2025 Best sample libraries & plugins that i use in every project
Here are the best sample libraries and plugins in 2025 that I use in every project! Let’s break down two different templates that I use inside Nuendo.
1. Empty Session Template
Inside my blank Nuendo session, you’ll notice a few things right off the bat that I find incredibly helpful for organizing any information that's going to come into this session. On the Main Editor screen, I already have several marker tracks loaded. I have Tracks, Sections, and Chords, so that at any point while I’m writing music, I can input a brand new marker and place it in the proper marker category. If I'm doing Film Scoring, I'll also do a timecode marker. I also have a Time Signature and Tempo, and then the only instrument loaded is the Piano V from Arturia. This can be any Piano VST, but it’s important for me as a pianist to have a Sketch Piano track so I can begin writing as soon as I open a project.
Additionally, I record everything at 96kHz, 32-bit float. This allows me to record at a higher fidelity than the industry standard for delivery, which is 48kHz, 24-bit. When I mix down a track, this just means that the final file is going to be slightly higher quality than if I had started at 48kHz, 24-bit inside my session.
Now, in the Nuendo Mix Window, you’ll notice that I have a bunch of Reverbs pre-loaded. I’ve found this to be a huge time-saver in recent years, and it actually makes all of my mixes cleaner because everything is consistent across the board. The very first Reverb in my template is one you will not be able to buy, because I made it! I would encourage you to experiment with making your own Reverbs – you just have to record a clap or a snap in a space that you want to capture. In Cubase or Nuendo, you can use a tool called Reverence to create an Impulse Response from your WAV file of the clap or snap.
REVERBS IN MY EMPTY SESSION:
2CAudio Aether: This is an old plugin, but it has always been my favorite orchestral hall reverb. I usually set it on Hall 2 with a 100% wet mix, then I send instruments to it.
2CAudio B2: This is a digital reverb, but it can add a lot of life to solo instruments such as a Violin or a Vocal. I love the warmth and space it adds to an instrument.
Native Instruments Raum: I like to run Pianos through this Reverb – I usually just like the initial default patch set to 100%.
Valhalla Shimmer: You may have heard of this one, this is a traditional shimmer effect, meaning it adds an octave using the Shift button. By default, it creates a second octave above the notes you play, to create this big, spacious, magical sound on top. Not super realistic-sounding, but a very cool effect.
Additionally, I have Impulse Responses from a Lexicon Medium Hall and the Eventide Black Hole that I have thrown into the Steinberg Reverence engine.
PLUGINS ON MY STEREO OUTPUT (MASTER CHANNEL):
EQ (Cubase/Nuendo stock plugin): I like a 30-band EQ so I can really shape my track, and I often use the Dave Natali mix preset. I made a whole video about it.
Brainworx bx_limiter True Peak: You can use whatever Limiter you want to catch any stray peaks in your audio signal, but this one is my favorite. I set my ceiling to -0.3dB, which is the industry standard.
Voxengo Recorder: This is an ancient plugin that you actually have to convert from 32 to 64-bit. This is how I stream all of my audio for YouTube and video recordings.
2. Orchestral Template
My orchestral template is simple on purpose. When I write, it’s important for me to have a short articulation and a long articulation for all the classic instruments in an orchestra. Over the years, my templates have simplified and shrunk in size, because most of what I write these days is recorded with a live orchestra (or I’m imitating a live orchestra). It’s important for me to write for the exact ensemble size that will be recorded. I typically record with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra in Hungary, so when I’m naming tracks in the DAW, I include the number of players beside each section in parentheses:
Brass
Trumpets (4)
Horns (6)
Trombones (2-3)
Bass Trombone (0-1)
Tuba (1)
Woodwinds
Piccolo (0-1)
Flutes (2-3)
Oboes (3)
Clarinets (3)
Bassoons (3)
Strings
Violin 1 (10)
Violin 2 (8)
Viola (6)
Cello (6)
Double Bass (4)
Choir
Men (20)
Women (20)
This process eliminates the vast majority of sample libraries that wouldn't fall into those categories. For me, it's essential that when I play my trumpet patch, it sounds like four trumpets are playing, not 20 trumpets. Most ensemble patches will have large ensemble sizes, like 50 or 100 people. I will place my Percussion libraries below the Strings in my template, including Piano, Harp, Toms, Timpani, Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Marimba, Piatti (Crash Cymbals), Gong, Tubular Bells and Snare. As always, I keep the same Reverb sends from my blank template in the orchestral template as well. Now let’s break down each of the sample libraries I regularly use by section.
Brass
8Dio New Century Brass Ensemble: For pretty much all of my Brass I’m using 8Dio, which runs through Kontakt. They don’t have Tubas, so I have to pull those from somewhere else, but I’ve always found this Ensemble to be the most realistic classic-sounding Brass. I don’t even like to load the big patches because they’re massive. Instead, I like to go into the individual articulations.
