List of all known COMMERCIAL sample-lib / virtual-instrument producers

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Hello,

I had been looking (unsuccessfully) for a list of ALL producers of commercial sample libraries and sample-based virtual instruments, in all genres. I found none (there's just lots of freebie lists and vastly incomplete or vastly outdated commercial lists). So I decided to create one myself.

This task is actually more difficult than it might seem at first sight. There is no centralized "app store" for commercial sample libraries and virtual instruments (there are many major e-shops, but none distributes works of all the producers there are). The only way to achieve that goal seems to be compiling a centralized list of all the good producers manually.

I'd like to ask everyone to help me build such a list and I hope it will be useful to many readers of this wonderful forum as well. If technically possible, I will be updating the list in this post as people are posting additions in this thread (at least I hope they will) or suggestions for removal.

Thank you!

What this list should NOT include:
  • Free sample/plugin collections (there already are more than enough of free-samples/plugins lists on those forums and elsewhere)
  • Products that aren't royalty-free (if I purchase a copy of a library, I want to use it freely in my music without paying any additional royalties or fees to the producers/publishers of the library).
  • Any product whose license scope is time-limited or region-limited.
  • Mere resellers, who don't produce any original products. The only exception is resellers that are primary or exclusive publishers for producers who don't publish/distribute their products themselves.
  • Low/poor-quality sample library producers
  • Producers that create only drum loops or other kinds of "boilerplate" music (if they don't offer any solo sounds, it's a no-go -- keep in mind I'm looking for mere sounds here, not pre-composed music).
  • Anything that is not 100% legal
  • Producers that produce only software instruments that emulate analog/FM synthesizers (based on very short and primitive waveforms, such as Sawtooth, rather than on actual samples). Note that this forum section is called Samples, Sampling and Sample Libraries (so such stuff would be off-topic).
  • Producers that produce only patches, presets or configurations for instruments, but no actual samples (note: very short and primitive waveforms, such as Sawtooth, are not real samples to me).
  • Amateur/hobbyist producers

What this list should include:
  • At least average-quality commercial (but royalty-free) sample library producers / virtual-instrument developers (or if a producer does not have a website or does not sell their libraries directly, then their primary publisher).
  • As many genres as possible (including, for example, classical music and dance music).
  • As many types of sounds as possible (including real instruments, such as a pipe organ, synthetic instruments, atonal sound FXs, such as thunder, etc.)
  • Professional producers ranging from ancient/old-school to absolute newcomers

(Note: If you disagree with any of the rules, don't harass me. Just compile your own list in your own thread. Thanks! :))

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: This post is provided "as is" without any warranties. Use at your own risk. The author of this post disclaims any liability.


Here is what I have compiled so far (in alphabetical order). I have personally visited each of the websites and verified that the producer meets the above conditions (except licensing terms, legality and quality). I believe this is by far the biggest and most up-to-date list of its kind there is. Enjoy.


Producers/Labels Major resellers that are also exclusive/primary publishers for some independent producers Misc

http://www.ebay.com
http://www.samplebase.com


:help:
Last edited by Xleth on Sun Aug 15, 2021 7:36 am, edited 57 times in total.
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That list is really only of any use to you, as your definition of 'good' will no doubt be diff to someone elses.
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Orange Tree Samples
Kirk Hunter Studios
Steven Slate Drums
Pink Noise Studios
DarkStar, ... Interesting, if true
Inspired by ...
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Kriminal wrote:That list is really only of any use to you, as your definition of 'good' will no doubt be diff to someone elses.
As I already wrote, I haven't checked the quality of any of the products. Neither have I pre-filtered out any producers based on quality of their products.

I also haven't posted any definition of good. I simply believe that most of us can recognize obvious trash quite easily. And that's what good should basically mean here for our purposes (good = at least "no obvious trash", please).
Last edited by Xleth on Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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How could you miss

Vengeance sound
Freshly squeezed samples
?
Finally!
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Sonic Couture
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DarkStar wrote:Orange Tree Samples
Kirk Hunter Studios
Steven Slate Drums
Pink Noise Studios
cyphersuit wrote:How could you miss
Vengeance sound
Freshly squeezed samples
?
I've added all of them to the list. Thanks for helping.
:)
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hollowsun wrote:Sonic Couture
Added. Thank you!
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edit: I misread your first post. I thought you were looking for synths banks as well. My bad.
Free banks for soft synths | ghostwave.fr | soundcloud.com/ghostwaveaudio
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Karten wrote:edit: I misread your first post. I thought you were looking for synths banks as well. My bad.
No worries. :D

By "synths banks", do you mean samples for a virtual instrument? For example, samples for a VSTi plugin? If you do, then the answer is yes.

However, if you meant mere configurations or patches (programs) without actual samples, then the answer is no. (Also, a very short waveform, such as square or sine, isn't a real sample to me; so this excludes an entire range of analogue-like instruments.)
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www.impactsoundworks.com
Shreddage 3 Stratus: Next generation Kontakt Player guitar, now available!

Impact Soundworks - Cinematic sounds, world instruments, electric guitars, synths, percussion, plugins + more!
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Xleth wrote:Also, a very short waveform, such as square or sine, isn't a real sample to me; so this excludes an entire range of analogue-like instruments.
You are, but that definition, precluding yourself from a wealth of library which exploits Kontakt's comprehensive synth engine especially when the GUI is suitably scripted to take advantage of it.

A library shouldn't be judged by its size or content but by its sonic capabilities.

Cheers,


Stephen
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1 place i discovered right here on KVR.

http://www.cinematique-instruments.com/
What ever!
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www.dreamaudiotools.com

:)
Dream Audio Tools - Sample libraries http://www.dreamaudiotools.com
Archisounds - Music Website http://www.archisounds.net
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http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37272
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