Native Instruments launches monthly subscription service for music samples

Native Instruments is launching a new music samples subscription platform in the US called Sounds.com, according to a recent report by The Verge.

Sounds.com lets music creators access, download, and build personal libraries of royalty-free samples, loops, and sound packs for personal or commercial use.

The service offers unlimited access and downloads for one flat monthly subscription fee and will come with two tiers: a free version, which will allow users to explore the interface in full with the ability to download a small selection of loops and samples, and a Pro version, which provides unlimited sample downloads and access to exclusive content that will be updated weekly.

The platform offers in excess of 500,000 sounds at launch from a wide range of genres, from notable sample providers as well as artists themselves.

Native Instruments says its primary concerns for Sounds.com are its simplicity and ease of use. Users can search by genre and then browse featured collections and recent releases relating to their chosen search term or category, adding it to their download library if they wish. Samples can be filtered by parameters like style, instrument, tempo, and the key.

Speaking to The Verge, Native Instruments’ chief digital officer Matthew Adell said that while Sounds.com appears to be a website at face value, it is absolutely a “cloud-based service.” It follows suit with what other companies are doing within the music industry, like Splice’s platform for collaborating on productions, and Roland Cloud, a service that allows cloud-based access to a variety of Roland soft synths for a monthly fee.

Adell also told The Verge that there are plans in the future to build a plugin that will be compatible with any Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) so a user’s library of Sounds.com samples can be easily accessed, searchable, and navigable from within the program they’re using to create music.

Sounds.com is launching with an introductory price of $9.99 a month for unlimited loop and sample downloads, and is currently limited to US availability during a beta period.

This news was originally reported by The Verge.