Sound library

The Sound library is a shelf of 251 sampled instruments for the Sampler: pianos and keys, guitars and basses, harps, mallets and bells, strings, brass and winds, drums and percussion. Each one is a complete mapped instrument with velocity layers, loops where the source has them, and the credits of the people who recorded it. The samples are served from samples.drtape.app and downloaded only when you ask for an instrument; after that they stay in the browser’s own storage and load again without a connection.

When to use it

Open it from Sound library in the Sampler’s header, or from Choose an instrument in an empty Sampler, whenever a part needs a real instrument rather than a synthesized one. The flow is Listen, then Try, then Use: hear a demo, hear the instrument on your own track, decide.

Controls

Browsing

Search, category filters and an On this device filter narrow the list. Selecting a row opens its details: a short musical summary, then preparation notes, download and memory figures and the source credits under Details. Row badges tell you what is On this device, On this track and Trying. Frankensnare is one expandable family holding its 28 variations; search still finds individual variants.

Listen to demo

Plays a recorded example independently of the song. Where an instrument has several authored demos, a dropdown chooses between them. Starting a trial or leaving the shelf stops the demo.

Try on track

Downloads whatever is missing, decodes it and prepares a temporary instrument while the song keeps playing. When it is ready the track switches over and playback resumes from where it was, loop included. The trial strip names the instrument and the track and offers Compare original, Cancel and Use. Browsing other rows does not change the trial.

Use, Cancel and Compare

Use keeps the instrument as one undo step and removes instrument automation lanes that no longer apply. Cancel restores the original immediately. Compare original switches between the two without losing the candidate. Closing the shelf with a changed trial pending asks Keep sound, Discard changes or Continue browsing; the same guard protects saving, loading and switching tracks. Undo and Redo ask too, then do nothing more after your answer, so press ⌘Z again once the sound is kept or discarded.

Downloads and files

The options menu manages downloaded instruments and project presets. A kept instrument’s samples are stored inside the project file, so a project opens on another machine without the library. The Sampler can also export an instrument as a portable file and import one.

Tips

• Download the instruments you use most while online; they then open offline like any other part of the offline app.
• Prepared drum kits show named pads and keep their original key mapping, so a MIDI drum part written for one kit plays on another.
• Large pianos use a lot of memory; the Details figures tell you before you download.