Every music producer needs high-quality quality drum samples in their sample arsenal. We handpick the best free drum kits for your music production toolkit.
It’s easy to download hundreds of drum sample packs that add nothing but clutter to your music production workflow. The trick is to download only the best-sounding drum kits and have them ready to go in your DAW the moment your inspiration kicks in.
So the right question is, what are the best free drums you can download now?
Free Drum Kits (2023 Update)
Here are the best free drum kits available in 2023:
- Free Sample Packs by Goldbaby Samples
- 99 Drum Samples by 99Sounds
- Analog Drums by Six Bit Deep
- Reverb Drum Machines by Reverb
- Free Samples by Black Octopus Sound
- Gratis by That Sound
- Free Drum Kits by Samples From Mars
- Modern Funk Kit by Drumdrops
- Drum Kits by Wave Alchemy
- LABS Vintage Drums
- The Creative ToolboX: Drums and Percussion by Strezov Sampling
- Free Drum Samples by Organic Drum Loops
Goldbaby Samples
Goldbaby is a living legend among drum sample library providers. His Cassette808 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.
There are dozens of free drum kits on Goldbaby’s website, and the entire lineup is worth downloading. You’ll find classic Roland drum machines recorded to tape, drum hits sampled from rare synthesizers, vintage drum machines, and more.
The difference between Goldbaby’s drum samples and many other drum kit manufacturers is that the processing quality is top-notch. These drum hits are ready to drop in any project, and they will instantly sound amazing.
Goldbaby’s Free Sample Packs page should be your next stop if you produce hip-hop or electronic music.
Download: Goldbaby Samples
99 Drum Samples
99 Drum Samples is a free drum collection with two drum kits: 99 Drum Samples I and 99 Drum Samples II. The bundle contains 219 royalty-free drum samples in 24-bit WAV format.
The included drum sounds are royalty-free and suitable for use in a variety of music styles. You will find hip-hop drums, punchy techno kicks, heavy dubstep snares, and some crunchy lo-fi drum samples.
99Sounds captured the source drum samples from analog and digital synthesizers, acoustic drum kits, and field recordings. They applied various sound design techniques to make the drums sound unique, including resampling to tape, transient shaping, layering, amping, and more.
Download: 99 Drum Samples
Analog Drums
Analog Drums by Six Bit Deep is one of our favorite drum libraries. The collection consists of three free drum kits: Analog Kicks, Analog Snares & Claps, and Analog Hi-Hats.
Six Bit Deep is a professional mixing and mastering studio, so it’s no surprise that their drum samples sound amazing.
They sampled the drum hits from various electronic and acoustic drum kits using high-end recording equipment, then applied their mastering magic to make the drums sound as good as possible.
As for the processing, Six Bit Deep saturated, compressed, and equalized the drums using studio equipment manufactured by Neve, Fairman, and Pultec, to name a few.
The result is a relatively small but excellent-sounding set of electronic drums. There’s plenty of punch to cut through a busy mix but still enough headroom to allow additional processing.
Download: Analog Drums
Reverb Drum Machines
Reverb Drum Machines is the ultimate collection of drum machine sounds. It features hundreds of drum kits sourced from over 50 legendary drum machines and synthesizers.
From 808 drums to those classic LinnDrum sounds, there is a drum kit for everyone in this collection. And if you prefer less popular drum machines, how about checking out the Panasonic RD-9844 drum kit?
The library also features more recent drum instruments, such as the AdrenaLinn and the MFB 503.
All included drum sounds are royalty-free. It’s also worth noting that the drum kits come in WAV format, so they are fully compatible with all DAWs and samplers.
You should also check out the free Modern-Retro Drum Sample Pack and Vintage Drum Samples Vol. 1 by Reverb.
Download: Reverb Drum Machines
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. It has become a go-to sample library for numerous music producers and beatmakers due to its sound quality, versatility, and organization.
So, why not get some of those drums for free?
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 drum sounds, including Tuned Kicks, Snares, Electronic Percussion, Hihats, Drum Fills, etc.
You must submit a valid email address to download the free Black Octopus Sound sample collection. It’s well worth the effort, though.
Download: Black Octopus Sound
Gratis
Gratis is a free drum sample collection by That Sound. I’m a big fan of That Sound’s sound design work, as they focus on providing production-ready drum sounds that sound fat and punchy out-of-the-box.
You can get a free taste of That Sound’s stellar sound libraries with Gratis, a free drum kit that contains 500 drums.
The free drum library contains a selection of sounds from the label’s commercial releases. You’ll find hip-hop drum kits, acoustic drums, and electronic drum hits.
Download: Gratis
Samples From Mars
Samples From Mars offer 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 some more exotic instruments.
Most of their products are reasonably priced, but the website also offers a free downloads section which is what we’re focusing on in this article.
The freebies section offers six high-quality free drum kits, including the Free 808 From Mars sample library, which is one of the best free 808 kits available right now.
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, as that’s the one that is free to download.
If you’d like some free bass sounds to go with your free drum kit, check out the 1960s Precision Bass sound library by Drumdrops.
Thanks to BPB reader K-Dot for suggesting Drumdrops.
Download: Modern Funk Kit
Wave Alchemy Drum Kits
Wave Alchemy offers a selection of free drum kits on its Free Samples page. The samples are sourced from Wave Alchemy’s paid products.
You should check out the 808 Tape kit and the Club Kicks sample pack. Both feature some of the best analog drums available on the market.
The 808 samples were recorded to a 1/4″ analog tape and then resampled for added saturation and grit. Wave Alchemy’s 808 Tape, Goldbaby’s Cassette808, Samples From Mars 808, and our BPB Cassette 808 will be enough to provide all the 808 samples you’ll ever need.
Pro tip: almost every Wave Alchemy sound library comes with a freely downloadable demo pack. Visit the individual product pages in Wave Alchemy’s online store to find and download all the freebie packs.
Thanks to BPB readers Benn and Max Lake for suggesting Wave Alchemy in the comments section.
Download: Wave Alchemy
LABS Vintage Drums
LABS Vintage Drums is a free drum kit from Spitfire Audio. It is one of the best-sounding acoustic drum kits you can download for free.
The library 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 extremely rare microphones/gear and a handmade micing console.
The sampled drum kit sounds fantastic. It is suitable for various music styles, from pop to indie and heavy rock.
LABS Vintage Drums is fully compatible with the free LABS plugin.
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 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
Organic Drum Loops
Organic Drum Loops features dozens of multi-sampled acoustic drum kits. The provided sound libraries include drum loops and one-shot samples.
These are primarily acoustic drums, but they cover a variety of styles, from jazzy and funky to heavy and gritty.
If you don’t want to download different drum kits, check out the free VST plugin that is also available on the website.
Thanks to BPB reader Fotis for suggesting Organic Drum Loops in the comments section.
Download: Organic Drum Loops
Free Drum Kits – Your Favorites?
What are your favorite free drum kits? You’re welcome to 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:
37 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!
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