’s no way to dial in your drum levels.
The key to unlocking your kit’s potential is to transform it into a powerful MIDI rig where you can choose the best sounds from products like Steven Slate Drums, Addictive Drums, GetGood Drums, or Superior Drummer.
Drum Kit Live includes over 30 performance-ready kits, curated from the enormous Logic Pro library. There are also mappings for Steven Slate Drums’ popular free deluxe kits, which sound phenomenal.
But where Drum Kit Live really shines is when you create your own patches using your favorite plugins and samples. Build your perfect kit, or one for each song in your set. With one tap you can switch from arena rock, to hip hop, to dubstep—all built with the nearly unlimited effects Drum Kit Live has to offer…reverbs, tempo-synced delays, or even chest-thumping sub-bass.
Playing drums should be fun, not require a technical degree. That’s why powerful behind-the-scenes settings like parallel compression, FX busses, and invaluable MIDI scripts come ready-to-go in a gorgeous interface. And your sound tech will love you when you explain they can wirelessly adjust your mix on-the-fly with a free app.
So if you want fatter snares, punchy toms, and kicks that shake the room, Drum Kit Live is ready to take your drumming to the next level.
All MIDI devices
Compatible with modules from all major manufacturers...Roland, Alesis, Pearl, Yamaha, ATV, etc. Just connect your MIDI hardware to an Apple computer running MainStage.
Over 30 kits included
Get dozens of professionally-mixed kits from Mainstage's library that span genres like contemporary worship, R&B, hip-hop, indie, dance, gospel, and more.
Wirelessly mix your kit
Using the free Logic Remote app (available in the App Store), your sound tech can wirelessly adjust your drum mix without needing a module with dozens of outputs.
8 Track Sampler
Drum Kit Live features an 8-track visual sampler for one-shots, loops, or backing tracks. Also included is a metronome with assignable tap tempo button.
Record with one click
Forget interfaces and extra hassles just to record your playing. Press record and you’re done. Seriously...full digital recording straight to your computer.
Dial in the effects
Go beyond the limits from your module. Each patch has been enhanced with just the right amount of EQ, reverb, delay, compression, and even ground-shaking sub-bass.
Bundled MIDI scripts
MIDI scripting is technical and hard. We've done the heavy lifting for you. For example, use your own samples for closed and open hi-hat and control them based on the openness of the hi-hat rather than a MIDI note.
Ready for Steven Slate Drums
Includes mappings for the fantastic Steven Slate Drums 5.5 Free, a free collection of some of their "freshest kits." These are THE BEST free kits around.
Build your setlist
Create and save patches to nail the exact sound you want for every song...or even switch from that rock kick to an 808 at the breakdown.
Standard
Drum Kit Live
Extended
Drum Kit Live +
All VST Mappings
Steven Slate Drums Mapped Patches
$1511 presets for some of our favorite sounds from SSD 5.5. Steven Slate Drums is our pick for best value for a drum VST with 135 Snares, 112 Kicks, 58 Toms, 11 Hi-Hats, 14 Crashes, 6 Rides, 4 Splashes, and 3 Chinas included. If you're just getting started with Drum Kit Live, SSD is our recommendation for your first drum software. By default, SSD has a very sloppy hi-hat, but our custom script improves performance considerably and allows you to customize the trigger points for different hi-hat openings.GetGood Drums Modern & Massive Mapped Patches
$157 presets for the very popular Modern & Massive pack. Although it doesn't have the variety of say Steven Slate Drums, this is our pick for the absolute best-sounding drum VST. If you want snares that really slap, this is the kit for you. Only downside is the hi-hat control isn't best-in-class, but Drum Kit Live's custom MIDI script improves performance considerably. It is a very resource-heavy plugin, so it's better for newer and more powerful processors.Addictive Drums Black Velvet Mapped Patches
$159 presets for one of Addictive Drums 2's top rock ADpaks. We think Addictive Drums excels with their hi-hats and cymbals especially, and Black Velvet is one of their few kits with 2 splash cymbals included. Please note that Addictive Drums does not allow you to route the built-in effects into a DAW if using multi-output (only stereo).Addictive Drums United Pop Mapped Patches
$159 presets for the radio-ready Leedy & Ludwig kit included in the United Pop ADpak. We love the polished gospel-inspired kit we put together (requires the Pearl Masterworks Piccolo Snare Kitpiece Pak, sold separately). Please note that Addictive Drums does not allow you to route the built-in effects into a DAW if using multi-output (only stereo).MixWave: Tony Royster Jr. Mapped Patches
$156 presets for MixWave's phenomenal new drum library featuring Tony Royster Jr.'s personal kit. This drum library gives you production perfect drums dialed in for live performance. It's not a huge library of different kits, but it sounds very, very good for genres like pop, CCM, gospel, or hip hop. The default hi-hat settings aren't great, but you get Drum Kit Live's custom MIDI script to improve performance considerably.EZDrummer 2 Mapped Patches
$1512 presets for EZDrummer 2's Modern and Vintage kits. EZDrummer 2 oddly doesn't allow you to map notes to certain drums, but thankfully Drum Kit Live gives you more control. EZDrummer 2 is a very limited drum VST because many features are reserved for the more expensive Superior Drummer 3, but it's accessible, has a very clean sounding hi-hat, and is very resource-light for low latency playing.
Apple Computer running MainStage
MainStage only runs on Apple computers. It sells for $29.99 on the App Store and requires 78GB storage space for full Sound Library installation. We recommend a newer processor and at least 16GB RAM. Other VSTs or plugins may have their own requirements.
E-drums / MIDI controller, and audio interface
Connect your module to your Apple computer (usually via USB), and you'll be able to assign each pad to the right place in MainStage. If you plan to send your audio live to a front of house mixer, you should consider using a 2-channel (minimum) audio interface.
Add your own virtual instruments
Virtual instruments (often called VSTs) are packs you can buy to add great sounding drums to your arsenal beyond what comes included with Drum Kit Live. If you don't know where to start, we recommend Steven Slate Drums which includes 148 kit presets from many genres and is often available for less than $100.