Free Sample Libraries of Things You Will Never Record Yourself
Thai gongs, a string quartet with arco and pizzicato, 75 kicks and a brass preset in 120 samples — seven free sample packs and libraries, and exactly what is in each one.
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Most arguments about sample packs are really arguments about drums, and drums are the one thing a determined person can record. A snare is a snare. What you cannot record is a Thai gong, or a double bass played pizzicato by somebody who has done it before, or a brass section at eight in the morning on a Tuesday.
That is the honest case for a sample library, and it is a better case than the one the industry usually makes. Everything below costs nothing. Every number is from the maker's own page.
Fuimadane's three, and the free player they run in
Jon Skarin releases these as Fuimadane, and the three of them together are the most useful free thing on this list — with one condition printed before you download rather than after: they need Decent Sampler, which is itself free.
Jon Pulls Strings is the one to take first. Its page lists violin, viola, cello and double bass, with both arco and pizzicato articulations, and dynamic presets whose sample layers respond to velocity. Arco and pizzicato in the same free library is not a given; plenty of paid string libraries make you buy the plucked articulations separately. Get Jon Pulls Strings
Jon Hits Things is percussion, built — its page says — from University of Iowa recordings, and it includes Thai gongs. That is the kind of entry that justifies the whole category. You are not going to source a Thai gong. It also has selectable UI artwork, which is a small vanity and a pleasant one. Get Jon Hits Things
Jons Junk Drawer is what the name says: a Decent Sampler instrument library with multiple presets, from the same University of Iowa source, with its own custom interface. A junk drawer is the correct format for this material, because the thing you need from it is the one you were not looking for. Get Jons Junk Drawer
Three libraries, one free player, no money at any point. Follow @Jon_skarin, who made all three.
xKick 999, by TMPLT Sounds
Seventy-five kick samples in WAV, described on its page as an emulation of the Jomox Xbase 999. Two people have rated it, both at five stars, which is not a sample size worth arguing from — but seventy-five kicks is a number you can check yourself in about four minutes, and the format means there is nothing to install.
A kick pack lives or dies on whether the files are usable without processing. This one states its source, which at least tells you what you are getting a version of. Get xKick 999
Roland D-50 Brass, by Arsen
One preset. Five velocity layers. A hundred and twenty samples at 24-bit and 48 kHz.
It is worth saying plainly that this is a single sound, because the name suggests a synth and it is not one. What it is, is one brass patch sampled properly — five layers is real multisampling, not one file stretched across a keyboard — and it is a Kontakt library, so you need Kontakt. If you have Kontakt and you want the D-50's brass, this is a hundred and twenty files of it for nothing. Get the D-50 brass library
Nu Metal 200, by Mr Drums
A nu metal backing drum track at 24-bit and 44.1 kHz, shipped with the MIDI file as well as the audio. The MIDI is the part that matters: audio gives you the take, MIDI gives you the arrangement, and with both you can keep the pattern and throw away the kit.
Genre packs are usually where sample libraries get embarrassing, and the giveaway is always the same — audio only, no MIDI, no way to move it. This one moves. Get Nu Metal 200
FX Sample For DJ, by GOLD SOUND
Effects and transitions organised for DJ sets, and its page says they import to Serato, Rekordbox, VJ and Traktor. Eight people have rated it at 4.8, which is the best-supported number on this page.
Not a production pack. If you play out, it is the one here that is aimed at you. Get FX Sample For DJ
And one we cannot tell you much about
Ski Beatz has Smack Pack Vol 22 up for nothing at smackpackchallenges.com. Its page says who made it and that it is for various genres, and that is genuinely all it says — no file count, no formats, no tempos. We are not going to invent the rest. Given whose name is on it, it is worth the download anyway, and @Skibeatz is worth the follow regardless.
The thing to take from this
Free libraries are not a worse version of paid ones. They are a different shape: narrower, stranger, usually one person's obsession rather than a catalogue. A paid library sells you coverage. A free one like Jon Hits Things sells you a Thai gong, which is the sound you will actually remember using.
The rest of the free shelf is here, and the free plugins are here.