You can find free trials for each Handy Drums product on their respective product pages.

Click the “Free Trial” button instead of “Add To Cart” button. Then follow the checkout procedure with $0 charge. You will not need to enter any payment details other than your email address.

For detailed information on Handy Drums free trial, see this doc. 

It does. You didn’t enter it properly.

Are you copy+pasting the code or typing it in manually?

You should only copy+paste to ensure accuracy. After pasting, ensure there isn’t an empty space before or after the serial by accident. Place cursor at the end/start and delete if so.

WATCH THIS VIDEO on how to do it correctly.

Windows 7 or higher.

On Mac we tested from 10.11 onwards. They could work on earlier versions but we can't guarantee it.

There are no specific requirements to CPU speed and memory. As long as your DAW works well with the load from other plugins, it should handle our ones too.

We suggest starting with latency of 512 samples on your ASIO driver. 

The likely cause is that the security settings on your Mac are stopping it from reading the Application support data folder, which is necessary for the plugin to know where to look for the samples.

If pointing the plugin to the sample folder using the dialog prompt doesn't solve the issue, you'll need to access your Mac's security settings and elevate permission for the plugin or your DAW. Sometimes the standalone works, but not the plugin within GarageBand or Logic Pro. Giving full read permission for the drive to Logic/ GarageBand solves it.

You'll know if it is a security issue if you start the standalone version of the plugin. If you can hear the sound with no prompt to locate the samples, then it is the security issue.

Not all of our standalone plugins show up in the quick launch window. However, the applications will be installed and you will find them inside the Applications folder on your Mac drive where the rest of your apps are.

They will be here:

Mac HD > Applications > GoranGrooves > Handy Drums

All drums, cymbals and percussion components are recorded in True Stereo with multiple microphones so each component is output as a Stereo Pair from the plugin. That means when you play a Tom, for example, you don’t just hear the Tom through the close mic, but through several other mics in the natural stereo field.

Handy Drums currently don’t have panning functions built in, but your DAW does. To pan individual Handy Drums components inside your DAW, you will need to output the components to one of the 8 available stereo outputs . You can then manipulate that stereo output inside your DAW separately from the rest of the drums.

During installation of your Handy Drums instrument, you should have had an option to install a MIDI Demo (same as the demo on product page) on your desktop. You could use this to get you started and cut it up to make your own beats and loops.

If you require pre-made MIDI drum loops, we have a few packs and they all work perfectly with our virtual drums.

Our plugins are 64-bit only, as noted on all of our product pages. Most DAW developers have long dropped support for 32bit systems.

If you are still using a 32-bit OS, you are long overdue to upgrade and this is a good opportunity to do so.

Make sure to set your mod wheel or any other controller you wish to use with varable hi-hats, to CC4. Refer to your MIDI controller's documentation on how to do it.

Alternatively, you can set any additional CC# to the variable hats .

Q: I have assigned my modwheel to CC#4 through the Handy Drums vst, and I can see the hats icon moving (open/close) when I use the modwheel, but the sound doesn’t change. What is wrong?

A: The reason is that you are playing the wrong notes. The variable hi-hats are on G0 and A0 and you are playing F#1, G#1, A#1. 

Hit those 2 notes and you will hear the vari hats magic. For Variable Hats, see this doc . 

By default, the sample libraries will be installed in the following locations:

On Windows

C:Program FilesGoranGrooves SamplesHandy DrumsName Of The Plugin

On Mac

Mac HD > Library > GoranGrooves Samples > Handy Drums > Name Of The Plugin

If you don’t find them in those locations, you may have chosen a different location during the installation procedure or you didn’t install them in the first place. 

To check if they are installed, open up the standalone app of Handy Drums plugin in question.

Click on the drum icons above channels. Are you hearing any sound? Do you see the meters move when you click on the preview icons?

If you are seeing the meters move, it means that the sample library is installed and properly connected. You can check the sample library installation location in the plugins settings. More info. 

If the meters are not showing and moving when auditioning drums, the plugin is not connected to the sample library or the sample library was not installed in the first place. In such case, run the installer again and make sure the sample library is selected to install.

It is also possible to change the default location during installation (PC only), relocate the samples library after install , or point your Sampled Instrument to an existing Sample Library (if you know where it is).

After you locate the sample library folder, make sure to restart the plugin and it should load fine.

If you are on Mac and are still unable to hear the sound, there could there be issues with app permissions on your MAC. You need to give both the plugin and your DAW full HD access in your Mac Security settings.

Unfortunately, that’s a Logic’s shortcoming and you should let Apple know that you need it.

We will look into implementing MIDI preview feature directly in our plugins in the future updates.

In the meantime, check out MIDI Player X for Mac , which will allow you to connect our plugin to it and audition any MIDI loops.

There are two types of MIDI file formats (type 0 and type 1) and how DAWs handle each type of MIDI varies from developer to developer. Some generate several empty tracks when a type 0 MIDI is imported, even though they are not present in the actual MIDI file. Other DAW may do it with type 1 MIDI. 

In Type 0 MIDI, all instruments are saved into a single track. Upon importing, some DAWs separate them by channels (1-16). 

Type 1 MIDI saves multiple MIDI tracks as individual tracks, so when imported into a DAW, they show up as multi-tracks with the same channel.

That’s why we supply both, so you can choose what works better on your system. 

For more info, see this troubleshooting article .

Of course not. MIDI file format can not contain any audio samples. MIDI file format contains information on the performance, such as what note is played, at what velocity, when etc.

For MIDI loop to produce sound, it needs to be connected to a sound-generating module, such as Handy Drums.

See this video for detailed explanation on MIDI loops and how they work with virtual instruments.

Go to:

https://library.gorangrooves.com/my-account/ and log in.

You will see in the “downloads tab” a button to download the purchased products.

If you having issues downloading a file, here are some possible reasons and solutions.

1. Is your browser giving you a warning message to keep or discard the file? You should keep it (save it) if that is the case.

2. What browser are you using? Make sure to use a modern, up-to-date browser such as Chrome or Firefox that has JavaScript enabled.

3. Does your browser have a setting where you may need to add our website in your browser “trust settings”?

4. Are you able to try with a different browser?

5. Confirm that the download completed. (When complete it will show as .exe file on Windows, and .pkg on Mac) When fully downloaded, the file will have an appropriate icon and will have the name of the purchased product. If it shows some random jumble of letters, or if there is no specific icon, it is not a complete download. Wait until it is fully-downloaded.

6. Your browser may be preventing you from downloading .EXE files. You may need to override it if that is the case. This is especially true on Windows 10 and Windows Defender. When presented with a prompt in your browser, click more info and override any warnings.

7. If relevant, please take any screenshots and email it to us so that we can better understand what the issue is.