Virtual Instrument

If recording a real piano isn't for you, there's no shortage of very convincing software alternatives.

It's been a long time coming, but has the latest version of Steinberg's Groove Agent been worth waiting for?

Is ‘scanned synthesis’ the best thing since sliced bread, or a triumph of hype over substance? We put Humanoid Sound Systems’ Windows soft synth on the test bench to find out.

There was always something quite special about Roland's classic Jupiter 8 analogue megasynth, but can Arturia capture that magic with their emulation?

•Rob Papen Albino 3 •SSL Drumstrip •Starplugs Admiral

Is it really necessary to give up an entire hard drive in order to get your hands on a good-sounding drum library? XLN Audio think not.

Combining multitimbral sample playback, loop tempo matching, synthesis, multi-effects and an 8GB sound library, is Plug Sound Pro the only software sound source you need alongside your DAW?

When it comes to hands-on control, we're used to being told that the mouse is a poor substitute for knobs and faders. This unique soft synth might just change all that...

Three more recently released libraries and virtual instruments get installed and tested to oblivion! • Muse • Chris Hein Guitars • Sample Lab Luscious Grooves: The Dark Side

The latest offerings in Ueberschall's Liquid Instruments series focus on vocals, aiming to provide you with a flexible band of personal backing vocalists via a front-end based on Celemony's Melodyne.

Digidesign's march into MIDI sequencing territory continues with the launch of a plug-in emulating classic electric piano sounds.

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

Giga Virtual Instrument gives you Tascam's Giga sampling engine as a plug-in for the first time.

Can an 8 Megabyte plug-in really compete with the new generation of multi-Gigabyte sampled grand pianos?

This new software instrument majors on lively and evocative loops and phrases that can be flexibly combined to create convincing world-music atmospheres.

Old synths never die, they get reproduced as virtual instruments. So it is with Waldorf's Micro Q, which forms the heart of Terratec's impressive wavetable-based soft synth.

Five new evocative sampled Chinese instruments in virtual instrument form at a seriously low price.

We find out how well Steinberg's new take on the virtual orchestra conducts itself...

There have been some famous twin-guitar line-ups in rock history and, even if you can't strum a note, you can now have the virtual equivalent — both of these software instruments will play on time and in tune, and won't want a solo in every song! But are they both equally good?

Gary Garritan's powerfully expressive solo violin instrument features some impressive technical innovations. Will it create a new generation of virtual Paganinis?

Can this in-depth software emulation of the ARP 2600 improve on Arturia's existing 2600V?