Help
Who is Soundiron?
We are a virtual instrument developer specializing in highly-detailed, exquisitely sampled, professional sample libraries. We’re widely known for our superior choirs and epic percussion, finely crafted acoustic pianos, solo drums, ethnic and traditional folk instruments, and unique sound design and SFX libraries. Our products deliver more bang for your buck than you'll find anywhere else, with outstanding quality, exceptional value, powerful features, flexibility controls, customizable content and innovative sounds.
What is a sample library?
A sample library is a collection of sound clips ("samples") that are programmed into a software framework that allows them to be played back realistically on a computer using a midi controller and or arranged in a midi sequence within a digital audio workstation ("DAW") environment. We record instruments, performers, vocalists and all sorts of objects that make cool noises and then chop those recordings into thousands of little samples. We then program them into a matrix with a scripted user interface and complex internal logic to control when and how the samples are activated, based on user input and a variety of other important run-time variables.
We primarily build our sample libraries for the Native Instruments Kontakt engine, a premium virtual instrument plugin. Many of our products are built for the free Kontakt Player system, and many of our products require the full retail version, which is typically priced around $399 through most major music software retailers. We use the Kontakt engine more than any other platform because it is by far the most technologically capable system with the widest user base. Our goal is to push the frontiers of realism, content depth, audio quality and user flexibility. We rely on Kontakt's advanced capabilities to make those efforts possible.
Who are they for?
Soundiron libraries are perfect for everyone who makes music on a computer, from professional film composers to students just starting out. We specifically tailor our libraries to meet the needs of working professionals in the film, television, advertising, video game, recording industries. But whether you’re a seasoned industry veteran or just a beginner, we commit ourselves to bringing all of our clients the same deep quality, outstanding customer service, incredible value and outstanding price points. With well over a hundred unique products in our collection, you’ll always find something to inspire your creations.
How do I use them?
We primarily develop our products for the Native Instruments Kontakt open-format platform, so you'll need the full retail version of Kontakt to use many Soundiron instrument presets. However, we do offer a growing line of specialized "Powered By Kontakt Player" libraries that can be used in the free Kontakt Player. If you see "Player Edition" in the product name, you can use it in the both the free Kontakt Player and the full version of Kontakt. See our Kontakt Player section for compatible libraries: http://soundiron.com/collections/kontakt-player-edition-collection
And of course, you'll need a VST, AU, RTAS or AAX compatible host sequencer, such as Reaper, Cubase, Sonar, Reaper, Logic, Acid, Presonus One, FL Studio, Ableton Live, or Protools. Kontakt runs as a virtual instrument plugin engine in most major host sequencers. Our libraries are loaded as instruments into Kontakt.
We do offer a few of our libraries in other formats, such as Propellerhead Reason ReFills, universal SFZ for the free Plogue Sforzando Player and more. Just look for information on each product's page about the system requirements and formats supported by each one.
How to Order
You can browse through our instrument categories through the Catalog tab in the main navigation bar. When you find an instrument you like and click the “Add To Cart” button on its product page, you'll be taken to our shopping cart page. You can proceed to check out or press the “Continue Shopping” button to continue browsing our website. You'll still see your cart total displayed at the top of each page. When you're ready to check out, just click on that cart link you see at the top of the page to begin the checkout process.
Your personal access code and download instructions are delivered to you by email once your transaction has cleared, usually within just a few minutes. In some cases, delivery can take up to an hour, depending on your financial institution. Also be aware that some optional Payment options you can select in Paypal such as bank transfer and e-check may take longer to clear.
Our server will deliver your download email to the same email address that you used to place your order, so please make sure that your email address is accurate and that you don't have spam filter settings that might block the delivery email sent by our automated download server. Paypal users, please make sure that the email address associated to your Paypal account is current and accessible to you.
Payment Options
Discount Codes
Out of Stock
VAT/Sales Tax
Invoices
3rd Party Distributors
Updates & Upgrades
Hours of Operation
Soundiron's staff are located on the US West Coast. Our machines never sleep. However, we ourselves are human, so customer support requests we receive during the overnight hours cannot always be responded to right away. We generally offer extended service hours from 9am in the morning until 11pm (Pacific Time), Monday through Friday. Our weekend and holiday support hours are from 11am until 8pm (Pacific Time). Customer Support requests that are received during overnight hours are answered as soon as possible the following day.
Educational Discounts
If you're a student or teacher at an accredited educational institution, we can offer you a 33% educational discount on all of our libraries and bundles. The discount can be used during most sales and events, but may not be combined with other discount codes or coupons.
To sign up for our educational discount program, just send us an email here. A valid student or faculty ID or other proof of enrollment status is required. Please Email Us for details, terms and conditions.
