Virtual Instrument

Does the latest iteration of NI’s Komplete music production suite provide all the tools you need?

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. Electric Vintage has been created around samples and performances from a vintage ’50s Fender Telecaster.

NI’s new instrument makes owning and playing a Stradivarius easier than ever before!

Is Native Instruments' virtual picked acoustic guitar better than the real thing?

Electric Sunburst delivers highly polished Les Paul-style electric guitar performances via a Kontakt front-end...

Struggle with your strumming? Perhaps NI’s Strummed Acoustic can lend a helping hand.

Grand pianos can sound fantastic, but many of us cut our teeth playing old uprights in homes and schools and still want that kind of sound for our recordings from time to time.

The Minimoog is not exactly short of software tributes. How does NI's measure up?

Its got a bigger sample library and some whizzy new features, but what Kontakt 4 really wants to do is make your life easier...

The fifth version of Absynth introduces even more sound-mangling features and aims to be far more user-friendly than its predecessors. Has it succeeded? Read on...

Is Native Instrument's new stand-alone soft synth as big as they say it is?

General MIDI synths are rarely glamorous, but there's no reason why they should not sound as good as more professional alternatives — that, at least, is the thinking behind NI's Bandstand soft synth.

Since its launch in 2000, NI's B4 has been the software instrument of choice for those who want realistic tonewheel organ sounds from their computer. But NI are clearly convinced it can be better...

Native's sound design software is back, and with v5, you have more control over your instruments than ever — offering fully user-definable looks, the ability to construct your own modules from scratch, and an improved library. We get patching...

Xpress Keyboards features cut-down versions of NI's B4 tonewheel organ emulation, Pro 53 Prophet 5 emulation and FM7 DX-alike.

Two years on from its original release, Native's virtual drum module gets its first full upgrade. Is it all John Bonham tom mayhem, or is it limper than a Kraftwerk drum solo?

Absynth has always dared to be somewhat different to other software synths, and version 3 continues the grand tradition, with new effects, built-in frequency-shifting, and surround processing options.

For years it was instantly associated with smooth late-70s productions, and now the sound of the electric piano is enjoying a comeback. But just how good is Native Instruments' sample-based virtual version?

Virtual analogue plug‑in synths are now common, and as DX‑style FM was the next great leap forward for real synths, a virtual FM synth was only a matter of time. So how does FM7 measure up to the original DX?