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Small percusion lib

For Latin shakers (there are other types, including Brasilian coconut shakers, but that's not usually what people are asking for), here's my ranked list:
  1. IK Multimedia Cinematic Percussion (SampleTank)
  2. BFD Percussion
  3. Sonuscore Symphony Series - Percussion (Kontakt) — aka NI Symphony Series
  4. Evolution Series: World Percussion: South America (Kontakt)
  5. Impact Soundworks Rhapsody Orchestral Percussion (Kontakt)
  6. FlyingHand Percussion (Kontakt)
  7. Wavesfactory Sharine (Kontakt) — great loop patterns; flexible as well, and many types
  8. Wavesfactory W-Shaker (Kontakt) — Sharine's predecessor; similar, but fewer sounds
  9. Vir2 Elite Orchestral Percussion (Kontakt)
  10. Best Service Forest Kingdom (Engine)
  11. Miroslav Philharmonik (SampleTank)
  12. UVI World Suite: Latin Percussions: Shakers (Falcon)
  13. Acoustic Samples Percussiv (Falcon)
  14. Kontakt: World Percussion
Claves are trickier to get right in a sample library -- even in loops -- and a good pair is cheap (I recommend the just-released hickory set from Gon Bops), but even so, this is my ranked list, with qualifiers:
  1. BFD Percussion
  2. Sonuscore Symphony Series - Percussion (Kontakt) — aka NI Symphony Series
  3. UVI World Suite: Latin Percussions: Claves (Falcon)
  4. Sonokinetic Percussao do Brasil (Kontakt) — too high
  5. Evolution Series: World Percussion: South America (Kontakt) — too high
  6. Acoustic Samples Percussiv (Falcon) — too high
  7. Vir2 World Impact (Kontakt) — too high
  8. FlyingHand Percussion (Kontakt) — too high; incorrect interval
  9. Impact Soundworks Rhapsody Orchestral Percussion (Kontakt) — too high; incorrect interval
  10. Vir2 Elite Orchestral Percussion (Kontakt) — only one pitch
  11. Native Instruments Discovery Series: Cuba (Kontakt) — too low; only one pitch
  12. Garritan World Instruments (ARIA) — too low; only one pitch
  13. Xsample Library (Kontakt) — too high; only one pitch
Note that all of my BFD stuff has been up for sale for eons; I'm weaning myself off that product, even though its Percussion library remains just about the most deeply and authentically sampled. I just find that the single-hit drum-kit-setup approach doesn't work so well for a lot of those instruments.

Also, as I own Falcon, I always list that as the engine for libraries that run on either it or UVI Workstation, but all of the ones below are compatible with the free version as they don't use the extended synthesis engine of Falcon.
 
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Yep; even though it's closer to the middle of my list, I use it a lot, because I want more life and ebb-and-flow when doing early mock-ups. I figure in most cases I'm going to replace with the real thing as time allows anyway. But having a livelier shaker track at the mockup stage can help me make better judgment calls about whether an arrangement is too dense, too sparse, needs an extra kick to it, etc.
 
