Every music producer needs high-quality quality drum kits in their sample arsenal. I feature new sample packs weekly in BPB’s news section and handpicked only the best ones in this article.
It’s easy to download dozens of drum kits that add nothing but clutter to your music production workflow. Browsing through hundreds of similar sounds while searching for the “perfect snare” is a guaranteed creativity killer.
The solution is to download only a few drum packs and have them ready to go in your DAW or sampler of choice when your inspiration kicks in (no pun intended).
Since starting BPB in 2009, I have downloaded and tested hundreds (literally) of drum samples. I listed only the best ones on this page to help you focus on making beats instead of downloading samples.
Check out the list below, download some free drums, and go make music!
Free Drum Kits (2024 Update)
These are the best drum sample packs you can download for free:
- Free Sample Packs by Goldbaby Samples
- 99 Drum Samples by 99Sounds
- Free Samples by Black Octopus Sound
- Gratis by That Sound
- Free Drum Kits by Samples From Mars
- Modern Funk Kit by Drumdrops
- LABS Vintage Drums by Spitfire Audio
- The Creative ToolboX: Drums and Percussion by Strezov Sampling
- PRISM Drums – Lite Edition by AVA Music Group
- ModeAudio Drums by ModeAudio
- Analog Drums by Abletunes
Goldbaby Samples
Goldbaby is a living legend among drum sample pack providers. His Cassette 808 samples are still some of the best 808 sounds you can download, and the MPC drums perfectly capture the old-school sampler’s lo-fi grit.
I remember downloading the free Cassette 808 sample pack for the first time many years ago. I was blown away by the gritty character Goldbaby achieved with these samples using a cheap cassette recorder.
It inspired me to make my own free cassette-flavored drum kits, namely the BPB Cassette 808, BPB Cassette 909, and BPB Cassette 606.
There are dozens of drum packs on Goldbaby’s website, and the entire lineup is worth downloading. You’ll find classic Roland drum machines recorded to tape, drums sampled from rare synthesizers, vintage gear, and more.
The difference between Goldbaby’s drum samples and most others on the market is that the processing quality is top-notch. These samples are ready to be dropped in any project and will instantly sound amazing.
Download: Goldbaby Samples
99 Drum Samples
99 Drum Samples consists of two free drum kits: 99 Drum Samples I and 99 Drum Samples II. The bundle contains 219 royalty-free samples in 24-bit WAV format.
The included sounds are royalty-free and suitable for various music styles. You will find hip-hop drums, punchy techno kicks, heavy dubstep snares, and crunchy lo-fi drum samples.
99Sounds captured the drum samples from analog and digital synthesizers, acoustic drum kits, and field recordings.
These resulting drum samples sound unique thanks to various sound design techniques, such as resampling to tape, transient shaping, layering, pitch shifting, and more.
Download: 99 Drum Samples
Black Octopus Sound
Black Octopus Sound is a sound design label that crafts royalty-free sound libraries for modern electronic music.
The label’s most popular release to date is the Leviathan series. Its unrivaled sound quality, versatility, and organization make it a go-to sample library for numerous music producers and beatmakers.
The good news is that Black Octopus Sound offers a free 1.5 GB sample library containing various percussion sounds, loops, and, you guessed it… drum kits.
You’ll find a wide selection of electronic drums, including Tuned Kicks, Snares, Electronic Percussion, Hihats, Drum Fills, etc.
I love using Black Octopus drum hits because they’re 100% production-ready. No additional mixing or layering is needed, so I can simply drag and drop them into my project when working on a new track.
Download: Black Octopus Sound
Gratis
Gratis is a free acoustic drum kit by That Sound. I’m a big fan of That Sound’s sound design work, which focuses on providing production-ready drum sounds that sound fat and punchy out of the box.
The library contains 500 drums from That Sound’s commercial sound libraries, but the main focus is acoustic drums.
That doesn’t mean the library is only suited for rock and pop music. You’ll also find some great drum hits for electronic music.
My favorite part is the snare collection. That Sound included some incredibly punchy snares here, and I often use them to layer with other sounds that lack character.
Download: Gratis
Samples From Mars
Samples From Mars offers one of the largest online repositories of drum machine kits. They deeply sampled dozens of popular drum machines, from Roland’s classic TR series to Drumtrax, DMX, and more exotic instruments.
