Recommendations for finding "normal" sounding drum racks?

[emiska]

Hi there,

I'm looking for recommendations for places online to find free drum racks that sound nice and punchy and clean, and not too heavily produced. I know that "normal" is very subjective, but operating off of my description above, I tend to be disappointed by the offerings in the Ableton Factory Packs, so I'm wondering if there is any sort of online source where I can go for free drum racks that sound really tight right out of the box.

Thanks!

[lalakulo]

If you have time, dig deep into ableton and start to learn how to create.
Since you know exactly what you want,i would suggest to search for free samples to build your own racks with the processing of your taste.

Googled in 1 sec this link https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2010/0 ... full-kits/
Maybe that helps?

[emiska]

Thanks for the recommendations, lalakulo.

I'm ideally looking for said "normal"-sounding drum racks that are literally plug n' play in Ableton, in the sense that one does not even have to decide which samples from a sample pack to drag where onto an empty Drum Rack in Ableton, which I often find to be sort of a black hole for me. But I think searching for free samples like the ones you linked to and then picking and choosing is probably the next best thing!

[login]

There is just so much free stuff online, just search for "free ableton packs drums".

Now in the factory packs there are unprocessed racks, like the 908, 808, 707 and 606 kits (there are processed and unprocessed versions), I think the drum machines pack contains also unprocessed racks.

[jlgrimes]

Hi there,

I'm looking for recommendations for places online to find free drum racks that sound nice and punchy and clean, and not too heavily produced. I know that "normal" is very subjective, but operating off of my description above, I tend to be disappointed by the offerings in the Ableton Factory Packs, so I'm wondering if there is any sort of online source where I can go for free drum racks that sound really tight right out of the box.

Thanks!

Genre is important as what sounds normal for one sounds weird for others.


As for standard 808 patches (and other vintage drum machine packs), Ableton has a clean (or classic) kit that is basically the raw samples. Can't get any more normal than that.


I would also search the web for free wave files. There are actually some pretty good gems (if your style is based off of electronic/sampled style drums).


If you need something realistic, you will have a much harder time and probably better using a dedicated VST.

[Stromkraft]

My solution to the somewhat dismal drum library of Live is to use softsynth drum plug-ins like Tremor, Heartbeat and other synths suited for drum sounds that are drum instruments in their own right rather than relying on samples, or that mixes synth drums with samples like Battery. Of course, I want a very electronic sound which may not be "normal" for you.

For more acoustic drums, that I rarely use, I've used some commercial packs with great samples and also bought other libraries from time to time. Thing is I don't really use more than a small set of samples of the 15.000+ drum hits that I have. Because I make them from scratch. This is natural though. With a great engine like Sampler one only needs a smaller set to build on anyway. Multiple velocity-switched samples are nice.

[H20nly]

Battery

i've found the ones in Battery 3 keep me pretty happy. i've long since abandoned the VST, but the sample library (plus updates and addons) is a keeper.

[Stromkraft]

Battery

i've found the ones in Battery 3 keep me pretty happy. i've long since abandoned the VST, but the sample library (plus updates and addons) is a keeper.

Yeah, I did that too when I fell in love with Sampler and currently the library, thankfully not protected, is what I got installed, not the instrument, and this is part of quite a few kits. The instrument Battery is pretty good though. These days I use Simpler.

[emiska]

Thanks folks for all the input.

[spendthrift2]

I don't like many of my drum sounds either. I'm so picky when it comes to this, and haven't found a solution yet. I'm only about 10 days into my 30 day trial of Live 10, but I used to have 7 LE and 8 Intro. I think the plan is going to be buy Ableton 10 Suite, get all the free packs for the 'House' genre, and go from there. Some of those drums have got to be worthwhile. I watched the video on one the other day and think you may find that it makes sounds that you can employ. https://www.ableton.com/en/packs/skinnerbox/

[Stromkraft]

If you want to to use samples, it can be good thing to investigate drum sound layering, basically building new samples out of existing ones layering different complementing sounds, processing these into a result more to your liking. While this is some work and takes time, searching for the "perfect samples" also takes time.