Your Download Email
Once your payment has cleared, your order will be sent into our rapid delivery system and you will receive a confirmation email from us. You'll also receive another email for each library your purchase that contains your download access code and step-by-step instructions on how to download and install your new library quickly. Your personal download code is a secure personal key to access your data. Your download code remains active if you ever need to download again, but all access is logged, so keep yours in a safe place and do not share it with anyone.
How to download and install my library?
You will receive a download email that includes an installer and download code for each library purchased.
Here is a walkthrough on using our installers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXzIAJsNOuM&t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQb--Y39JGY&t
If you purchased a Kontakt Player library, you can skip our installer and just enter the serial number in Native Access to activate and install directly from there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3fZI514cw8
If you purchased a non-player library, we recommend using Kontakt Quickload:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w4I9WeP2v4
Bandwidth And Disk Space Requirements
We do not recommend attempting to download any of our products with a dial-up or DSL internet connection capable of less than 1.5Mbit downstream. We also do not recommend downloading over a mobile or satellite connection with a data limit, as you may hit your cap quickly with some of our larger products.
Make sure before downloading that you have roughly double the disk space required for the product to allow room for unpacking and installation. The data comes as a compressed .rar archive download, which then must be extracted into the finished library directory. Once installation is fully complete, you can delete the downloaded .rar archives or you can store them offline as a backup. They are only necessary during download and installation.
System Requirements
Most of our Kontakt libraries require the full retail version of Kontakt 5.5 or later. However, some of our older products are compatible with Kontakt 3.5 and many of our more recent libraries require Kontakt 6.2.2 or later. We also have specially encoded and licensed "Powered-By-Kontakt Player" libraries that are compatible with the Kontakt Player engine and Libraries browser tab. You can see which version of Kontakt is required in the information listed in the description on each product's page, as well as the helpful info icons at the top of each page. Our Kontakt Player compatible libraries also have "Player Edition" in their title.
Mac users, please be aware that OSX has specific and very important Kontakt version requirements, depending on exactly which version of OSX you have installed on your computer. Since some of our products require certain versions of Kontakt, we recommend that you make sure that both your OS and Kontakt installation are kept as up to date as possible. You can also click this link to see which specific versions of Kontakt are compatible with your computer's specific OSX version.
Our Kontakt presets and user interfaces allow greater user control and more powerful scripted features than most other Kontakt libraries you'll find on the market, so we always recommend that you have at least a dual core processor, at least 3 GB of system ram, a SATA or SSD hard drive with plenty of free space and avoid using on-board audio chipsets to play back sound. A dedicated external audio interface are always recommended if at all possible. However, if you do use your system's built-in audio chipset, we recommend using ASIO or Core audio drivers for best results.
Kontakt Vs. Kontakt Player Formats
There is an important difference between the two main Kontakt instrument formats. Standard open-format Kontakt libraries natively have accessible sample files, editable instrument presets and do not require special installation or activation procedures. You simply need the full retail version of Native Instruments Kontakt to use them.
On the other hand, specially encoded "Powered-By-Kontakt Player" libraries have been specifically encoded and encrypted by Native Instruments to run in their more limited free Kontakt Player. The Kontakt Player is essentially a locked demo version of Kontakt. It can only read certain specially-formatted products that require activation with a serial number and the Service Center. It cannot import wav files, does not support instrument editing, cannot read any instrument presets in the open format and has several other functionality limitations. From a feature standpoint, the open format has all of the same capabilities as the Player format, with the added benefit of user access and customization support. There is also an added licensing fee, longer production time and minimum MSRP requirement for all products encoded in the Kontakt Player format. Therefore, we have found that the Player format is not as suitable for many products as the classic open format tends to be.
Loading Standard Open-Format Libraries Into Kontakt
Watch this quick How-To video to see an easy demonstration of how our instrument presets can be loaded into the full version of Kontakt, using the Files tab. Continue reading below for more details.
First, launch Kontakt in stand-alone mode or as a virtual instrument plugin/softsynth within your VST, AU, RTAS or AAX compatible audio sequencer. Next, view the Files tab in the Kontakt browser window. Use the directory tree displayed there to navigate to the place on your hard drive where you installed your new library. Open the "Instruments" sub-folder inside and locate any of the .nki or .nkm presets you'll find there. Click on any of them to load that preset. The instrument will load up. Once it has finished, you can assign the midi channel and audio output settings you prefer. It is now ready to play. You can load multiple instrument presets at once by following the same steps. You can assign each loaded preset to different midi inputs and audio outputs as needed, depending on your main Kontakt options settings.
You can also use the main File dropdown menu to load the instrument presets, or use the Kontakt Database tab and import the library's directory into your Kontakt database and Quickload Utility for faster loading and customizable preset organization. You cannot load open format libraries into the Kontakt Player or special "Libraries" rack tab, as those features are only accessible to encrypted "Powered-By-Kontakt Player" libraries. The Files tab, Database tab and the Quickload interface are the easiest ways to browse and load instrument presets that have been programmed for the open format.
