Heavy Music Drum Library for the Songwriter
TRVE Drums delivers a focused collection of real drum kits recorded for Rock/Metal/Punk songwriting — capturing the sound of a drummer playing a kit in a room without endless tweaking, overproduced samples, or unnecessary complexity.
Includes 7 kick drums, 23 snares, 15 toms, 47 cymbals, a built-in Groove Browser, zero bs Mixer for mixing and routing, Mapping options & mix-ready presets designed to get ideas moving fast while leaving room for your own production choices.
From raw Black Metal demos to polished Modern Metal productions, every kit is balanced to feel responsive and sit naturally in a mix — no menu diving, no wasted time.
This is a Drum Library built for songwriters who want to write, not engineer.
No tweaking. Just load and play.
VST3 & AU compatible. Standalone App. PC & Mac.
Download size: 18.65Gb
*Includes the TRVE Drums plugin, Core Library samples, Loudstakk Free Pack MIDI Grooves, and presets.
Inside the plugin
Pick a tab, then tap a number to see what each part does.
Click any drum or cymbal to hear it and open its settings. Recorded at Loudstakk HQ.
Change the kick, snare, each tom and each cymbal on its own. Build the kit your song needs.
Close mics, overheads, two rooms and bleed. Pick one to set its level and pan for this piece.
Let kicks, snares and toms ring on past the sample, from tight and dry to twice as long.
Drop in your own sample to layer under the kick, snare or toms. It lines up with the drum on its own.
Stereo out or multi-out. Lock your mapping, levels, perspective or routing so a new preset leaves them alone.
Kick in, out and sub, snare top and bottom, toms, hi-hat, ride, overheads, both rooms and bleed. Ctrl-click names to move several faders together.
Up to six effects per channel, in any order. Drag a slot onto another channel to copy it.
One switch for the whole mixer, one per channel. Hear dry against processed in a click.
Every channel has a REV knob that feeds the built-in reverb for its group.
Send any channel to its own output and finish the mix in your DAW with your own plugins.
A finishing stage on the whole kit. Leave it on for a ready sound, or switch it off and mix it yourself.
Console-style effects built in, with no added latency, so close mics and overheads stay in phase. Every one is set in a few moves, not a hundred.
Saturation
A classic American console preamp. Push the drive from warm weight to grit, with the level matched as you go.
EQ
Three stepped bands with shelves and a 50 Hz to 15 kHz bandpass. Quick, musical moves.
Dynamics
Punchy console compression with attack, release, a side-chain filter, a limit mode and a mix knob for parallel crunch.
Dynamics
More snap or less, more ring or less. Works the same however hard the drum is hit.
Space
Hall, Room, Plate, Gate or Reverse, with separate settings for kick, snare, toms, cymbals and room.
EQ
A clean five-band EQ. Drag the points on the graph, with shelves or high and low pass at the ends.
Loudstakk packs and your own MIDI in one place. Drop files in the grooves folder and they show up.
Every groove shows its pattern at a glance. Star the keepers and search by name.
How dense a groove is, and what leads it: hats, ride, crash or toms. Find the right feel faster.
Drop in a guitar riff. Grooves are ranked by how well they fit, and the kick follows your picking.
Preview only the parts you want, at the groove's tempo or your song's, and shift it by a 16th to a half note.
Drag any groove onto a track, with your changes. It plays in time with your DAW while you audition.
Center, rimshot and sidestick, four hi-hat positions, ride bow, bell and edge, and cymbal chokes. Click one to hear it.
Give an articulation more than one note, so MIDI from other libraries plays right away.
Click Learn and hit a pad or key. Done.
Play the hats with your electronic kit's pedal, from closed through semi-open to open.
Grab a cymbal on your e-kit to choke it, just like the real thing. On by default.
General MIDI, Roland V-Drums and GetGood Drums built in. Import Reaper, Studio One, Cubase or CSV maps.
Audio demos
Same library, different performances. Pick a demo and hear the presets, snares and kicks for yourself.
Drum solos, snares and kicks
Now playing
Two editions
Same engine, same features. The difference is how many drums and cymbals you get to play with.
Start here
One great Metal kit, ready to write with. Everything you need for demos and songwriting, in a small download.
