Today’s edition of Free Sample Shootout covers free drum samples captured from various drum machines. And unlike pianos, mellotrons, or even acoustic drum samples, which were previously covered on BPB, free drum machine samples are just way too easy to get!
If you’ve spent some time on virtually any popular music production message board, I’m sure you’ve seen at least one sample pack labeled 1000s Of Free Drum Samples, or something along those lines. But, the distributors of such sample packs often neglect the license of the included samples – it’s not unusual to find samples taken from commercial libraries, or samples which are given for free, but not supposed to be re-distributed without permission of the author.
So, what’s the problem with using such sample packs? It’s the fact that even if someone has given you a certain item for free, doesn’t necessarily mean that the item was actually free in the first place. If I took someone’s car and gave it to you for free, you’d still be using someone else’s car, essentially. In terms of drum samples, it’s still possible that you’re violating a copyright, even if the samples were given to you for free by someone else.
My intention with this article was to create a directory of 100% legally free drum machine samples, with links to the original sources. And it turned out to be a very long list, since there are so many awesome sound designers out there, offering some or all of their products for free! 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 sample packs which I’m almost sure you haven’t found before (the absolutely awesome Analog Industries 909 samples, for example).
Free Drum Machine Samples
TIP: To quickly find a specific drum machine, press CTRL+F in your browser (Command+L on Mac) and type the model name.
Analog Industries
A single TR-909 drum kit which captures all of the machine’s sounds. Groove templates are also included.
- Full Metal TR-909 [Roland TR-909]
Boxed Ear
One fine free drum machine sample pack from Boxed Ear so far. Looking forward to more stuff from these guys in the future!
- Boxed Ear CR-78 [Roland CR-78 CompuRhythm]
cl516
cl516 is a very interesting blog, I suggest you check it out if you’re into rare and unusual synth gear.
- Oberheim DX [Oberheim DX]
- LinnDrum [Linn LM-2]
- Tape TR-909 [Roland TR-909]
- TR-909 [Roland TR-909]
Dubsounds
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.
- Casio VL-1 [Casio VL-1]
- DR-55 [Boss DR-55]
- Rhythm-12 [Electro-Harmonix Rhythm-12]
- Oberheim DMX [Oberheim DMX]
- Sound Master SM-8 [Sound Master SM-8]
- Sound Master SR-88 [Sound Master SR-88]
dyLAB
Acid Box Blues (aka dyLAB) is a great blog dedicated to Acid music.
Roland TR-606 Sample Set [Roland TR-606](now commercial)
Roland TR-707 Sample Set [Roland TR-707](now commercial)
Francis Prève
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.
- Mattel Synsonics [Mattel Synsonics]
Goldbaby
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 is the list of all the freebie drum machine samples available from Goldbaby:
- Cassette 808 [Roland TR-808]
- Cheetah MD16 [Cheetah MD16]
- DMX606 [Oberheim Prommer]
- MPC60 Free [Akai MPC-60]
- Tape 606 [Roland TR-606]
- Tape DP-50 [Technics PCM DP50]
- Tape MR-16 [Korg MR-16]
- Tape TR-66 [Roland TR-66]
- Tape uTonic [Sonic Charge µTonic]
- Tape Vermona DRM [Vermona DRM]
- SP-1200 vs MBase 1 [E-mu SP-1200 vs Jomox MBase 01]
- XmasGift 2010 [E-mu SP-1200]
Illuminated Sounds
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.
- TR-606 Sample Pack [Roland TR-606]
- TR-626 Sound Library [Roland TR-626]
MIDI Mechanics Showroom
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.
- Casio Rapman RAP-1 [Casio RAP-1]
Music Machines
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.
- cr8kkit [Roland CompuRhythm CR-8000]
- dr110kit [Boss DR-110]
- dr55kit [Boss DR-55]
- kr55kit [Korg Rhythm 55]
- kpr77kit [Korg KPR-77 Rhythmer]
- linndrum [Linn LinnDrum]
- mt32 [Roland MT-32]
- tr505 [Roland TR-505]
- tr606kit [Roland TR-606 Drumatix]
- tr626 [Roland TR-626]
- tr707 [Roland TR-707]
- tr727 [Roland TR-727]
- tr808all [Roland TR-808]
- tr909all [Roland TR-909]
- univox12 [Univox Micro-Rhythmer 12]
Progsounds
Two freebie drum machine kits available for download on the Progsounds website:
- Progsounds Roland TR-505 Samples Pack [Roland TR-505]
- Progsounds Roland TR-707 Samples Pack [Roland TR-707]
Rekkerd
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.
- Rekkerd Analog Kick Pack [Jomox MBase 01]
Sounds Outside The Lines
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.
- Revolution-909 FREE [Roland TR-909]
Synthslut
Classic Roland TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines, recorded for use in a round-robin patch. Originally posted on Gearslutz, now on their own download page.
- LonDonsen Moore TR808/TR909 Kits [Roland TR-808 & TR-909]
Tape Death
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.
