Recently I made a tutorial on how to make those big cinematic style drums using a synth. I used MPowersynth in this case, but of course the same technique can be used with other synthesizers. I know there isn't a lot of info on how to make cinematic sounds using synths, so hopefully this will interesting to people.
 
Epic drum synthesis

chandler, really enjoyed bouncing around your tutorials. Bravo!

Well done! You should link to that in the Meldaproduction forum on KVR if you haven't done so yet.

Thanks, I'm glad people are enjoying them. I already linked it over at KVR. I'm planning to make a part 2 to this video also.

This is great.  I did not expect the total synth approach.  Very good.  It takes me back to when I used to spend many hours programming tom hits like this with my Oberheim synth.  Synthmaster would do this very well indeed.
 
One thing I was hoping for and maybe he will talk about it in the next part is the concept of multi tracking the same part over and over.  You could create say a very cool cinematic tom groove.  Use multiple instances of this sound with the synth but fine tune each one though some higher in pitch and others lower.  Alter some of the parameters of each one.  Copy the groove to all the tracks say 10 or more.  Modify the timing on every track and go in and change velocities of all the tracks at random.  Then it will sound like 10 or 20 drummers doing the same feel but not quite exactly.  Remove the individual reverbs but put a large hall over the whole thing.  Drums must be panned everywhere.  Delays are not needed in this situation and it will sound more real without them.  Unless delay times can be modulated slightly.
 
I have done this live playing my tom toms live from my kit.  The snare can be used with the wires off.  Play the same groove on all the drums one by one.  Use mallets on the kick drum.  Then tune all the drums differently and do that all again. Now you have 10 cinematic toms playing the same groove.  Another tuning gives 15. Mixing up different makes of drums also adds to this.  eg a Yamaha 16" floor tom sounds different to a Sonor 16" floor tom.  I found only hearing the metronme while doing each overdub results in a slightly tighter sound.  Still a very wide beat though.
 
This sounds serious.  You could do a bunch of synth tracks with added live tom overdubs on top.  30 to 40 players now. Big is understatement.  It is important for every part to be the same say as written but all timed feel wise slightly differently.  What makes those cinematic drum libraries and plug-ins sound good is lots of players live in big rooms.
 
Native Instruments Action Strikes is also killer at this.

Jeff Evans
This is great.  I did not expect the total synth approach.  Very good.  It takes me back to when I used to spend many hours programming tom hits like this with my Oberheim synth.  Synthmaster would do this very well indeed.
 
One thing I was hoping for and maybe he will talk about it in the next part is the concept of multi tracking the same part over and over.  You could create say a very cool cinematic tom groove.  Use multiple instances of this sound with the synth but fine tune each one though some higher in pitch and others lower.  Alter some of the parameters of each one.  Copy the groove to all the tracks say 10 or more.  Modify the timing on every track and go in and change velocities of all the tracks at random.  Then it will sound like 10 or 20 drummers doing the same feel but not quite exactly.  Remove the individual reverbs but put a large hall over the whole thing.  Drums must be panned everywhere.  Delays are not needed in this situation and it will sound more real without them.  Unless delay times can be modulated slightly.
 
I have done this live playing my tom toms live from my kit.  The snare can be used with the wires off.  Play the same groove on all the drums one by one.  Use mallets on the kick drum.  Then tune all the drums differently and do that all again. Now you have 10 cinematic toms playing the same groove.  Another tuning gives 15. Mixing up different makes of drums also adds to this.  eg a Yamaha 16" floor tom sounds different to a Sonor 16" floor tom.  I found only hearing the metronme while doing each overdub results in a slightly tighter sound.  Still a very wide beat though.
 
This sounds serious.  You could do a bunch of synth tracks with added live tom overdubs on top.  30 to 40 players now. Big is understatement.  It is important for every part to be the same say as written but all timed feel wise slightly differently.  What makes those cinematic drum libraries and plug-ins sound good is lots of players live in big rooms.
 
Native Instruments Action Strikes is also killer at this.

 
Thanks. I've already planned this. The next vid I do will be altering this basic sound, but the 3rd vid will be about layering. I'm planning on showing how to load it into Geist as samples and from there layering etc. The reason I'm going to use Geist instead of 10 instances of the synth is 1) CPU 2) The alterations of timing, pitch, velocity, etc are easier in Geist than through Sonar. The beginning of this vid, where you hear a preview of the sound is layered using 4 instances though. I'll try to show how to get that multiple players in a big hall sound in a future vid(hopefully soon).

People will more than likely have a synth capable of what you are showing already which is great.  Geist 2 is $200 expense that some may not be prepared to make.  I can see why it would be great but showing how multiple instances of an existing synth in one's favourite DAW could also be a great start option followed by the Geist approach.  And of course applying Geist techniques in other existing samplers.
 
Even 3 or 4 live drum overdubs would add a huge amount of realism to the overall sound too.  I have spent some time making Cinematic tom grooves for various reasons. They fit into a lot of great applications especially music for TV and film etc..
 
I did not realise it was you doing the video.  Great vid though by the way.  Great to see how excellent a synth can sound making a very realistic drum sound. With something like Sythmaster you can layer 4 oscillators and several of them can be real tom hits as well.

I was debating about using Poise instead of Geist because it is so affordable, but the extra options in Geist make it a better option IMO. Also I thought it would be better to show how I would actually do something instead of the 2nd best way. I'll try to explain clearly what I'm doing so people can reproduce the effect in another sampler, a DAW, etc.

You read my mind about the live drums. Layered with this they can really give that huge sound and I'm sure using this is much easier than recording 10 drum tracks and switching toms. Also those cinematic drum samples can get really expensive.

I love Synthmaster too, and I wish more people would make tutorials using it. If it weren't for the FX I might have used it instead of MPS in this tutorial, but of course Synthmaster should be able to make these sounds. I feel some of these synths like SM and MPS aren't getting the love they deserve.