Best Orchestral Percussion VSTs: Epic and Classical Drums For Scoring and Beyond

Whether you’re a film composer, need to write percussion demos for a classical piece you’re composing, or love using big epic drum sounds in your pop/rock productions, it’s time to bang the drum for the best percussion VSTs out there. Your dream timpani, bass drum, cymbals, and all kinds of miscellaneous big percussion sounds can be found within. All the big names of orchestral VST fame are covered, such as Spitfire, Orchestral Tools, and Native Instruments, and we have some underdogs snapping at their heels also. Some carry a premium price, while our first entries are either free or cheaper than going out for dinner. Let’s march onward to the beat of timpani as we explore the best VST percussion your money can buy.

If you’re looking for VST percussion that’s part of a full orchestral VST package rather than specialist percussion VSTs, check out our best orchestral VSTs buyer’s guide here.

Spitfire LABs

Your numero uno option is from Spitfire Audios LABs — once completely free, it’s now the case of a free trial followed by either an annual £/$100 payment or a monthly payment that’s about the same as your Netflix subscription. Considering some of the percussion VSTs below cost hundreds, and that LABs will give you an almost unlimited number of brilliant VSTs with new ones added all the time, it is a pretty sweet deal. For percussion, there’s the Percussion, BBC Symphony Orchestra Percussion (a few presets from the paid, full orchestra version), Cinematic Percussion, and lots of drum and drum machine VSTs. They all sound fantastic, as you’d expect from Spitfire Audio.

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WINNER: Spitfire’s percussion library features meticulously sampled orchestral percussion instruments recorded at AIR Studios with multiple mic positions. Its dynamic range and realism make it the gold standard for epic and classical percussion. - Headliner Awards

Spitfire Audio Originals Epic Percussion

A brilliant thing about Spitfire is that, even though they can comfortably command high prices for some of their VSTs that dominate the sampled instrument scene, they have affordable products such as the Originals line, which still sound incredible. The Originals Epic Percussion is not epic in name alone. This orchestral drum VST arms you with cymbals, tams, gongs, earthquake hits, and more as part of the seven presets, as well as microphone placement configuration. Plus, a very fun feature is applying guitar amp distortion and tape delay for more interesting sounds. At a cost of around £/$30, and with regular sales, the value is stunning.

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ProjectSAM True Strike Cinematic Orchestral Percussion

If you’re particularly zoning in on affordable orchestral drum VSTs that are packed to the brim with value and jaw-dropping sounds, say hello to ProjectSAM. True Strike is endorsed by James Newton Howard, and if knowing it’s used by the composer for The Dark Knight (alongside someone who will be mentioned again shortly) and The Sixth Sense doesn’t get you salivating, I’m not sure what will. While only costing £/$150 (warning: this is nothing compared to some of the prices later), you get 51 percussion instruments to play with, customisable mic sets, and spatial mixing. There are some great miscellaneous sounds besides the usual fare, such as human claps, mallet instruments including glockenspiel and marimba, and the intuitive spatial mixing sounds phenomenal.

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Saga: Acoustic Trailer Percussion

The best VST percussion saga continues with Acoustic Trailer Percussion from Saga, available at Impact Soundworks. We wanted to make sure there was one more budget-friendly option before we get into the pricier territory, and ATP delivers a powerful collection of cinematic percussion that will bring a biting impact to your productions. The samples are very impressive, from thunderous drum ensembles to metallic sounds and world percussion. The detailed articulations, dynamic layers, intuitive interface, and wide variety of sounds on offer make this a winner, with an emphasis on film/trailer composition.

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Orchestral Tools Berlin Percussion

Brutal yet beautiful, just like the city this orchestral drum VST is named after. Orchestral Tools and its Berlin series are some of the top dog/hund names in orchestral sampling, and Berlin Percussion brings you some of the stunningly detailed and meticulously recorded sounds the company is known for. While some of the best VST percussion leans a little heavily into the OTT film and trailer scoring sounds, Berlin Percussion is equally happy for media scoring as it is in more traditional classical contexts, as well as other genres. The features show Orchestral Tools’ amazing attention to detail, including choices of sticks and mallets, the signature Berlin Timpani, and the ability to add 100+ pitched and unpitched instrument hits, rolls, flams, crescendos, swells, and more. Sehr gut!

