Not too long than 4 days ago, i was playing around with some old E-MU Sample Libraries when this though went through my mind, or at least it came to me much much more sooner than today but i didn't really thought about it seriously.

When it comes to making music, i always find myself using old sample libraries so much that it practically became a habit. Whether it be synthesizers, sound modules, samples or VSTis, always the "old-school" gear set.

When i'm saying old, i'm referring to the ones from the 80/90 era to the years 2008 because starting from that point in time, all samples libraries started sounding similar to each other.

Now i do think they are current libraries out there that i consider good on my side of the table, e.g. Strezov Sampling or the newer Best Service libraries, most notably the Solo Strings Libraries, Ethno World & the Orchestral Winds, or modern "re-releases" of old synths i.e. with Roland Cloud/VirtualSonics.

But my main reason to prefer the old ones over the new ones is because old sample libraries have this timbre, this "grain" that modern libraries terribly lacks off.

More generally, i find that the newer libraries sounds rather flat or in more severe cases monotone sounding & that only the old ones basically have "it".

What do you guys think? Are you also an old-school addict ? Do you prefer the new ones much more?

 

IMO new VST instruments sound better than ever, sampled orchestral libraries as well. Drums? Forget about older kits sounding as good as the recent ones . There has been a big break trough in the last few years, i personally love it.
Plugins have come a far way as well.
I deleted some of the e-mu sample libraries, you can get better sounds with the roland canvas or their new line of soft synths.
My alesis d4 drum brain from the early 90s sounds like a toy compared to Ali James VSDS-X

 

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Last edited by a moderator: Jan 18, 2026

That's exactly how I feel! but in my case is about sample libraries with eerie/dreamy/horror/textures/soundscapes/fx sounds

For me the old libraries has a sound design with more authenticity and variety that really inspires me.

The new libraries sounds the same, generic, and with that "Hollywood" sound design where there is just nothing special in their modulations.
I am a big fan of old Spectrasonics, Zero G, AMG, East West, E-Lab, etc. and I always look for more sounds into these libraries.

 

Isn't it that the sound quality when recording is nowadays much better, so you need to add artificial "dirt" (noise, tube distortions etc.pp.) to get the same perceived quality?

 

Ah, I see. Then it's maybe the "modern" production speed. You know, 20-30 years ago you had/got much more time to produce that stuff.

 

If by old ones you mean these dudes:

Then, yes. They definitely did it better.

But as far as music goes, there's no reason people today can't produce just as good or better music. It's just the creativity and dedication of the people in question that limits what music gets made.

 

It's not really audio quality that makes me love old libraries, it's more about the sounds themselves, in a "this one has some unique flavours!" kind of way

Same here. Although i love the Heavyocity Evolve series, some libraries to the likes of XXL 800 Productions, Ambient & XXL 800 Pads still steals the show.

Like i said, It's because old libraries have this distinct sounds, that extra "touch" that new libraries do not have.

What is this rather beautiful picture you're presenting here?

I do think that even with trendy material, you can also make good music but partically every modern productions sounds the same. There's little to nothing that makes them special.

 

I'm crrushing your sound I'm crrrushing your sound



kidding but yeah, I think the loudness devolution has left no room for music design to breathe/sound natural

 

I agree with @Von_Steyr by terms of sound quality, anything digital of the yesteryear sounds "worse" than current tech. But imho, we gotta give credit to where it's supposed. It's music we 're talking about after all, sound quality is secondary. Some of those old sample cds were so ground breaking at the time, perhaps because very little if nothing preceeded them, the peeps who made these were practically writing history. Their value was like having a great album that you could sample on and on 'till theres no sound there left to manipulate lol. I mean where do i begin man: "Jungle Warfare" and "Eastwest XXL" series alone must have helped launch hundreds if not thousands of careers. And so did, Zero G 's Ambient & Datafile series, Spectrasonics' Distorted Reality, Norman Cook's Skip To My Loops, Coldcut's Kleptomania, the X-Static Goldmine, these are all masterpieces to me and -i like to believe- many others. Perhaps sometimes flawed but these "bad boys" moved music making a step forward. I have to mention also, later excellent stuff like Liquid Grooves & Metamorphosis, Smoker's Delight, BT's Breaks From The New School, Zero G's Disco series, Vengeance Essentials, Big Fish Big Bad Horns & Soul City, you can still hear releases grabbing stuff from these. And many others too.
To my experience any of these can still be flavor or even an inspiration for a new track.
It is no secret after all, that if you are looking for inspiration you will dig through the past, because there is always some "buried treasure" waiting to be discovered.
Cheers mates

 

helllll yes!!!


oh man I loved those, great callback!

 

Hostile Species in the Cthulhu Mythos

 

I read several interesting points here.

My 5 cents are the following.

Let's discard "pure sound quality" and the current problem of too many options (sometimes from one company).

Eventually we'll end mastering a few ones that we really like. Our taste both in sound/features and workflow/usability. We'll make our bests tracks with them. Perhaps all of our tracks.