For Latin shakers (there are other types, including Brasilian coconut shakers, but that's not usually what people are asking for), here's my ranked list:
  1. IK Multimedia Cinematic Percussion (SampleTank)
  2. BFD Percussion
  3. Sonuscore Symphony Series - Percussion (Kontakt) — aka NI Symphony Series
  4. Evolution Series: World Percussion: South America (Kontakt)
  5. Impact Soundworks Rhapsody Orchestral Percussion (Kontakt)
  6. FlyingHand Percussion (Kontakt)
  7. Wavesfactory Sharine (Kontakt) — great loop patterns; flexible as well, and many types
  8. Wavesfactory W-Shaker (Kontakt) — Sharine's predecessor; similar, but fewer sounds
  9. Vir2 Elite Orchestral Percussion (Kontakt)
  10. Best Service Forest Kingdom (Engine)
  11. Miroslav Philharmonik (SampleTank)
  12. UVI World Suite: Latin Percussions: Shakers (Falcon)
  13. Acoustic Samples Percussiv (Falcon)
  14. Kontakt: World Percussion
Claves are trickier to get right in a sample library -- even in loops -- and a good pair is cheap (I recommend the just-released hickory set from Gon Bops), but even so, this is my ranked list, with qualifiers:
  1. BFD Percussion
  2. Sonuscore Symphony Series - Percussion (Kontakt) — aka NI Symphony Series
  3. UVI World Suite: Latin Percussions: Claves (Falcon)
  4. Sonokinetic Percussao do Brasil (Kontakt) — too high
  5. Evolution Series: World Percussion: South America (Kontakt) — too high
  6. Acoustic Samples Percussiv (Falcon) — too high
  7. Vir2 World Impact (Kontakt) — too high
  8. FlyingHand Percussion (Kontakt) — too high; incorrect interval
  9. Impact Soundworks Rhapsody Orchestral Percussion (Kontakt) — too high; incorrect interval
  10. Vir2 Elite Orchestral Percussion (Kontakt) — only one pitch
  11. Native Instruments Discovery Series: Cuba (Kontakt) — too low; only one pitch
  12. Garritan World Instruments (ARIA) — too low; only one pitch
  13. Xsample Library (Kontakt) — too high; only one pitch
Note that all of my BFD stuff has been up for sale for eons; I'm weaning myself off that product, even though its Percussion library remains just about the most deeply and authentically sampled. I just find that the single-hit drum-kit-setup approach doesn't work so well for a lot of those instruments.

Also, as I own Falcon, I always list that as the engine for libraries that run on either it or UVI Workstation, but all of the ones below are compatible with the free version as they don't use the extended synthesis engine of Falcon.

I cant believe I own most of this list yet my favorite for shakers is not on it:
https://insessionaudio.com/products/shimmer-shake-strike/
Good selection, good interface, good price, and they have sales. Right now the core+extended collection is $95, actually lower than the core alone ($99). ;)

Brio is also a cool one for the same reasons (mentioned above), plus Cinesamples Ticky Tackies:
https://cinesamples.com/product/tonal-ticky-tackies
Mostly sticks, rods, clicks, etc, but a great collection when on sale.

I can also recommend Cineperc, since they have many shakers and clavs (plus everything else percussion) but since it has gone on sale for $399, I wouldn’t pay full price for it.
 
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They seem to have a history as mostly a loop library provider, which means they were off my radar. But I see they have a Resonator Guitar library (too bad they didn't sample a very good model though).

I'd still rather record the real thing and not spend a lot of money on the placeholder mockup tracks, but even for people like myself, the current sale makes this InSession Audio library worth considering. And Wavesfactory did convince me that short patterns vs. single hits are best for some of these instruments.

That's a very comprehensive shaker library overall, with a friendly interface and good quality recording and mic choices. Not as convinced they chose the best actual instruments in each category to record; that's usually my biggest gripe when it comes to non-mainstream instruments (i.e. just about anything other than guitar, bass, drums, or orchestra), is that the vendor usually isn't knowledgeable enough to know what's what and thus often they'll choose a "tourist souvenir". :)

Ironically, the poor choice of source instruments by most sample library vendors, is a big reason why I went back to buying percussion and world instruments vs. depending on sample libraries. Even BFD Percussion is dominated by Latin Percussion branded stuff, which isn't tourist junk by any means but tends to be soulless and lacking the details that other companies such as Contemporanea and Gon Bops tend to nail on almost everything they make. Meinl is an up and coming company that keeps upping their game towards authenticity as well.
 
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I'll have to check out CinePerc and Brio a bit later as well; I am still too slammed with too many gigs and work deadlines to really go deep on anything new (to me) at the moment.

I suspect that Shimmer-Shake-Strike may currently be the most comprehensive and deep library for that specific category at the moment, and at the asking price, it wouldn't be redundant to buy it and then look at others for stuff not covered there (such as waterphone, thundersheet, etc.).

It seems to be pattern-only vs. single hits, which I think is probably OK for most if not all of what is covered -- especially if the patterns are short enough that they can be easily adapted to 7/4 and other odd time signatures -- but this might disqualify the library for those who need single hit samples.
 
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