Sample Libraries

Having designed their interesting Kontakt-based Dronar front-end, Gothic Instruments are now moving pretty quickly to provide users with a range of sample content (‘modules’) to exploit it...

EastWest’s new instruments aim to put guitarists on the same footing as keyboard players when it comes to MIDI control.

In a departure from their normal orchestral agenda, Spitfire Audio have released North 7 Vintage Keys, a collection of four classic instruments from the 1960s and 1970s.

Ethera Soundscapes includes 14GB of sample content spread across three different elements: a vocal library with both male and female vocal samples, a range of atmospheric ambience elements, and a wavetable-based synth-engine.

Familiarity with a few common articulations is the key to successful MIDI string arranging.

Soniccouture breathe new life into some classic drum sounds.

This is most certainly not just another orchestral string library. Indeed, what’s perhaps most impressive with Dronar is just how far the playback engine can take its original sample source and in how many directions.

Subtitled ‘essential tuned percussion’, this Kontakt-hosted collection of instruments offers Marimba, Xylophone, Glockenspiel, Tubular Bells, Glass Marimba, Song Bells, Vibraphone and Crotales.

The latest release in the series is Twelve String Electric, which conjures the sound of late-’60s pop like almost no other instrument.

Subtitled ‘the other film orchestra’, the focus is once again on the jazzy film and TV scores of the ’60s, epitomised by the likes of Mancini, Schifrin, Barry and Goldsmith.

Adding strings to an arrangement is a great way to inject motion into your music.

New sound companies seem to spring up every day, each one bringing a fresh selection of sample library treats. One such...

Analog Strings is a Kontakt instrument based on a dual-layer playback engine fed from sound sources that include orchestral strings, vintage synths and other sound design elements.

The Vienna Symphonic team go forward into the past.

Grindhouse provides a collection of playable instruments that aim to capture the musical essence of some of the more popular sub-genres of the B movie/exploitation film soundtrack.

Ethno World is advertised as being the ultimate sample library for ethnic instruments and voices from all over the world...

RealiTone Fingerpick provides the user with a fingerpicked acoustic guitar within a compact Kontakt-based virtual instrument.