Virtual instruments

A virtual instrument is only as useful as the sound it gives you for the part you are writing. Each roundup here explains what a library captures, where it shines and what it costs, with free options in every category.

  • MuseSounds & notation
  • Virtual instruments

How to use MuseSounds in MuseScore Studio

Install MuseHub, install the free MuseSounds libraries, restart MuseScore Studio and assign sounds in the Mixer — with the notation the engine responds to, the mistakes that keep a score sounding like MIDI, and how the paid libraries and MuseSounds Pro fit in.

5 min read
  • MuseSounds & notation
  • Virtual instruments

Spitfire Audio on MuseHub: all 11 MuseSounds libraries

Spitfire Audio makes 11 MuseSounds libraries for MuseScore Studio, and most of them were recorded in one room, the Hall at AIR Studios in London. The four Symphony libraries, Chamber Strings and Union Chapel Organ are included in MuseSounds Pro. The other five are sold only individually.

9 min read
  • MuseSounds & notation
  • Virtual instruments

Cinesamples MuseSounds: all 13 libraries for MuseScore Studio

Cinesamples makes 13 of the MuseSounds libraries on MuseHub. They include the Cine orchestra recorded at the MGM Scoring Stage in Los Angeles, solo instruments played by named artists, a choir, pianos, harps and a few rarer instruments. Five of them, the four sections of the Cine orchestra and VOXOS Epic Choirs, are in MuseSounds Pro, and the other eight you buy once and keep.

9 min read
  • MuseSounds & notation
  • Virtual instruments

Orchestral Tools’ Berlin Series on MuseHub

Orchestral Tools’ Berlin Series is on MuseHub as eight MuseSounds libraries for MuseScore Studio, covering strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion, harps, pianos, solo woodwinds and solo strings. None of them is included in MuseSounds Pro. You buy each library once and keep it, or get the four main sections together in the Berlin Series Orchestral Bundle.

9 min read
  • MuseSounds & notation
  • Virtual instruments

MuseSounds for marching band and drumline

The free Muse Drumline plays a marching battery in MuseScore Studio from the notation alone, with snares, tenors, tuned bass drums and cymbals recorded by The Blue Devils. Add MuseSounds for the winds, brass and front ensemble, and you can write a whole show and hear it before the first rehearsal.

9 min read