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. Native Instruments Urban Beats (opens in new tab) 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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