Whether you’re a classic hardware fan, a modern innovator or a sample-tweaker – there’s a drum machine for you.
The drum machine is one of the most important and influential instruments in modern music. Classic hardware drum machines like the LinnDrum and Roland 808 would come to define genres and eras in the latter half of the 20th century, making a permanent mark on the popular and underground music landscape.
These vintage bits of gear now cost thousands of pounds and are largely out of the price range of most producers. However, there are plenty of affordable software options available. Read on to discover the best modern drum machines, 80s drum machines, 808 and 909 plugins, acoustic drum plugins and the best drum machines for sample tweakers.
What To Look For In A Drum Machine Plugin
Drum machine plugins are a great way to add high-quality drum sounds to your music production without the need for a physical drum kit. Here are some tips to help you choose the best drum VST for your needs:
- Compatibility: Before purchasing a drum plugin, make sure it is compatible with your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and operating system. Most drum plugins are available in VST, AU, and AAX formats, but it’s always best to double-check before making a purchase.
- Sound Quality / Vibe: The sound quality of a drum plugin is one of the most important factors to consider, so be sure to check out any audio demos available. In terms of vibe, many drum machine plugins offer high-quality samples and realistic drum sounds, but others err on the side of retro drum machine emulation - it's entirely down to you which you'd prefer for your next project. Often, plugins will also give you fine control over the sound of each drum, giving you more agency over your final mix.
- Ease of Use: A good drum plugin should be easy to use and navigate. Look for a plugin that has an intuitive interface and is easy to learn. Some plugins even offer built-in tutorials to help you get started.
- Features: Different drum plugins offer different features, so it’s important to choose one that has the features you need. Some popular features to look out for include MIDI mapping, built-in effects, and the ability to customize drum kits.
- Price: Drum plugins can range in price from free to several hundred dollars. While it’s tempting to go for the cheapest option, keep in mind that you often get what you pay for. Consider investing in a high-quality plugin that will give you the best possible sound, if you're able.
When choosing a drum plugin, it’s important to keep in mind your specific needs and preferences. Whether you’re looking for a drum sampler VST that specializes in a particular genre or one that offers a wide range of sounds, there’s a best drum plugin out there for you.
Best Modern Drum Machines
Excite Audio - Bloom Drum Breaks
Price: £59
What We Love: Intuitive controls and affordability, packaged in a gorgeously-designed UI.
Take a look at Excite Audio's Bloom Drum Breaks' UI in motion and tell us that you're not already in love with it; we dare you.
Beneath its ethereal aesthetic however lies a powerful drum generation tool designed, in the words of its creators, to create 'Instant Breaks', using a well-curated range of ready-to-go drum samples and loops as a basis, and making them wildly customisable to your needs.
With an incredible 250 built-in presets at your fingertips, and with extensive modulation, sample editing, sequencing, and effects processing options to boot, the low price tag attached to this instrument feels wildly at odds with its incredible versatility, which puts it amongst our absolute favourite drum machine plugins for 2024 and beyond.
XLN Audio - XO
Price: £111
What We Love: XO's eye-catching UI provides a truly revolutionary way to explore sounds
XLN Audio’s XO is a drum machine straight from the future. Moving away from traditional drum machine rules, this beast of a VST drum plugin allows you to quickly and intelligently build kits using your own drum sample collection.
XO analyses all your drum samples and presents them in ‘XO Space’, grouping similar drum samples close to one another in a unique cloud-like interface so you can take the guesswork out of sample selection.
With your samples selected you can then tweak and sequence your drum hits, and take advantage of XO’s randomisation and groove template options.
Sugar Bytes DrumComputer
Price: £112
What We Love: A well-executed meeting of old and new-school methods for drum synthesis/sampling
Taking a different approach toward modern drum machines, Sugar Bytes DrumComputer is the ultimate drum machine for synthetic drum specialists.
DrumComputer comes equipped with eight sound engines, each one layering a resonator, wavetable or analogue oscillator and resynth or sampler, Use the resynth engine to get awesome liquid cymbals and hats, or load your own sounds for tweaking with the built-in sampler.
Add flavour with the multimode filter, compressor, distortion and reverbs, and create inspiring grooves with the feature-packed sequencer. The 16-step sequencer boasts probability, rolls, swing and humanise features, making drum programming fresh again.
Best Drum Machine for Sample Tweakers
Loopcloud DRUM
Price: £99
What We Love: An all-in-one solution for drums, with a virtually limitless sample library and superb customisation options
Fully integrated with the huge Loopcloud sample library, Loopcloud DRUM is a sample tweaker's dream. Choose from the countless drum samples in the Loopcloud collection, assign them to the plugin’s 16 drum pads, and tweak them with tuning, filter and envelope controls.
Go a step further with effects – add reverb, delay lo-fi, distortion, a ‘DJ’ filter, and a Limiter, and then sequence a groove with the built-in sequencer.
You can also export your grooves as MIDI if you want to continue editing your beat in your DAWs MIDI editor.
Best 80s Drum Machines
Audio Blast MininnDrum
Price: £69.95
What We Love: A faithful emulation of a classic piece of kit, with some twists
MininnDrum is Audio Blast's take on the classic LinnDrum; a drum machine which for many is the absolute epitome of the 80s sound, with everyone from The Human League to Prince utilising it in their productions across the years.
