Unlike some of the more electronic or synthetic tools in this list, Power Drumkit 2 is a plugin aimed squarely at replicating the realistic sound of a real musician behind a genuine drum kit.

Both plugins can track incoming MIDI notes, too, meaning they can be put to use for percussive basslines and melodies as well as traditional drums.

RD-909, meanwhile, has individual controls to shape the tone, pitch sweep and noise of the drum, plus an added distortion effect. The BD-808 adds course and fine tuning, plus an extended Long Decay mode. In reality, the hardware that inspires these plugins is fairly limited - you can’t even tune a real 808 kick - but Synsonic has ramped up the flexibility significantly with a variety of parameters absent from the originals. While a one-track drum plugin might not sound all that useful on paper, it’s worth bearing in mind that between them those two bass drums underpin entire genres, from house and techno to hip-hop, so having access to speciality tools dedicated to shaping the perfect emulation is nothing to scoff at. Specifically, the synthesised kicks found on Roland’s iconic TR-909 and TR-808 drum machines. This pair of free percussion synths from German developer Synsonic focus entirely on just one drum sound: the kick. A factor worth bearing in mind if you’re on or considering a new system. One important thing to note: MiniSpillage is Mac only and, like several tools in this roundup, doesn’t seem to work with Apple’s new M1 hardware. Filters and an onboard distortion let users sculpt the tone of each drum further, too.

The kick can do punchy hits and deeper bass sounds, hats can be noisy and complex, and the wood drum can create a nice variety of perc sounds.Įach generator is equipped with an LFO and envelopes to help add shape and movement. The plugin is a trimmed-down version of the paid-for DrumSpillage, making use of the same impressive sound engine but paring things back to just three generators - kick, hat and wood drum.ĭespite the limited sound engine, there’s more sonic scope than you might think from these three tools. MiniSpillage has been around a few years now, but remains one of the handiest freeware drum synthesizers going.

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