22Sep 2025 by Jon
How to Create Your Own Virtual Instrument with Decent Sampler (Step-by-Step Guide)

How to Create Your Own Virtual Instrument with Decent Sampler (Step-by-Step Guide)

Blog, Foley, Home Recording Blogs, Recording, Sampling, Sound Design, Techniques, Virtual Instruments
Are you interested in making your own virtual instruments for music production? In this post, I’ll walk you through exactly how I created my latest instrument — Cat Toy Drums for Decent Sampler. I’ll share the full process from concept and recording, to sound design, scripting, GUI design, and beta testing. By the end, you’ll have a clear roadmap to start building your own instrument with Decent Sampler. And if you watch the video I’ll also share a special promo code to save 30% on my Cat Toy Drums virtual instrument. https://youtu.be/3gjkWspZfIE Step 1: Start with an Idea Every instrument begins with a concept. Mine came from a quirky inspiration: creating drum samples out of cat toys. I was originally inspired by Lofi Sounds, who built a sample pack from…
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03Jul 2025 by Jon
Cat Toy Drums: Lo-Fi Drums With Purr-sonality

Cat Toy Drums: Lo-Fi Drums With Purr-sonality

Blog, Composing, Foley, Home Recording Blogs, Recording, Sampling, Sound Design, Sound Effects, Virtual Instruments
If you're a Lo-fi Hip-Hop producer looking for something fresh, characterful, and a little unexpected — Cat Toy Drums might be your new secret weapon. This unique drum collection was created using recordings of actual cat toys, food bowls, litter bags, and other feline-related objects. These quirky foley sounds were carefully crafted into usable kicks, snares, claps, hi-hats, rimshots, shakers, and cymbals — perfect for mellow Lo-fi, Boom Bap, and downtempo beats. 🥁 What Is Cat Toy Drums? Cat Toy Drums comes in two formats: 1. Virtual Instrument for Decent Sampler (Free Plugin) The Decent Sampler version gives you a playable instrument with built-in effects and tweakable controls: Individual control over pitch, decay, pan, and reverb send Convolution-based reverb featuring spring and real-world spaces Lo-fi Speaker Mix knob using small…
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24Apr 2022 by Jon
Recording the sound of nature: Stereo microphone shootout

Recording the sound of nature: Stereo microphone shootout

Blog, Field Recording, Foley, Home Recording Blogs, Microphones, Recording, Sound Design, Sound Effects, Techniques
Stereo Recording Shootout In this stereo recording shootout I test two different stereo recording techniques. One, a mid-side (M/S) stereo setup costing over $2000. The other, a pair of inexpensive stereo omni-directional mics. Can these $100 microphones compete against the higher priced alternatives? So, join me for this stereo recording shootout as I record the sound of nature. The Location I recently visited the Welsh countryside and took the opportunity to record the sounds of nature. Understandably, it's difficult to make good recordings near cities or towns. For example, traffic, and other noise can easily ruin recordings. So, while I had the chance I compared two stereo recording techniques. Read on to find out how I made the recordings. Listen to the results In the video below I explain the…
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