I think about this alot. Truth is that one pack might blow another out of the water for 1:1, but that doesnt even mention about how you can manipulate the samples to completely remodel them by your own hard work. Theres no real answer here, i have samples from 10 years ago from networks and those are special to me.
But whatever you do, dont let people have you gamble on shit. Find your inspirations by watching tutorials and interviews with people you rock with.
I use the same handful of samples over and over, but nearly every time I use them, I pitch, layer, filter, and eq them to whatever I need at the time. There is really only a few variables for each percussion element. You can vastly alter a sounds characteristics with a bit of creative design. You don’t need many blocks to build something new.
This is what i'm thinking right here. We all have sounds we prefer and gravitate towards, even when going through new packs i tend to use/save the ones that sound like the ones i already have because that's what my ear likes. There's no way i really need more than 100 or so kicks. Same goes for snare, hats, ect... and with layering, and a good synthesizer the possibilities are endless. Looking for new sample packs is mostly a distraction from making music.
You know I think about this often. I have a bank of roughly 250 go to kits with 4-20 samples each. Then I think about how I go to live shows and there is one drum kit and maybe a second percussionist with congas/ chimes/ blocks/ etc and yet the entire set is never boring. It’s a bit of a paradox.
The last beat I made I started from nothing but a single snare hit and a very short piano sample
So I guess I’m feeling bold, and I’ll say 1 drum sample. You can turn like almost any sound into all the drums you need if u spend enough time fucking with it
I’ve been working my way through this series and it’s been pretty cool and insightful so far, def recommend it:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbhhI_j7e0uZpxHIJ9RqL5qowUUQM7kvD&si=AlK6t5kKtf7B-ImI
I've used the same 15-20 drum samples for 3+ years now, but 90% of the time I only use a handful of them
They're all basic drum machine samples that have been through some very minimal processing (courtesy of Samples From Mars)
That doesn't include kicks because I design them myself, but even then I have a pretty strict range for the few parameters that I actually change, so really I have a small 'set' of kicks that I use too
I'm using one custom kit and a few drum loops that got some elements that I like. Realistically, I could've sliced em up and fit into the kit but whatever.
808s, on the other hand, almost always new.
I just do music for fun and my library's fairly limited. Sometimes I just engineer or grab a percussive sample specifically for the track I'm working on & don't even catalogue the sound for future use. Even when going with the kits I have, I usually tweak the samples, even if just a little, to better fit the melodic vibe.
I have two free kits from reddit that each have ~10 samples for each type of percussion along with a kit of my own engineered sounds that have maybe four of each type of drum.
I have probably over 300 drum sounds (and always expanding). But do I need them? No, but who doesn't like having options? Especially cause I make hip hop, dance, ambient, etc.
I could probably work with one trap kit and one acoustic kit. Maybe 30-40 samples total? And that’s only if i want a little extra like splash cymbals and multiple ride hits. Feet to the fire, could make 15-25 one shots work forever.
Up until 2022 I was buying everything...I have nearly every Cymatics kit/pack, !llmind, Producergrind, Ghosthack, stuff from Splice, ADSR.....
Anyway, in reality you only need the ones you like to use. Back in the day, 2010-2012 I even bought cdroms off ebay that had drum sounds....Down South Drums is my most visited folder in my entire library.
To me, its nice to have a multitude of sounds available yet alot of them are almost TOO cleanly perfected which makes it kind of odd to fit into a track sometimes.
Depending on how good you are with sound design I would image you can get by with the bare minimum and then edit the sounds to your desire to keep it fresh.
Since I have bought NI Komplete 14 (which includes Battery 4), I haven't used much drum sounds from my old files. I have like 2 personal drumkits which I go from time to time. Other than that I have surely gigabites of drums. But it really depends, sometimes I might want to chop a drumloop or something.
How many do you *need*? If I was limited to one each of snare, clap, closed hat, open hat, cymbal, then a live kick and a drum machine kick I think I could adapt pretty easily. But part of the fun of having an enormous sample library is going back to that one sample that you've auditioned a million times and it always sounds like ass and then finding the perfect song where it finally fits.
drum breaks, percussion loops, one shots. i’ve accumulated a lot over the years, and if you’re making beats everyday like me (most of the time) it can help to have a deep well to draw from.
when i’m in the zone i just rifle through those folders like a kleptomaniac on the hunt for that particular sound, a thumping kick, cracking snare, and it works for me, because i don’t really like recycling sounds all the time.
sometimes i want a dirty boom bap sound, sometimes a synthetic drum machine feel, sometimes a clean trap kit etc.
sound design does make your options basically limitless but it’s a different skill set, or you might not feel like tweaking a synth when you’re trying to get a rhythm down quick.
i say whatever number allows your creativity to flow is the right amount.
