Characterful acoustic snares

Introducing Tape Snares & Layers, a lively and articulately designed collection of ‘characterful’ snare drum samples and creative layering tools!

Tape Snares & Layers serves up 4,000 acoustic & hybrid snare drums, claps, stacks and powerful drum layering tools; processed impeccably using a 100% hardware chain throughout, and pitched / resampled across two full octaves (per sound) in the analogue domain using tape machine Varispeed for extra tonal range and grit! We’ve also included a deeply produced Ableton Live Pack version with Push integration and powerful hands on sound design Macros.

100% Character

These are not your typical ‘clean’ or ‘pretty’ sounding snare drum samples – Tape Snares & Layers is a characterful and gritty collection with plenty of analogue vibe and tape compression…

Expect to find dusty acoustic snare drums, gritty electronic snare ensembles, creative hybrid blends, prepared live snares, layered stacks, and a large collection of beautifully recorded Foley sound design & layering material.

Our goal was to capture as much character as possible, and so we kept to a 100% analogue signal chain throughout – even the tuning of the drums themselves.

Analogue Love

All sounds have been recorded and processed through world-class signal chains using one of the best microphone collections in North America; with extra vibe added through use of analogue tape (Studer A800) and vintage Neve mixing console. Furthermore, we explored non-conventional and creative recording techniques; for example, dropping rice onto snare drum skins, unique multi-miking techniques, recording drums through guitar amps and interesting spaces, etc…

A unique feature of this library is the addition of 25 analogue pitched variations of every drum sound. We applied true analogue pitch alteration using a Studer analogue tape machine; via a process called Varispeed, giving you much more control over pitch than the original sources could ever offer.

Snares we sampled

  • Ludwig Maple Snare

  • Ludwig Superphonic Snare

  • Ludwig Colosseum Snare

  • Ludwig 60s Marching Snare

  • Ludwig Bronze 80s Snare

  • Slingerland Radio King Snare

  • YC Maple Snare

  • YC Silver Snare

  • Dunnett Stainless Steel Snare

  • DW Cast Bronze Snare

  • Live Acoustic / Group Claps

  • Found Sounds & processed Foley

Ableton Live Integration

As well as the included 4,000+ drum samples (in WAV format), Tape Snares & Layers also boasts a powerful Ableton Live Pack…

  • Easily mix and match any snare drum or layer using our extensive modular Drum Rack environment
  • Pitch drums in the analogue domain using our powerful ‘Tape Pitch’ macro control. This gives you real-time analogue pitch shifting of every drum sound!
  • Get creative with our ‘Drum Modules’ presets by mixing and matching drum sounds in real time and processing them using Macros for filter, resonance, tape pitch, saturation, slop and more…
  • Get melodic with our ‘Pitched Drums’ presets, which allow you to play any sound across your keyboard chromatically over two octaves; playing back real analogue tape pitched versions of each snare
  • Deep Push and Push 2 integration. Control everything directly from your Push / Push 2 controller
  • As a bonus, we’ve also included a collection of Layered Snare presets, making use of multiple sounds and layers combined into single Racks

Let’s Recap

  • 4,222 snare drum samples and creative sound design layering tools; provided in 24-bit WAV format

  • All sounds impeccably processed via high-end outboard, and recorded to a Studer analogue tape machine for extra character

  • Two full octaves of tuning per sound, all pitched 100% in the analogue domain using tape machine Varispeed

  • Feature-rich and powerful Ableton Live Pack environment, with full Push / Push 2 integration