Sampling the Extraordinary: An Interview with Soniccouture

Since its inception in 2005, Soniccouture has become a household name for music producers and composers seeking unique, high-quality virtual instruments. Known for their meticulous sampling techniques and passion for rare and unconventional sounds, the company has consistently pushed the boundaries of music technology. We had the pleasure of speaking with James Thompson, one half of Soniccouture (the other being Dan Powell) to explore their journey, creative process, and future projects.

1. Take us back to the very beginning of Soniccouture. What inspired you to start the company? Can you share some memorable anecdotes or challenges from those early days of establishing yourselves in the music technology world?

After Dan & I left Yamaha R&D, we did some sound design work for Native Instruments in 2005. This was a showcase for the new Kontakt 2 release, which was the first to feature KSP. NI made a product called ‘Kontakt Experience,’ and we contributed a lot of sampled instruments to that. Once the project was complete, we found we had quite a lot of material left over, so we decided to release it ourselves. We already had a basic website called ‘Soniccouture,’ as we had been pursuing music and sound design for advertising up until that point.

The collection we put together was called ‘Abstrakt Vol. 1,’ and was sold by mail on CD-ROM. We put it up on the website with a PayPal link, and to my astonishment, someone bought a copy of it that day. The next day we sold two more, one of which was to Chris Carter from Throbbing Gristle. That was encouraging, and although sales continued only at a small level for a while, it was enough for us to keep going.

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2. Soniccouture is known for sampling rare and unique instruments from around the world, like Balinese gamelans, glass instruments, and tower bells. Many of your libraries focus on capturing the authentic sounds of non-Western cultures. What drives your passion for these unconventional sounds, and how do you approach sampling these traditional instruments in a respectful and meaningful way?

When we started the company, we believed that because pianos and drum kits had already been sampled there would be no demand for any more. So we looked for things that hadn’t been sampled before. Of course now we understand that there is always room for another sampled piano because each has a different character, and different developers can put their own stamp on an instrument.

Dan will always study a traditional instrument for some time before work begins. That is his passion, and so it happens organically—he studies instruments that he is naturally interested in and that he thinks can be rendered effectively by sampling. Sometimes this means having an instrument made specially for us, such as our Clavichord or Array Mbira.

3. Your Kontakt libraries are praised for their incredible depth, detail, and playability. Can you walk us through your meticulous sampling process and what goes into creating an instrument from start to finish?

It varies from product to product—but from the early days we adopted a philosophy of ‘no limits.’ In the days when we created instruments for Yamaha workstations, we had to work within very tight memory limits—8mb, 20mb pianos etc.—so with Soniccouture we were very aware that there were no longer such limits. At least, only the limits of a DVD or a download, which were so very much bigger than we had been used to.

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For example, we have always sampled every single note of an instrument rather than interpolate between intervals, and we never assume that an instrument has a limit to the number of velocity layers that can be recorded; it may not seem that the sound changes very much, but it is ALWAYS worth having more samples. The more samples you have, the more the character and soul of an instrument can start to reveal itself. So we never say ‘what is the minimum we need?’ Rather: ‘how much can we get?’

4. The music technology world is rapidly evolving with emerging technologies like AI. How do you see virtual instruments developing in the coming years? What’s Soniccouture’s perspective on AI’s role in sound design and sampling? Are you exploring or experimenting with AI-assisted sampling techniques?

It’s going to be interesting, for sure. Like many people, I hope that human guidance will always be the key to great art and music, and that society doesn’t throw it all down the drain in the race for Fast + Free content.

5. Geosonics II is a fascinating collaboration with legendary field recordist Chris Watson, featuring over 100 waveforms from extreme environments. Can you tell us more about the evolution of this project from the original Geosonics to this new version? What unique features in Geosonics II are you most excited about?

Geosonics II both simplifies and adds powerful features to the original version. Mainly I’m talking about the unique 3-way vector ‘Pyramid’ controller, which allows you to create moving blends between the main Chris Watson recording and two additional sample layers.

People are often surprised about how much control you have over this feature—it’s not simply for dragging around with your mouse—you can record movements like an envelope, modify the paths in interesting ways, change the speed etc., etc. But with Geosonics, the unique selling point is always going to be the sound. As one review said: it has an almost orchestral grandeur that comes from the large scale of the natural recordings. Many patches will just sit behind your track at a low level and make it sound huge.

6. Soniccouture’s instruments have been used on some high-profile soundtracks, like Breaking Bad. Can you share some stories or examples of how your products have made their way into major film/TV projects? What was it like hearing your sounds used in those iconic scores?

We’re aware of many top composers using our instruments—either because they tell us or we see their name on an order! But to be honest, most of the time we don’t notice or hear them directly because composers use so many sounds—and layer/process things so much—that it’s not really worth trying to listen out for them.

But once in a while something jumps out—and so it was with Breaking Bad! Our Balinese Gamelan is such a distinctive sound; in this case it was used as an ensemble for part of the soundtrack—so it seemed very clearly ours! We contacted composer Dave Porter who confirmed this—and gave us a nice interview for our blog.

7. With so many inspiring projects under your belt already, what’s next on the horizon for Soniccouture? Any exciting new releases or recording expeditions you can tease?

We’re working with Robin Rimbaud—Scanner—to release his huge archive of material in a new engine that will enable creative manipulation. That should be out in 2025.

We also have an exclusive release coming through Native Instruments very soon—a very exciting new sampling engine that can transform any clip of audio into a powerful suite of instruments.

2025 will also see some exciting collaborations with sound designers K/V—more info soon!

8. If you were to be a castaway on a desert island and could only bring three albums to listen to, what would they be?

I think everyone dreads that question! It can set a music fan off down a path of anxiety for days—and three is such a small number! A Top Five or Ten gives you more scope… but today I would say:

• Bringing It All Back Home – Bob Dylan
• Selected Ambient Works II – Aphex Twin
• Elysium – Pet Shop Boys

Thank you for your time, James. I’ll return the favor by picking my Top Three Soniccouture products. It’s not as hard as choosing three favorite music albums, but it’s still not easy, given how excellent your libraries are!
Ok, let’s go with:

• The Attic 2
• Ondes
• Geosonics II

Check out these ones (and more!) on the Soniccouture website.