Gear Of The Year: Best virtual instruments of 2019

One of the largest categories to evaluate, but we have a winner.

Spitfire Audio LCO Textures
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WINNER: Spitfire Audio LCO Textures

Spitfire Audio’s second collaboration with the London Contemporary Orchestra was recorded in a decommissioned aircraft hangar in Suffolk, a location with an extraordinary reverberation tail that extends to 10 seconds! This obviously gives LCO Textures a very unique character and it comprises four textures that are formed into four sections: Ethereal, Mercurial, Quantum and Astral. Only a handful of players were used in the recording of the patches but there is a lot of variation included, and the vastness of the space in which they were recorded means the results are a lot bigger than you might expect.

Reviewer Dave Gale was mightily impressed with the huge and atmospheric sound. “If you’re looking for interesting textures, which are captured from organic and musical sources, this is a must-hear. It is firmly about texture and reverberation, both of which become heavily entwined to form a backdrop which can either remain static or vary with time. Overall, it sounds simply beautiful and will give back plenty to anyone who yearns for lush evolving pads, shorter elements which cast a huge reverberant shadow, or anyone looking for new sounds to explore for the purposes of sound design.”

In conclusion, Dave said: “LCO textures is another beautifully crafted package which benefits from a collaboration of creative minds, while drawn from acoustic and organic colours.”

Read our full review here.

Highly commended: Native Instruments Komplete 12

Native Instruments Komplete 12

The clue is in the name: Native Instruments’ Komplete collections have been getting progressively more well rounded and jam-packed with appealing goodies as the decade has progressed. Komplete 12 is the ultimate manifestation of that. Available in four differently sized versions, with the largest being the ‘Ultimate Collector’s Edition’ that includes a whopping 900GB worth of over 90,000 sounds, patches and samples. Effectively, it’s the entire Native’s industry standard back catalogue in one easily navigable package.

In his extensive 10/10 review, Adam Crute said, “Komplete’s core plug-ins are all industry-leading examples in their particular fields, and the instruments and effects built on them rank among the finest and most innovative music-making tools you’ll find. On top of this, the included sound libraries are unceasingly impressive in their range, versatility, authenticity and quality. Its pricing is exceptionally reasonable and would represent good value even if it only included the instruments and effects or the sound libraries. This is a huge collection of just about every instrument and sound you could ask for.”

Read our full review here.

Also nominated

UVI Drum Designer

UVI Drum Designer

With a smart collection of drum sounds and huge potential for programming, UVI’s package puts the design back in your drum machine. Drum Designer packs 5,736 samples, 2,040 presets and 316 kits, and has serious versatility in its programming and editing functions. The main thing that hits you with this package is how beautiful it is sonically. The presence that you hear in each chosen timbre, even before you start editing, is outstanding.

UVI Drum Designer takes on a much more drum-machine style approach than acoustic drum designing, largely nodding in the direction of the great and classic drum machines of the past. But that’s not to underestimate its flexibility across genres. If you think UVI released a Virtual Instrument champion, vote for it!

Read our full review here.

Slate + Ash Auras

Slate + Ash Auras

This is an undeniably classy product focused on pads. Sonically, it rewards hugely, which is a testimony to both the quality of the source audio and the plentiful but reasonably simple control available at edited and real-time levels. Contained within the overall Auras package are two instruments, Auras and Colours, which offer a degree of crossover and similarity.

It’s fair to say that we all need pads and textures from time to time, particularly as they can be so useful. However, it’s a much more musical prospect to have access to both an original palette of sounds, and one that can be controlled in realtime – and it’s these areas where Auras scores highly. We gave Auras a 10/10 for its bespoke and organic feel and simplistic control. Where will you rank it?

Read our full review here.

