MT Power DrumKit 2 is available for both Mac and PC. The patterns sound surprisingly great, despite this library being completely free.
Included as well is are grooves, composed of thousands of different rhythms (MIDI packs) to fit any genre. You don’t need to waste time using EQ and compression to get great-sounding drums right after installation.įor electronic drum set owners, the MT Power Drumkit 2 is perfect for using samples instead of your included module’s sounds. The drum kit is pre-processed, meaning they are mix-ready.
MT Power DrumKit 2 from Manda Audio is easily the best free sample library you can find on the internet. The list begins with one of my favorite free drum kits. Out of all the packs on the list, these are going to be the most authentic and realistic sounding. To start, I’ll begin with free acoustic kits.
As our sampling techniques grow, we continue to update our old products, so that they too become better. Re-building this library was a huge endeavor, but it was well worth it. And, you can select different levels of hardware saturation. The Ableton rack is quite special, in that there are macros to adjust the actual 808 parameters (snappy, tone, decay). Once all of the recordings were finalized, we spent a week exploring and jamming with all of the sounds, carefully building 16x hit kits of drums that play well together. The kits range from clean to saturated, to completely distorted, and are the perfect way to get going quickly if you're overwhelmed by massive sample counts.įinally, we formatted everything for as many samplers as we could manage.
The end result gives you full control over the drum sounds - just like the real thing:įor a detailed rundown of what types of multi-sampling is included in the 808 From Mars, see this 808 From Mars - Guide. We also multi-sampled every drum voice that had synthesis parameters (bass drum, snare, cymbal, etc) - capturing different decay times, snappy and tone amounts, for both accented and un-accented. For the bass drum, using the accent actually means a less bass-heavy sound. The accented toms become punchier and less tonal, and the rim completely changes timbre.
The accent can add a transient spike, slight pitch modulation, or opening of the filter (depending on the voice). The accents on the 808 hugely affect the drum sound, but most sample packs neglect this. This not only means better samples, but better organization, file-naming, and generally a collection of samples that works for a larger audience.
So, we multi-sampled our 808 cleanly through our API console, and also dirtied it up with a slew of hardware saturators, EQs, filters and compressors (no plugin processing whatsoever). Over the years, 3 different 808s have been sampled to create the 808 From Mars, but our most recent unit is far and away the best sounding yet, and for this reason (and the fact we have better gear and more experience than ever) we've decided to completely re-sample it. The toms can sound like a 606 if the noise parameters are messed with, and the bass drum can range from a low G (if you're lucky) to an A#. This is due not only to its 100% analog nature, but because of the internal parameters that, with even the slightest tweak, can completely alter the sound. I've used many 808s over the years and it's true that each has its own sound.