With Audio Blast's choice to create 3 different sound ROMs to emulate multiple versions of the drum machine, alongside the addition of a freely-customisable additional drum pad for an extra user-assigned sample, this is likely to be the only version of a LinnDrum emulation you're ever going to need.
This faithful recreation of such an iconic piece of drum sampling history is also available through Beatport Studio.
Iconic Instruments Iconic V
Price: £99
What We Love: Instantly recognisable 80s vibes in a modern VST drum machine package
Like MininnDrum, Iconic V only emulates one iconic 80s drum synth; and it does it exceptionally well. The team at Iconic Instruments have painstakingly recreated the sound of the Simmons SDS-V, faithfully recreating it in digital format, whilst also adding a few more exciting modern features.
You may not know the name Simmons SDS-V, but you’ll certainly recognise the sound. Watch the trailer video above and you’ll recognise some distinctive beats from Duran Duran, Howard Jones and Naked Eyes.
Iconic V isn’t a standalone VST drum plugin, instead, it runs in Kontakt and the free Kontakt player – but don’t let that deter you. This is one of the best 80s drum machines available right now.
Best 808 Plugins
Tactile Sounds TS-808
Price: Free
What We Love: Get hold of an unmistakably classic sound, without spending a penny
Do you want that classic Roland 808 sound, but don’t want to spend four grand on a hardware model? Well, Tactile Sounds have got you covered. The TS-808 is one of the best free drum plugins out there, and despite its price tag (or lack thereof) it sure packs a punch.
The TS-808 is not based on samples, instead, each voice is synthesised in real-time. The inner workings of the plugin are based on the original schematics that came with the hardware Roland 808, meaning that this software emulation behaves in the same way. In fact, Tactile Sounds have pushed the TS-808 beyond the limits of the original, allowing you even greater control over drum voices.
The only downsides are the lack of a built-in sequencer and the fact that the VST drum plugin is PC only. However, if you don’t use a Mac, this is a fantastic option.
D16 Group Nepheton 2
Price: £99
What We Love: Unbeatable 808 emulation, with tons of great presets and wild customisability
The Nepheton family of emulators has been around for a while, but in that time very few software 808 emulations have even come close to knocking it from the top spot. Now, with D16's second iteration of the ever-popular 808 emulator, the quality and customisability has stepped up a notch further. Complete with the distinctive black and orange colour scheme, Nepheton gives users all the features and sounds found on the original Roland machine, plus a number of extra parameters for deep tone and envelope tweaking
Nepheton 2’s sequencer unbelievably comes with over 1200 presets and patterns pre-loaded for quick beat making, and you can export and import patterns as XML files, making this 808 drum machine plugin perfect for collaborating.
Best 909 Plugins
Synsonic BD-909
Price: Free
What We Love: Get classic 909 sounds, with adjustability, without paying a penny
Synsonic BD-909 is a free drum plugin that emulates the iconic kick drum of the Roland 909. This is a must-have drum plugin VST for anyone making house or techno – the 909 kick is a staple part of both genres, and the Synsonic BD-909 gives you that iconic sound in a totally free drum plugin.
Take complete control over the sound of your 909 kick with envelope, distortion and noise control. You can also tune your kick so it sits perfectly with your bassline.
D16 Group Drumazon 2
Price: £99
What We Love: Broad and well-curated preset library with tons of customisability
Yet another top-class Roland drum machine emulation from D16, Drumazon 2 is the developer’s second take on the iconic TR-909 drum machine. The original Drumazon was already a powerhouse in 909 emulation, but with this second generation, D16 have taken things to whole new level of accuracy and customisability. Synthesising each drum voice in exactly the same way as the original hardware 909, Drumazon is of course a faithful VST drum plugin replica; something we've come to expect from the D16 Group's impressive range.
But that's not all - Drumazon also boasts a range of parameter tweaking for more sound design control, and its sequencer comes with randomisation options, making idea generation on the fly a doddle.
Best Drum Machine with Acoustic Samples
XLN Audio Addictive Drums 2
Price: £137
What We Love: A huge number of optional expansions for a wide range of genres
Addictive Drums 2 is a must-have for any producers looking for a VST drum plugin that does acoustic drums well. There are countless drum kits available for Addictive Drums 2, and each kit has been recorded in state-of-the-art, world-class studios giving you a high-budget sound in your DAW.
XLN Audio have also recorded performances from some of the world’s greatest drummers so you can take their grooves and beats and use them in your music.
Tweak the balance of your acoustic drum with the fully-featured built-in mixing environment, and add effects like compression, noise, EQ and more for a finely tuned live drum sound.
Wavesfactory VQ Drums
Price: £49.00
What We Love: Authentic 60s drum sounds in a neatly-contained package
VQ Drums is a spectacularly recorded Kontakt Instrument which gives you an authentic 1964 Ludwig Hollywood drum kit recorded in a beautiful wooden room. It produces a very characterful, authentically 60s sound, and the well-designed UI gives you a lot of sound tweaking possibilities.
Adjust the pitch, pan, level and effects on each individual drum. You can even blend the room mics as you like, and control how much bleed occurs between microphones on different drums!