Orchestral Tools Metropolis Ark 4

Orchestral Tools Metropolis Ark 4

The Metropolis Ark series from Orchestral Tools has never been one to disappoint. Recorded at the Teldex Studio scoring stage in Berlin, Ark 4 is organised into Districts, conforming to the company’s usual conceptual vision of a dystopian future. The library has a blend of 10 unique woodwind and brass instruments, with a male and female chorus. Some of the instrumental combinations are really different and inspire immediately as you start to use them – and that’s always a useful element in a package.

The Metropolis Ark series is a favourite with many soundtrack composers, offering some really effective instrumental colours which often form part of a bigger package-wide picture. Ark 4 is yet another great offering from Orchestral Tools, with plenty to offer composers and producers alike, plus some new and exciting sampled colours.

Read our full review here.

Arturia V Collection 7

Arturia V Collection 7

Arturia’s soft-synth extravaganza boasts emulations of some of the world’s most iconic synthesisers – the Jupiter-8V, Oberheim SEM, Minimoog, and even the Solina String machine. The list isn’t purely about synthesizers, thanks to the presence of both Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos, as well as the Piano V2, which includes 12 different piano models. The accuracy of sound is largely down to Arturia’s True Analog Emulation (TAE) modelling technology.

This version introduced the Mellotron V, often regarded as the first true sampler. Also new was the CMI V, bringing us the green stylings of the Fairlight CMI, transporting us back to the 80s. Further new additions to this included the Synthi V, based on the EMS Synthi AKS, and the Arturia CZ V, based on the Casio CZ-101. As soft synths go, Arturia’s instruments offer some of the best solutions out there, with this collection bringing them all into one big package. Will Arturia win your vote?

Read our full review here.

Sonokinetic Indie

Sonokinetic Indie

Sonokinetic’s latest addition to its collection of sample libraries makes full use of advanced sampler features. The instruments are comprised of vast banks of samples, capturing every conceivable note and nuance of an acoustic source and providing scripting engines that can select, switch and control these samples. In keeping with a number of Sonokinetic’s other products, such as Largo and Noir, Indie is a phrase-based library rather than a set of directly-playable note-by-note samples.

The impressively large collection of phrases was composed for and performed by a string quartet, a thirteen-part string ensemble, a seven-part woodwind section, a brass quintet, and a variety of melodic percussion instruments (marimba, xylophone, glockenspiel, vibraphone, crotales, upright piano, celesta, concert harp and concert cimbalom). If you make music for TV, film or games then Indie has probably come up on your radar this year, as it fills a niche in orchestral sample libraries that isn’t well catered for.

Read our full review here.

EastWest Voices of Opera

EastWest Voices of Opera

Although the biggest clue to its use is given by the name of the product, Voices Of Opera could move well beyond classical music. It’s possible to build up some really interesting and beguiling operatic pads and sections, which could be ripe for use in a number of settings.

Sample capture was undertaken with the usual meticulous attention to detail which EastWest has become known for, through the booking of two world-class performers. Larisa Martinez is an established operatic soprano, with an impressive roster of roles from productions such as La Bohéme and Rigoletto. Voices of Opera won us over with its sophistication, the comprehensive library, selections of sustains and legato and options to add effects and change mic placements to add colour to the sound.

Read our full review here.

Best Service Dark Era

Best Service Dark Era

Scoring top marks in our review, Best Service Dark Era takes us back to, not surprisingly, the dark ages, where the worlds of history and fantasy overlap – we’re talking Norse mythology, Vikings, pagan music and “forgotten cultures and tribes celebrating and singing their myths”. Boasting a library of over 15GB of sample instruments, including percussion, string, wind plus sound design tools and soundscapes, Dark Era provides ultimate authenticity.

Developed by Eduardo Tarilonte, Dark Era’s instruments, recordings, research and the attention to detail will have you scratching your head in wonder, but the loops, the atmospheres and that Soundscapes folder will have you reaching for your keyboard with many an inspired thought. This is the final entry for our Best Virtual Instrument of the Year 2019, so vote below to crown your victor.

Read our full review here.

Check out all the Gear Of The Year 2019 categories here.

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