Software Instruments

Kreativ Sounds is lending its creative flair to Arturia's Prophet V software synthesizer. The SYN Prophet V Sounds V1 preset collection expands upon the synth's warmth and character, through 34 presets with their own individual controls.  

For those who love a good harp but never seem to be near enough to play one, Cinematique Instruments has released Celtic Nylon Harp, a Kontakt-powered instrument featuring the sounds of a small-sized, nylon-stringed harp.  

The 9 Soundware Operator preset collection offers a throwback to the early days of FM synthesis-infused electro and pop, presenting 50 original presets for Apple Logic Pro's EFM1 synthesizer.  

Ride the new Waves line of post-production mixing tools: Vocal Rider, WNS Noise Suppressor, and LoAir. Vocal Rider automates the vocal riding part of the mixing process (hence the name), while the Noise Suppressor offers broadband noise suppression on dialog tracks and LoAir creates and enhances LFE content.  

Those looking for a digital version of the Vitalizer MK2-T will have to wait less than a month to get it. SPL will release its Vitalizer Analog Code plugin in early December, for both Mac and PC users.  

Defective Records took Electro-music.com's Klee hardware step sequencer and spun it into a MIDI-enabled software version. The soft Klee offers most of the features found in the hardware version and boasts the unique ability to keep more than one “step” active at a time.  

Asymptotic Valley wants you to know that non-organic items are still desirable. The company's new virtual synth, Inorganic1, is based on subtractive synthesis and offers a plethora of features at the welcome price of zero.  

Explore modular synthesis and plug in digital cables to digital ins and outs with the new U-he ACE (Any Cable Everywhere) software synthesizer.  

Sound design artist Jeremiah Savage used field recording and advanced synthesis to create the sci-fi sounds for the new Native Instruments Sonic Fiction Kore-powered instrument. The instrument comes with 100 KoreSounds with eight morphable sound variations each, for a total of 800 individual sounds.  

MusicLab wants to bring the Les Paul Custom Guitar sound to your studio setup. The company's RealLPC, a new virtual guitar instrument plugin, emulates the sought-after guitar sound and makes the techniques and articulations playable on a standard MIDI keyboard.  

Applied Acoustics Systems wants you to trap the David Kristian species of presets, all 128 variations of them, within the String Studio VS-1 string-modeling synth plugin.  

The new piano instruments from Native Instruments are quite grand, literally: the Berlin Concert Grand, New York Concert Grand, Vienna Concert Grand, and Upright Piano emulate the original pianos' signature sound for just for Kontakt and the Kontakt Player.  

Spectrasonics Omnisphere and Trilian pair well together, now that Omnisphere has been updated to version 1.1. The update offers complete core library integration with Trilian, allowing you to open and edit Trilian sounds within Omnisphere.  

Of the many features of the Progress Audio Kinisis synth plugin, the one that stands apart from the others is the Timeline function, which lets you "animate" controls over the course of a note, to create sounds that move and change unexpectedly. Tap into the Timeline to do more than just create kinetic movement; use it also to control just about every other parameter within the plugin.  

Mac users may download a AudioSpillage MiniSpillage, a beta-version drum synth plugin, for nada. The AU plugin features a multimodel architecture, a high-resolution 64-bit DSP engine, real-time control, and more!  

If in the last month you've purchased (or intend to purchase) both the Vienna Ensemble Pro and Vienna Suite, head over to Vienna Symphonic Library's Web site and snag a free Single Instrument Download for free. You can choose from the company's offering of more than 50 downloadable solo instruments and ensembles.  

If you like the chippy results of circuit bending but you don't want to mess with wires or the likes, take the hands-off approach and use ToneBytes Bend Box instead. This software synthesizer plugin emulates a circuit-bending device and does all the fun work for you.  

New from Artifake Labs is RedTron_400, a sample-based VST plugin that emulates the EMI Mellotron M400. This freeware plugin offers six sound types, loop and non-loop modes, and plenty of effects and controls to keep you mellow yet happy.  

AdrenaLinn Sync, the software plugin version of the AdrenaLinn III guitar pedal, has the same beat-synced filter modulation and sequencing effects of the hardware pedal, with more tweaking possibilities.  

The new Audio Damage Tattoo drum synth may be one of the few types of tattoos your mother would approve of. It features a sleek, classy-looking interface, an internal step sequencer, and 12 independent voices.  

Yay for free plugins. Within a week of its last "muscle" release, de la Mancha has introduced yet another free VST plugin, this one dubbed FMMF. The new 4-operator frequency modulation synthesizer is said to make FM synthesis easy and accessible to everyone.  

The All Hallow's Eve-ready, orange and black Oresus synth runs heavy on modulation and filtering choices, giving you unlimited ways to tweak and develop wave shapes to your liking.  

Tasmodia invites you to check out its new Zebra Playground and "play with your favorite striped animal." Developed just for the u-he Zebra2 software synthesizer, the soundset features hundreds of basses, leads, pads, keys, and sequenced lines ready to be played, in black and white with no gray area, zebra-style.  

Get your fill of small acoustic guitar sounds with the Pettinhouse LittleGuitar for Native Instruments Kontakt. LittleGuitars presents stereo acoustic samples that sound like your favorite baby "guitars," like the Cavaquinho Brazilian guitar, banjo, and ukelele.  

With Modartt Pianoteq Pro, you can create your own unique piano and customize it any way you like. For the first time, you'll have complete control over all 22 physical parameters of the instrument, for unlimited sound possibilities.  

Ask for a trillion dollars and you probably won't get it; but ask for a Trillian instrument and you will, thanks to Spectrasonics' latest release. The Trillian virtual instrument is the updated version of the Trilogy bass module, and it integrates fully with Omnisphere.  

The revamped, amped-up version of NI Pre-Bass, Scarbee Pre-Bass Amped, adds more Fender Precision bass tones to the original Pre-Bass software instrument. You'll get bass sounds in Fat, Heavy, Crunchy, and Pop versions, each suitable for certain genres of music.  

With the MiJoy Pro 4 VSTi plugin by Virtuasonic, you can use a joystick or gamepad as a MIDI controller and control virtually everything that accepts MIDI commands with your thumb or trigger finger.  

Up the ante of your virtual orchestra's section of worldly instruments by adding Syntheway Virtual Sitar to your collection. The VSTi emulates the Hindustani classical stringed instrument and lets you customize and play the sitar to your own liking.  

Get your fill of free Refills from Sonic Reality, who is offering an Ocean Way Drums Refill to all registered users of Propellerhead Software Reason 4. This free set will give you a taste of the drum kit sounds found within Ocean Way Drums, and let you use them all alongside NNXT, ReDrum, and Combinator. All you have to do is visit Sonic Reality's download site and enter a special promo code.