Virtual instruments has become an integral part of every music composer and arranger who uses computer to produce music. With the passage of time, these virtual instruments improved tremendously when it comes to replicating the sound of the original, tangible musical instruments. Infact these days, it’s almost impossible to say just by hearing, whether somebody is playing an actual instrument or its virtual counterpart. In this post, we will share the name of some of the industry giants who are largely responsible for this amazing advancement in virtual musical instrument technologies.
1. Steinberg: Steinberg is a huge company based in Germany. They are the one who literally introduced the very technology of VST (Virtual Studio Technology). Although Steinberg is known primarily for their robust DAWs like Cubase and Nuendo, they do make huge number of virtual instruments which mainly comes with their DAW packages or can be purchased separately. https://new.steinberg.net/vst-instruments
2. Native Instruments: One of the biggest and most popular names in the world of virtual instruments. This german company produces some of the industry standard samplers like Kontakt, Reaktor, etc. along with world class hardware MIDI instruments like Maschine and Komplete Kontrol keyboards. A large number of virtual instrument makers use Kontakt’s platform and technology. Thus one will find Native Instruments has become a household name in every music studio around the world. They do offer great amount of FREE stuff as well. Do checkout their website for more details: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/
3. East West: Soundsonline is being around for several years now and they are making some really serious stuffs when it comes to reproducing orchestral music snd score virtually. They have a huge catalog of orchestral instrument packages designed to give you a complete, high quality, symphonic orchestra at your disposal. They also have great collection of exotic sounds and instruments which might inspire you to write your next musical masterpiece. Check out there collection here: http://www.soundsonline.com
4. Spectrasonics: A small company with huge fan base all around the world. This US based has introduced a number of industry standard virtual instruments and synthesisers like Atmosphere, Omnisphere, Keyscape, Trillian, etc. The Omnisphere is widely used by several celebrated music personalities all over the world. Check out their site here: https://www.spectrasonics.net
5. Waves: Waves is another behemoth in this list, which not only produces amazing virtual instruments but also makes stunning audio plugins for recording, mixing and mastering purposes. Their catalog is massive and you will find tons of stuff to fill up your musical palette with while creating your next score. https://www.waves.com
6. Vienna Instrument Library: An industry giant, VSL has redefined the authenticity that virtual instruments can achieve. One can find VSL in every professional music producers’ library. VSL can be considered as the leading virtual orchestral sample library that almost every profmusic composer uses to create their demos and mockups. VSL also are the most expensive in this list but they do have separate collections which are quite affordable. https://www.vsl.co.at/en
7. u-he: This company is quite popular for its amazing virtual synthesizers. Zebra is their most popular product, extensively used by the likes of Hans Zimmer, Zebra has a modular approach towards sound synthesis and is very popular even among sound designers as well, as it can be used to create any sound one can think of. https://u-he.com
8. Project Sam: This is a very interesting company. They have introduced many industry first sample libraries. All of their sample libraries are primarily based on Kontakt Sampler and sounds simply awesome. Their products are designed mainly for film scoring purposes. One can find right sounds and samples for scoring a wide range of films, animations and other projects. They also have a FREE Orchestral sample pack which has quite a few interesting sounds. https://projectsam.com
9. Orange Tree Samples: A fantastic company with some really guitar libraries. Orange Tree Samples has actually excelled in recreating some popular as well as original guitar sample libraries which help create authentic sounding tracks. Although, they do have some other instruments, it is the guitar sounds and styles that sets them apart from rest of the players in the market. https://www.orangetreesamples.com
10. Embertone: Embertone is a small and sweet company which has produced some of the best virtual instruments in the industry today. Their products are based on Kontakt sampling platform, so you need Kontakt or in some cases the FREE Kontakt Player to play their sample libraries. One virtual instrument needs special mention here, the Joshua Bell Violin from Embertone is undoubtedly one of the top most, if not the best, virtual violin out there in the market. It is sampled from celebrated violin virtuoso Joshua Bell with his special, more than 300 years old Stradivarius. Check out their website to find out more details. https://www.embertone.com
11. Audio Modelling: Although its hard to find this company and its products in the limelight, but once you hear their SWAM Engine based virtual instruments, you will wonder why aren’t they in the limelight? The have quite a few number of instruments like Flute, Brass, etc based on their SWAM Engine, but you will be awestruck with the playability and sound of their products. It will be so hard for you to differentiate a SWAM instrument from its real counterpart. https://audiomodeling.com