Splice Instrument first impressions: A sparkling new home for Spitfire Audio’s LABSSplice Instrument is a new sample-based plugin that gives you instant access to expressive software instruments. You don’t even have to know much about music production to get going.

READ MORE: “I’m doing it for something bigger than me”: Telepathic Instruments’ Orchid is Kevin Parker’s dream synth — he hopes it’ll be yours, too

With a free version available, Splice Instrument is accessible to every DAW user, and the library of free sounds is expanding each month. What’s more, with Splice’s recent acquisition of Spitfire Audio, LABS is now a part of the Splice Instrument library, adding even more value for producers and composers.
From Native Instruments’ Kontakt and SampleTank to Omnisphere and Vienna Ensemble Pro, the range of software instruments that use ROMpler technology is vast, so the Splice Instrument is entering a competitive space. At first glance, you might even be reminded of LANDR Chromatic, which uses a similar approach.
Image: Splice
Why Splice Instrument makes sense
As a platform, Splice already offers integration with DAWs such as Pro Tools, Studio One, and, more recently, Ableton Live in its latest beta (12.3b12). Furthermore, the Splice Bridge plugin lets you access the Splice library within almost any DAW, so it only makes sense that, with this resource, Splice would now offer subscribers a dedicated instrument.
The free version of the Splice Instrument gives you access to hundreds of sounds, with more added each month. However, if you want all the sounds, you’ll need to sign up for the Creator plan ($20/monthly), Creator+ plan ($40/monthly), or the Instrument plan ($13/monthly).
Using the Splice Instrument is as straightforward as it gets. The two main areas are the Discover panel, where you browse and select sounds, and the Play panel, for adjusting the sound you’ve loaded. Naturally, it can’t function without a preset loaded, so when you open the Splice Instrument, you’ll be prompted to select and load one so you can start playing or sequencing from your DAW.
When you load a preset, you’ll notice that each one is, in fact, a sound set with a collection of different articulations or variations of a particular sound. As you cycle through different sounds, you’ll see that the controls are preset-specific, so you only have access to anywhere between two and five parameters to shape the timbral, tonal, and spatial characteristics of each sound.
This seems limited, but the idea is clearly to streamline your workflow and give you nothing more than the essential tools you require to create a compelling performance before moving on to the next element in your song. Although it can sound like one, the Splice Instrument is not intended as a sound design tool — no need to spend an afternoon crafting and refining a single sound.
Instead, as with the Splice library, the Splice Instrument has been designed to appeal to the next generation of artists and producers. With a straightforward interface, you can find sounds and play them expressively, keeping the creativity flowing.
Image: Splice
What makes the Splice Instrument unique?
Within the Play panel, the Dynamics control stands out as the main port of call for adding expression while playing. This macro control, which is assigned to the mod wheel by default, increases the overall scale or stature of the sound. As the Dynamics control is available on every preset, the role it plays is completely different depending on the sound you select.
In the case of an electric piano sound that has been recorded on tape, the Dynamics control introduces saturation for a thicker, more textured sound. Alternatively, when you’re playing a choir patch, the same control increases the number of microphone signals and the natural reverb captured during the recording of the samples.
Because the macro controls in the Play panel change as you load each preset, and the sample range indicator tells you which keys to play, the Dynamics control becomes a surprise package. This means you can get the feel of each sound by playing and experimenting by making timbral adjustments to explore the sonic extent of the instrument.
The relationship between the amount of R&D that went into the creation of the backend of the Splice Instrument and the ease with which you can coax articulate sounds from your MIDI keyboard becomes more evident the further you explore the sound library.
There is an incredible scope of sounds, ranging from your bread-and-butter beat production fare, like R&B keyboard patches, to a composer sound set created in the famous New York apartment used by Philip Glass.
The sound library has been curated in a way that allows you to quickly find functional sounds for the intro, verse, or chorus of the song you’re creating. Meanwhile, there is an impressive range of more niche sounds that will inspire the creative process of a wide range of artists and producers outside the scope of commercial music production and motion picture scoring.
One of the most notable inclusions is that the Splice Instrument gives you access to all of the Spitfire Audio LABS and LABS+ sounds. This provides a sound palette that includes rare acoustic instruments, so you’re bound to find some hidden gems here. Overall, the strength of the Splice Instrument lies in its constantly growing sound library, which is easy to navigate and is brimming with sounds that have both commercial and artistic value.

Who is the Splice Instrument for?
The strength of the Splice Instrument lies in the easy access it provides to an ever-expanding landscape of beautifully recorded and curated sounds. This makes it useful to any user with a demand for new sounds in their workflow.
As we’ve mentioned, this makes it a particularly exciting prospect for pop-adjacent music producers, as well as composers for film, TV, and video games. Besides these avenues, the Splice Instrument is also extremely useful for hip-hop beat makers and electronic music producers. While its simple workflow lets you maintain creative fluidity, the range of sounds means you’ll always be able to find something usable.
Compared to alternative options, the Splice Instrument does have some unique benefits. While LANDR Chromatic gives you a similar style of online library-driven plugin interface starting at $8.25 per month, it doesn’t have the depth of sounds offered by Spitfire Audio. On the other hand, Audiomodern Soundbox is a really affordable option that gives you a slightly more involved plugin interface with seven soundpacks for 99 Euros, but the library isn’t on the same scale as Splice’s, of course.
Meanwhile, existing Splice subscribers are the most likely to immediately adopt the Splice Instrument, as you can do so with little extra cost involved. With Spitfire Audio, Splice has strengthened its position considerably, giving it a major advantage over competitors. This makes the Splice Instrument a valuable music production resource that allows you to create quickly and efficiently as a complete beginner or a seasoned professional.
The post Splice Instrument first impressions: A sparkling new home for Spitfire Audio’s LABS appeared first on MusicTech.