Free Space Research Facility Drum Kit By Peter Kirn

Peter Kirn has released estecDRUMS, a free collection of drum and percussion samples (also available as Ableton/Maschine kits) which were recorded in the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC).

While this drum kit is definitely not very impressive in terms of size (you’ll find no more than sixteen drum hits inside), the story of how it was created is one of the coolest ones out there. And if you enjoy using real world samples that were recorded in various exotic and/or hard to reach locations around the planet, this gem created by Peter Kirn is definitely your cup of tea (or whatever dish they might use to drink tea in space nowadays).

OK, so estecDRUMS contains sixteen drum and percussion samples in total, including (but not limited to) a kick drum that was generated by a sound system as loud as an actual rocket launch, a shaker made by Mars rover prototype’s wheels and a percussive hit coming from a nitrogen valve in a materials testing facility. Do field recordings get any cooler than this?

The sounds were recorded using LOM microphones and they are provided as unprocessed, raw drum hits in AIFF format. Ableton Live and NI Maschine users can also download pre-made custom kits. The Ableton Live drum rack comes with a set of effects and macros. The sounds are released under a Creative Commons license.

Download

estecDRUMS is available for free download via Create Digital Music (1.33 MB download size, ZIP archive, contains 16 drum samples in 16-bit AIFF format, optional Ableton Live Drum Rack and NI Maschine Group downloads).