IMPULSIVE

Overview

Impulsive was a zero-latency dual IR loader plugin developed by 3 Sigma Audio in collaboration with TSE Audio. It was used to load impulse responses (IRs) for guitars and acoustic instruments, especially in conjunction with amp simulators. 

The plugin was designed as a lean, CPU-efficient tool and offered features such as:

• High-pass and low-pass filters
• Phase correction
• Level adjustment
• The ability to mix two IRs

Development and versions

Over the years, 3 Sigma Audio has released several versions of Impulsive and its IR libraries:

• Version 3 introduced a new IR structure with the sound profiles Balanced, Warm, Bright, BrightX, and quadrupled the number of IRs included compared to the first version.
• Version 4 introduced Universal Pickup Support, which allows for perfect sound adjustment to different pickup types (magnetic, piezoelectric, etc.).
• ACE (Acoustic Cabinet Emulation) technology has been further developed and is now standard for all IRs – the explicit labeling has therefore been removed.

Videos

• YouTube Video 1
• YouTube Video 2

Information

• master-of-music.com

Acousticfy

Acoustify is an acoustic IR loader specifically designed for use with 3 Sigma Audio’s industry-standard GEN4 acoustic impulses.

With automatic volume compensation, access to 10 microphones at the click of a mouse, and a powerful mixing console, Acoustify offers countless possibilities for finding the sound you want.

What Top Shelf Drums is

Top Shelf Drums by 3 Sigma Audio is not a standalone software program, but rather a sample library—that is, a collection of high-quality drum sounds. This library contains professionally miked and multi-sampled (multi-velocity, round-robin) sounds from renowned drum kits such as Pearl Reference, DW Collector’s, Sonar HiLite, and others. Each kit is assembled from original instruments recorded in top-tier studios. 

The goal of Top Shelf Drums is to provide producers and musicians with “top-shelf” drum sounds—sounds that are otherwise only heard in high-end studio productions.

Components of Drum Kits: NKI Instruments & NKM Multis

When you purchase a kit such as the Ref Kit, Master Kit, or Cali Kit, you receive various file formats, including:

• NKI Instruments: These are Native Instruments Kontakt instruments.  These files (with the .nki extension) already contain all microphone positions (Direct, Overhead, Room, Effect Channel), layers, and round-robins, and are immediately playable in the full version of Kontakt (not Kontakt Player).
• NKM Multis: These are Kontakt multi-files that load multiple instruments (e.g., kick, snare, toms) simultaneously and combine them into a complete drum kit. 

This means you don’t have to set anything up in Kontakt yourself—everything is preconfigured. Simply load the .nki or .nkm file into Kontakt, and the drum kit is ready to use.

Compatible platforms: Kontakt, Trigger, Perfect Drums

Top Shelf Drums isn't limited to a single platform. The samples are available in several formats:

• Native Instruments Kontakt (full version required)
• Slate Digital Trigger
• Perfect Drums (including the free Perfect Drums Player)

This is a major advantage: You can use the samples even if you don’t own expensive software. With the free Perfect Drums Player, you can load and play the kits directly—ideal for beginners or users without Kontakt.