Sample Libraries

If you crave the sound of super-slick backing singers, is EastWest's Hollywood Backup Singers a viable alternative to paying regular session fees?

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. Powered by their multi-layered engine featuring sequencers, modulators and effects, Sonuscore give you Elysion, the 'hybrid twin' that does for synthetic sounds what The Orchestra does for the orchestra.

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars. For this virtual oud, musician Bassam Ayoub recorded and produced his own performances at his studio in Weisbaden, Germany.

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. Moonkits' unique selling point is that it is dominated by (mainly) brushed drum sounds...

Rating: ***** 4/5 Stars. This company has been filling various sonic gaps with their innovative and affordable electronic, acoustic and hybrid instruments. Now they've added the evocative and useful Duduk.

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars. If you're used to old-school percussion libraries consisting largely of single hits on individual instruments, this collection may come as a pleasant surprise.

Can Sample Modeling's combination of, er, sampling and modelling deliver convincing string sounds?

Audio Imperia's new orchestral library brings together a complete set of cinematic symphonic essentials in one creative toolset.

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. Time Micro continues the intriguing temporal-symphonic experiments on a smaller stage, using chamber-sized sections, small vocal groups and softer instruments.

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. Vocal-esque sounds dominate but this is not just another collection of 'ooh' and 'ahh' vocal pads...

Rating: ***** 4/5 Stars. Cabal 8 comprises three sampled eight-string guitars paired with Audio Assault's Bulldozer plug-in.

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. With sound sources derived from modular synthesizers plus industrial and natural sounds, it is the way in which these are layered and controlled that makes Northern Lights so appealing.

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. The emphasis here is on sounds with a shorter duration and there are many with a percussive nature, allowing you to easily create a rhythmic element within your sequenced patterns.

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars. These lower-priced libraries offer an alternative to top-end virtual drum instruments.

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars. Recorded in Berlin's all-analogue Vox-Ton Studios, this library is based on a collection of prepared piano multisamples created by film composer and sound designer Volker Bertelmann

UJAM's Virtual Drummers may not come with their own van and annoying personal habits, but they're quick, reliable and always on time.

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars. This follow-up library provides soul and psychedelic-influenced funk loops that sound like they could have been sampled from records cut in the late '60s or early '70s.