Most of their products are reasonably priced, but the website also offers a free downloads section, which we focus on in this article.
The freebies section offers six high-quality free drum kits, including the Free 808 From Mars sample library, one of the best free 808 kits available.
By the way, we also covered the best free 808 plugins in a recent article.
Thanks to BPB reader Max Eibel for suggesting Samples From Mars in the comments section.
Download: Samples From Mars
Drumdrops
Drumdrops offers affordable drum kits for Kontakt. Their free offering is called Modern Funk Kit, and it’s a fantastic source of punchy acoustic drum samples.
Be sure to opt for the “One Shots Sample Pack” version of the product, which is free to download.
If you’d like some free bass sounds to accompany your free drum kit, check out Drumdrops’ 1960s Precision Bass sound library.
Thanks to BPB reader K-Dot for suggesting Drumdrops.
Download: Modern Funk Kit
LABS Vintage Drums
LABS Vintage Drums is a free drum library from Spitfire Audio. It is one of the best-sounding acoustic drum instruments available for free.
The pack features a 1975 Ludwig with a 26″ bass drum (a la Jon Bonham) and a 1940 Slingerland kit with calfskin heads. The sounds were recorded in Kerwax Studio in Brittany, with rare microphones/gear and a handmade console.
Sampled gear aside, the actual kit sounds fantastic. It suits various music styles, from pop to indie and heavy rock.
I also love how instantly playable it is – simply load Vintage Drums in the LABS plugin, and you’re ready to rock.
More info: LABS Vintage Drums
The Creative ToolboX: Drums and Percussion
The Creative ToolboX: Drums and Percussion is a free Kontakt library featuring drums and percussion.
The free drum kit was crafted by Strezov Sampling, a company specializing in orchestral and cinematic sounds. It includes drum machines, an acoustic drum kit, and a percussion section.
The user can customize the included drums using effects like EQ, compression, reverb, and transient shaping. The library also includes a drum mixer with volume, pitch, pan, and reverb controls for each channel.
More info: The Creative ToolboX: Drums and Percussion
PRISM Drums – Lite Edition
PRISM Drums – Lite Edition is a free drum sample library for Kontakt Player.
The collection includes five drum kits: Modern Pop, Retro Pop, Trailer, Indie Pop, and Hip-hop. Each preset is tailored to a different genre and includes ready-to-play kits and effects.
Each kit consists of eight elements: Kick, Snare, Clap, Close HiHat, Open HiHat, Hi Tom, Low Tom, and Crash. Users can blend and shape individual drum sounds to create unique combinations within PRISM Drums.
PRISM Drums Lite is NKS compatible for seamless integration with Komplete Kontrol keyboards and Maschine.
More info: PRISM Drums – Lite Edition
ModeAudio Drum Kits
ModeAudio offers free versions of each premium drum kit. With dozens of drum sample libraries on their website, you can download hundreds of premium-quality drum sounds for free.
The available drum libraries will fit a variety of music styles, from hip-hop to electronic, lo-fi, 80s, trap, and more.
I’ve always loved ModeAudio’s attention to detail in its soundware products, and their drum sample packs are no different. You can expect expertly crafted drum sounds, innovative sound design, and neat audio editing.
If you’re looking for inspiration on the drum kit front – ModeAudio should definitely be your next stop!
Download: ModeAudio Drum Samples (each product page offers free drum kits)
Abletunes Analog Drums
Analog Drums is the ultimate free drum bundle for Ableton. The collection includes over 1,000 classic drums formatted as an Ableton drum rack.
The source samples were captured from classic drum machines and analog synths such as the Vermona Mono Lancet and Elektron Analog Rytm.
There are 40 pre-configured kits, but users can generate custom kits with a random button. You can tweak the included drum samples using modulation controls, including FM and pitch modulation.
The great thing about Analog Drums is that they provide access to various electronic drum sounds in a convenient package.
Instead of downloading dozens of drum kits from different sources, you can quickly integrate this collection with Ableton Live and have hundreds of drum hits ready to load in seconds.
Download: Abletunes Analog Drums
What are your favorite free drum kits?
Is there a free drum pack I haven’t included on this list? Please share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments below.
If you prefer using VST plugins, check out our article about free drum plugins.
