_80s hits is a rare collection of 23 drum kits made from 1,277 vintage 1980s drum samples. Drums from the 80s, sourced and sampled in the 80s, and then sampled again from the output of the 80s hardware sampler that they were made for.
 
We sampled 23 factory floppy disk presets in total, and then ported them to:
 
Ableton Live
FL Studio
Logic Pro
Kontakt
Battery
MPC
Decent Sampler
SFZ
 
If you don’t own any of the provided software/hardware formats, just use the Decent Sampler version for free with any DAW (VST, AU, AAX).  Our Decent Sampler formats are just as capable and high quality as the others, and it is completely free to download and use without restrictions.
 
Download Decent Sampler
 
We figured everyone would want to easily add that classic 80s “gated reverb" sound, so we managed to give you a simple control for that classic sound built into most of these modern formats. We used a custom convolution reverb IR profile captured from an 80s digital reverb rack, so when paired with the samples, it’s an authentic sound down to the last detail.
 
Since the sampler has its own built-in 80s analogue effects, we decided to also capture the drum kit "presets" that use the analog filters, chorus, phaser, and flanger.
 
To help induce a more 80s workflow, we preserved the way the original presets were mapped and played across keys.  All the baked-in stereo panning, bold pitching of single samples, and hardware quirks, are all true to the original patches.
 
Facts
 
Both the samples and the Emu Emax sampler were created somewhere between 1981 and 1989. 
Sample libraries came on 3.5” floppy disks and had a very "early digital" sound quality. 
The original factory sampled drums and AD/DA converters are both 12-bit, with an average sample rate of 28kHz. 
The frequency aliasing when pitching samples is rough and real. 
The sampler has that recognizable “crunchy” 80s quality all around.
 
Each kit is labelled, and organized into 23 different folders, with clear and consistent file naming for every 96kHz/24-bit WAV sample.
 
Every device is ready to drag, drop, and load into your DAW of choice. There are clear instructions of how to load each format.
 
Notes
Although we made every effort to make every format as similar in sound and function as possible, each format has its own quirks and limitations.
 
Ableton, FL Studio, Logic, Kontakt, and Decent Sampler are all fully functional and nearly identical in sound and functionality.
 
• 2 Reverb controls (dark & bright)
• 1 Reverb “Gate” control
• 1 “Dirt” (lo-fi saturation) control
 
Battery and MPC kits are ready to load, but they will lack some of our custom effects, features, and functionality. 
 
Battery and MPC users may wish to lay out their samples differently for fancy finger drumming duties.
 
SFZ files are provided as sample maps for those who want to dig deeper and build kits from scratch or in other hardware/software.