Virtual Instruments reviews
- 05/21/16
ReviewKiller Sounds from Lethal - A video review of the new synth from Lethal Audio
Lethal Audio recently released Lethal, a crisp-sounding "rompler"-style software instrument with a heavy emphasis on EDM, but which will also be useful for pop, rock, hip-hop, and film scoring.
- 03/09/16
ReviewA Rapture on a Budget - A review of Cakewalk Rapture Session
Recently, Cakewalk announced Rapture Session, a new member of its Rapture software-instrument family. It offers less sounds and no programmability, but it has the same synth engine as the flagship Rapture Pro and comes with almost 4GB of content. What makes it most notable, however, is its super-low price tag: $29.95. So is Rapture Session a gre...
- 09/14/15
ReviewHive: Be Careful, It Stings! - A review of the U-He Hive virtual synth
Hive, the latest instrument from u-he, does not claim the precision of Diva the richness of Zebra 2, or the modularity of Bazille or Ace. No. Hive looks and feels simple, is easy to use, and provides a fat sound. Mission accomplished?
- 07/23/15
ReviewDrumming with a Pro - A review of East West ProDrummer
The drum instrument market is a crowded one, and already full of excellent choices. East West, a company renowned for its high-quality instruments and sound libraries, has just thrown its hat in the ring with ProDrummer, a new MIDI drum instrument library that runs standalone or as a plug-in on the East West Play platform, and comes with 14,000 ...
- 06/18/15
ReviewInstruments from the Cloud - A review of the EastWest Composer Cloud subscription service
Subscription-based plans are becoming more common for music software. While presumably a good thing for the developers, they’re not necessarily so great for users, who have to pay over and over for a license, and can lose access to the software if they let the subscription lapse, or if the developer goes belly up. That said, one subscription pla...
- 04/30/15
ReviewTony Goes Virtual - A review of SONiVOX Tony Coleman Drums
SONiVOX's Tony Coleman Drums (Mac/Win), is a virtual drum plug-in featuring sampled kit sounds from Coleman, who’s played with a who’s who of blues and R&B artists including B.B. King, Bobby Blue Bland, Albert King, Albert Collins, Etta James, James Cotton, and Buddy Guy, among others. The sampling session featured Coleman playing his Mapex kit...
- 03/24/15
ReviewSonokinetic Plays a Capriccio - Sonokinetic Capriccio review
The supply of virtual orchestras has become more and more abundant. There's a seemingly never-ending rise in the number of samples, instruments and content available, in general. But what about how they're used? Sonokinetic has come up with a unique answer with Capriccio.
- 03/18/14
ReviewNextGen Virtual Drums - Toontrack EZdrummer 2 Review
Eight years after releasing the first EZdrummer, Toontrack introduces version 2, which gently revolutionizes the virtual drum market. Far from trying to grow in terms of gigabytes, EZdrummer bets on the usability of its interface and, especially, the intelligence of its functions. The result: A good lesson to all competitors
- 03/05/14
ReviewTweaking the Breaks - iZotope BreakTweaker Review
The partnership between artist BT and iZotope has resulted in a new plug-in, the BreakTweaker. Is it just another drum machine or a more advanced tool than it seems?
- 01/07/14
ReviewOrchestral Outbursts - Spitfire Audio BML Series Review
Whenever we deal with a virtual orchestra, we usually end up talking about East West or the Vienna Symphonic Library. However, there are some other publishers that are just as exacting in terms of quality, including one that is gradually underway to creating an imposing orchestra. We are talking about BML by Spitfire Audio.
