Blog

Notes on drum synthesis, sound design and the instruments we build.

Most of it comes out of building our own: pulling apart the circuits behind the analog machines everyone still samples, tracing what the Soviet clones did differently, working out why gated reverb sounds the way it does, and comparing the drum plugins we keep coming back to.

New to it, start with how drum synthesis works. Want sounds rather than reading, the free sample packs are over here.

Best Free Drum Machine VSTs for Mac & Windows (2026)

Eighteen no-cost drum plugins that were still downloadable in September 2026, split into sequencer machines, drum synths, samplers and acoustic kits, with a chart for choosing one.

InstrumentsOberheim DMX: The Drum Machine Behind Early Hip HopHow the Oberheim DMX stored its drums on eight swappable sample cards, why that made it sound the way it does, the DX that followed, the records it is on, and how to get the sound today. →

InstrumentsRoland CR-78: Presets, Sounds and the Records It MadeThe CompuRhythm read from its own manual: 34 presets, 14 analog tones, a four-pattern memory, the WS-1 step writer, the records it made, and how to get the sound now. →

InstrumentsE-mu SP-1200: The 12-Bit Sampler Behind Golden-Era Hip HopWhat the SP-1200 is, the numbers that give it its grit, how producers squeezed breaks into ten seconds of memory, the SP-12 and MPC60 beside it, the Rossum reissues, prices, and a DAW recipe. →

InstrumentsVintage Drum Machines: Eras, Sounds and What to Buy TodayThe classic rhythm machines grouped by how they make a sound, what analog drift and 8- or 12-bit samples each do to the audio, a table of 26 machines with their status today, and what breaks when you buy one. →

InstrumentsLinn Drum Machine: The LM-1, LinnDrum and 9000 ExplainedThe three machines Roger Linn built between 1980 and 1986, how their 8-bit samples and swing actually worked, the records they are on, what came after, and what to check before buying one. →

InstrumentsRoland TR-909: History, Sounds, Sequencer and AlternativesThe 1983 hybrid that became the sound of house and techno: which voices are circuits and which are 6-bit cymbal recordings, every knob, the sequencer, two patterns to program, used prices and the modern options. →

ExplainerWhat Is an 808? The Machine, the Kick and the BassWhy one word means a 1980 Roland drum machine, its kick drum and the tuned sub-bass in trap, how a decaying kick becomes a bass note, and how to tune, glide and mix one. →

ComparisonEmergent Drums Alternative: Tapechild UDS-16 (2026)An Emergent Drums alternative that synthesizes instead of generating: Tapechild UDS-16 and Audialab Emergent Drums 2 compared on sound, workflow, formats and price. →

ComparisonTapechild UDS-16 vs Ableton Drum Synths (2026)Ableton’s eight bundled Drum Synths devices against Tapechild UDS-16: synthesis, voices, effects, formats and price, written for people who already own Live. →

ComparisonTapechild UDS-16 vs KICK 2: One Kick or a Kit (2026)Sonic Academy KICK 2 and Tapechild UDS-16 compared: a kick-only synth with a drawable envelope editor against a sixteen-voice drum synth with four models. →

ComparisonTapechild UDS-16 vs VSDS-X: Simmons or Soviet (2026)Aly James Lab VSDS-X and Tapechild UDS-16 compared: Simmons SDS-V voices against Soviet Lel and Rockton circuits, with formats, price and what each cannot do. →

ComparisonTapechild UDS-16 vs DrumSpillage 2: Mac or Both (2026)DrumSpillage 2 and UDS-16 compared: twelve modelled drum types with four LFOs on a Mac-only Audio Unit against four Soviet-circuit models on macOS and Windows. →

ComparisonTapechild UDS-16 vs Baby Audio Tekno (2026)Baby Audio Tekno and Tapechild UDS-16 compared: eighteen engines and a sequencer against sixteen voices of Soviet-circuit character. Synthesis, workflow, formats, price. →

ComparisonTapechild UDS-16 vs Arturia Spark 2 (2026)Arturia Spark 2 and Tapechild UDS-16 compared: a sample-and-synthesis drum workstation with a 64-step sequencer against a sixteen-voice drum synth with no sequencer. →

ComparisonTapechild UDS-16 vs Drumazon 2: 909 or Soviet (2026)D16 Drumazon 2 and Tapechild UDS-16 compared: a TR-909 emulation with its own step sequencer against a sixteen-voice Soviet-circuit drum synth with none. →

ComparisonTapechild UDS-16 vs Nepheton 2: 808 or Soviet (2026)D16 Nepheton 2, an 808 emulation with the 808’s sequencer, compared with Tapechild UDS-16, a drum synth built on Soviet circuits: sound, workflow, formats, price. →

ComparisonTapechild UDS-16 vs AIR Drum Synth 500 (2026)AIR Drum Synth 500 and Tapechild UDS-16 compared: eight multi-engine drum categories against four Soviet-circuit models, with formats, price and who each one suits. →

ComparisonTapechild UDS-16 vs Microtonic: Machine or Voice (2026)Sonic Charge Microtonic, an eight-channel drum machine with a pattern engine, compared with Tapechild UDS-16, a sixteen-voice drum synth with no sequencer. →

ComparisonLinnDrum VST: Paid Libraries, Free Samples and DAW OptionsWhat the LM-1 and LinnDrum were, the records that made the sound famous, the sample libraries and plugins that reproduce it, and how to get the 80s drum feel without one. →

Explainer808 vs 909: Kick, Hi-Hats, Sound and Which to ChooseWhat is analog and what is sampled inside each Roland machine, why the kicks and hi-hats sound nothing alike, which one each genre reached for, and the plugins that model them. →

ExplainerWhat Is a Drum Machine? How It Works, Types & UsesA plain definition, the two halves inside every unit, the main types with an example of each, a short history from 1959 to the plugin era, and what they are used for now. →

ComparisonBest Drum Machine VST Plugins in 2026 (Free & Paid)Fourteen drum machine plugins sorted by what they are — hardware emulation, sampler or drum synth — with formats, OS, price band and whether a sequencer is built in. →

SynthesisAnalog Drum Machines: Which Are Truly Analog (and Why)Which classic drum machines are truly analog and which only look it, the five-stage circuit behind every hit, why vintage units drift, and plugins versus sample packs. →

MixingGated Reverb: What It Is and How to Get the 80s Drum SoundWhat gated reverb is, where it came from, and how to build the 80s gated snare: two methods, starting values for every control, hold times by tempo, and stock-plugin steps for Ableton, Logic and FL Studio. →

HistorySoviet Drum Machines: Formanta UDS, Lel UDS and USSR Percussion SynthsFormanta, Lel, Marsh and Elsita, and why most instruments filed under “Soviet drum machine” are better understood as playable, trigger-driven percussion synthesizers. →

Comparison12 Best Drum Synth Plugins (Free & Paid) in 2026Twelve drum synth plugins — nine paid, three free — compared by synthesis method, scope, formats and price, with picks for Microtonic and Emergent Drums alternatives. →