Every kit
The whole library. Build any kit, from Old School Metal and Thrash to Djent, Punk, Rock and Jazz.
Compare the editions
| Feature | Lite $19 | TRVE Drums $69 |
|---|---|---|
| Drums and Cymbals | ||
| Kicks | 1 | 7 |
| Snares | 2 | 23 |
| Tom Sets | 15 toms | 35 toms each |
| Hi-hats | 1 | 5 |
| Rides | 1 | 5 |
| Crashes | 2 | 8 |
| Chinas | 4 | 13 |
| Splashes and Stacks | 3 | 8 |
| Factory Presets | 1Modern Metal 2.0 | 26 |
| Library Size | ~3 GB | ~18 GB |
| Both Editions | ||
| Every Mic: Close, Overheads, Rooms, Bleed | ||
| Mixer with 6 Effect Slots per channel and Reverb | ||
| Groove Browser, Riff to Groove, Drag to DAW | ||
| Mapping, Input Maps and E-Kit support | ||
| Tail, One-Shot and Multi-Out routing | ||
| Free Pack Grooves | ||
| Works with TDX Expansions | ||
| VST3, AU and Standalone, Mac and PC | ||
Same engine. Smaller kit.
Lite is not a cut-down demo: it's TRVE Drums with one kit. Both install side by side and share your Library, Grooves and Presets (Lite lists the Presets its kit can play).
The library
Kicks, snares, toms and cymbals captured from a collection of studio workhorses, classics, oddballs and heavy hitters.
The collection
The recording
Kingsville, Ontario
The TRVE Drums Core Library was recorded at Loudstakk HQ in Kingsville, Ontario.
The samples were kept deliberately close to the source. Only preamp processing and cutting EQ were used during recording, with no attempt to turn them into a finished mix.
Raw & ready.
What you hear is the starting point.
Microphones
Behind the library
The ideas, influences and recording philosophy behind TRVE Drums.
I try not to overcomplicate an already complicated instrument. A healthy understanding of levels, panning, phase, the player and the instrument goes a long way. The mics and preamps are there to capture the existing magic, not create it. Maybe just add a slight dusting on top.
Analog tube stuff doesn't fool you. You'd be surprised how far you can get with a mic into a basic preamp when the ABCs are done right.
Get the source right first. Everything else is seasoning.
Andy Sneap, Mikko Karmila, Flemming Rasmussen, Mike Clink, Andy Wallace, Colin Richardson, Tomas Skogsberg and Scott Burns, among others.
These guys laid much of the foundation that engineers like myself borrow, reinterpret and recycle today. There aren't many tricks we're doing now that don't owe something to the records and techniques that came before us.
TRVE Drums is, in many ways, a homage to those guys.
During my time at Ugritone, I always wanted to make KVLT Drums 3, but with the implosion of the original outfit, it never got done.
Until now.
I think we all deserve a notepad for ideas that's free from 120dB rehearsal rooms but somehow keeps that realistic rehearsal-room vibe. Something for writing rough demos without suddenly giving you the sound of a $50,000 DW kit, API console and tube mic collection you'll probably never have sitting in your rehearsal space.
Don't make your demos sound better than your albums.
Anyone who wants to flesh out ideas on their own. Anyone who's already tried a bunch of other drum plugins and was left thinking the drums didn't sound like real drums, sounded too polished, or the workflow gave them a hundred options without actually helping them work any faster.
If you want something fast and easy that sounds good enough as-is, TRVE Drums is built for that.
Or, if you want to find out just how good of an engineer you really are, take TRVE Drums for a spin.
Ron D. Rock
Loudstakk founder & TRVE Drums creator
Before you buy
Formats
VST3 · AU · Standalone
Operating systems
macOS 12 or newerWindows 10 or newer
Memory
8 GB RAM minimum 16 GB recommended
Processor
A modern computer with a fast processor recommended
Free space required on the system drive
TRVE Drums installs its sample library to the system drive. Make sure at least 20 GB is free before installing (download size: 18.65 GB).
