Our 5 top picks for great quality, copyright-free samples that you can use in your beat tapes and instrumentals.
Splice
Splice is a subscription-based sample website. You pay a set amount per month in exchange for a set amount of credits, which you can ‘spend’ on any of the millions of samples they have available.
Their model of paying for credits is fantastic because you can pick and choose exactly which samples you want, individually too, rather than downloading whole sample packs you might not use all of. Any credits you don’t use at the end of the month also get carried over to next month, you’ll never miss out credits if you don’t use them within a certain period.
Splice has millions of samples, both one-shots and loops, from a huge variety of genres and styles so you’re guaranteed to find samples you’ll love. They also offer other features outside of royalty-free samples, such as rent-to-own plans on certain digital VSTs and plugins.
Sample Radar
SampleRadar is a page within MusicRadar that contains links to over 70,000 free music samples. All the samples have been sourced from discs released with issues of Computer Music or Future Music magazine.
The links to each sample pack are in alphabetical order so can be easily looked through. And, all samples come as WAVs, meaning they can be imported directly into your DAW.
Loopmasters
Loopmasters is one of the largest royalty-free sample websites offering whole sample packs, rather than being a subscription based website like Splice.
They offer an absolutely huge selection of sample packs from a wide range of genres and sample pack creators so you’re almost guaranteed to find sample packs to suit you.
The filters at the top of the page mean you can quickly and easily browse through their catalogue.
Noizz
Similiar to Splice, Noizz is a subscription-based sample website. They offer 3 different subscription plans; one of which offers unlimited access to their samples for $199 a year. If you’re wanting a lighter version, their light subscription gives you up to 100mb of samples for only $5/month.
As well as royalty free samples, they also offer VST instruments and downloadable presets that you can use in your productions.
Looperman
Finally is Looperman; a royalty-free sample website that allows its users to upload samples themselves. This site is great because you can source free and unique hidden gems from a huge range of creators; and you can comment on them and share what you make with them.
Do be wary however as some samples aren’t available for commercial use or require attribution. And, because there’s no moderation process involved when users submit samples, some samples may unknowingly be copyrighted.
Have you come across any fantastic sample websites that we haven’t mentioned? Let us know in the comments!