More articles:
71 Comments
HITESH
onCymatics and Slate Digital seismic Are my go to.
Tomislav Zlatic
onSlate Digital samples are amazing, but they’re freely available for a limited time only AFAIK.
Ruzz
onSamples
Drumkito
Kit
MT Power Drum Kit 2
Sampler
Sitala
Speedrum Lite
Poise and Grace
TX16Wx
Tomislav Zlatic
onThanks for the tips!
Michael Duff
onThe Kount has a bunch of free sounds up as well. And of course Cymatics.
Also I’m not sure if the contact page is broken or if it’s my browser but I wanted to inform yall that WA productions has a pretty large free bundle they just put out
https://www.waproduction.com/bundles/view/we-love-fl-studio-free-bundle
Tomislav Zlatic
onI’m working on fixing the contact page. And thanks for the tips!
K-Dot
onThanks for the heads up on that bundle that looks like a lot of content and lots of Serum presets
K-Dot
onMusicMachines has some really high-quality sample packs of vintage drum machines as well, it’s my go-to for 606, 707, 727, 808, and 909 one-shots.
My favorite free acoustic one-shot kits are Drumdrops Modern Funk One-Shots and Studio Sampled Sounds Hitsville by Ian Ballard.
There’s a really good/large collection of vinyl drum break loops on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Drumkits/comments/hbg2r7/vinyl_drum_vault_500mb_of_drum_breaks_drum_kits/
Samplified has a bunch of $1 sample packs that are chock-full with different high-quality drums and other sounds.
And of course, if you produce phonk, check out Candy Boy Phonk Kit.
Tomislav Zlatic
onHey K-Dot, thanks for the tips! I’m adding Drumdrops to the page.
K-Dot
onOh and Lex Luger Trap Drum Kit (Hipstrumentals.com) is full of very high-quality trap drums!
Fotis
onFriendly reminder that Organic Drum Loops has TONS of free multi-mic drum kits, as well as a plugin by yours truly ;) https://www.organicdrumloops.com/
Tomislav Zlatic
onThanks, added to the article!
dominique
onCould anyone clarify the tons of different folders and files?
There’s an image on the miking of the drums, but I really can figure out a very few things here.
I’m not a drummer…
eg. “dry” vs. “open”?
I would undestand dry and wet
and it goes on… L – M – OFF – CS – HO – RB etc.
Versilian
onHey Tomislav! This library just came out yesterday as part of the KVRDC’21, in SFZ format:
https://www.kvraudio.com/product/virtuosity-drums-by-versilian-studios
Tomislav Zlatic
onInteresting, thanks for the tip! I’ll check it out.
Synthiemental
onAnd its shockingly good sounding!
Rafael
onI’m partial to the Dread Massaker sample pack
Rafael
onOop, forgot to leave the link! https://sites.google.com/view/drmskrdubstep/downloads
Tomislav Zlatic
onLooks neat, thanks for the tip!
Daniel
onDrummic’a is my go-to but it looks like Sennheiser’s gotten rid of any way to download it
Tomislav Zlatic
onYes, unfortunately, Drummic’a is no longer available.
Max Eibel
onThe Count has some great freebies, as well as Samples from Mars
https://thekount.sellfy.store
https://samplesfrommars.com/collections/free
Max Eibel
onKount **
Tomislav Zlatic
onThanks for the tips! Adding Samples From Mars to the list.
Jamie M.
onlatest and greatest free plugin from fkfk!
https://www.patreon.com/posts/fkfx-influx-free-53221341
Michal Ochedowski
onOff topic, but I would like to share the news. Audioplugin(dot)deals offers W.A.Production Electro Stampede worth 19 USD for free. It’s listed on the first page. Standard ordering process, but there is 1.2 GB of material inside.
Matthew
onSolid State Digital has a free service, also check out DrumGizmo!
Thanks for the resources as always, Tomislav!
Jhonathan
onThank you for another great post/hint.
I have a suggestion for you:
Separate the “Free Sampler VST Plugins” Into “Normal Samplers” and “Drum Samplers” with Decomposer’s Sitala, Apisonic Labs Speedrum Lite, One Small Clue’s Poise, SoundBridge’s RitMix…
Tomislav Zlatic
onThat’s a great suggestion, thanks! I’ll separate those two articles.
