Where to Buy Techno Samples: The Best Techno Sample Pack Sites
Techno is a genre where the sound is the song. A kick, a groove and one hypnotic loop can carry a whole track, so a weak sample has nowhere to hide. The trouble is that most "techno" packs are the same 909 hits and generic rumbles, processed slightly differently each time.
Here's where we'd buy techno samples, including our own. We'll say what each label is good for and where it falls short, so you can pick the right one for the techno you make.
What to look for in a techno sample pack
Source first. Packs recorded from real drum machines and analogue synths have a weight and movement that's hard to fake in software. Then format: 24-bit WAV, labelled with key and BPM, so you're not guessing. Look for loop stems as well as mixed loops, so you can drop the hats from a groove you like and keep the rest. And check the licence: royalty free should mean you can release tracks using the samples without paying again.
Above all, know the subgenre. Dub techno, hypnotic, hardgroove, industrial and melodic techno all want very different sounds.
SOUND7
We'll be upfront: our speciality is the deeper end, dub techno, deep techno and ambient house. Our packs come from an all-analogue studio, with some run through a vintage console and a Roland Space Echo RE-201, by a producer who has designed factory sounds for u-he, discoDSP and Novation. They're thick, warm and musical rather than harsh.
Every SOUND7 sample pack is 44.1kHz 24-bit WAV, key and BPM labelled, royalty free and an instant download.
Where we fall short: we don't do peak-time, industrial or hard techno. If you want relentless rumble kicks at 140 BPM, look further down this list.
Deep Dub Vol.1, 2 and 3
Construction kits and single hits, with Volumes 1 and 2 taken from our Analog RYTM series, so you get those sounds without owning an Elektron box. Each volume has 16 kits with every stem plus a ready-mixed version, alongside deep kicks, dubby chords and textures. Volume 3 has over 300 samples at 120 BPM. If you make dub techno, start here.
Get the sound: Deep Dub Vol.1, Deep Dub Vol.2, Deep Dub Vol.3
Brainfeed Vol.1 and 2
Big drum loop packs: over 250 loops in Volume 1 and over 230 in Volume 2, all at 120 BPM. Heavy analogue kick loops, organic hats and percussion, run through the Space Echo. Every loop comes as a mixed group and as separate kick, hat and snare layers, so you can mix and match or slice them up.
Get the sound: Brainfeed Vol.1, Brainfeed Vol.2
Deeptops Vol.1
50 techno top loops at 126 BPM, for adding life and movement over your own kick. Small and focused, and very handy for deep techno and progressive grooves.
Get the sound: Deeptops Vol.1
ANA7OG 7EQUENCES Vol.1 and 2
Fifty analogue synth sequences in each volume, each with a matching MIDI file. Volume 1 is at 120 BPM and draws on an SE-3X, original SH-101s and more. Volume 2 is at 128 BPM and leans progressive, with a Moog Sub 37 and Vermona Perfourmer among others. Slightly unstable, alive and moving. These are the loops that sit at the heart of a hypnotic track.
Get the sound: ANA7OG 7EQUENCES Vol.1, ANA7OG 7EQUENCES Vol.2
Ethereal House Vol.1
A genre-blending pack of techno, ambient and progressive house: over 800MB of drum loops, synth lines, chords, bass, pads and FX at 120 BPM, with MIDI for the melodic parts. Made with a Deckard's Dream, Moog Matriarch, Juno-60, TR-808 and more. For the melodic, atmospheric end of techno.
Get the sound: Ethereal House Vol.1
Analog RYTM packs
If you own an Elektron Analog RYTM, our packs give you complete kits, patterns and sounds to load straight in. The Dublicious series is pure dub techno, Analoc Tekno covers dub techno and ambient house, and Fractious goes somewhere stranger, with modular noise and industrial textures.
Get the sound: Dublicious, Dublicious II, Dublicious III, Analoc Tekno, Fractious and Fractious II
Riemann Kollektion
A Berlin label that does nothing but techno, and it shows. Separate series for raw hypnotic, deep, hardgroove, Berlin and industrial techno, mostly made on analogue gear, with MIDI included in many packs. They also sell Ableton templates and give away a free starter pack.
If you make warehouse techno at the harder end, this is probably the deepest catalogue around. The weakness is volume. There are a lot of packs, they can blur together, and you'll want to listen to demos carefully to pick out the best.
Audiotent
A label run by producers, DJs and engineers from the club scene, focused on techno, progressive house and organic house. The Hypnosis series is a good example: dark, modular-made textures, gritty percussion and hypnotic sequences, with MIDI in the deluxe editions.
Production quality is very high, and the packs are carefully curated rather than padded out. The weakness is that the sound is quite polished, so if you want raw and dirty, Riemann is a better fit.
Wave Alchemy
A UK sound design company in Nottingham with a long track record. Their techno packs, such as Techno and Organic Analogue Techno, are big, well organised libraries with loops, one-shots, MIDI and drum kits for most samplers. Key labelled, with REX and Apple Loops versions too.
They're particularly good for mainroom and peak-time techno, with big kicks and clean, punchy drums. The weakness: the big, clean mainroom sound is less suited to raw or dub techno, and the libraries are large enough that you'll use a fraction of each.
Samplephonics
A long-running label with a wide range of techno, from industrial and abstract to melodic. The Ghostek packs are a highlight if you like dark, industrial sounds. Downloads come as 24-bit WAV, Apple Loops or REX2, and there are some free techno samples to try first.
The weakness is that the catalogue is broad rather than specialist, so it pays to listen to the demos and pick packs one at a time.
Where we'd start
For dub techno and deep, analogue grooves, we'd point you to our own Deep Dub and Brainfeed packs. For raw, hypnotic and hardgroove, Riemann Kollektion. For polished, modular-flavoured techno, Audiotent. For mainroom and peak-time, Wave Alchemy.
Want the background? Our history of techno series covers the drum machines and synths that made the genre. Or try making a dub techno track in 20 minutes. More free material is on our free sounds page, and you can browse all SOUND7 sample packs.