October 2026– date –

Spectrasonics' Keyscape suits people who want electric pianos and vintage keyboards as well as grand pianos in one collection. We rate it on three criteria against 10 piano instrument plug-ins, using official manufacturer information.

Native Instruments' Noire suits people who want a piano with atmosphere for quiet piano pieces and music for video. We rate it on three criteria against 10 piano instrument plug-ins, using official manufacturer information.

Native Instruments' The Grandeur suits people who want a natural-sounding grand piano that works from pop to classical at a reasonable cost. We rate it on three criteria against 10 piano instrument plug-ins, using official manufacturer information.

XLN Audio's Addictive Drums 2 suits people who want to choose just the kits they need and start at a reasonable cost. We rate it on three criteria against 6 drum instrument plug-ins, using official manufacturer information.

Toontrack's EZkeys 2 suits people who cannot play piano but want to make songs from chord progressions and accompaniment ideas. We rate it on three criteria against 10 piano instrument plug-ins, using official manufacturer information.

IK Multimedia's MODO DRUM 1.5 suits people who want to freely reshape the drum sound itself, such as the size and material of the drums. We rate it on three criteria against 6 drum instrument plug-ins, using official manufacturer information.

Steven Slate Drums' SSD5.5 suits people who want to build drums that fit a song quickly, and people who want to switch between kits of many genres. We rate it on three criteria against 6 drum instrument plug-ins, using official manufacturer information.

Toontrack's Superior Drummer 3 suits people who want to work in detail, from shaping live-drum sound through to mixing. We rate it on three criteria against 6 drum instrument plug-ins, using official manufacturer information.

Native Instruments' Studio Drummer suits people who want the sound of kits from established makers and a lot of groove patterns at a reasonable price. We rate it on three criteria against 6 drum instrument plug-ins, using official manufacturer information.

reFX's Nexus 5 suits people who want to quickly pick a sound that fits their song from presets rather than make one themselves. We rate it on three criteria against 13 synthesizers, using official manufacturer information.