Free drum machine samples were previously covered in Free Sample Shootout #5. Now it’s time to complete your arsenal of drum machine sounds with some high quality freeware drum machine VSTi/AUi plugins, as well as a couple of awesome free NI Reaktor drum machine instruments.
Follow the links for screenshots & download info:
- Attack by Waldorf (Windows)
- BIGROOMKIXSYNTH by Hinton & Fairchild (Windows)
- CBW01 by Saltline (Windows)
- Clone Tonic by gentleclockdivider (NI Reaktor)
- DigiDrum Pro by Audiosonic (Windows)
- DreamDrums by Odo (Windows)
- Drumatic 3 by e-phonic (Windows)
- ErsDrums by Andreas Ersson (Windows)
- EXD-80 by Third Harmonic Studios (Windows)
- Grooove BPB by brunsandspork (Mac, Windows)
- Optik by Psychic Modulation (Windows)
- KickMaker by Teragon Audio (Mac, Windows)
- MiniSpillage by AudioSpillage (Mac)
- Retro Beat Mk2 by Boscomac (NI Reaktor)
- Rhythmus by Elektrostudio (Windows)
- TheDrumSource by Mats Lindfors (Windows)
- Hexagon ’85/Tromine GT/Tromine Z by Marvin VST (Windows)
- TS-808 by Tactile Sounds (Windows)
- VR-08 by Alipapa (Windows)
Extended List: AREX 2011, Tatapoum.
So, the freeware world still doesn’t offer a real alternative to powerful virtual drum synthesizers like the recently released Tremor, for example. However, I think these freeware drum machines are great tools, and there’s little you won’t be able to achieve using them in tandem with a bit of creativity and imagination.
My favorite free drum machine VST has to be the TS-808 by Tactile Sounds. It’s probably the best free Roland TR-808 clone out there (no sequencer, though). TS-808 doesn’t use samples – all sounds are carefully modeled and synthesized in real time.
If you prefer loading your own drum machine samples, make sure to check out the excellent Grooove BPB drum sampler by brunsandspork. It comes with a decent selection of drum machine hits and supports loading external samples in WAV format.
Drumatic 3 is the most versatile drum machine plugin on the list. It’s basically a poor man’s µTonic (although Clone Tonic for NI Reaktor fits that description even better!). Lots of different sounds can be crafted with Drumatic 3, from classic drum machine tones to straight-up glitchy madness.
V-Pops and Rhythmus are nice little emulations of the Korg MiniPops drum machine. Some will find them bland and boring, but I love these old and simple analog-ish drum sounds.
And that’s all for today. Check out the other plugins on the list too, as there are some real gems out there. If you need more drum machine sounds, check out the free drum machine samples list and load those up in your favorite free sampler.
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17 Comments
Suecae
onI love the TS-808. Best free 808-emu thus far, just listen to the kick. :)
bedroomproducers
onyep, TS-808 is my secret sub bass weapon.
GarethS
onLove the MiniSpillage! Amazingly flexible for a free plugin.
bmovie
onRPS-1 by Contralogic is quite cool little drum machine with randomization options:
http://www.contralogic.com/vst-plugins/rps-1/
boot-cheese-3000
onThere’s another one I downloaded but haven’t used yet but I’ve heard the results and they blew me away:
Hydrogen Music
http://www.hydrogen-music.org/hcms/
Hmmm…..I think I’m showing how much of a novice I am. I gave a link to a drum machine software, this is for vsti plugins. Sorry about that.
beta tester
onworth mentioning are also Marvin Pavilion’s incredibly close to their prototypes Tromine GT (TR-808), Tromine Z (TR-909)
http://marvinpavilion.ojaru.jp/en/sound/vst.html
Cranky
onThey all produce silly-boy sounds for silly boys. Not one decent proper drumkit sound between them.
Ian
onA long shot but I’m at a loss… I can’t get the TS-808 working on Windows 7 in Reaper 5. It loaded the first time I installed it, then crashed every time after that. If I clear cache & re-scan my VSTs it will run once but then keep crashing again. I absolutely love this plugin, does anyone have it working in Reaper?
Ian
onI figured it out, I had to set VST Bridging to Automatic. Huzzah!
Wally
onYou are very confused about what a Drum Machine is. Most of these plug-ins are drum MODULES (generators, synths, choose a name) but not drum MACHINES at all. A drum machine features a built in step sequencer to generate a rhythym itself. Seems to me that TheDrumSource by Mats Lindfors is the only “drum machine” present in this fake list.
Tomislav Zlatic
onNot the slightest bit confused. People, more often than not, use the term drum machine as a general term for all sorts of drum modules, hence the headline.
Lloyd McKay
onH.G. Fortune’s LPM , PM2 and Drumburst.
Sander Könings
onunfortunately, the Tactile Sounds blog has been discontinued….any ideas on where to find the ts-808?
Pavel
onI found it Russian site -LINK REMOVED-
Tomislav Zlatic
onLeads to a 404 page.
djs music
onhaving the same problem i cant find it anywhere
Laimantcho
onestou curioso pra trabalhar com este pluguin