Dance music is now the fastest-growing genre in the United States, and it’s the UK’s second most popular genre too, with styles like house and techno fueling its domination.
However, many younger listeners may not be clued up on the rich and complex history behind these genres. Born in Chicago and Detroit, respectively, house and techno both emerged in the 1980s, their growth spurred on by early pioneers such as Frankie Knuckles, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson.
Our latest free sample pack celebrates the innovation and imagination of these visionary producers, compiling a varied collection of beats and basslines that should make a solid starting point for anyone hoping to recreate the timeless sounds of vintage house and techno in 2026.
Latest Videos FromMusicRadar
Example sounds
How we made it
This sample pack focuses on the essentials of vintage house and techno: beats and basslines. These two instruments are subdivided into tempo (120, 125 & 128bpm) and, in the case of the beats, processing style.
The beats were run in parallel through four groups: Neutral, Tape, Room and Comp. Neutral was just some simple top’n’tail EQ, a dash of exciter and some compression/limiting to finish. Tape chained up a set of emulations and saturators, with a few EQs and compressors interspersed making slight adjustments along the way.
The main building blocks were the UAD Studer A800, Ampex ATR102 and Fatso Sr. Room took the basic process of Neutral and added reverb, courtesy of the new Eventide SP2016 Reverb plugin, with some compression to squeeze it all together at the end. Comp chains up compressors for a more upfront, aggressive sound.
The featured kit of each tempo (A – 120bpm, B – 125bpm, C – 128bpm) is broken down into layers (kick, kick/snare, snare/claps, tops, perc, etc.), so new combinations can be made, processed or blended with other loops. There are also a set of mixed layer loops from another kit in each tempo, for variety and more layering possibilities (these are a little more bare than the main kit BeatMix loops).
There is a set of basslines from six instruments, all very much in vintage mode. The only analogue offering is from the trusty Novation BassStation, which was programmed and then recorded through the Alesis 3630 compressor, JDK Audio R24 EQ and CAPI VP26 preamp. The others were programmed in Arturia V Collection synths (Prophet 5, Jupiter 8, MiniMoog, Matrix 12) and the UVI Workstation (DX synths).
What you need to know
These samples are divided into two folders: Bass Lines and Drum Loops. These two folders are further divided by tempo.
All the samples are supplied as WAV files so can be imported directly into your DAW or sampler of choice. Because they’re royalty-free, you’re welcome to use the samples in your music in any way you like – all we ask is that you don’t re-distribute them.
The samples are supplied in a zip file, so you’ll need to extract them before you can see them. Enjoy!
Vintage house and techno samples: click to download
Vintage house and techno samples (136MB)
Head over to the SampleRadar hub to download over 95,000 more free samples.