Steffen Yokai
onNaughty Seal’s Perfect Drums has the free PD Player. It is basically the sampler section of the full version. you can use your own samples to create your own drumkit or you can download their free demokit with the sampler. It’s great for rock and metal.
Max Lake
onRiemann Kollektion: https://riemannkollektion.com/collections/free-sample-packs
Xenos Soundworks: https://www.xenossoundworks.com/free_presets.html
W.A.Production: https://www.waproduction.com/sounds/items/free
Spartan Sounds: https://www.reveal-sound.com/store/free
Samplephonics: https://www.samplephonics.com/products/free
Resonance Sound: https://www.resonance-sound.com/free-samples-sounds/
Abletunes: https://abletunes.com/blog/category/freebie/
Wave Alchemy: https://www.wavealchemy.co.uk/free-samples/
(some links removed by moderator)
Tomislav Zlatic
onSome amazing suggestions there, thanks!
benn
onWave Alchemy free stuff.
Tight sounds.
Tomislav Zlatic
onGood suggestion, adding Wave Alchemy to the list!
Amir Hidayatullah
onPlease take a look at MONSTER Drum VST, it is FREE Drum ROMpler with various music genre ranging from Pop, Rock, Metal to Jazz. It started as personal project of Agus Hardiman, a legendary Indonesian music producer. But nowadays there are 16 kits from various producers and genres, and it’s still growing! You should review it as a single post and put it in this list.
Link:
https://monsterdaw.com/monster-drum-the-best-free-drum-vst-plugin-with-multi-kit-genre/
Thanks
dusk
onIs there samples for rock songs?
Omomtea
onGood
proaudiostar
onHi! many thanks for the useful recompilation, I´d wish to share with you an honest music instruments . I hope assist you to seek out Good Music instrument.
Acoustic Guitars
Gwugluud Barcher
onApprox 50 usd for each kit constitutes “free”? Gotta love woke, flat-earth “logic”…
Mr. Cockroach
onI got a bunch of these for free, like $0 what are talking about?
What is “woke” about flat-earth or even what the heck has this do do with anything? You sound confused and probably are so you’ve misunderstood something. Anyway have fun in Brownwood I guess
Falcon
onWhat do you think about the collection From VILARCORP? https://vilarcorp.com/premium/
Has 37 packs from $15
Anson F-Clef
onHello Hello again! Any Rayzoon Jamstix 4 FREE and BFD Player fans here? I’m a user of BOTH of these….by the way, BFD Player is freely downloadable from https://www.bfddrums.com/drum-software/bfd-player.html
License
onpersonal
How much do rappers usually pay for beats?
onfree music samples
DAW
onfind free
trove
onslate digital sample
Free Music
onAre all BandLab loops royalty free?
Library
onDoes making beats make money?
Percussion instrument
onapollo sound
House
onWhich is better Splice or Loopmasters?
free drum stems
onSynthesizer
free drum loops and samples
onAre Cymatics loops free to use?
funk
onsinging samples
sample pack deals
onLibrary
Travis Scott
onFree
royalty free
onLogic Pro
uicideboy
onHarp
pay
ontrap kit
Contact Privacy
onCan sound travel like a laser?
sample chops pack
onTrap
toto
onfree drum loops
drill drum
onreaper
producer loops
onreggaeton loops and samples free
Description
onSeries
godlike loops
onElectronic music
Can GarageBand loops be used commercially?
onIs Cymatics a real thing?
Samples
onhip hop
What are the disadvantages of using loops?
onPiano
Chris
onThere’s an awful lot of sample packs in this list. What about VST Instruments, SFZ, DecentSampler or Kontakt libraries?
inMusic Brands BFD Player (plus Core Library)
Bogren Digital KRIMH Drums Free
IKM MODO Drum CS
MLSoundLab ML Drums Free
Fracture Sounds Blueprint: Drum Kit
Pepto Audio DR-84
Electronik Sound Lab RT-7070
Electronik Sound Lab RVK-808
SampleScience 606 Koncept
Chris
on…If this was all just meant to be sample pack based, perhaps the Title should reflect this.
E.g. “The Best FREE Drum Sample Packs (2024)”
Garby
onI’m really surprised Cymatics is not on the list.