Since at the end it's the composition what matters the most, I find natural for most of us to keep using our favorite ones. It's a highly subjective matter though.

As is the following: How many of us beyond our thirties have a favorite band/artist that started to shine in the last 10 years?

I know, very different topic. Just brainstorming... or shitstorming.. whatever

Anyway, interesting thread.

 

I wouldn't expect less of you ))

I also can't help posting this:

Oh, and remember this masterpiece was half-written by Megadeth's leader D.Mustain while being Metallica's solo guitarist.
That was before their first album with K.Hammett already in his place.

 

this statement is too broad ' To name amazing new groups that have delivered incredible albums in the last decade? Yes, I believe everyone here could name a couple* off the top of their heads. But, 'started to shine'....; IMO massive attack - heligoland. I truly didn't care one way or the other for them prior to that (especially since I was working in a commercial music house when mezzanine came out and EVERY nike/canon jerk came in with that album in hand). But Heligoland was a true artistic statement and heightened their value and integrity immensely for me


*the quantity of quality isn't the same as previous decades but there are a few handfuls of promising, AMAZING albums still coming out... If anything I find new artists seem to have a harder time with a sophomore effort, leading to a dissolve of the group/new personnel/a drastic change of direction (most likely brought on by social media+pressure). It's probably too easy to fall into the trap of, 'everyone loved our first record, so now everything we make is brilliant'... blotting vision and clouding judgement of songs and sounds that maybe should not have been deemed good enough to make the cut. It's like A&R guys have just turned to 'yes men' to the detriment of both the artist and the audience




(sorry for hijack skull}

 

@electriclash I don't disagree with @Xupito and i agree with you too. I love Chromeo and i like Justice very much too, to name a couple of "newer" acts. I also believe Gaga and Skrillex are talented and will find their way once they 're done with commercialism. But i generally feel there's too much of "the same everything" nowadays, if this makes any sense to you.
If i had to narrow down why creativity suffers lately, i 'd say it's because of the way the whole staple of music biz has degraded. Newcomers have to "fend" for themselves now. They have to watch and tend to their social medias, produce their videos, have pr etc, and all in a religious manner if they want to progress. This takes up precious time, time which otherwise should be devoted to nothing else but music. If a newcomer has to spend a significant portion of their time each day to all these, most likely their music will suffer. Not saying that it will always do so, or it will always be like that. But from what i hear, and i like to hear a lot of new sht, there's very few that stand out from the crowd, meaning very few devote themselves to their music. Many new musicians are more FB junkies rather than music junkies. And every now and then, you see someone who's been promoting and promoting themselves, having many views or plays etc, you press play and you hear the same trap beat for the nth time and a guy talking bout how he's the best ever, his bling, hoes and how they smoke that sht, like some of us haven't smoked the whole fkn Olympus mountain before any of these dudes were even born lol. Makes you wonder really...

 

Last edited: Jan 25, 2018

this gives me hope.. that this set of artists you refer to will continue their efforts at trying to eclipse artists of previous generations
in all facets, including reckless ingestion of substances, thus ,thankfully, providing us with fewer opportunities to have to see them
walking around with their pants half way down, smacking their bitch up.. etc.. oh and not to leave out, hearing their music

one can only hope..

 

What's make old soundbanks sounds better (at least from my point of view) is that before the "EDM explosion" in the US, genre were more large, with a lot of different sound in one genre. Now there is still this kind of difference but instead of putting everything under one genre, every subtilities in sounds is an occasion to create a new sub genre. And soundbank creator adapt themselves to that trend.
So now when you pick a house soundbank for exemple, it will be sub genre specific like g-house or future bounce our deep pop house our whatever.
Just 10 years ago, soundbanks where less specific and a bank labeled "house" was bought by people who make minimal house or fidget house or whatever subgenre we had at that time. And 20 years ago it was even more obvious, soundbanks were full of all different kind of sounds and use by house producer or techno or trance producer, each artist using it in their own way. And that's why soundbanks sounds different from each other because they were more about the creativity/sensibility of it's creator than a specific bank made to calibrate to a specific sub genre.
Also there was less processing on it.

I take the exemple of electronic music because it's what I do, but the issue is the same in other genre I think, because there is more and more competition so every market become a niche for specific need instead of releasing an "everyone can use it" type of bank

 

I love old school samples and i like new ones too. I generally prefer productions that are to the point with as less "fillers" as possible and when they were made means nothing to me really, if i find them useful in any way.

If someone of the friends here is looking for some odd old library, i still keep a lot in my drawers, just pm me with what you 're looking for
All the best

 

Indeed it is. But it's very important to clarify that I'm talking about your all-time favorite group/band.

I'm not talking of the quality/integrity of the new bands. I'm amazed of the great bands of the last years "despite everything".
We all know the big names are more pressured than ever to be commercial, or at least, don't risk their selling formulas. But at the same time we have access to a lot more artists than before.

In short: my favorite all-time band is still Queen. But If I was fifteen years younger I'm almost sure it would be Muse. That's my point.