Licensing, Refunds and Privacy Policies
License Agreement:
By purchasing a license for any Soundiron product, you accept the following product license agreement:
1. License Grant:
The license for each purchased product is granted to a single individual licensed User only. No unlicensed use is permitted. All sounds, samples, programming, images, scripting, designs and text contained in this product are copyrights of Soundiron LLC. This software is licensed, but not sold, to the licensed user by Soundiron, for commercial and non-commercial use in the production of music, sound effects, audio/video multimedia productions, live performance, broadcast, video game audio development or similar finished content-creation and production use. Examples of such productions include, but are not limited to, motion pictures, television programs, streaming audio and video, interactive games and software, radio broadcasts, advertisements and motion graphics.
For customer safety, security and fraud prevention, Soundiron LLC requires that all Users of our products be able to provide accurate and current billing and contact information at the time of license purchase.
Soundiron allows the User to use any of the sounds and samples in the library(s) they have purchased for the creation and production of commercial recordings, music, sound design, post production, or other content creation without paying any additional license fees or providing source attribution.
This license expressly forbids the use of any Soundiron library in the production of any commercial sample library, sound effect library or virtual instrument without our express written consent.
2. Transfer:
Unauthorized transfer, resale or any form of re-distribution is prohibited for any Soundiron product, or its constituent sounds or programming, through any means, including but not limited to re-sampling, reverse engineering, de-compiling, remixing, processing, isolating, or embedding into software or hardware of any kind, except where included as part of a multimedia production, rendered musical recording, performance or finished work of sound design. Licenses cannot be transferred, traded or sold to another person or other entity, without our express written consent.
3. Rights:
Soundiron retains copyright ownership of all recorded sounds, instrument programming, documentation and musical performances included within this product. All past and future versions of any Soundiron product, including any versions previously published or sold through any other entity are fully bound and covered by this agreement. The licensed User shall own the copyright to any music, sound design or other audio/video content they create through the authorized use of licensed Soundiron product(s).
4. Refunds:
All sales are final. Soundiron does not offer refunds, returns or exchanges. Once a product file has been accessed on the server or by any other means, the order cannot be cancelled, returned, exchanged or refunded.
5. Responsibility:
Use of this product and any supplied or associated software or data is at the licensee’s own risk. By installing the product, the User accepts sole liability and full responsibility for any direct or indirect loss or damages arising from the purchase, installation or any use of this product.
6. Terms:
This license agreement is effective from the moment the product license is purchased or acquired by any means. The license will remain in full effect until termination by Soundiron LLC. The license may be terminated if the licensee breaks any of the terms or conditions of this agreement. Upon termination, the licensee agrees to destroy any and all copies of the product and any of its contents at their own expense. Soundiron reserves the right to change this license agreement without notice.
7. Violation:
Soundiron reserves the right to prosecute piracy and defend this copyrighted work to the fullest extent of US and International civil and criminal law. Any person who shares, uploads, distributes or otherwise provides any Soundiron product to any person or entity without permission shall be in direct violation of the terms of this agreement and shall have all licenses terminated and all right to use any Soundiron product immediately revoked.
Refund Policy
All sales are final. Soundiron does not offer refunds, returns or exchanges. Once a product download code has been activated, it cannot be cancelled, returned, exchanged or refunded. Most of our products are standard open-format wav-based instrument libraries, so there is no tedious activation required or cumbersome DRM. However, this means that once you download a product, the license is in effect and cannot be returned or refunded. We can’t allow reselling, re-licensing, trading or unauthorized license transfers of any kind without our prior written permission. By placing your order, you are signifying that you fully acknowledge your understanding that Soundiron LLC reserves the right to grant or deny any requests for refund, transfer or resale according to its own discretion. Please see our EULA or contact us directly for more info. If you have any questions about product features, content, compatibility or software/hardware requirements, please contact us before you place your order. We'll be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Privacy Policy
All credit card transactions are processed securely by Shopify Payments with 128-bit SSL encryption. As a necessary function of the product delivery process, Soundiron securely transmits only customer name, email and licensing information to our download delivery servers. Customers may be contacted by us directly with information about product updates and other news from time to time. However, we do not share or sell any customer contact information to any 3rd parties for marketing purposes.
License Transfer And Resale Policy
We can arrange for license transfers between users on a case-by-case basis. This process includes a re-licensing fee and requires both the original owner and recipient to contact us directly for verification and authorization prior to exchanging the license. Users may not transfer data directly. We will handle delivery of a new license via download through our system upon approval of transfer. Soundiron reserves the right to deny license transfer requests for any reason, at its own discretion.