One of the most common questions I receive about Garageband is how to add new drum kits and where to find them. This is understandable considering the fact that GarageBand only comes with 6 kits:- Dance
- Hip Hop
- Jazz
- Pop
- Rock
- Techno
At first glance, it may appear that you’re stuck using just those 6 kits. Luckily, Apple had enough foresight to make GarageBand compatible with the AudioUnits plug-in format. This compatibility provides GarageBand with access to lots and lots of third party drum kits and sounds.
The next question that tends to come up is whether any of these plug-ins are free. Again, you’re in luck. There are several free plug-ins available that provide very high-quality drums kits. One of the most popular is SampleTank FREE by IKMultimedia.
IKMultimedia describes SampleTank FREE as a, “Sample Workstation”. Basically, what this means is that is has a whole bunch of different instruments and sounds built-in. Some of these sounds are drum kits. This is what we’re going to explore today. So let’s download SampleTank FREE and get it installed.
At this point I need to offer you some words of warning. The installation process for SampleTank FREE is not what I would call simple. I’ve been using audio software for literally decades and even I had some issues installing it recently. Because of that, I’ve included what I hope are clear step-by-step instructions with pictures to guide you through the installation process. Here we go:
Step 1: Go To: http://www.ikmultimedia.com
Step 2: Click on Workstations & Instruments
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Step 3: Click on the Free Download link in the SampleTank Free column
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Step 4: Click the Download button at the the top
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Step 5: Click Proceed To Download
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Step 6: Either Enter Your Account Data or click Register Here
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Step 7: Download SampleTank FREE for Mac & SampleTank FREE Sounds
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Step 8: Copy the given serial number
Step 9: Install SampleTank FREE onto your Mac
Step 10: Authorize SampleTank FREE using the Authorization Manager
Step 11: Install the SampleTank FREE sounds
Whew! You should be ready to use SampleTank FREE in GarageBand so let’s fire it up. Here’s a video I put together showing how easy it is to use SampleTank FREE inside of GarageBand.
How cool is that? All kinds of new GarageBand Drum kits and all it cost you was a little time. I hope it all makes sense. If not, you can email me here and I’ll try to help you out. Enjoy!