Tested DAWs
Not currently supported
Pro Tools / AAX · Linux
Formats
VST3 · AU
Operating systems
macOS 12 or newerWindows 10 or newer
Memory
8 GB RAM minimum 16 GB recommended
Processor
A modern computer with a fast processor recommended
Free space required
Make sure at least 80 MB of free space is available before installing.
Tested DAWs
Not currently supported
Pro Tools / AAX · Linux
Format
Standard MIDI files (.mid)
Operating systems
Any computer macOS or Windows
Works with
All major DAWs. Drag and drop the grooves straight onto a track.
MIDI files only
No samples or plugins are included. Play the grooves with a drum plugin such as TRVE Drums.
Mapped for
New MIDI packs, TRVE Rig expansions and deals. That's it.
TRVE Drums 1.1.0
Everything about installing, playing and mixing TRVE Drums and TRVE Drums Lite.
General
TRVE Drums is a drum plugin for Mac and PC (VST3, AU and a standalone app), built for songwriting, demos and production. Real kits recorded in a real room, with a fast workflow: build a kit, find a Groove, drag it into your DAW and start writing.
When the song is ready, mix it right inside the plugin with the built-in Console Effects and Reverb, or route every Mic out and mix it like a real recorded drum session.
The drums are complicated. Using them shouldn't be.
TRVE Drums Lite is the same plugin with one kit: the Modern Metal 2.0 Kit (22 instruments, with a Ludwig Black Beauty and a Pearl Brass Piccolo as its two Snares) and its Preset, in about 3 GB.
TRVE Drums is the full Library: 87 instruments (7 Kicks, 23 Snares, 3 Tom Sets, 39 Cymbals) and 26 Presets, in about 18 GB.
Everything else is the same in both: the Mixer, Effects, Reverb, Grooves, Riff to Groove, Mapping and E-Kit support. Both can be installed side by side.
Tested DAWs: Ableton Live (Mac and PC), Cubase 15 (Mac and PC), FL Studio (Mac and PC), GarageBand (Mac), Logic Pro (Mac), Mixcraft (PC), Reaper (Mac and PC) and Studio One 7 (Mac and PC).
Not supported: Pro Tools (no AAX yet), Luna and Linux. There will be no VST2 version.
Other DAWs that host VST3 or AU will most likely work, but haven't been officially tested yet. We'll add them to this list as they're checked.
26 Core Library Presets, from Old School Metal, Thrash and Doom to Djent, Hardcore, Punk, Rock and Jazz. New instances open with Modern Metal 2.0, a full mix with Effects and Reverb, ready to write with.
TRVE Drums Lite comes with Modern Metal 2.0.
No. TRVE Drums is its own plugin and doesn't need Kontakt, Slate Trigger or any other sampler.
No. TRVE Drums doesn't include separate .wav or TCI files. The samples are encrypted and play only inside the TRVE Drums plugin.
No. TRVE Drums has no free trial, refunds or returns. All sales are final. Listen to the demos and watch the walkthroughs on this page before you buy.
The AAX version is planned and will be released once Avid completes its signing and authorisation process. The timeline depends on Avid's approval, which is outside our control.
Linux isn't supported at this time. TRVE Drums is developed and tested for macOS and Windows. Linux isn't ruled out, but there's no timeline to announce.
Installing
Very large browser downloads are more likely to be interrupted or corrupted. Instead of one huge download, each Soundset has its own Sample Data installer: one for Mac and one for Windows.
It's a few more downloads, but smaller files are far more reliable, and you never lose an hour to one giant download that failed at 98%.
TRVE Drums Lite comes as one installer: the plugin and its kit together.
Yes, all of them for your system. Each installer holds a different part of the Library (Kicks and Toms, Snares, Hi-hats, Rides, Crashes, FX Cymbals), and the kits need every part.
You only need the installers for your operating system: Mac users skip the Windows ones, and Windows users skip the Mac ones.
Yes. The sample Library can live on any drive, for example a fast external SSD. The plugin itself always installs on your system drive.
Already installed? Move the whole TRVE Drums Library folder to the new drive, then open TRVE Drums and choose the new place under Settings › Sample library location (the gear icon at the top right). The kit reloads straight away.
If the drive isn't connected when you open TRVE Drums, a banner tells you the Library is missing. Plug the drive in, or point TRVE Drums at the Library again.
