Sample Libraries

Martin Walker examines the 49 Kontakt instruments of Crystal Glasses Vol 2.

Distortion, filth, grime and grit abound in EastWests new library. Rubber gloves at the ready, we go in search of splendour in the dirt.

John Walden examines the new collection of 62 construction kits from BFA.

Simon Langford explores the Middle Eastern vocal library from Sonokinetic.

The Vitous brand has a great reputation in the world of orchestral samples. Does this brand-new library live up to it?

Acoustic Toy Museum is one of the more bizarre offerings from Ultimate Sound Bank, and is volume 10 of the UVI Soundcard range.

Zero‑G's Disco Gold provides over 800 loops presented in a 24‑bit, 44.1kHz stereo format, with some 1.7Gb of sample material in all.

Toontrack's EZ Drummer and Superior Dummer have proved hugely popular, in part because of the availability of expansion...

You wait 70 years for a Novachord, then two come along at once... 

Toontracks new sampling software instrument is simple to use, but also far deeper than it initially appears to be...

The Viennese maestros celebrate 10 years of sample creation with a foray into the world of vocals.

Regular readers of our sample library reviews might be forgiven for thinking that Ueberschall's Score FX II is just the same...

As any craftsman will tell you, if you get the basics right you can build with confidence. In this case we're not talking...

Windchimes consists of 20 Kontakt instruments in all, between them featuring two soprano, two alto, three tenor and one bass set of windchimes, a set of horizontally mounted chime bars, small temple bells and a bonus set of rainsticks.

Given the title, there are no prizes for guessing that the recordings for this sample library were made in Nashville (well,...

Take your front-row seat, sit back and enjoy the show — Hollywood Strings is here.

Mixing urban‑based beats with wider musical influences is, pretty much, a cornerstone of the sampling ideal...

Big Fish Audio's Symphonic Manoeuvres Volume 2 provides 10 orchestral construction kits along with some handy extras. The mood...

Tonehammer's Composer Bundle 1 comprises eight tuned percussion instruments.

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...

Was Laurens Hammond a time traveller? The inventor of the world‑famous Hammond organ certainly created a temporal blip when he launched a polyphonic synthesizer in 1939.