As hard drive space has increasingly expanded, so too have the size and scope of sample libraries and instruments
Before buying any new sample library we ask ourselves two questions; does this new library bring anything new to the table? And, two – how much space will it swallow up? From expansive suites of delicately performed (and recorded) instruments, to those deep samplemangling creative tools that inspire you to craft new sounds from pre-recorded materials, this year many have passed that test.
We’ll kick off with one of our favourite releases of the year, Steinberg’s HALion 7, the mammoth sample-and-sound-design-friendly instrument that’s really a joy to use when processing or creating your own samples, or when you’re harnessing its internal VIs to generate new textures. While at its core, HALion remains the humble sampler first seen in 2001, version 7 introduced deeper FM synthesis options via FM Zone as well as the new Spectral Zone, granting us the ability to pitch and timeshift with ease. Summarising our review, we stated that, “HALion seems to have been around forever, which could also mean you overlook it as a relevant sound design tool in 2023. The truth is, it’s still one of the most feature-packed ecospheres out there. Ignore it at your peril”. What of those aforementioned curated libraries of playable sounds that blew us away this year? While many releases in the orchestral domain played it relatively safe, the likes of Spitfire Audio’s increasingly expanding Abbey Road series as well as Orchestral Tools Salu, Drones and Peteris Vasks Strings became new firm favourites. For us though, the latter’s most interesting, and fun, release this year came in the form of vintage toy and instrument collection, Abacus. Curated by Richard Harvey, it put a smile on our face with its charming assemblage of unusual sounds, from old school children’s toys to metallic instruments.
It’s really been a top-notch year for exquisite piano-angled software, with Modartt’s Pianoteq 8 once again making the claim of being the pinnacle of what’s on offer in the beautiful piano sample instrument domain. Its expansion into further instrumentation via the pristine and nuanced addition of guitar was certainly welcome, but it’s really that gorgeous balance of careful piano character modelling, with the added scalability of room acoustics and ambience that make this our ultimate piano go-to. For the eighth time!
Having said that, there’s stiff competition in the form of Sonora Cinematic’s Verticale. Focusing on the upright Italian end of felt piano sound, Verticale proved to be a masterful maker of those modern soft trailer-scoring sounds.
More than a few sample libraries have passed our “space and novelty” test
In our review earlier this year, we noted the difficulty that others have had in capturing these kinds of sounds. ��
