Any good, free VST for acoustic drums?
- Thread starter Diego
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Wormhelmet
New member
Re: Any good, free VST for acoustic drums?
Any free drum sampler will work with your sequencer, then if you scour the web for free sample sites, you can individually download the royalty free drum samples and start creating beats in the sequencer with the drum sampler. I'll try to find a free one in a minute here...
Any free drum sampler will work with your sequencer, then if you scour the web for free sample sites, you can individually download the royalty free drum samples and start creating beats in the sequencer with the drum sampler. I'll try to find a free one in a minute here...
Wormhelmet
New member
Re: Any good, free VST for acoustic drums?
Check out some of these here:
http://www.best-free-vst.com/plugins/virtual-instruments/drum-sampler-01.php
Check out some of these here:
http://www.best-free-vst.com/plugins/virtual-instruments/drum-sampler-01.php
Wormhelmet
New member
Re: Any good, free VST for acoustic drums?
I don't know if this is legit, but if it is, then looks pretty cool:
http://www.powerdrumkit.com
This one too:
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=385
I don't know if this is legit, but if it is, then looks pretty cool:
http://www.powerdrumkit.com
This one too:
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=385
Wormhelmet
New member
Re: Any good, free VST for acoustic drums?
If willing to pay a little, you could also get your own vst drummer that even plays the drums for you with Rayzoon's Jamstix. There is a $99 option for that one.
If willing to pay a little, you could also get your own vst drummer that even plays the drums for you with Rayzoon's Jamstix. There is a $99 option for that one.
Wormhelmet
New member
Re: Any good, free VST for acoustic drums?
Maybe gearing up for a paid for version. Lots of coders start out giving stuff away. Look at AVG antivirus. Started that way. I've been a KVR forum member since 2004 and a ton of developers there putting out free vst's. That one does deserve a little extra research on reviews of it though.
Maybe gearing up for a paid for version. Lots of coders start out giving stuff away. Look at AVG antivirus. Started that way. I've been a KVR forum member since 2004 and a ton of developers there putting out free vst's. That one does deserve a little extra research on reviews of it though.
Wormhelmet
New member
Re: Any good, free VST for acoustic drums?
From Cockos forum (developer of Reaper) - about MT Power Drum kit
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=147662
Ranked number 13 in best free drum vst's here:
http://en.audiofanzine.com/virtual-drum-percussion/editorial/articles/the-best-virtual-drums.html
From Cockos forum (developer of Reaper) - about MT Power Drum kit
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=147662
Ranked number 13 in best free drum vst's here:
http://en.audiofanzine.com/virtual-drum-percussion/editorial/articles/the-best-virtual-drums.html
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Wormhelmet
New member
Re: Any good, free VST for acoustic drums?
I have Addictive Drums and fxpansion's Geist so don't use free anymore, but I do have a ton of drum samples I also use with my regular sampler and ipad. Free drum samples are easy to find.
If worried about the MT Power vst after researching, just use one of the many others available. Getting good drums is more about good sequencing skills and some good samples plus velocity setting skills to sound realistic. Breaking up your sequencer to 64th notes too, so you can throw in oddly timed hits for a more humanistic feel. More about velocity setting than odd timing though for humanistic feel.
I have Addictive Drums and fxpansion's Geist so don't use free anymore, but I do have a ton of drum samples I also use with my regular sampler and ipad. Free drum samples are easy to find.
If worried about the MT Power vst after researching, just use one of the many others available. Getting good drums is more about good sequencing skills and some good samples plus velocity setting skills to sound realistic. Breaking up your sequencer to 64th notes too, so you can throw in oddly timed hits for a more humanistic feel. More about velocity setting than odd timing though for humanistic feel.
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Diego
New member
Re: Any good, free VST for acoustic drums?
That's true. When I'm doing drums on the computer they usually come from me doing hand and feet rolls first,
usually stealing licks from Ian Paice or Marco Minneman (the easy ones of course...) so you gotta have the space for those oddly placed hits.
I'll normally do the basic structure in 16th notes, then splice up the roll to 64th and add the ideas I left behind first.
I'll check all your recommendations and let you know how it goes. Thank you so much, guys!
That's true. When I'm doing drums on the computer they usually come from me doing hand and feet rolls first,
usually stealing licks from Ian Paice or Marco Minneman (the easy ones of course...) so you gotta have the space for those oddly placed hits.
I'll normally do the basic structure in 16th notes, then splice up the roll to 64th and add the ideas I left behind first.