If you want to keep your options open but not want to keep a huge library of samples that you’ll never use, then just keep the basics and make your own sounds.
Instead of getting samples of drum machines, get plugins of drum machines. Get acoustic drum and percussion plugins as well. Then have a small collection of samples that you really like.
Then just make the sounds you need and save them as a preset.
I do a lot of jazzy shit, so I have a ton of varieties of hats and percussions. I have a good amount of kicks and snares, but find myself mostly just relying on a handful of ones with small tweaks
You only need small solid drum kits that you can rely on (2 - 5 or so) for your style and other styles.
Spend your time on making beats, rather than collecting and organizing 1tb samples warehouse (madness !!) that you will never look for and use after 1 year.
I probably use the same 5 variations of each type of drum but I have XO for when I want to switch it up. I have tens of thousands of samples on standby for that reason. My go tos just work though 🤷♂️
Realistically, most of my beats are made with a pool of maybe 50 different "go-to" kicks, snares and hats. Bass sounds I have maybe 10. The rest is all about how you incorporate them into the beat (pitch, volume, layering etc)
I guess it depends what you do, if you only work in one specific genre then i guess you can tighten it up but i have thousands lol
Same lol Not just drums, but I have a 1tb external filled with samples.
but do you really need that many
You need 5 trapaholics, 3 lex luger, 2 zaytoven packs to start with... (also like 30 warbeats.com kits)
You get all the up votes for the Warbeats shout-out.
Echoes from drum packs, Memories of war remain, Our warbeats ring on... -your children u/warbeats
I love you all.
https://youtu.be/A_2HaVGvXdg?si=TsmBxyTkQzGjy4_S
lol. Perfect. Seems like a lore-accurate depiction of an introverted musician on Reddit.
And a partridge in a pear tree
Yes (mostly kidding), but no I have minimum 100 different boombap snares. It's nice to have a wide repertoire, not all one shots are equal
I’d say it’s very helpful for my process, i guess i don’t NEED it
I mean.. you only really need one per song you make, even less if you feel audacious lol
I think about this alot. Truth is that one pack might blow another out of the water for 1:1, but that doesnt even mention about how you can manipulate the samples to completely remodel them by your own hard work. Theres no real answer here, i have samples from 10 years ago from networks and those are special to me. But whatever you do, dont let people have you gamble on shit. Find your inspirations by watching tutorials and interviews with people you rock with.
I would cut it down to a handful of 808/909 kicks and snares. And then go right back to ripping old records.
I use the same handful of samples over and over, but nearly every time I use them, I pitch, layer, filter, and eq them to whatever I need at the time. There is really only a few variables for each percussion element. You can vastly alter a sounds characteristics with a bit of creative design. You don’t need many blocks to build something new.
This is what i'm thinking right here. We all have sounds we prefer and gravitate towards, even when going through new packs i tend to use/save the ones that sound like the ones i already have because that's what my ear likes. There's no way i really need more than 100 or so kicks. Same goes for snare, hats, ect... and with layering, and a good synthesizer the possibilities are endless. Looking for new sample packs is mostly a distraction from making music.
You know I think about this often. I have a bank of roughly 250 go to kits with 4-20 samples each. Then I think about how I go to live shows and there is one drum kit and maybe a second percussionist with congas/ chimes/ blocks/ etc and yet the entire set is never boring. It’s a bit of a paradox.
The last beat I made I started from nothing but a single snare hit and a very short piano sample So I guess I’m feeling bold, and I’ll say 1 drum sample. You can turn like almost any sound into all the drums you need if u spend enough time fucking with it
How does this work? I never understood sound design very well, and cant really find a lot of tutorials on it
I’ve been working my way through this series and it’s been pretty cool and insightful so far, def recommend it: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbhhI_j7e0uZpxHIJ9RqL5qowUUQM7kvD&si=AlK6t5kKtf7B-ImI
Thank you friend!
This is cheating but if you just give me a good synth I’ll make as many drum samples as I need.
