Top User Library ensembles for
cinematic sound design

Scoring a motion picture soundtrack or creating custom game sounds is a dream most producers have, but only few can actually perform professionally. There are countless great sounding instrument libraries dedicated to scoring and soundtracking. The downside often is, they’re simply not affordable for most home studio and bedroom producers.

Luckily, there are amazing and unique-sounding REAKTOR ensembles, ready to use for free. User-made instruments often times even add distinct or unusual sound characteristics to a composition preventing it from sounding too conventional.

Go from classical instrumentation to spaced-out sci-fi sounds with the best REAKTOR User Library ensembles suited for film music.

Drums, percussions, and instruments

Cinematic percussion machine

The intriguingly-named Drummachinewsky is a synth engine-based percussion instrument controlled by a powerful 12-track sequencer with roll functions, song-mode, numerous effect modulation possibilities, swing/shuffle modes, and a lot more. Alternatively, you can also program it using your DAW’s piano roll. Although, analog-styled, the Machinewsky sounds very organic with a lot of tweaking and modulation fun built-in.

Drummachinewsky is great for programming organic rhythm passages that can be mixed with other instruments or simply left on their own. Also, make sure to check out the demo patterns included in each of the snapshots.

Check out Drummachinewsky here.

The organ donor

When in need of organ sounds with a unique twist, look no further. OreKore’s Modula is a great little gadget that’s actually more reminiscent of dusty, old, and noisy Casiotone keyboards than actual organs, but that’s the beauty in this case. Add some extra dust to your organ-based scores and make it stand out!

Check out Modena here.

Vintage Italian cinema

Recreate the sound of iconic ARP String Ensembles and add a little extra cheese to your film score. Ingrid Ensemble comes with built-in stereo-delay, LFO, drive effects, and a knob screaming ‘Gimme some dirt!!’. Curious?

Check out Ingrid Ensemble here.

Blow the horns

Can’t afford a real brass section? Try out Dannenberg Wind Oscillator. It includes sample-based recreations of a trumpet, French horn, trombone, bass trombone, tuba, clarinets, and various saxophones. The sound-engine is based on ‘spectral interpolation synthesis’ and contains more than 1,800 single-cycle waveforms from selected brass instruments.

The waveforms are being reproduced accurately only within the playing ranges of the original instruments, but that doesn’t mean you can’t produce interesting and funky sounds outside the intended playing range.

Check out Dannenberg Windoscillator here.

The cineast’s toy piano

Scale-based melodies or arpeggiated figures are frequently used musical tools in movie scores, as well as advertisement. The Kinderklavier toy piano model, a digital recreation of an actual toy piano, is perfectly suited for exactly this. It also contains an effect section with a magnetic pickup and reverb.

Check out Kinderklavier toy piano model here.

Real instruments from the cosmos

Based on modal synthesis, Ringer creates tuned percussion and bell-like tones that sound great if applied to broken chords or arpeggios. Extra modulation fun is provided by additional filter, chorus, tremolo effects, and reverb. Ringer is capable of some really out there sonic vibrations.

Check out Ringer here.

Ambiences and soundscapes

The brutalist sound designer

Being a great source for experimental, alien-noise sounds, Brachial Brute teleports you into the extraterrestrial spheres of sound-design. If your film score is missing that certain quint of moody background ambiance, this ensemble by Malte Klima will save it.

Check out Brachial Brute here.

Sci-fi games and alien attacks

Disturbing, raw noises certainly seem like Jinrai-Donnerschlag’s specialty but it does a lot more than sounding grimey. But if grimey is the vibe you are looking for, this snap bank for the amazing Jinrai sound generator delivers the fastest satisfying results.

Check out Jinrai-Donnerschlag here.

Spatial sounds and mystic moods

Specialized in generating experimental noise and spatial soundscapes, the Goban Sounds Delay Processor is, simply put, a granular sample player chained to multiple instances of delay, feedback, and envelope generators. Serving as sound sources are samples taken from the striking sounds of a go board, also known as Goban.

“Be careful – feedback is everywhere!”, but that’s what you want, right?

Check out Goban Sounds Delay Processor here.