Sample Libraries

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. This large metallophone is presented as a single patch containing a collection of preset 'snapshots' divided into percussive and sound–design categories...

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars. This instrument comprises all of the electric and acoustic guitar libraries that Sonic Zest have made for the Kontakt platform over the last six years.

Rating: **** 5/5 Stars. Spitfire have taken a series of common instruments (such as strings, percussion and classical singers) and combined them in ethereal fashion with less commonly encountered sound sources...

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars. Soundiron managed to get hold of a 61-key example of this 1970s Panda synthesizer and sampled its seven core voices to produce this library.

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. A Psaltered Zither should make it much easier for musicians to include zither playing in their compositions...

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars. Pop Strings UK (6.4GB installed) is a collection of 48kHz WAV audio files — no sampler required, you just drag the WAVs into your DAW, set the song tempo and off you go.

Rating: **** 5/5 Stars. This library delivers big, bad (in a good way) drum and percussion sounds designed for epic TV and film music creation.

VSL push out the boat with hall-recorded rock power drums and two top of the range grand pianos.

If your thunderous cinematic percussion is getting out of control, you need Taiko Creator.

Two new libraries see Orchestral Tools extend their Metropolis series and take a bold leap into the world of big band jazz.

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. Producer Eduardo Tarilonte's library provides a collection of instruments and soundscapes inspired by the sounds of Vikings and the dark ages.

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars. What Toontrack are presenting us with here is more a collection of atmospheric sound-design patches than a virtual Bösendorfer.

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. This solo violin virtual instrument will easily compete with and even surpass products emerging from much larger competitors.

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars. The source instrument for this library is a 21-string West African harp called a Kora.

Rhythmic Odyssey represents a collaboration between Soundiron and the highly regarded UK-based percussionist David Oliver to develop a virtual instrument built around live percussion performances.

Bass Banjo is based on a bespoke instrument originally built by one of Modwheel's founders, David Donaldson, together with collaborator Stuart Porter, for performance duties with an outdoor marching band...

This Kontakt instrument has been built from samples of the 19th‑Century English pipe organ installed in the church of St James The Great in Snitterfield, Warwickshire...

Rating: 4/5 Stars **** Resembling a cross between an elongated viola and a hurdy‑gurdy, the Nyckelharpa is a four-stringed instrument played with a bow.

Rating: 4/5 Stars **** Custom Shop features a range of rather exclusive hand-crafted drums and includes some very welcome brushed sounds for certain instruments.

Rating: 5/5 Stars ***** If you are a budding or busy composer looking for sonic inspiration in this style, then Ueberschall's Synthetic Soundtracks titles may well be of interest.

Mojo 2 Horn Section is an ambitious instrument that aims to succeed where other virtual horn sections fail.