Sample Libraries

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars. British creative studio Song Athletics have collaborated with innovative pianist/composer Sarah Nicolls for Inside‑Out Piano, which is, quite literally, a deep dive into the instrument.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars. Sampled Steinway D‑274 grand pianos aren’t exactly in short supply, but this one’s a bit special...

Industry legend Sylvia Massy brings her expertise and creativity to Tootrack’s latest Superior Drummer expansion.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars. Designed for creating dark, tension‑filled, music meets sound‑design for modern sci‑fi, drama or horror set in a dystopian world.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars. Built by sampling a classic Les Paul‑style electric guitar, what does Electric Blue have to offer to give it an edge within a very competitive marketplace?

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars. 

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars. Deep Felt is a beautiful Kontakt instrument for a specific piano timbre that continues to be very on‑trend, thanks to its usage by numerous electronic artists and soundtrack composers.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 4/5 Stars. Sonora Cinematic Aethervox is a pack that provides, as the name suggests, vocals of an ethereal nature.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 4/5 Stars. This Kontakt‑based instrument features a finger‑played mandolin recorded in parallel paths to both pristine digital and analogue tape recorders.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars. Toontrack model a four‑string bass with two pairs of octave strings here and have used a Schecter model as the sound source for this library.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 4/5 Stars. Sonora Cinematic Transfigured Orchestra Vol 2 delivers what are termed Hybrid Gestures, some of which have been treated using further processing or created from hybrids of other sounds.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 4/5 Stars. Pocket Strings places only very modest demands on system resources, the idea being to provide a portable string instrument which packs a creative punch.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars. Vivaldi’s Solo Violin is a refined and expressive violin library that brings the essence of Baroque string writing into the modern producer’s toolkit.

Spitfire have teamed up with composers the Newton Brothers to create something that’s truly terrifying.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars. Soniccouture continually push the extremes of sound design, and Polarity Tension marks the first in a series of collaborations utilising their impressive new Polarity dual‑granular engine.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 4/5 Stars. OBSO seems to be designed to satisfy those who want instant gratification and want it now! OBSO uses samples as its sound source, the focus of the instrument being obsolete media.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars. If you ever daydreamed about getting Mr Phillips’ drum sounds on your productions, your wish has been granted: our man has created three drum expansions for Steinberg’s Groove Agent.

Lovingly restored, and then lovingly sampled, Spitfire’s Château Piano recreates a pop icon.

Toontrack keep it real with reel‑to‑reels at Real World Studios.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 4/5 Stars. Nine Angles For Forte’s (NAFF) Spat Curve is described as a 3D sample‑based instrument collection.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 4/5 Stars. Sonora Cinematic already offer a felt piano instrument and now they’ve applied the same approach to guitar, with a library of guitar samples played with felt picks.