Game Boy Drum Kit is a free collection of 8-bit drum samples which were recorded from a black Nintendo Game Boy running LSDJ software. All of the included samples are 100% dry and unprocessed, apart from the fact that they’ve been recorded through a compact tube preamp.
This free sample pack is the result of several long scripting and editing sessions, as well as an unexpected collaboration with SzcZ (aka Fairly Confusing Waveforms). Fairly Confusing’s amazing NI Kontakt instruments have been featured numerous times in our news section (Bleepman is a recent example) and having him on board for this freebie sample pack has been a huge pleasure.
Game Boy Drum Kit contains 64 drum samples in total, all of which are included as 24-bit WAV files (44.1 kHz). The download pack also includes a set of NKI patches and a simple SFZ patch which is there to help you quickly load up the samples in any SFZ compatible instrument. All of the included sounds were made from scratch in LSDJ and they are provided royalty-free for use in music and video production (both free and commercial).
While creating the drum sounds in LSDJ, I’ve tried to come up with as many different types of drum hits as possible. Some of the included hits are quite unlike what you’d normally expect to hear from a Game Boy, especially some of the snare drums which sound quite C64-like (they were built in the wavetable editor in an attempt to recreate the classic Rob Hubbard SID chip snare sound). Apart from a whole bunch of drum samples, Game Boy Drum Kit also contains a nifty bonus collection of SFX hits, arpeggios and some lovely pulse wave bass sounds.
The pack contains two different types of NKI patches. The first one is a rather simple affair, with on-screen controls for the filter, volume envelope, a reverb, and a delay effect. It also features a bitcrusher which is linked to the modulation wheel. You’ll find three variations of this NKI patch in the download pack, one containing all of the samples mapped across the keyboard and two additional ones that work as mini drum kits.
Simple NKI patch called GB Drums.
The second patch called Game Bot was created by Fairly Confusing Waveforms and it’s incredibly awesome and at the same time not very easy to describe. Your best bet is to check out the demo video below and see it in action. Game Bot is sort of an experimental drum machine that is powered by the Game Boy Drum Kit sample set. A brief but informative user manual is included in the download pack, to help you make your first steps with the instrument. This demo video by Fairly Confusing Waveforms might also help.
Game Bot is tons of fun to use and I’ve spent quite some time jamming with it. Apart from the brilliant sequence generator and a set of hands-on performance controls, the patch also features a handy sequence manager which can be saved to use your work for later. Very cool!
This is Game Bot, the drum machine NKI by SzcZ.
And that’s pretty much it. I hope that you’ll enjoy this freebie pack! If you like it, you’ll probably also like our Commodore 64 Synthesizer Sessions DELUXE sample pack. A huge THANK YOU goes out to SzcZ for joining in and delivering an awesome NI Kontakt instrument for this free Game Boy sample pack.
Video Demo
Check out the Game Boy Drum Kit demo video:
Download
BPB Game Boy Drum Kit (4.14 MB download size, ZIP archive, contains 64 Gameboy samples in 24-bit WAV format, 4 NKI patches for Native Instruments Kontakt, 1 SFZ patch)
35 Comments
Awesome!
Thank you soooo much!!!
MattG
onThanks a bunch for this! I’ve been looking for this exact thing for a while now :)
1UP!
friza
onthanks a lot!! Im always busy, but its a pleasure to dig new sounds and ideas here. Keep with the great job, greets from Brasil !!! o//
Tomislav Zlatic
onYou’re welcome friza, thanks for the kind words!
Acc
onIsn’t GB sound actually only 4-bit? Anyway, thanks. While typical sample packs aren’t really my thing, I’m happy to check out things like that. :-)
Tomislav Zlatic
onHi Acc, the PCM engine is 4-bit, however I believe that the pulse wave generators are 8-bit. I could be wrong, though. Thanks for checking out the pack! :)
vin
onnice! wasnt getting satisfactory drums in milkyt. lovely to have these drums. free, too!
DNSRRNO
onHey mad respect for sharing this for free !!! C:
mr bill
onAwesome!
Thank you soooo much!!!
Никита
onОн для fl studio?
И как его устанавливать?
Alex
onI downloaded it but how do I get it into logic?
Tomislav Zlatic
onSimply extract the WAV files and use them in your sampler.
Cristian
onHow d0 you install this? Kontakt is so annoying.
Kerian Cox
onHey Zlatic, I read you article on the gameboy samples and also the free audio vsts available on your site. Is there a vst available for audio repairs like iZotope RX 6? I have a lot of bad audio of vocals because the mic used and placement in the room. I need something to help achieve a good recording/repaire the files I have now. Can you think of any plugin I can use because RX is crazy expensive for me right now. #Cheers
Tomislav Zlatic
onI don’t know of any audio restoration utilities that are freeware, sorry!
JarydB
onWhen I click the download link, it takes me to a “Private Drop” screen asking for a password. Is this pack no longer available?
Thanks!
Tomislav Zlatic
onCan you please check again and let me know if it works? Thanks!
Marco Antonio
onThanks a lot for this brilliant pack !
I was looking for something like that to include in my productions.
Greetings from Brasil/Australia
Well done mate =D
Phil
onDownload is not working…
Brian
onCan you PLEASE repost this under a different download link???! PCloud wants me to pay money… THANKS!
Oligaga
onThe link is not working
Rems
onWill it work on Kontakt Player ??
Ember~~
onMany Thanks for your work, looking forward to playing some Gameboy drums!
Mike
onCould you by chance host it some other way, they are asking for money to download
Tomislav Zlatic
onYou should click the Direct Download button on the download page and it’s free. But, we’re in the process of moving everything to a new file host anyway.
Brett
onThey dont allow download for this unless we purchase an account.
Tomislav Zlatic
onThat’s super weird, works fine here. Either way, I’ll move all of our files to a different host tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience!
William Wagner
onI wanted to give you guys payment for the files, because I like your work and want to support you, but when I went to pay, I wasn’t able to download still. I wasn’t sure if this was an issue with my browser, or if I missed a step.
Either way, I really enjoy your work! Have a great day!
William Wagner
onNever mind, I had an email issue preventing me from getting the link. Thank you for your awesome work!
Tomislav Zlatic
onThanks for your support!
Patrick Boyd
onHi, I love this library it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for to use in some of my stock music. However, it keeps timing out in contact saying “demo” any ideas how to solve?
R1kkoz
onSame for me
Purple Helix
onTo use it you need the Full Version of Kontakt otherwise it will apear as a Demo.
Demonys
onhi, thanks for your works ! but i dontunderstand one things.. i dont know how to import the drum loop (from gamebot) to fl studio timeline, if you can helpo me it will be very helpfull for me, thanks !