The 10 Best Cymbal Sample Packs (Free and Paid Options)

Cymbal sample packs are incredibly useful resources. Having a diverse selection of samples allows you to create a large spectrum of different songs and tunes. Luckily, there are several options for cymbal sample packs.

Great cymbal samples can add a lot to the groove of your track. This article gives you some great free and paid options that you should check out.

This list includes real cymbal samples, processed electronic cymbal sounds, and dance hi-hats. So you’re likely to find something that will work for your genre.

1. Studio Cymbal Sessions at Splice (Paid)

Studio Cymbal Sessions is an Origin Sound pack on Splice with 649 samples. It covers cymbal hits, chokes and flourishes, so it is a useful place to look when a basic crash sample is too limiting for your arrangement.

The pack lets you choose individual sounds rather than buy a complete virtual drum kit. Preview the cymbals and pick the articulations you need; the catalogue includes loops as well as individual hits.

Downloaded audio can go into your DAW or sampler. Unlike the Addictive Drums instrument below, you are arranging audio samples rather than playing a complete kit through a dedicated drum plugin.

Splice uses a paid download-credit system. Its sample licence covers downloaded sounds for royalty-free use in your own productions and remains valid after cancellation. The sounds are non-exclusive, and you cannot redistribute them as another sample pack. A preview is not a licensed download.

2. RealDrumSamples (Free/Paid)

RealDrumSamples has a free newsletter sample pack and separate paid packs. The free pack is a smaller selection; signing up does not unlock the full Line of Legends library.

The paid Line of Legends package includes more than 30 cymbals and more than 60 open, closed and semi-closed hi-hats. It also has kicks, snares, claps, finger snaps and toms, making it a broader beat-making library rather than a cymbal-only collection.

The sounds are organized by type and supplied as WAV files. You can load them into a compatible DAW, sampler or drum machine without buying a proprietary sample-player plugin.

RealDrumSamples describes the pack as royalty-free for making your own music. Its official product page leads to the Line of Legends download sold through Payhip; this is the complete paid pack, separate from the newsletter freebie. View Price.

3. High-Quality-Cymbals by ltibbits (Free)

This pack by ltibbits collects acoustic cymbal recordings, including ride bow and bell hits, splashes and hi-hats at different openings. It is worth browsing when you want individual real-cymbal sounds to map into your own sampler.

You can mix and match the hits or use them as a starting point for layering. The individual pages identify the cymbal and recording details, which helps when you want related hits rather than unrelated sounds from a broad search.

Create a Freesound account and log in to download. Check the licence on each sound you choose: this is not an unrestricted CC0 pack. For example, the ride-A-Ping-20-bow2 recording uses the older Sampling+ licence, which requires attribution and places conditions on transformation, promotion and redistribution.

Keep the sound-page links and licence information with your project. The pack is free to download, but that does not make every possible use of its recordings unrestricted.

4. Designer Dance Cymbals at Loopmasters (Paid)

Designer Dance Cymbals by RV Samplepacks is aimed at electronic production, including house, electro, progressive and tech styles. Its crash, ride and hi-hat one-shots combine acoustic cymbals, drum machines and synthesized sounds.

The folders separate crashes, rides and hi-hats, with descriptions such as bright, dark and SFX. That makes this a practical choice when you know the texture your track needs and want to compare related hits quickly.

Loopmasters lists 24-bit, 44.1 kHz audio, including real and analog crashes, impact and SFX crashes, layered hi-hats and processed rides. These are one-shots to sequence in a compatible sampler or DAW, rather than a playable multi-articulation drum instrument.

You can download the taster pack before choosing the full collection. The full pack is a paid download; the free taster is a separate, smaller entitlement. View Price.

5. FreeSound Cymbal Samples (Free)

Freesound cymbal search is useful when you need a particular hit or texture rather than a ready-made commercial collection. Different contributors upload crashes, rides, hi-hats and processed sounds, so the recording style and file format vary.

Use the previews and individual sound descriptions to narrow your selection. A related pack from one contributor can be easier to combine than several recordings made in completely different rooms.

Freesound allows both downloading and sharing, with an account required for downloads. Its Creative Commons licences differ between files: some require attribution, some restrict commercial use, and older uploads may use Sampling+. Choose the licence that fits your project instead of assuming every search result is royalty-free for commercial music.

This broader search complements the ltibbits pack above. It is the better route when you want something unusual and are prepared to check the recording details and usage terms yourself.

