Splice Sounds

Www.splice.com

Starting life as Splice Studio, a cloud app for online project backup and collaboration, Splice Sounds is probably the most wellknown subscription service for royalty-free samples. Search, favourite and download samples using the Spotify-style web browser, and download them to the Dropbox-esque companion PC/Mac app installed on your computer for drag and drop to your DAW.

There’s a comprehensive search function that lets you hunt down samples by key, tempo and style; and you can keep any sounds you download, even if you end your subscription.

PROS

> Splice offers 2.5 million sounds from respected soundware developers including mau5trap, Loopmasters and Sample Magic. > The search function is easy to use, yet offers plenty of scope for advanced searching, including the option to look for one-shots, loops or synth presets. > The free companion app is simple but effective – access your Splice Sounds library without having a full web browser open. > MIDI files and synth presets are also available. > You can curate bespoke Repacks – essentially your own custom playlists of samples. This is handy when you want remote access to your most-loved samples. > Samples can be imported into your DAW via drag-and-drop, or copied to the clipboard and pasted from there. > At $7.99 per month, the lowest tier plan is the cheapest monthly sample plan around. > Cancel at any time, and your unused credits are held until the end of the billing cycle. Plus, you can freeze your subscription for up to two months, should you need to.

CONS

> It’s a shame the app only lets you browse sounds you’ve already chosen, as opposed to the entire Splice library – you still need to use a web browser to do that. > You can’t audition samples and loops in sync with your DAW. A Splice browser plugin that integrates with your DAW for synced previews of loops and one shots would be a nice touch, and would help integrate Splice into your studio workflow more efficiently.

Price/tiers

100 credits: $7.99/month 300 credits: $13.99/month 600 credits: $21.99/month 1000 credits: $29.99/month