Native Instruments Session Horns Pro: This library is not my absolute favorite, but I will use it for Bass Trombones.
CineSamples CineBrass: I use the solo Tuba from this library.
Woodwinds
8Dio CAGE Woodwinds: I think it’s important to have some kind of woodwind sound effects, so I like to use this library (based on John Cage) for horror-type effects. They also have CAGE libraries for Strings and Brass.
Impact Soundworks Palette Orchestra Complete: formerly known as the Symphonic Sketchpad by Red Room Audio, they have now merged with Impact Soundworks. I think it's important to have an ensemble patch for woodwinds in an ensemble patch for strings, because so much of orchestration is starting with a chord and then splitting it into the individual instruments. So it’s very common for me to start with a patch like this.
For Woodwinds, I like to pull from a few different libraries. Orchestral Tools has a nice Piccolo. For Flutes, Oboes, Clarinets, & Bassoons I’m currently using the Native Instruments Symphony Series.
Strings
I'm not as particular about the String Ensemble patches because they're not typically the patches I'm going to use in the final mixes. They're just kind of placeholders. However, I have a huge recommendation – pick up the free Sine Player from Orchestral Tools. They have a ton of great free instruments, including Helix, which is probably my most-used String Ensemble patch. It’s a fantastic writing tool.
Orchestral Tools Metropolis Ark I: For the individual String patches, I use a whole lot of Orchestral Tools. It kind of depends on the day, but most of my favorites come from Metropolis Ark I. I’m typically pulling from the Finckenstein high strings and the Wolfenstein low strings.
Impact Soundworks Tokyo Scoring Strings: When I’m not using Metropolis Ark, I’m usually using TSS. It’s kind of hit-or-miss but I tend to use it for the legato patches. So much of our writing, specifically for video games, has a Japanese tint to it, so it’s nice to have access to the ensemble used in all of our favorite games.
8Dio Adagietto: For short strings or low strings, Adagietto is still one of the best. One of the cheapest, as well! I’ve found when you mix Cellos and Basses in the low register, it is almost unbeatable.
Choirs
SonoKinetic Tutti Vox: For Choir rise effects, there’s nothing that compares with Tutti Vox. I don’t use a lot of their libraries, but this is one that knocks it out of the park with the weird aleatoric stuff. I like to call them the “Dark Souls sounds”. I’m going to be using this library for anything intense, like boss battles.
Strezov FREYJA Female Choir and Strezov WOTAN Male Choir: My go-to for choir sounds. The quality is so much better than everything else out there. And they have text versions and vowels. These choirs are really good for layering on top of your big orchestral tracks.
Piano
Impact Soundworks Palette Orchestra Complete: As a piano player, I have a lot of piano libraries, but there’s one that I think rules them all when it comes to the orchestral context. Mentioned earlier in the Woodwinds section, it is Palette from Impact Soundworks (formerly by Red Room Audio). It’s Patch 16. It’s not something you’d use in a solo piano album, but in an orchestral context, it sounds exactly like it’s in the room.
Percussion
Impact Soundworks Saga: Acoustic Trailer Percussion: For Percussion, I tend to pull from a few different libraries. The first is also by Impact Soundworks (formerly a Red Room Audio product) – I use Saga for Low Toms.
Musio: For Percussion elements like Timpani, Glockenspiel, Xylophone, & Marimba, I think Musio does it best. Musio is CineSamples subscription service, but they also have a perpetual license that you can purchase one time and have access to all of the CineSamples stuff.
Synths
U-he Zebra: I use this Synth for anything cinematic – you’ll find a whole bunch of good Bass presets, a bunch of good Arp presets, and much more.
Native Instruments Massive: If you understand a little bit about Synthesis, you can use Massive to build your own sounds – mix multiple Oscillators together, maybe add some White Noise, add your own effects, etc. They also have a large preset bank of sounds you can choose from and tweak to your taste.
Spectrasonics Omnisphere: This is VST is probably going to be one of the most well-known – I tend to go here if I’m looking for Synth Pad sounds.
There will always be one-off instruments that help to make a project unique. But for the purposes of building a template and looking at what libraries I actually use on a daily basis, this is it. It’s not super complicated and this is why you don't have to go spend a bunch of money on stuff you don't need.
Focus on the basics and get really good with the VST libraries and plugins you already own. If a project demands something a bit more interesting, go record live instruments or use a unique specific instrument from a different library. Master your templates and they will carry the bulk of the weight when starting a new project for client.
I hope that this inspires you to stop chasing the gear and instead start investing in yourself. If you want to invest in yourself today, come join the free Video Game Music Alliance® Discord, and let’s chat about it. Make sure you introduce yourself and let us know where you’re at in your career. We’d love to help you along that journey.