Thump: a drum machine plugin with synthesized kicks, snares, hats and 808

Drum synth plugin vs sample-based drum VST

A sample-based drum VST plays back recordings, so each hit sounds exactly like the file you chose. A drum synth plugin generates each hit from oscillators, noise and envelopes as it plays, so you can retune it, lengthen it or reshape it without hunting for a new sample. Thump is a drum synth: kick, snare, clap, closed and open hats, tom and 808 are all synthesized.

Samples win when you need the exact sound of a real drum kit or a famous record. A drum machine plugin wins when the drums have to fit the song: a kick tuned to the key, an 808 tail that ends right before the next note, hats that are darker in the verse than in the hook. Many producers layer both, using a synthesized kick and 808 for the low end and samples for top-end character.

Drum machine kits for trap, house, techno and lo-fi

Each kit preset sets every drum voice plus the Glue and Crush stages for one style. Choose the kit for the genre, then tune the kick and 808 to your track.

On this page, the demo has a step sequencer: click steps to program a pattern and you'll hear Trap Kit play it in a loop. Try rolling hats on the off-sixteenths and leaving gaps in the 808 line; the tail fills them.

Tuning the kick and snare to your song

A kick in the same key as the bassline sounds bigger at the same level, because the two reinforce each other instead of clashing. Kick Tune sets the pitch of the kick body in Hz (30 to 120 Hz), so match it to the root note of the song or its fifth.

Kick Punch controls the click and snap at the start of the hit, and Kick Decay controls how long the body rings. For a kick that has to sit with a long 808, keep Kick Decay short (around 0.25 to 0.35 s, as in Trap Kit and Drill Slide) and let the 808 carry the low end. Snare Tune (120 to 400 Hz) works the same way: tune it up for crack, down for weight. If you need to shape the drums further, our guide on how to EQ drums covers the frequencies that matter.

The 808 plugin inside Thump

Thump's 808 is monophonic and plays chromatically on MIDI notes 47 to 59, so you can write 808 melodies in the piano roll instead of retuning a sample for every note. Note names for those numbers differ between DAWs because Ableton, FL Studio and Pro Tools label octaves differently, so go by the note number. 808 Tune shifts the whole range up or down by up to 12 semitones.

• 808 Decay (0.1 to 4 s) sets the tail. In trap, a tail that ends just before the next 808 hit keeps the low end clean; in drill, longer tails are part of the style.
• 808 Glide (up to 0.5 s) sets how long the slide between notes takes. Drill Slide uses 0.15 s for the long, obvious slides drill is known for.
• 808 Drive adds harmonics so the 808 is still audible on phones and laptop speakers, where the fundamental often can't be reproduced.

Load Drill Slide in the demo and you'll hear the 808 bend between notes under a hard, short kick. For even more grit, put a saturation plugin such as Heat on the 808 with its Crunchy 808 preset.

Glue and Crush: from clean to dusty drums

Glue is a bus compressor across the whole kit. At 20 to 35% it holds the hits together; at 50% and above, as in Boom Bap and Techno Warehouse, the kit starts to breathe and pump with the kick. Crush is a bit crusher. A little (around 30 to 35%) gives a sampled, record-like grain, and Lo-fi Dusty at 60% sounds like drums from a worn tape or an old sampler.

Using Thump in FL Studio, Ableton Live and Pro Tools

Thump is an instrument, so it goes on an instrument or MIDI track. Each drum voice sits on its own MIDI note, and the 808 uses notes 47 to 59.

• FL Studio: add Thump to the Channel Rack, route it to its own Mixer insert and program the beat in the Piano roll. You get an 808 you can tune and glide per note instead of a fixed sample. Installation steps are on our FL Studio page.
• Ableton Live: drag Thump onto a MIDI track and draw the pattern in a MIDI clip. Put a Utility or EQ after it if you need to trim the low end.
• Pro Tools: create an Instrument track and insert Thump (AAX) in the first slot.
• Logic Pro: create a Software Instrument track and choose Thump (AU) in the Instrument slot.

Thump's Volume defaults to -4 dB, which leaves headroom on the drum bus. Glue already compresses the kit, so add more bus compression after Thump only if you want extra pump.

What to look for in the best drum machine VST

Look for tunable kicks and 808s, kits that start close to your genre, and a sound that holds up on small speakers. Synthesized drums are lighter on disk and endlessly adjustable; sample-based drum VSTs cover acoustic kits and specific classic machines better. Our guide to the best drum VSTs compares both approaches.