Sample Libraries

NI and Sonuscore take assisted string arranging to another level with Action Strings 2.

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

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars. Mysteria is primarily aimed at providing dark and suspenseful sounds suitable for use in a cinematic context.

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. Straylight is designed with media/film composers in mind and, by combining a granular synthesis engine with sample playback, Straylight specialises in soundscapes, transitions and ambient tones...

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. Noire is the result of composer and pianist Nils Frahm's quest to recreate his signature piano sound as a virtual instrument.

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

Recording a library of acoustic guitar samples highlighted the importance of repeatability, blind testing, small lasers and double‑sided sticky tape.

NI describe Thrill as a “cinematic tension performance instrument”...

Created in collaboration with the makers of LA Scoring Strings, NI’s new Symphony Series instrument puts a 60-piece string ensemble at your disposal.

A normal upright piano has three strings per key in the upper registers, two for the mid octaves and usually one for the lowest octaves.

The first of a new series of sample libraries from NI serves up a lot of brass for your money.

Native Instruments’ Session Horns Pro combines high-quality samples with some useful arrangement tools.

NI's latest library aims to keep you on the edge of your seat with its range of cinematic tension-builders.

By the look of it, a great deal of time and effort has gone into designing NI's Kinetic Metal interface to ensure that it functions as a very flexible sample-manipulation tool.

Anyone who has used one of Native Instruments' Abbey Road drum instruments will be aware that they are a mixture of old and...

NI’s Session Horns forsakes the cinematic to focus on a real-world brass section that’s well suited to pop and rock music.

Huge, elaborate orchestral sample libraries are all the rage right now, but for more modest requirements and lower budgets, Session Strings Pro could be just the ticket.

Looking for the essence of the 70s sound? Vintage drum kits recorded at the worlds most famous studio might be a good place to start...

Native Instruments bring you the classic drum sounds of Abbey Road, lovingly sampled at the studio itself.

Native Instruments' Kontakt has become one of the most popular software samplers since its release in 2002, and the new version, with its many excellent new features, should keep it near the top of the heap.