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Free Sample Shootout #5: The Best Free Drum Machine Samples

Published on September 16, 2010 in Free Sample Shootout. 9 Comments Tags: .

Free Sample Shootout #5: The Best Free Drum Machine SamplesImage by Fenchurch!

Today’s edition of Free Sample Shootout covers drum machine samples. And unlike pianos, mellotrons, or even acoustic drum samples, which were previously covered on my blog, drum machine samples are just way too easy to get! That’s why instead of listing all the packs you can find online, I’ve tried to compile a list of only the best drum machine samples available for free.

As you probably already know, there are several places online where you can find plenty of free drum machine samples (check out The Machine, KB6.de, or 200.Drum.Machines for example). But the list below is different, it contains only the samples that are 100% legal, and with links to the original source websites. Someone will think this is not important, but it is! I like to know where my samples came from, so that I can be sure that they’re legal, and so that I can give credit where credit is due.

You’ll find some well known stuff in the list below (like Goldbaby and Wave Alchemy samples), but also a selection of great sounding drum machine samples from some less known sources that I’m almost sure you haven’t seen beafore (Greg Z’s brilliant 808 samples, for example). Ok, enough introduction – bring out the samples!

Analog Industries [link]
A single TR-909 drum kit which captures all of the machine’s sounds. Groove templates are included.

AudioPevert [link]
AudioPervert have some rather interesting drum samples in their arsenal including Commodore 64 and Atari 800 drum sounds for example. Below is their only free drum sample kit.

cl516 [link]
cl516 is a very interesting blog, I suggest you check it out if you’re into rare and unusual synth gear.

Cyberworm [link]
After releasing numerous high quality drum sample packs for free, Cyberworm has been recruited by the team at Prime Loops to work under their label. Even so, his website still remains a valuable source of high quality free samplage.

Dubsounds [link]
These guys are sampling their favorite drum machines and are doing a damn good job at it. All the drum sample packs are reasonably priced, and the free ones are listed below.

dyLAB [link]
Acid Box Blues (aka dyLAB) is a great blog dedicated to Acid music.

Forgotten Keys [link]
Some really cool and unusal drum samples can be found on Forgotten Keys.

Francis Prève [link]
We all value pristine 808 and 909 drum samples, but I also like having a folder stacked with lo-fi, cheap sounding drums. Francis Prève’s Mattel Synsonics samples are just like that, noisy, dirty, and awesome.

Goldbaby [link]
Goldbaby and his signature analog tape treated drum machine samples have recieved numerous positive reviews all around the internet. You can have a part of that magic for free, thanks to this indie sound designer’s generosity. Below are the links to all the freebie drum machine samples available from Goldbaby:

Greg Z [link]
A great set of drum samples recorded through a vintage Neve 1073.

Haunted House Records [link]
Haunted House Records mainly focuses on glitchy and noisy sound libraries. This sample pack of classic drum machine sounds is pretty good too.

Illuminated Sounds [link]
Apart from the drum machine samples listed below, you will find some awesome circuit bent hardware samples on the Illuminated Sounds Website. For more glitchness & circuit bending samples, make sure you check out Free Sample Shootout #1.

Lon Moore [link]
Two interesting Roland drum machine kits created by two Gerslutz forum members.  The kits include a set of round-robin variations for each drum hit.

MIDI Mechanics Showroom [link]
The Rapman is not a drum machine, I know, I know… But I’m so softhearted towards Casio sounds that i had to include it here. A great little drum pack by the The MIDI Mechanics.

Music Machines [link]
A classic collection of drum machine samples! Most of these samples were recorded back in the 90s and have been mirrored in numerous sites and drum machine packs all around the web. Here’s your chance to download them from the original source.

Progsounds [link]
Two freebie drum machine kits available for download on the Progsounds website:

Rekkerd [link]
Plenty of cool stuff to be found on rekkerd.org, make sure you check out the downloads section in case you haven’t done so already.

signaltonoize.com [link]
This site is best known as a source of some great impulse responses and Nebula programs, but it’s also host to a couple of pretty neat drum machine sample packs.

Sounds Outside The Lines [link]
Sounds Outside The Lines have released a small but nice sounding pack as a freebie taster for their 9GB large commercial TR-909 drum sample library.

synthesizers.se [link]
Some pretty neat and unusual keyboard samples to be found on this website. They will certainly be included in some future Free Sample Shootout. The drum samples listed below don’t come from drum machines, but they are very gritty and cool sounding.

Tape Death [link]
Along with the JoMoX XBase sample pack listed below, make sure you also check out Tape Death’s Roland MC-202 pack, featuring some juicy sub bass samples.

ToneBuilder [link]
A relatively new name in the sampling scene, Nathaniel aka Tonebuilder made a big boom with his somewhat controversial website and a drum library of undeniably high quality. There will only be 997 copies of Driven Machine Drums available for users all around the world, but all of us can enjoy these freebie drum samples listed below.

Trash Audio [link]
The website name doesn’t promise too much, but this is one of the most extensive 808 kits I’ve ever found.

Wave Alchemy [link]
Another well-known name in the drum sampling world, Wave Alchemy also offers a number of freebie drum machine sample packs. No need to say it really, their samples are of the highest possible quality.

Waveformless [link]
Waveformles is one of my favorite blogs, and their awesome Free Sample Friday series has been a source of some great freebie samples in the past. Here are the drum machine samples they’ve shared so far:

WaveShaper [link]
WaveShaper is offering a set of drum sample kits recorded from some pretty unique analog drum machines and synthesizers. Every page listed below shows links to both commercial and free versions of each sample pack.

And that’s all for today’s Free Sample Shootout. Enjoy the free drum machine samples, subscribe to bpb and share this article on Twitter, Facebook, Stumbleupon, or your favorite forums. Read the previous Shootouts by clicking here.

Previous Free Sample Shootouts: click here
bpb Samples: click here

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