Sample Libraries

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars. It makes sense that Heavyocity, devotees of dangerous, destructive, distorted brain‑crushing timbres, turn their attention to heavy guitar.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The latest sample library from Kirk Hunter Studios is designed to cater to all your strings section needs.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars. Quiet Music may not be the biggest name in software instruments, but for those producing ambient, chillout or lo‑fi music, the company’s products are a real find.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 4/5 Stars. This new Kontakt instrument started life as a viola da gamba; a string instrument from the Baroque era, which is generally regarded as the precursor to the cello.

Toontrack and Frank Filipetti span a vast array of musical genres with the latest Superior Drummer expansion.

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars. Bunker Samples return with their new library Bunker Perc, recorded in the bomb shelter that gives the company their name.

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. Jade Evolutions can be regarded as a partner product to Strezov’s existing Jade Orchestra, but with all‑new content and a substantially different instrument construct.

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. Sam Thomas is a composer, producer and session musician who describes his debut solo plug‑in as being somewhere between a synth, guitar and organ.

Rating 4.5/5 Stars. UK producer Trevor Horn was a dominant force in 1980s pop, and this collaboration with Spitfire Audio gives users instant access to the maestro’s sound world.

Sonuscore combine organic percussion sounds with a creative sequencing engine.

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars. Spitfire’s flagship ARO series now features a third percussion collection around the theme of metals, with essentials such as piatti cymbals and tam‑tams making a welcome appearance.

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. Sonuscore are back with Trinity Drums 2 which includes all 100 themes from the original, but with considerably more content and a refreshed UI.

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars. The Lost Reveries library offers ambient drone sounds and were created by Hilyard, an artist well known in the genre and with some 25 album releases to his name.

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. Shift is intended to provide modern sound design elements that film composers can blend into their projects to emphasise specific events and/or musical transitions.

Modartt’s modelled piano goes from strength to strength and is now, remarkably, available for iOS.

Rating ***** 5/5 Stars. The latest in UJAM’s Beatmaker collection is Cozy, released with the aim of tapping into the lo‑fi market that has become so popular in recent years.

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. Rytmik II follows the same broad concept as the original version but promises to make something that was already very good even better.

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. Sample Logic’s Drum Fury Motion combines a sample‑based drum and percussion library with a powerful step‑based pattern sequencing engine.

Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars. Currently retailing at a cool £156k, the nine‑foot Steinway Model D‑274 grand is the star in this Spitfire Audio piano sample library.

Hot on the heels of EZkeys 2 comes its first sound expansion, Soul Roads EKX.

Cinematique Instruments’ inspirational virtual instrument receives a major reworking.