This needs TRVE Drums 1.1.0 or newer. Older versions only look in the standard place, so update first.
Run the Expansion's installer. It finds your TRVE Drums Library on its own, on any drive, and the Expansion's kit pieces, Presets and photo then show up in TRVE Drums.
Expansions need TRVE Drums 1.1.0 or newer. The installer checks your version and tells you to update first if needed.
Sound and Mixing
Yes. Change anything, then use SAVE or SAVE AS at the top of the plugin. To open every new instance with your own sound, pick it under Settings › Startup preset.
A Preset stores more than the kit: it can also bring its Mapping, Mixer levels, Effects, Reverb, Perspective and Routing.
Use the Locks at the bottom of the plugin to keep what you want before browsing. For example, Routing Lock keeps your output setup and Mapping Lock keeps your MIDI Mapping, so you can try every Preset without losing your setup.
TRVE Drums was recorded and edited at 48 kHz. At any other rate, from 44.1 up to 192 kHz, it converts the samples in real time with high-quality interpolation, so every hit keeps its exact pitch and length.
For the most faithful sound, with no conversion at all, run your session at 48 kHz.
No. Every Mixer channel has up to six Effect Slots with built-in Console Saturation, Console EQ, Console Comp, Transient Shaper and a clean Parametric EQ, plus a Rack Reverb with separate settings for Kick, Snare, Toms, Cymbals and Room.
They add no latency, so close Mics and Overheads stay in phase. Prefer your own plugins? Turn the Effects off with one switch and route the channels out to your DAW.
Yes, with One-Shot. Drop a sample onto the Drums view or load it in the instrument panel. It plays with every hit, lined up with the drum and following its dynamics. The BLEND knob sets how much you hear.
The sample is saved with your project and Presets, so a session always sounds the same when you reopen it.
Routing
Click Stereo Out at the bottom of the plugin to send the whole kit to the main output.
For Multi-Out, choose Full Mix or Almost Full instead, and make sure your DAW has the extra outputs set up (see the Logic Pro question below for an example).
TRVE Drums uses stereo outputs. Logic may also list mono output configurations, which TRVE Drums doesn't support. Load it as one of these:
For Multi-Out, load TRVE Drums as a Multi-Output Software Instrument. In Logic's Mixer, click the + button on the TRVE Drums channel strip to create the Aux channels, then pick each channel's output in the TRVE Drums Mixer.
Don't use the mono output configurations.
MIDI and Grooves
Yes. In the Grooves tab, click Open grooves folder and copy your MIDI files or folders into it. They show up in TRVE Drums within a few seconds, with no restart needed. Keep each pack in its own folder to stay organised.
Then audition them in time with your DAW and drag them straight onto a track.
Third-party MIDI may use a different Mapping. Grooves play in TRVE Drums' own layout, so other libraries' files can trigger the wrong drums. Loudstakk isn't responsible for the Mapping or compatibility of third-party MIDI.
Click Open grooves folder in the Grooves tab and delete the pack's folder. It disappears from the list within a few seconds.
Or open the folder yourself:
~/Library/Application Support/TRVE Drums/Grooves/C:\Users\<your name>\AppData\Roaming\TRVE Drums\Grooves\In most cases, yes. In the Mapping tab, choose an Input Map: General MIDI, Roland V-Drums and GetGood Drums are built in, and you can import maps from Reaper, Studio One, Cubase or a CSV file.
You can also give any articulation Extra Notes, so MIDI from several sources plays right without editing it.
Yes. Choose the Roland V-Drums map or use Learn in the Mapping tab: click it, hit the pad, done. Under E-Kit Input:
These only react to your E-Kit's pedal and grab signals, so MIDI you program in your DAW always plays the same.
Drop a recorded guitar riff (WAV, AIFF or FLAC, starting on bar one) into the Grooves tab. TRVE Drums finds the riff's attacks and ranks the Grooves by how well their kick fits. With Kick Follows on, the kick plays along with your picking.
Hear the riff together with the drums, then drag the Groove into your DAW. Put the tempo in the file name (for example riff 140bpm.wav), or TRVE Drums uses your DAW's tempo.
Still stuck?
Send us a message and we'll help you get it working.