A freeware drum pad plugin?

[Nayrb]

Hello! 

When I use FL Studio, I have access to a nice pad plugin called FPC that allows me to load up whatever samples I want and make drum kits. I can then program or play drum parts on the keyboard on a single track instead of having to do everything as a its own track. Surprisingly, I can't seem to find a similar freeware option to use in Reaper. Does anyone know of anything similar? I suppose I could also just map samples as kits in Kontakt or another sampler, but a plugin like FPC has some nice workflow optimizations that just save time.

Just for clarification, I'm using the keyboard to play parts or just sequencing them. I don't have any hardware pads and don't plan on getting any.

[Mattias Westlund]

There are a few drum machine vsti's that let you load samples IIRC, but I can't recall their names from the top of my head. So how does the FL plugin work? Is it just single shot samples or can it actually load multi-velocity/RR hits?

[Nayrb]

(08-23-2021, 04:26 PM)Mattias Westlund Wrote: There are a few drum machine vsti's that let you load samples IIRC, but I can't recall their names from the top of my head. So how does the FL plugin work? Is it just single shot samples or can it actually load multi-velocity/RR hits?

FPC allows a few layers (four or five, maybe?) No RRs, but I only use it for electronic perc, primarily. It's actually fairly rudimentary. I have other drum plugins and libraries, like Toontrack stuff, for more realistic drums. Other percussion I have is mainly Kontakt-based, so that allows for all kinds of RRs and all the usual stuff. I use FPC for Linn drums and other intentionally fake, synthwave, dance-y what-have-you. What I was really hoping to do was just to load the raw samples I like that came with FL Studio into a convenient plug-in that I could use in Reaper, too. But there are other options for that, I guess, especially with Kontakt, or even just by dropping them in individually on their own tracks, old school style.

[Chris Spyratos]

Hey Nayrb, give Sitala a try! https://decomposer.de/sitala/


I think it will cover most of the needs you described and then some! It is very well designed, packed with useful features and totally free. Also the developer has provided for integration with Reaper so you get some bonus conveniencies like multi-out and midi note naming.

No layers though and no RR, which personally I can't see as a drawback for what the plugin is.

[Nayrb]

(08-24-2021, 02:36 PM)Chris Spyratos Wrote: Hey Nayrb, give Sitala a try! https://decomposer.de/sitala/


I think it will cover most of the needs you described and then some! It is very well designed, packed with useful features and totally free. Also the developer has provided for integration with Reaper so you get some bonus conveniencies like multi-out and midi note naming.

No layers though and no RR, which personally I can't see as a drawback for what the plugin is.

Hey, cool! Thanks for sharing. I'll check it out. Yeah, layers aren't as important here, as long as I can get some velocity sensitivity out of it. Again, I'm going for deliberately unrealistic electro drums here. I already have the bases covered for the realistic stuff. What this really is is just a more convenient way to apply this kind of perc rather than just having a dedicated track for every piece. I should probably get back to playing with Kontakt's built in drum machine, too. But that's kind of an entirely different application. I never quite understood why I should use that as opposed to just sequencing in the piano roll, seeing as it's the same thing, but with even more flexibility.

[Nayrb]

Well, so far so good. The lack of layers doesn't bother me much, since I was intending to use it for non-layered stuff anyway. Thanks for sharing! Now I can more or less duplicate certain templates in Reaper that I use in FL by loading FL's samples into this while using Reaper. Some things are just entirely endemic to FL and can't be copied, but it's close. Oddly enough, one of my favorite simple soft-synths, DX10, is available in all kinds of free iterations, but only the FL native version has the third oscillator that allows for the kinds of sounds I'm able to make with it. I guess that just means that I'll be moving back and forth between the two DAWs, which is really fine with me. I like both for their different strengths.