Recreate Prince's classic drum machine sound in Ableton Live 9.5

Prince knew his way around an LM-1.
Prince knew his way around an LM-1.

Since has untimely death last week, thousands of words have been devoted to Prince, with his guitar-playing skills coming into particular focus. Let's not forget, though, that he also had a unique way with his drum machines, particularly the LM-1 and LinnDrum, without which his early-to-mid-'80s output would have sounded very different.

In celebration of what became known as the 'Minneapolis drum sound', SympleSound has released PurpleDrums, a free 'educational' Ableton Live 9.5 project that includes a Drum Rack based on samples from the LM-1 and LinnDrum, all processed in his signature style (complete with flanging and compression).

There are also 10 royalty-free MIDI loops that were inspired by Prince's drum programming. If you check out the audio demo, you'll hear that they're right on the money.

You can download PurpleDrums now for free on the SympleSound website.

(Via Create Digital Music)

Ben Rogerson

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.