Crow Hill Vaults has once again demonstrated its unique approach to sound with the release of Studio Drums. This free drum VST plugin offers a distinctive alternative rock-style drum kit from the 1990s, infused with the renowned pop-punk charm that sets it apart from the rest.
While the music production world is filled with great drum samples like Superior Drummer or Toontrack EZDrummer, the availability of free drum VST plugins is limited. This makes each new addition, such as Studio Drums, a valuable and appreciated find for music producers and enthusiasts.
That is why I find Crow Hill Vaults exciting. They have been pushing the limits with their Vaults Beta plugin, providing multiple high-quality sound libraries for free.
Turning to their latest offering, Studio Drums is a robust drum library that conquers the essence of the 90’s grunge, alternative rock, and pop-punk scene. The samples, in my opinion, are impressive. While it may not reach the level of those high-end, expensive drum plugins, it certainly holds its own for most music producers, unless you’re a Dave Grohl or Travis Barker.
The Vaults libraries have their own ecosystem in the Vaults plugin. So, you download the plugin and open it in your DAW. There, you choose the sound library you want to use. For now, there are six libraries with Studio Drums.
In the drums section, you find plenty of adjustments. Room, Width, Smash, Shifter, Echo, and Splosh. I like the flexibility these adjustments offer. You get a dry and intimate rock sound with the Room and Width on lower levels. Increasing them gives you a more distant, wider, and larger drum section. With the Room around 40-50 and the Width around 60-70, I found a sweet spot between the dry and wet sounds.
I can easily say that my favorite setting is the Smash, which acts like a UK-style bass compressor. It gives a pretty lovely punchy kick tone at higher levels. As the name suggests, Shifter is a cheesy pitch shifter. I don’t use it often, but having it in your arsenal is nice. You will love this setting if you like Travis Barker’s Blink 182 pop-punk sound. Echo is a slap-back delay, and Splash is a reverb.
The range of sounds also surprised me, as there are many sounds in different pitches. You can always tell how good a drum kit is by the sound quality of its kick, and Studio Drums thrive in that sense. In my opinion, even without any effect, the dry sound of the kick is pretty good.
After thorough testing and experimentation with different settings, note velocities, and drum grooves, I am thrilled to say that Studio Drums is one of the most impressive free drum VST plugins I have ever used. Its range and quality of sounds, coupled with the versatility of adjustments, offer an exciting and dynamic music production experience. I am excited to see what you can create with it!
To conclude, I can clearly see this one competing with the likes of LABS Spitfire and other free drum libraries. Honestly, I would say it sounds better and offers more than Spitfire.
Right now, the Vaults offers Attic Grand as a piano library, R+D Strings as a violin sound library, Celestatone as a celeste and a worn-out dulcitone sound, which are two old idiophone instruments, Shimmer Guitar as a guitar with a sweet reverb effect, Chorus Synth as an 80’s synth sound. With the addition of Studio Drums, we only lack the bass to compose a whole song with only Vaults libraries. The number 7 is coming soon, and I hope it will be a bass that completes the collection.
VAULTS is available in AU, VST3, VST, and AAX plugin formats for Windows and Mac operating systems.
Check out the Vaults manual here.
Berk is a multi-instrumentalist musician from Istanbul, Turkey. He has been playing guitar, handpan, and percussion for over ten years, developing a sound that blends melodic sensitivity with rhythmic depth.
He began his musical journey as a teenager, learning guitar and performing in several bands. In 2016, he discovered the handpan, an instrument that immediately resonated with him on a deeper level and gradually became central to his artistic identity.
Since then, he has performed in streets, festivals, bars, and concert venues across different countries, connecting with diverse audiences through both intimate and large-scale performances.
Alongside his live work, Berk is deeply involved in studio production. He works from his home studio, where he composes, records, and produces his own music. His studio serves as a creative space for layering handpan, guitar, and percussion with modern production techniques, allowing him to shape fully realized, atmospheric compositions from start to finish.
His music explores a wide range of genres and textures, combining organic acoustic instruments with detailed studio production to create immersive and expressive soundscapes.