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Cinesamples CinePerc

Some percussion VSTs really double down on the slightly garish sounds that only sound right when used on in-your-face film and trailer music. Like Berlin Percussion, CinePerc from Cinesamples is one of the best VST percussion packs out there if you want rich and detailed classical percussion sounds rather than the soundtrack to the apocalypse. Also included are ethnic, woods, and metal percussion instruments. The sampling was recorded at the iconic MGM Scoring Stage at Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles, meaning you’re in very safe hands.

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Native Instruments Symphony Series - Percussion

As with many of Native Instruments’ orchestrally flavoured sample packs, Symphony Series Percussion is one of the most versatile orchestral drum VSTs you can get your hands on. At your service are 55(!) percussion instruments, which were recorded at Studio 22, Budapest. The tuned percussion sounds beautiful enough that you can craft entire pieces just with its marimbas, xylophones, and more. Besides the requisite snares, concert toms, and timpani, there are some joyful sounds, including celesta, temple blocks, agogo, and many more. Besides playing these individually, there are handy combined kits where certain instruments have been placed together for you to play as one. To save a bit of dollar, you can buy the streamlined Essentials version.

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Audiobro LA Drama Drums

Do you even drum, bro? Audiobro adds some much-needed drama to the best VST percussion proceedings with LA Drama Drums. This orchestral drum VST does a brilliant job of creating big percussion sounds for your DAW without going completely overboard. It's feature-heavy, with up to 16 round-robbins, four microphone mixes, modulators to evolve your percussion sounds, table-top percussion, and more. The potential for creating modern hybrid textures as well as traditional percussion sounds is excellent, and the looping features are superb.

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Audio Imperia Cerberus

It’s time to crank the epic levels off the Richter scale. With a name like Cerberus, Audio Imperia clearly isn’t messing around with the company’s entry storming into the best VST percussion discussion. Incredibly, Cerberus was created by recording three drummers, even though it sounds like hundreds. The unique stacking system allows you to create truly enormous orchestral percussion sounds, self-described as building ‘an army of players.’ If you’re working on a trailer or score that requires you to jolt the viewer awake, Cerberus will certainly do that for you. And while the percussion instruments sound both epic and fantastic, a lovely add-on is a powerful drum kit for rock and metal drumming sounds. Huge.

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Spitfire Audio Hans Zimmer Percussion

And onto the godfather of film scoring himself. If you’ve been to see a film scored by Hans Zimmer with a decent sound system, you’ll have experienced disappearing into your cinema seat as the powerful percussion forces you back. And if you’ve ever seen the composer live, you may have been dazzled by the sheer number of percussionists that join him on tour. Spitfire Audio puts that raw power at your fingertips with this VST percussion instrument bearing Zimmer's name. Recorded using the ensembles and soloists who have collaborated on his beloved blockbuster scores, you can go from ASMR quiet to ear-shatteringly loud. Take your pick from Boobams Ensemble, Gong Drum Gallery Solo, Bucket Top & Darbuka, Paper Djun, and so many more instruments and creative options and routes to go down.

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Vienna Symphonic Library Synchron Percussion I

As Midge Ure once sang, ‘Oh, Vienna!’ VSL can command premium pricing for its orchestral VSTs with good reason, and this orchestral drum VST is a testament to that. Expect a comprehensive collection of orchestral percussion, recorded to VSL’s very high standards in the Vienna Synchron Stage. Some of the gorgeously detailed percussion instruments include everything from bass drums to glockenspiels, and it is perfect for a wide range of genres and use cases, not just scoring. Regally priced like the city it is named after, but worthy of kings.

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Can I just use orchestral drum VSTs instead of real instruments?

This is a highly subjective point of contention. Some will say yes, they sound fantastic, why wouldn’t you? Others will say you can never truly replace the real thing and you should always use and support human musicians when you can.

There is a happy compromise used by professional film composers when there isn’t enough budget to record a full percussion section of players or just to add some weight to a percussion recording. You could record one percussion player in a studio and have the player at the top of the mix over a bed of orchestral drum VSTs. With a bit of clever mixing, this can sound really good and bring a full sound while still having that organic, human touch. Composers use this technique for strings, brass, woodwinds, and beyond when required.

Should I buy an orchestral drum VST or a full orchestra VST?

This is simply a question of priority. Do you need a specialist percussion VST with as many orchestral drum VST sounds as possible and loads of detailed recording and features? Then you should definitely try out one of the best VST percussion plugins above. That said, many of the best orchestra VSTs have excellent orchestral drum samples, so it’s worth checking those out and seeing if there are enough percussion sounds and features to see you through, while bearing in mind the focus there is on the full orchestra sound rather than all the minutiae of the orchestral percussion section. You can check out Headliner’s best orchestral VST guide here.