Sample Libraries

Sonic Reality's new Sampletank-format library comes with a free player.

***** Score = 5/5 stars. A choral library with a difference. VOTA aims to provide the composer with the samples needed to recreate the sound of a Hollywood choir.

**** Score = 4/5 stars. To save wading through the stacks of unwanted vinyl at the local charity shop, Big Fish Audio have produced Breakbeat 3, a two-CD set of live drum loops.

**** 4/5 stars. Post Musical Instruments' Grandioso is a sampled piano library, which modestly claims to be "the best sampled piano ever"...

* Score = 1/5. Format: Audio. Over three hours of warm and punchy drumming well suited for modern pop, electronica or hip-hop...

**** Score = 4/5 stars. LOP is a superior, consistently played, musically thorough and sensibly programmed library.

*** 3/5 Stars. Recorded in the Townhouse's stone room, Scottish session drummer Geoff Dugmore bashes his way through some classic rock beats with many variations, intros and fills...

**** 4/5 Stars. A copyright-free collection of conventional, innovative and sometimes downright unusual Hammond licks, fills, riffs, grooves, progressions, slides, growls and funky bass lines all designed to spice up any track.

What does a sample developer do after creating an acclaimed orchestral strings library? Take a holiday? Not if you're Gary Garritan...

**** 4/5 Stars. While Ghetto Grooves has an obvious hip-hop and R&B bias, it should appeal to producers of every flavour of downtempo dance music.

**** 4/5 Stars. This collection of sample loops is dominated by keyboard phrases, and loops aimed at producers of dance, hip-hop, R&B, pop, funk and electronica.

**** 4/5 Stars. This is an experienced, technically accomplished drummer playing some good, controlled multi-purpose rock and pop grooves with a strong, but not unduly aggressive delivery.

**** 4/5 stars. Pretty much every form of mainstream percussion is represented here in this velocity-switched sample-plus-ambience collection.

5/5 stars ***** Based on samples taken from Ludwig and Sonor kits, Drumkit From Hell offers both the individual elements of a drum kit plus ready-made jazz and rock kits recorded to the highest audio quality.

**** 4/5 stars. e-Lab set out to produce a house sample CD. All the loops are either 125 or 130bpm, thumping bass drums dominate and every other element is designed to either reinforce or unobtrusively complement that all-important rhythm.

4/5 stars **** Hollywood Edge market one of the largest sound effects libraries in the world on audio CDs; we check out two of their massive collection...

*** 3/5 Stars. Pure Tabla is based on a library of rhythmic tabla loops performed by Aref Durvesh, who has recorded with artists as diverse as Sting and Jeff Beck.

*** 3/5 stars. This CD-ROM contains just over 1800 live drum loops, fills and hits for use with any sampler or MIDI + Audio sequencer that accepts WAV files.

***** 5/5 stars. Copious use of live performances and real percussion in these loops give them much more groove than you'd associate with a dance market library...

Take a famous studio, a top session drummer and engineer, make the results 5.1 surround-ready, and what do you get? We find out if using this innovative sample library beats working...

**** 4 stars. Although he's served time with vintage US rockers Aerosmith, there's more to Joey Kramer's playing than a 10-ton backbeat...