Marchstead The bundle USD 79
EST. 2019 / LISBON, PT

Quiet sounds for the long afternoon .

Hand-laid lo-fi loops, ambient pads, and field recordings. Recorded in a small flat above the tile shops of Alfama, sent out as royalty-free WAV and MIDI to producers who want warmth without the cliches.

Get the bundle USD 79 Browse the catalogue
  • Royalty free
  • Instant download
  • 24-bit WAV + MIDI
  • 120 BPM friendly
Warm afternoon light across a desk with a vintage analog synthesizer, an open notebook, and a steaming ceramic mug.
The studio, 4 p.m., a Tuesday in April.
00 / Catalogue

Six packs in the shop.

Pick a single pack, or take the bundle and have everything in your sample folder by tonight.

BEST VALUE
The Marchstead Headspace Bundle, laid out as a flat photograph of cassette tapes, vinyl, and a notebook on a warm wooden surface.

Bundle · 6 packs · 1.8 GB

The Marchstead Headspace Bundle

Every pack we make, in one folder. 480 loops, 240 MIDI files, 12 long-form pads, and the unreleased Alfama tram recordings.

USD 79 USD 144
Lo-fi Drum Vault Vol. 1 product art.

Pack 01 · 120 loops · 60 one-shots

Lo-fi Drum Vault Vol. 1

Tape-saturated kicks, dusty snares, swung hats. Cut from old 45s and put back together at 80 BPM.

USD 29
Ambient Pads and Textures product art.

Pack 02 · 24 pads · 12 textures

Ambient Pads & Textures

Long-form Juno and CS-80 pads. Each one tuned for the moment after the kick drops out and before the vocal starts.

USD 29
Field Recordings Atlantic product art.

Pack 03 · 40 recordings · 24-bit

Field Recordings: Atlantic

Tram bells from Graça. Ferry horns on the Tagus. Market chatter from Mercado da Ribeira at 7 a.m. on a Saturday.

USD 24
Cassette Tape Loops product art.

Pack 04 · 60 loops · 2-4 bar

Cassette Tape Loops

Re-pitched from old language-learning tapes from a São Paulo flea market. Hiss and wow included on purpose.

USD 24
Study Beat MIDI Pack product art.

Pack 05 · 80 MIDI · 4 keys

Study Beat MIDI Pack

Chord progressions and bassline MIDI in the four most-used lo-fi keys. Drop into any DAW, swap the instrument, done.

USD 19
01 / The studio

We work above a tile shop in Alfama .

Marchstead is two people. Joana is from Porto and plays everything with strings. Henrique is from São Paulo and runs the tape machines. We rent a small flat above a tile shop on Rua dos Remedios. The walls are thick. The light is soft after lunch.

We started Marchstead in 2019 because we wanted lo-fi sample packs that did not all sound like the same coffee shop in Brooklyn. Most of what we make is recorded between 6 and 9 a.m., before the tile shop opens and the city wakes up. You can hear the trams in some of the field recordings. We left those in.

~ Joana & Henrique

The Marchstead studio. A small flat with soft morning light, vintage synths against a tile-shop wall, and notebooks spread across a wooden table.
Casa Marchstead, Rua dos Remedios, Alfama.
02 / Words from the people who use it

Not all of the reviews are short.

We read every reply that lands in our inbox. These are six we keep coming back to.

The Cassette Tape Loops pack got me unstuck on a record I had been sitting on for two years. It just sounds like a Sunday.

Inês R. Producer / Lisbon, PT

I bought the bundle for the drums and stayed for the field recordings. The Mercado da Ribeira clip is in three songs of mine now.

Tomás M. Beatmaker / Porto, PT

Most lo-fi packs have the same five snares. Marchstead's drums have actual character. The ride on Pack 01 is the best I own.

Sofia A. Composer / Faro, PT

The MIDI pack is the cheat code. I changed the instrument to a Juno and had a finished beat in twenty minutes.

Marek J. Producer / Berlin, DE

Ambient Pads & Textures is what I open when I need something to start. It always gives me a chord that wants the next chord.

Aria L. Film composer / London, UK

Bought the bundle on Friday, finished a track on Saturday. Joana and Henrique reply to emails like real people, too.

03 / Quick answers

Anything you would have asked us first.

What formats do the packs come in?
24-bit, 48 kHz WAV for every loop and one-shot. MIDI for chord progressions and basslines. Everything is named with key and BPM in the filename so you can drop it straight into Ableton, FL, Logic, or Reaper without re-tagging.
Can I use the sounds in songs I release commercially?
Yes. Every pack ships royalty free and worldwide. You can use the sounds in tracks you sell, stream, sync to film, or release on any label. The only thing you cannot do is re-sell the raw samples as a sample pack of your own.
How do I get the files after I pay?
Stripe sends you the receipt straight away and we email the download links within a minute. Links stay live for seven days, which is plenty. If you ever lose the email, reply to it and we will re-send.
What if I do not like it?
Email info@marchstead.com within 30 days. As long as you have not put the sounds in a released track, we refund the order in full, no questions.
Do you take requests or custom commissions?
Sometimes. We do one or two private commissions a quarter, mostly for film and game composers. If you want to ask, write to us at info@marchstead.com and tell us what you are working on.