What’s the Best Instrument Plug-In for Me?
Whether just getting to grips with the finer points of music production, or boasting years of experience, software-based digital musical instruments, (or instrument plug-ins) are the modern studio essential, and can simulate literally anything, including pianos, guitars, full drum kits, or even full orchestras and orchestral instruments, synthesizers, workstations, keyboards, or samplers. While plug-ins remove the need for real instruments, having a MIDI keyboard on hand can offer a mass of advantages when using them - as we’ll explain a little later. If you have a virtual-instrument-based question that’s not answered by this guide, feel free to contact us!
Types | Why? | Plug-Ins or Hardware? | Round-Robins | Legato | Layers | Keyswitch | Advantages | Kontakt | More
1. What Kind of Instrument Plug-Ins Are Out There?
There are roughly two different groups: algorithms and samples. The sound of algorithmic virtual instruments is ‘calculated’ by complex formulas and is often used for techniques like virtual analogue synthesis, FM synthesis, additive synthesis, and physical modelling. Samples are literally recorded samples of actual instruments, and while sample-synthesis, as it’s termed, offers a lot of advantages in terms of sound, it can be fairly static since there’s very little about the sample that can be changed. However, while algorithmic synthesis can be warped, edited and changed quite freely, it tends to sound much less realistic than samples. If you want to know about sample-synthesis, see Questions 5 to 8.
Note: Always check the format of a plug-in to make sure that it’s compatible with your DAW (digital audio workstation) software. A well known format is VST and this is supported by most DAWs.
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2. Do I Really Need Instrument Plug-Ins?
If you’re a professional (or just ambitious) producer/composer/arranger, then you’re likely to want to use virtual instruments. Of course, there are plenty of real synthesizers and samplers available, but these days, the biggest developments are happening in software, so the best sound is actually offered by instrument plug-ins.
Almost anyone producing music in a studio will be using instrument plug-ins. Think score and soundtrack composition for film, TV, advertising, radio, games, online content, company videos, and of course, song-writing, and almost any other kind of music production you can think of. Plug-ins are also not exclusive to younger generations of producers, since even the soundtrack composer Hans Zimmer famously loves using instrument plug-ins.
3. What’s the Difference Between Plug-Ins and Hardware?
In a word: size! The programming code that calls up the sound might be the same, so there’s little difference there, especially if you take sample-based synthesis as an example, which is the simple playback of samples, and is something that most synthesizers and all workstations do. The thing is, the memories of particularly extensive, big-name models can only handle a few hundred megabytes of samples, or maybe just a few gigabytes. But when you look at instrument plug-ins, the biggest can easily run into the hundreds of gigabytes - that’s a hundred-thousand times larger in terms of sample capacity. A fast computer with a lot of hard drive space to spare will have no problem handling these plug-ins, so the simple fact is that you can have more sounds at your fingertips with software than you can with hardware, and generally, the sound is going to be more realistic as well.
4. Why Do Musicians Still Use Hardware?
Not everyone is a fan of computers or sitting for days on end in front of a screen. Also, hardware synthesizers are much more dynamic and easier to use on stage since you just connect it up with a few cables and you’re done. They’re also much less likely to crash mid-gig. But the biggest reason sits in the general design of plug-ins. With a synthesizer, you can hit physical keys and tweak physical knobs as part of the performance - something you can’t really pull off with software. Instead, software is more designed for studio-based music production or composition and meets an entirely different set of demands, since you can spend a lot of time shaping every single note. Having said that, hardware like MIDI keyboards are also great tools for working with instrument plug-ins.
5. So, What Are Round-Robins Exactly?
Round-robins are different recordings of the same note where the plug-in flips through each version automatically. A good example of the effect it simulates is to tap a glass with a spoon a few times. If you listen carefully, you’ll notice that each tap sounds slightly different. This is due to a number of different factors, like air resistance, the force and angle at which the spoon makes contact with the glass, and the point where the glass is struck. This principle almost universally applies to all acoustic instruments, especially when blown, plucked, or struck by a human. Earlier, there simply wasn’t enough memory available to include all of these minute variations in the way a single note can sound, but since modern computers have solved this problem, round-robins essentially make instrument plug-ins sound much more realistic, so they are really important plug-in features, and the more you have, the better!
6. Do I Need Legato Samples?
Legato samples apply to things like wind instruments, stringed instruments or vocals. So, basically, if you want to use virtual instruments like these, then you absolutely need legato! Especially if you want realistic sound. For example, when playing a real wind instrument, you will always hear the transition when flowing from note to note. This can be a volume ‘run-up’, the mechanical click of valves or other small noises. Just as with round-robins (see Question 5), legatos were previously unthinkable when it came to virtual instruments, since the detail that makes up legato transitions takes up so much memory. A plug-in that includes legato samples automatically recognises a legato transition when a note is played while the previous note is still sounding, so there’s a small ‘overlap’ and a specific transition sample is ‘played’. Legato samples are particularly effective when playing in unison and with bound notes - so notes without any spaces in between.
7. If Layers Are the Future, What Are They?
Some instruments are not only solo but part of a section - like in an orchestra. For example, a section of four trombones, twelves first violins, three flutes, etc. Traditionally, recordings of complete ensembles came loaded into hardware synthesizers, and you’ll still come across some plug-ins that use the same principle. But what’s being developed more and more are plug-ins that not only use recordings of a complete section but a combination of the recordings of all of the individual instruments that make up the section, or of smaller groups of instruments. There are already libraries that support this and it’s very likely to become the standard in the future. Layers make creating things like divisi sections much easier; where large sections are divided into two more smaller sections such as two sets of six first violins rather than one set of twelve. The sound is also much more realistic.
8. What Are Keyswitches?
If your instrument plug-in uses keyswitches, then a section of the keys of your MIDI keyboard is reserved for a few special functions - hence ‘keyswitches’. Most of the time, this includes ‘articulation’ changes. So, with a stringed instrument like a violin, you can change the playing technique with a simple keystroke, moving from sustain, to pizzicato, staccato, tremolo, and so on. This does mean that when the keyswitches are active, you can’t play the keyboard as normal. Many MIDI keyboards now come with LED indicators, like the Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol keyboards, that let you know the status of each key so you know where all your keyswitches are. Even if you don’t use a MIDI keyboard, the keyswitches will still be available.
9. What Other Advantages do Instrument Plug-Ins Offer?
First of all, the price. A software package (whether downloaded or pre-loaded onto a USB drive) is going to cost much less than a physical synthesizer or workstation. The second advantage is that you can use multiple ‘instances’ of a plug-in at the same time - i.e. you can load up the plug-in as many times as your DAW will allow. This means that a small investment in just one plug-in can enable the creation of enormous arrangements.
10. What Are Kontakt Libraries?
Kontakt is a virtual sample-player (so software) which is sold alongside Native Instruments Komplete gear. Kontakt is installed as a plug-in in your DAW and from there, you can load in Kontakt instruments. But the most handy point is that many other developers are making their plug-ins compatible with Kontakt. These plug-ins are called ‘Kontakt libraries’. Some of these libraries come including a small free version of Kontakt, called Kontakt player, but this is not the case with every library. So, to use some of the libraries, you’ll need to already have a paid-for version of Kontakt. In that case, you might as well go for one of the Komplete packages that are available, since these can be relatively cheaper.
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