Reply To: What are Your “Go To” Sample Libraries & Plugin Instruments?

[fretman]

Context: most of my work is acoustic instrumentals, so don’t expect any synths from me.

Drum kits: I end up using Addictive Drums 2 because they’re so simple to use, but I’m not a very good drummer. Maybe I should send my sketches to Peter.

Frame Drums: Redroom Audio – the only VSTi I’ve found that let’s you independently control both the right beater hand and the left mute hand. Nice selection of drums, too. No need to try anything else.

Castanets: EW Gypsy bundle. I’ve tried many others but these seem to sound less mechanical/stiff.

Djembe: Loops de la Creme

Guiro: Loops de la Creme. They implemented this GUI right.

Chimes: Loops de la Creme. This GUI is also done well, but sometimes it generates too much noise. Izotope’s de-click removes these.

Cymbal Rolls: Loops de la Creme. Fun instrument to play. Takes way less time than manually generating your own MIDI roll. Another GUI done well.

Vibraslap: Freesound (collection of *.wav files). Supposedly OT has one but I can’t find it.

Stomps, claps, snaps: BOZ, no need to try anything else.

Fiddle solo/background: Indiginus The Fiddle (with appropriate fiddling with the controls – see this), but will start experimenting with Virharmonics AI-driven bohemian instruments.

Strings: EW Opus stuff.

Flute: I haven’t tried many but OT’s Passion Flute has worked out well as a solo instrument. Sometimes after a long note I have to automate the take-a-breath volume down a bit.

Bass: Electric – AmpleSound P bass or Jaco Fretless, depending on the sound I need. Acoustic – AmpleSound Upright.

Banjo: AmpleSound for bluegrass. OT for Celtic.

Dobro: Indiginus The Resonator (fantastic sound – takes some work to get the articulations I want). I haven’t tried any others – don’t need to.

Lap Steel: Indiginus Lap steel (same comments as above) but will try AmpleSound next time.

Lap Dulcimer: Embertone is the only VSTi that let’s me get the melody/background/string selection/strums I want. But beware of some random thumpy strum transients – run 2 identical MIDI tracks, bounce to 2 audio tracks, replace thumpy strums from one track with non-thumpy strums from the other (they have been notified of the problem). All dulcimer VSTis are tuned DAD. None implement DGD tuning.

Accordian: Ilya Efimov (for Baltic/Gypsy/Russian folk) or Eduardo Tarilonte’s Accordions (love the Musette for Parisian music). No need to go beyond these two.

Ukulele: AmpleSound (fantastic sound). No need to try anything else.

Mandolin: OT (by far the best, but tremolo is tempo-locked making it way too slow for slow songs), Musical Sampling’s The Hoard Mandolin for better tremolo (but its sound is very scratchy and only goes up to the high G – I probably just need to record my own tremolo). Cinematique sounds good enough, as long as you turn off the body resonances that can sound weird on some notes.

Piano: I don’t yet have a goto but I’ve liked/used these:  XLN’s upright and grand, SonicCouture’s Hammersmith, AcousticSamples’ Old Black Grand, NI’s Noire & Maverick.

Rhodes: Waves’ Electric 88, Skybox Hammers+Waves Chimes (sounds great but may need to use Izotope Spectral Edit to remove background mechanize motor noise – they have been notified), OT’s Famous E (but sometimes I want to soften the attack on some notes).

Harp: Big Fish Audio from their Celtic bundle. Nice soft sound. Everything else I’ve tried (I have 14 different harp VSTis) are too harsh or too noisy.

Harmonica: Chris Hein Chromatic Harmonica – great blues harmonica. No need to try anything else.

Jews Harp: Loops da la Creme – far better than the 5 others I’ve found (which don’t seem to treat this instrument, um, seriously).

12-string: AmpleSound for a polite sound. OT for an aggressive sound. Both are very good. No need to try anything else.

Nylon classical guitar (I do a lot of transcriptions for my ensemble class so I often use several at a time for different parts): AmpleSound, Ilya Efimov, OT Evolution Honey, Indiginus Renaxxance II. I still need to audition MuseSample’s Evocacion and Musical Sampling’s Nylon Rustique.

Steel String Acoustic: AmpleSound’s Taylor, Martin, and Gibson Super-Jumbo (they all need to be de-hyped – use a very wide -6dB cut at 1.5k).  I also use OT’s Dry Relic and Rubber Bridge for something softer.

 

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

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