I'll check all your recommendations and let you know how it goes. Thank you so much, guys!
ginormous
Understatmentologist
Re: Any good, free VST for acoustic drums?
Moving to Tips & Clips.
This is one of the better free drum VSTs, and I use it constantly.
4 velocity layers, 3 kits. It says "beta edition", but it's fully functioning.
http://www.bluenoiseplugins.com/plugins/drummix/beta-edition/
Moving to Tips & Clips.
This is one of the better free drum VSTs, and I use it constantly.
4 velocity layers, 3 kits. It says "beta edition", but it's fully functioning.
http://www.bluenoiseplugins.com/plugins/drummix/beta-edition/
F
Funkfingers
Guest
Re: Any good, free VST for acoustic drums?
Me too mate I prefer free VSTs more over paid ones all day. At least you could uninstall them after checking. For drums I prefer Sean Pandy drums if you are looking for a heavy metal sorta drum kit. For more diverse options I'd reckon this list: https://techraver.com/free-drum-vst-plugins/
To be honest, some of them are pretty good while others are just meh. Each to their own, I guess. Hope it helps.
Me too mate I prefer free VSTs more over paid ones all day. At least you could uninstall them after checking. For drums I prefer Sean Pandy drums if you are looking for a heavy metal sorta drum kit. For more diverse options I'd reckon this list: https://techraver.com/free-drum-vst-plugins/
To be honest, some of them are pretty good while others are just meh. Each to their own, I guess. Hope it helps.
dpaterson
New member
Re: Any good, free VST for acoustic drums?
Another "corpse thread" resurrected??? LOL!!!
Sadly I never realized that when I first started reading so wasted some precious time!!! Time that I'll never get back in my life!!! LOL!!!
Oh well. May as well contribute while I'm here.
There's no "catch" to MT Power Drum Kit (now version 2 since this thread was started) (https://www.powerdrumkit.com/). For free: it's a pretty darn good drum kit (VST). Matter of fact: what makes these things not so bad is that all the samples are totally dry.
Also found out just the other day and just by reading around these parts that Steven Slate Drums has a free kit now (haven't tried it but here's the link anyway): https://stevenslatedrums.com/ssd5/#SSD5FREE
Cannot beat BFD3 for authenticity in my opinion (but alas that ain't free i.e. far from it) (and I do have Addictive Drums 2 to compare it to).
Another "corpse thread" resurrected??? LOL!!!
Sadly I never realized that when I first started reading so wasted some precious time!!! Time that I'll never get back in my life!!! LOL!!!
Oh well. May as well contribute while I'm here.
There's no "catch" to MT Power Drum Kit (now version 2 since this thread was started) (https://www.powerdrumkit.com/). For free: it's a pretty darn good drum kit (VST). Matter of fact: what makes these things not so bad is that all the samples are totally dry.
Also found out just the other day and just by reading around these parts that Steven Slate Drums has a free kit now (haven't tried it but here's the link anyway): https://stevenslatedrums.com/ssd5/#SSD5FREE
Cannot beat BFD3 for authenticity in my opinion (but alas that ain't free i.e. far from it) (and I do have Addictive Drums 2 to compare it to).
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dpaterson
New member
Re: Any good, free VST for acoustic drums?
Meh (new word I learned from these forums).
While taking a break last night I thought lemme download that SSD5 free thing to see what it’s about as one or two local guys here use Steven Slate and rave about it. Nah. To begin with the installation pis*ed me off i.e. the .slatepack files, for some or the other reason, were being recognized by Windows as .zip files (which actually is all they are) and so they were being renamed to .zip files once the downloads were complete and, of course, the installer couldn’t find them. After the third download I figured this out and managed to install the darn thing. But what’s with the GUI??? Those thick fonts and the rest. It actually reminds me of the OLD Windows 3.1 programs. Worse still: it reminds me of Ableton. So nope. May be the “reverse placebo” effect but the drums didn’t sound that great to me either after all of this (but it was the free drums to be fair). So nah. BFD3 it still is for me all the way. Complicated and expensive but “floats my boat”. AD2 MAYBE now and then but that’s only because I happened to buy one or two kits that are pretty “monster” (but still doesn’t have the “pro.” features of BFD3).
For the sake of interest there is another really nice and interesting VST drummer called “Strike 2” by Air Music Technology. I happened to get it as part of a bundle (think it was with an M-Audio interface that I had once upon a time). Fantastic for composing because of its unique and rather clever design. In its simplest form: a set of predefined intros., choruses, bridges, fills, whatever are assigned as notes on your keyboard. So you select a drum kit and load it and tell the thing to “record”. You then hit keys on the keyboard e.g. a chosen intro. then verse then chorus then fill then verse then outtro. and all the individual MIDI notes that make up your song as “played” are recorded. Not the keys that you have pressed but the MIDI data assigned to those keys. You then just drag the “recording” to a track in your DAW and you have your drum track done. Obviously from that point you can use any other VST for the drum samples although its samples and features are very good actually. It has but one problem and that is that Air Music Technology’s support is all but non-existent i.e. it has one small quirk now and then they they are aware of and simply choose to ignore. Nothing serious just annoying i.e. sometimes it will insert a blank bar between your intro. and the rest of the track in the “recorded” data so you then have to manually delete the blank bar. Still. Something they could sort out but couldn’t be bothered it would seem.
Here (for fun):
P.S.
A retraction (to be fair) re: the SSD5 free installation issue I had. Apparently I'm the only one that's had such an issue and it COULD be that my download accelerator is identifying the .slatepack files as .ZIP files (which they actually are) and renaming them as such once the download is complete. Never had this issue before so have no idea the reason for this (assuming this was the problem). So: this aside the installation wasn't a big deal at all. Still: not my cup of tea and wouldn't pay money for it. But as I said: to be fair is all.
Meh (new word I learned from these forums).
While taking a break last night I thought lemme download that SSD5 free thing to see what it’s about as one or two local guys here use Steven Slate and rave about it. Nah. To begin with the installation pis*ed me off i.e. the .slatepack files, for some or the other reason, were being recognized by Windows as .zip files (which actually is all they are) and so they were being renamed to .zip files once the downloads were complete and, of course, the installer couldn’t find them. After the third download I figured this out and managed to install the darn thing. But what’s with the GUI??? Those thick fonts and the rest. It actually reminds me of the OLD Windows 3.1 programs. Worse still: it reminds me of Ableton. So nope. May be the “reverse placebo” effect but the drums didn’t sound that great to me either after all of this (but it was the free drums to be fair). So nah. BFD3 it still is for me all the way. Complicated and expensive but “floats my boat”. AD2 MAYBE now and then but that’s only because I happened to buy one or two kits that are pretty “monster” (but still doesn’t have the “pro.” features of BFD3).
For the sake of interest there is another really nice and interesting VST drummer called “Strike 2” by Air Music Technology. I happened to get it as part of a bundle (think it was with an M-Audio interface that I had once upon a time). Fantastic for composing because of its unique and rather clever design. In its simplest form: a set of predefined intros., choruses, bridges, fills, whatever are assigned as notes on your keyboard. So you select a drum kit and load it and tell the thing to “record”. You then hit keys on the keyboard e.g. a chosen intro. then verse then chorus then fill then verse then outtro. and all the individual MIDI notes that make up your song as “played” are recorded. Not the keys that you have pressed but the MIDI data assigned to those keys. You then just drag the “recording” to a track in your DAW and you have your drum track done. Obviously from that point you can use any other VST for the drum samples although its samples and features are very good actually. It has but one problem and that is that Air Music Technology’s support is all but non-existent i.e. it has one small quirk now and then they they are aware of and simply choose to ignore. Nothing serious just annoying i.e. sometimes it will insert a blank bar between your intro. and the rest of the track in the “recorded” data so you then have to manually delete the blank bar. Still. Something they could sort out but couldn’t be bothered it would seem.
Here (for fun):
P.S.
A retraction (to be fair) re: the SSD5 free installation issue I had. Apparently I'm the only one that's had such an issue and it COULD be that my download accelerator is identifying the .slatepack files as .ZIP files (which they actually are) and renaming them as such once the download is complete. Never had this issue before so have no idea the reason for this (assuming this was the problem). So: this aside the installation wasn't a big deal at all. Still: not my cup of tea and wouldn't pay money for it. But as I said: to be fair is all.
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NecroPolo
New member
Re: Any good, free VST for acoustic drums?
Slate free is killer.
Just my 2cents, after using free drumkits with their flaws for long I decided to switch to paid Toontrack around 2009 (both EZD and Superior line) and that was a blast, a real gamechanger. In the practice it is much better value than the price suggests: an awesome songwriting, editing and sometimes album project life saving tool.
Slate free is killer.
Just my 2cents, after using free drumkits with their flaws for long I decided to switch to paid Toontrack around 2009 (both EZD and Superior line) and that was a blast, a real gamechanger. In the practice it is much better value than the price suggests: an awesome songwriting, editing and sometimes album project life saving tool.