6. Addictive Drums 2 (Music Plugin) (Paid)

This one is a little different: Addictive Drums 2 is a playable virtual drum instrument from XLN Audio, rather than a folder of loose cymbal WAVs. Choose it when you want cymbals to form part of a complete MIDI drum performance, with kit selection and mixing inside the instrument.

You can edit the beats, build your own patterns and shape the kit sound. The available drums, cymbals and MIDI grooves depend on the content you own; buying one collection does not unlock every ADpak or MIDIpak in the catalogue.

The Studio Collection includes the AD2 engine, Studio Pop and Studio Rock ADpaks, plus the Rock Songs and Writer’s Blocks MIDIpaks. It is a full playable collection, not an upgrade or an expansion-only purchase. View Price.

AD2 runs as a standalone application on macOS and Windows, or in a compatible 64-bit VST, VST3, AU or AAX host. XLN lists macOS 10.13 or later and Windows 10 or 11. Installation and authorization use an XLN account and the XLN Online Installer, with internet access required during installation.

7. 477 Free hi-hat samples from MusicRadar (Free)

MusicRadar’s 477 free ultimate hi-hat samples include acoustic and electronic sounds. The collection has nine tempo-themed folders of loops plus a separate folder of hits, giving you both ready-made rhythms and sounds to program yourself.

The loops are useful as a starting point for a groove; use the hits when you want to choose every note and accent. Having both is helpful if you want to borrow a rhythmic idea and then make your own variation.

The samples arrive in a ZIP as WAV files. Extract them and import the audio into a WAV-compatible DAW or sampler; no dedicated paid sample-player plugin is required.

MusicRadar permits royalty-free use in your own music, but asks that you do not redistribute the samples. That is different from permission to repackage the sounds as a download library.

8. Organic Drum Kit at ProducerSpot (Paid)

Organic Drum Kit is a broader Xclusive-Audio library with cymbals, hi-hats, kicks, snares and claps. Its 90 cymbals-and-toms category combines those two instrument types; it does not contain 90 cymbals alone. A separate group contains 90 open and closed hi-hats.

The kit also includes 100 drum loops and a large percussion selection, with shakers, congas, bongos, tambourines and other hand percussion. It makes more sense if you want an entire beat-making library than if you only need one crash sound.

The audio is supplied as 24-bit WAV files for compatible DAWs and samplers. Included Maschine kits are optional host-specific arrangements; you do not need Maschine to use the WAV audio.

The library is sold as a royalty-free sample pack for use in your productions. Keep the supplied licence with the download, and do not assume royalty-free means you can sell the source sounds as your own sample collection.

9. Hi-Hat sounds at SampleFocus (Free Credits/Paid)

Sample Focus lets you search for individual closed hi-hat sounds rather than download one fixed pack. Its tagging system includes instrument, timbre, character and mood, with tempo and key filters available where relevant.

Choose a category and refine it until the results are close to the sound you need. You can browse related sounds from a sample page too, which is useful when you want several hats with a similar character.

You need an account and download credits. Free accounts receive a limited weekly credit allowance, and paid plans provide another route to downloads. This is not an unlimited free library, so spend credits on sounds you have previewed.

Sample Focus uses its Standard License for downloads and permits use in commercial productions without attribution. The samples are non-exclusive. Keep the licence certificate available from your downloaded sample page, particularly when delivering work to a client or distributor.

10. Cymbal sounds at Looperman (Free)

Looperman has contributed hi-hat loops across different styles. It is useful when you want a rhythmic part to build around rather than a single cymbal strike.

Enter a keyword, then narrow the results by category and genre. Tempo, upload date and member filters can help you find a loop that suits the project. Listen to the preview and read the uploader’s notes before downloading.

The loops come from other users. Looperman says uploaders offer their loops royalty-free for use in wider musical projects, but it does not guarantee the ownership of every upload. Read the loop terms, keep the original page link and do not redistribute the downloaded loop on its own.

Use the loop section’s terms for these downloads; separate acapella uploads can have different conditions. An account is required to download, and the audio can be arranged in a compatible DAW or sampler.

Conclusion

Cymbal packs are useful for adding accents, programming hi-hat parts and building a library of sounds that suit your music. The main choice is between loose audio you arrange yourself and an instrument such as Addictive Drums 2 that plays a complete kit from MIDI.

Try the free MusicRadar pack for a ready-made hi-hat collection, or browse Freesound for individual acoustic hits with per-file licences. Studio Cymbal Sessions and Designer Dance Cymbals offer more focused paid libraries. Choose by the sounds and workflow you need; a paid pack is not automatically better than a free one.