I acquired a Korg Volca Sample recently and have been having a ton of fun. However, the factory samples just weren’t doing it for me – frankly, I didn’t like them at all.
I tried a number of sample packs that Volca fans have posted online, and I found some great stuff, but nothing quite clicked completely with me. Many had a mix of samples I liked and ones I felt like I’d never use. Others were arranged so awkwardly that it was impossible to quickly and easily find a sample I want.
Having never compiled my own collection of samples before, I soon realized I was going to have to figure it out. I spent many hours over several evenings going through many of the drum samples provided here by Reddit user u/artfart, in addition to a few others I found online. In the end, I came up with a nice collection of 70 drum sounds:
- 0-9: Kick drums
- 10-19: Snare drums
- 20-23: Rim shots
- 24: Finger snap
- 25-29: Claps
- 30-39: Closed high hats
- 40-49: Open high hats
- 50-53: Crash and ride cymbals
- 54-55: Tambourines
- 56-59: Shakers and maracas
- 62-63: Congas
- 64-69: Toms
I will doubtless adjust this as I find other sounds I like more and determine I like some of the above less than I thought. That said, I feel like this is a pleasant-sounding, logically arranged, and diverse set of drum-kit sounds.
With 30 sample slots left, I wanted to find something quirky but also disposable, because I’m eager to start recording and using personally found sounds in my sample packs. Enter MarioMayhem.com and Dayjo.org, which made it easy to find sounds from two of my favorite video games of all time: Super Mario Bros 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
- 70-89: Sound effects from Super Mario Bros 3
- 90-99: Sound effects from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Here’s the download link if you’d like to try the sample pack out yourself:
You’ll need Vosyr, the free software by the fine folks at Frederikson Labs, in order to upload the samples to your own device.
Enjoy!