Hi, frankly I don’t know where to start with all the samplepacks and loops in Cubase 15 Pro, there’s so much to download, the descriptions are kind of vague, it seems unorganised and prelistening to everything is quite a hassle. I’m into orchestral/cinematic music writing but I’m considering buying something like Omnisphere just for a more coherent package. Does anyone have some pointers to the hidden gems and what’s worth checking out in all the included content?
An old story…
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Welcome 
If you’re into writing orchestral/cinematic music, it would be better to create your own samples, presets, and loops using VST instruments, synths, and whatever else you like–and just use the included samples and loops for inspiration.
If you can, just download everything. Using common English words to accurately describe and categorize sensory information like sounds and loops isn’t easy. It takes much less time to just listen to them and form an opinion.
It would be impossible to become a good chef by just reading recipe books–or studying descriptions of the flavors, textures, and scents of spices and other ingredients.
If you like the software, do it, but learning to create some of your own sounds would probably be a good idea too.
I don’t know. I just open MediaBay sometimes and listen to things at random. If you hear something you like, you can use the ratings to make it easier to find later.
Learn to use Media Bay properly, most people who do audio are organised they have things categorized, i use Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to know exactly where everything i have is located and easily tagged so i can find it.
You also need to understand the power of NO and learning not everything is of use, so dont use it.
Go through the samples and give sounds you hate 1 star and sounds you like 5 stars, now you can reorganize and never deal with stuff you dont like.
If you make Techno why bother uploading packs full of rock music loops and reggae beats ?
You deal with what your into, dont waste time with what your not into.
Do the same with vsts, if you create beats and drums using the main sequencer, dont waste time with Groove agent, if you have set synths you use dont waste time learning HALion.
The more limited you are in scope the better the artist you become.
remember…Jack of all trades master of none
Dont spread yourself thinly across a wide selection, get a narrow core field of what your into.
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Thanks for the advice!
Thanks for that link! I never really bothered to have a look at all those sound extensions, most of the time I randomly installed some of them and others not, and was also always annoyed by the -let’s phrase it mildly - unhelpful Download Manager… absolutely incomprehensible why they cannot organize and display this information there.
ha! I’ve never in my entire history downloaded any peripheral stuff….unless…..I happen to be reading an internet topic/review on something-or-other 2 years from now…and realize “hey, that may be something sb offers that I want to check out”.
Only then do I go perusing the da choices. Although for me, this rarely happens 
The free stuff is probably useful for noobies (and we all were noobs, one time, right?), but if you’ve been making or producing music for any length of time (10+ years), you’ve probably already got more samples/loops/VSTis/FX plugins/hardware than you need.
I know I have.
I don’t really use this stuff. I downloaded some material from 13 when I upgraded. I am not impressed by the stuff they have there, but then again, it all comes with the software, so it can’t be all top-notch. With that said, I like some of the material. But, yeah, it can be a headache cataloging all the sounds, going through them, etc.
Plus, it’s getting a little too heavy for the old hard drive, storage-wise…
Not even presets for native synths like Padshop, Retrologue and Groove Agent? Weird.
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I don’t think I’ve ever fired up any of those…I likely don’t even have them installed unless the core Cubendos historically, automatically install them.
As is the case with many others the vst, vsti products I own/use are all third party…when I use them instead of actual hardware.
I tend to download everything, though I only use a miniscule portion of the content (and probably none of the loops).
As for the 3 instruments mentioned, like @DosWasBest I have a bunch of third party options. Most everything I use regularly is actually third party. I don’t think I’ve ever used Retrologue in a recording to date (I have plenty of other options that go in that direction, including a number within the Arturia V Collection alone), and I’ve never used Groove Agent SE (the vast majority of drums on my projects are Toontrack, with some percussion elements from Kontakt libraries like Shimmer Shake Strike 2 and Session Percussionist – I’ve also used orchestral percussion elements from Kontakt libraries and I think maybe from the included Iconica Sketch).
One key exception among those three, though is Padshop, which feels different from the third party instruments I own. While I haven’t used it a lot, I have used it at least a few times when looking for something a little different on pads.
I also do use Halion Sonic SE somewhat for specific instruments, for example using Verve for felt piano on one recording where it fit better than NOIRE or when I’m looking for something to fill a need that other instruments weren’t quite giving me what I want and searching through the presets turns up something that works better.
After the Cubase 15 release I did at least get thinking about the possibility of trimming back some of those loop libraries since it is unlikely I’ll ever use them. But it was just easier to hit Install All than to pick and choose. I have the same problem with NI Komplete releases on that front.
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