I always defaulted to an 808/909 combo every time. Eventually gave up on Ableton because it’s too many things at once for my pea brain.
A drum synth is more fun, just start from scratch and let your brain guide you. Or you could try and make some drum sounds out of bigger samples, that’s turns up some good stuff I find. I downloaded a massive set of Monomachine samples from Slice or Splice or whatever the big samples site is callled a couple of months back and that just keeps on giving!
Also, since we are talking Ableton, if your drum rack sounds lifeless, you haven’t used enough Roar!
Applies to samples too. No one needs 1,000 drum breaks unless you’re doing very specific niche things and even then you probably still don’t need most of them.
Plymouth kit.
Really decent sounding acoustic kit, but lends itself really well to all sorts of processing.
I have every single classic break and you’re right 1000 is too many, but 865 is not enough.
Edit: I just checked and I have almost 2000 thanks to Young Gurus famous break archive
Just wait til you hit 866.
Unless I have a very specific idea in mind, I start writing with chords or bass most of the time. So I pick drums that fit the sound/vibe I’m going for. If you’re not there yet, keep practicing.
I felt my biggest weakness was drums, so I forced myself to do an entire album centered around beats specifically to get better at them. Not just all songs with drums in them, songs where drums were often THE central element. Took me a few years, but I got my old netlabel to pick that album up and it’s going to be my first solo release next year.
Sorry for the long story, but the moral is if you feel this is a weakness for you, attack it head on. I don’t use ableton, but it sounds like other people are giving you actionable advice. My advice is don’t stop at what people are suggesting here. Take it to the next step and create a custom kit every week until you know what you like, how you like to process it, what kinds of music it works with. Put each of those kits in a loop a few bars long and play around with it. Not by itself, with other instruments. See how the drum sounds play off the rest of the music. It takes a while to build that 6th sense for what you want, but I’m confident you’ll get it if you stick with this.
I had the same problem! This is how I solved it:
I sat down and went through my kicks, listened to hundreds… chose 128 that I like.
Then did the same with snares, claps, closed hat, open hat… and so on.
Made chains with them all. Some were mixed, eg rimshots and side-sticks. One chain for real perc. One chain for synth perc.
Now I use MIDI CC’s to select the drums remotely, whilst the a pattern is playing, just twist a knob and get the right kick. Or just turn it randomly.
Even record and automate it… or stick an LFO on it.
Eventually learning which go together. Writing the numbers down… then make a little selector in TouchOSC so I can select a kit instantly.
It all took ages admittedly 
But now I know I have drums I know I like, ready to go.
I feel your pain, @Mistercharlie
I also feel overwhelmed with all of the sound choices inside Ableton. I’ve considered deleting everything and starting from scratch with the least sounds they’ll let me have.
I’ve been using MPCs lately and it’s been refreshing.
Even though they have a lot of sounds, it’s less stressful and more fun for me.
Best of luck
How many pairs of shows do you own?
Three, four? You can only wear one at a time.
If you own more than than, I bet you almost never wear some of them.
Drum kits are the same.
3 or 4 done. Dont sit there listening to endless samples in the vain hope you might find a better one.
Make a decision and stick to it.
Fx Processing does all the work anyway.
A 606 or 707 can go anywhere with some over drive eq and compression
The first Kits I was thinking of when I read this thread. Yeah, 606/626 and 707 are my go to Kits these days.
Don’t use them and buy samples from mars 909
I appreciate the advice of picking a few go-to kits, but that’s the trouble. How can I know which is the best one for my needs? Deleting everything and starting over is fine, but that still leaves me with all of Ableton’s Core Library.
I know I want a couple of good acoustics, one fairly neutral, and one that’s a bit nastier for making breakbeats. Plus a good electronic kit with a few hard kicks, and non-annoying hats.
I guess I’m just going to have to go through everything, slowly. Maybe divide by letter of the alphabet and audition all the As one day, and so on.
I have also realized that the 909 is way deeper than being just a grown-up 808.
The drum selector kits are interesting, but for me they take ages to load, and make me suffer from the same decision paralysis, only in a different format.
Thanks for all the great answers so far. I’m thinking I will make two small selector kits. One for acoustic, one for electronic, with a few options for each drum, perhaps ranging from clean to dirty.
Then just sample these.
I’ve personally don’t like most drum kits/samples that are on gear, maybe because I’m not a fan of classic Roland drum machines and abrasive drum sounds. I’ve found and made some sounds that work for the different kinds of music I make on my hardware over the years. I’ve spent the last years making usable sample kits from these that I can use on my TV or OP:XY (DT while I still used that). Now I always have my favorite drum sounds ready to go and never have to scroll through any presets or samples or load individual samples.
Hey, just do the Digitakt thing. Pick a kit you like, make it your default, only swap single sounds when something isn’t working in the track.
Btw the browsing fatigue is partly why I built Presetti. It searches your own VST3 synth presets by sound similarity. Won’t help with Drum Rack kits, but you might find it useful.
This is the problem - don’t think in terms of kits.
Think in terms of drums!
Just select 16 short claps you like. 16 long claps. Long snares, short snares, kicks, rimshots, etc.
Or you can separate acoustic/electronic at the top level. It doesn’t matter, just decide on a system.
Make a folder for each and put them in.
If you have loads of each it will take a while to do, but…
Listen to each one very carefully! Set aside the time. Take your time!
It’s worth doing… just the process of listening will help. There’s an incredible variety just in kick drums! Personally I’d need more than 16, you choose 32, or 50, or some number that you can manage.
Then, later, pick each drum one at a time and you’ll be much happier with your overall kits!
Although it seems long, it’s probably quicker in the long run, than endlessly browsing!
I’ll add… having 2 or 3 kits only can make your music a little boring.
But even 16 of each drum opens thousands of combinations, but remains easy to choose!