- Jomox XBase-09 Kicks [JoMoX XBase-09]
ToneBuilder
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.
- DMDSB Demo [Various drum machines]
- DMDSB BPB Exclusive DEMO [Various drum machines]
Trash Audio
The name doesn’t promise too much, but this website offers one of the most extensive 808 kits I’ve ever found.
- Roland TR-808 Sample Pack [Roland TR-808]
Wave Alchemy
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.
- 606 Drums [Roland TR-606]
- 808 Drums (Free Samples) [Roland TR-808]
- 808 Tape [Roland TR-808]
- 909 Tape [Roland TR-909]
- 909 Drums (Free Samples) [Roland TR-909]
- Drum Fire (Free Samples) [Drum Fire DF-2000 & MFB Schlagzwerg]
- Drum Machines 01 [Various drum machines]
- Drum Machines 02 [Various drum machines]
- Drum Tools Teaser [Various drum machines]
- Electrik Drums (Free Samples) [Vermona DRM]
- Tape KPR-77 [Korg KPR-77]
- Syncussion Drums [Pearl Syncussion SY-1]
Waveformless
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:
- Casio SK-1 Beats [Casio SK-1]
- Joel Bisson’s Boss DR-220 [Boss DR-220]
WaveShaper
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.
- Monokken [Korg Monotron]
- MS20 Drum Samples [Korg MS-20]
- plasticid – DR110 kit [Boss DR-110]
- tubest8tion [Novation DrumStation]
- UDS+EH [Marsh UDS]
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.
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Related posts:
# Free Sample Shootout #1: Circuit Bends And Glitches# Free TR-606 Samples By Wave Alchemy
# Free Sample Shootout #2: Acoustic Drum Kit Multisamples
# FREE Sample Pack #3: Yamaha DD-8
# FREE Sample Pack #2: Casio SA-10 SoundFont, Drum Samples And Loops
Ican’t believe no one has commented yet!
Thanks for this post, i knew godbaby, wave-alchemy and some others but i didn’t knew the more obscure ones. Good taste and research here!
You should do a best “non free” drum madhine sample post too!
Sorry for my crap-english! I’m a spaniard.
cheers man, glad you like the post! it’d be harder to do a commercial drum machine samples best-of because i’d have to buy them all first, but yeah perhaps one day. :D
Thanks for this post bro. So many good sounds. Fantastic!
thanks alot. jus what i have been looking for.
cheers!
glad you’re enjoying the samples
a few more bits and bobs on my soundcloud account too
http://soundcloud.com/dylabs
wow this is a great GREAT resource! Thanksso much:)
This post is really amazing! I’ve just got an idea to show up my blog
I LOVE YOU! Thanks!
Very nice collection!
thanks!
seems like Acid Box Blues (aka dyLAB) samples arent free anymore but cost around 10 bucks, even tho the link leading there (from his site) clearly says FREE, at least for 707… bait-and-switch if you ask me
looks so, thanks for reporting. i guess i’ll have to remove those links. :(
does anyone know where i can get some boss dr. from 550 to 880 samples ? thanks
ahh, i’m almost certain that someone at Dogs On Acid released a free DR-550 sample pack, but i just can’t find it now. :(
this is the closest i can get atm:
http://bedroomproducersblog.com/2012/02/21/255-free-boss-dr-770-drum-samples-released-by-alextronica/
got it! the 550 pack was on GS:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/4239617-post19.html
This is beautiful
You might want to check out http://www.hellosamples.com
There’s some Jomox Xbase 09 stuff for free aswell as 606 and cr8000 kit, wich sound incredible.
They have A LOT of other free stuff of very, very high quality… and their non-free stuff is actually very affordable!
http://www.hellosamples.com/category/drums/
That’s the link for the percussive stuff. There’s also some vinyl sampled stuff and some acoustic stuff you might want to list on the Free Acoustic Drums article too.
that’s a great site! i’ve had it bookmarked but forgot all about it, thanks for reminding me.
Hi! Thanks for your post. Great choice and all for free. Nice!
Hmmm… The Trash Audio link is invalid.
Where are the zoom streetboxx samples?I think there was a link…
BTW excellent links…keep up!
The Sounds Outside The Lines TR808 samples link is no longer valid – Presumably due to the recent launch of Transistor Revolution for the Kontakt 5 Player in conjunction with Wave Alchemy. More at: http://www.wavealchemy.co.uk/transistor_revolution/pid96
thanks for the report Neil. i’ll leave the link here for a while, just in case they decide to bring the freebies back. but if that doesn’t happen, i’ll remove them.
Everyone loves what you guys are up too. Such clever work and exposure!
Keep up the wonderful works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to blogroll.
can anyone please post Analog Industries’ Full Metal TR-909 sample pack? they shut down their free stuff page
I too would love if someone could put up a new link to Analog Industries’ Full Metal TR-909. Pretty please ;p
¡Muchas gracias!