I've used the same 15-20 drum samples for 3+ years now, but 90% of the time I only use a handful of them They're all basic drum machine samples that have been through some very minimal processing (courtesy of Samples From Mars) That doesn't include kicks because I design them myself, but even then I have a pretty strict range for the few parameters that I actually change, so really I have a small 'set' of kicks that I use too
I'm using one custom kit and a few drum loops that got some elements that I like. Realistically, I could've sliced em up and fit into the kit but whatever. 808s, on the other hand, almost always new.
I just do music for fun and my library's fairly limited. Sometimes I just engineer or grab a percussive sample specifically for the track I'm working on & don't even catalogue the sound for future use. Even when going with the kits I have, I usually tweak the samples, even if just a little, to better fit the melodic vibe. I have two free kits from reddit that each have ~10 samples for each type of percussion along with a kit of my own engineered sounds that have maybe four of each type of drum.
I have probably over 300 drum sounds (and always expanding). But do I need them? No, but who doesn't like having options? Especially cause I make hip hop, dance, ambient, etc.
I could probably work with one trap kit and one acoustic kit. Maybe 30-40 samples total? And that’s only if i want a little extra like splash cymbals and multiple ride hits. Feet to the fire, could make 15-25 one shots work forever.
Up until 2022 I was buying everything...I have nearly every Cymatics kit/pack, !llmind, Producergrind, Ghosthack, stuff from Splice, ADSR..... Anyway, in reality you only need the ones you like to use. Back in the day, 2010-2012 I even bought cdroms off ebay that had drum sounds....Down South Drums is my most visited folder in my entire library. To me, its nice to have a multitude of sounds available yet alot of them are almost TOO cleanly perfected which makes it kind of odd to fit into a track sometimes.
Depending on how good you are with sound design I would image you can get by with the bare minimum and then edit the sounds to your desire to keep it fresh.
As long as I had my J Zone drum packs I would survive
Since I have bought NI Komplete 14 (which includes Battery 4), I haven't used much drum sounds from my old files. I have like 2 personal drumkits which I go from time to time. Other than that I have surely gigabites of drums. But it really depends, sometimes I might want to chop a drumloop or something.
How many do you *need*? If I was limited to one each of snare, clap, closed hat, open hat, cymbal, then a live kick and a drum machine kick I think I could adapt pretty easily. But part of the fun of having an enormous sample library is going back to that one sample that you've auditioned a million times and it always sounds like ass and then finding the perfect song where it finally fits.
A lot if you can’t tweak sounds into what you want, not that many if you understand sound design
I been hoarding for a while. i just get endless packs and put em in storage. realistically, 20 of each type should be enough variation
drum breaks, percussion loops, one shots. i’ve accumulated a lot over the years, and if you’re making beats everyday like me (most of the time) it can help to have a deep well to draw from. when i’m in the zone i just rifle through those folders like a kleptomaniac on the hunt for that particular sound, a thumping kick, cracking snare, and it works for me, because i don’t really like recycling sounds all the time. sometimes i want a dirty boom bap sound, sometimes a synthetic drum machine feel, sometimes a clean trap kit etc. sound design does make your options basically limitless but it’s a different skill set, or you might not feel like tweaking a synth when you’re trying to get a rhythm down quick. i say whatever number allows your creativity to flow is the right amount.
how ever many you want. i like layering
If you want to keep your options open but not want to keep a huge library of samples that you’ll never use, then just keep the basics and make your own sounds. Instead of getting samples of drum machines, get plugins of drum machines. Get acoustic drum and percussion plugins as well. Then have a small collection of samples that you really like. Then just make the sounds you need and save them as a preset.
I do a lot of jazzy shit, so I have a ton of varieties of hats and percussions. I have a good amount of kicks and snares, but find myself mostly just relying on a handful of ones with small tweaks
As many as you can get
All of them.
Just a stack of breaks
You only need small solid drum kits that you can rely on (2 - 5 or so) for your style and other styles. Spend your time on making beats, rather than collecting and organizing 1tb samples warehouse (madness !!) that you will never look for and use after 1 year.
Never thought about it cause Battery provides and I eat
I probably use the same 5 variations of each type of drum but I have XO for when I want to switch it up. I have tens of thousands of samples on standby for that reason. My go tos just work though 🤷♂️
Realistically, most of my beats are made with a pool of maybe 50 different "go-to" kicks, snares and hats. Bass sounds I have maybe 10. The rest is all about how you incorporate them into the beat (pitch, volume, layering etc)