Virtual Instrument

Does Roland’s software Juno 60 capture the magic of the original?

Rating ***** 5/5 Stars. DEEP’s drum sample content and collections of drum pattern style sets give it a distinct musical flavour within the UJAM drum line‑up.

Pianoteq 7 introduces new morphing features and an even more realistic modelling engine.

UJAM and Hans Zimmer attempt to make creating professional string parts possible for everyone with Striiiings.

V Collection 8 introduces new instruments and completely reworks some old favourites.

Sample Logic have teamed up with Red Room Audio to deliver a highly animated orchestral instrument.

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars.  This Kontakt‑based library comes with the subtitle Boutique Cinematic Guitars, and that captures the essence of what’s provided in the 6GB of sample content.

Rating: 5/5 Stars. This update features some brand‑new content with all the features and content of v2.0: an impressive collection of synth, pad, sound effect and drum options sitting alongside the vocals of Clara Sorace.

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

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars

As with the original versions, Royal, Mellow and Rowdy provide three style‑based variants in terms of bass tones and performances, and the three titles share the same engine.

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars. Built around a virtual eight-string guitar, Carbon offers a stylistic take on modern metal and rock.

Arturia's latest instrument is a software recreation of Oberheim's pinstriped polysynth.

G-Sonique's Technol HN1 offers bread-and-butter techno sounds in an easy to use format and at a bargain price.

Soniccouture deliver a powerful drum sampler engine where you provide the samples.

XILS Lab have recreated a classic Roland string synth, and made a few improvements to boot.

Does Modartt's Organteq do for the pipe organ what Pianoteq did for the piano?

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