EastWest Sounds

Name

EastWest Sounds

Legal name

East West Communications, Inc.

Website

https://soundsonline.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

West Hollywood

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. ComposerCloud+ Subscription: Recurring subscription model offering unlimited access to all 80+ EastWest collections with over 43,000 instruments. Annual and monthly billing options, plus student pricing. Subscribers receive all new product releases included.
2. Perpetual License Sales: One-time purchase licenses for individual products. Includes perpetual license to the specific product with lifetime access upon purchase. Products available at various price points from $59 to $599.
3. Individual Instrument Add-ons: Supplementary purchases for products outside subscription tier, allowing expansion of owned collections.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

EastWest Sounds develops, records, and distributes award-winning virtual instruments and sample-based sound libraries for music production through its soundsonline.com storefront and ComposerCloud+ subscription platform. The catalog spans orchestral, rock, pop, synth, vocal, drum, and world-instrument collections totaling 43,000+ instruments across 80+ product lines, delivered as VST/VST3/AU/AAX plugins via the proprietary OPUS engine. The company operates its own recording studios (EastWest Studios 1 and 2) and licenses its content for royalty-free commercial use in film, television, game, and music production.

Product overview

EastWest Sounds is a virtual instrument company offering a comprehensive portfolio of professional sample libraries and virtual instruments for music production. The portfolio includes both individual products and the ComposerCloud+ subscription platform providing access to 43,000+ instruments. Core orchestral products include Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition (the flagship award-winning orchestral collection), Hollywood Strings 2 (chamber strings), Hollywood Fantasy Orchestra (fantasy-themed orchestral sections), and Symphonic Orchestra. Synth and effects products include ICONIC (rare vintage synths), LO-FI (distorted textures), Spaces II (convolution reverb), String Machine (vintage string synths), and Forbidden Planet (cinematic synths). Vocal products feature Hollywood Choirs with WordBuilder 2 text-to-speech technology, Hollywood Backup Singers, Voices of Opera, Voices of Passion, Voices of Soul, and Voices of the Empire. Rock/Pop products include Ministry of Rock 1 & 2, Ghostwriter, and Fab Four. World instrument collections include Ancient Kingdom, Stormdrum series, Gypsy, Silk, and RA. All products run on the proprietary OPUS engine, available as VST/VST3/AU/AAX plugin formats for all major DAWs, or as standalone applications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ComposerCloud+ Subscription service providing unlimited access to 43,000+ award-winning EastWest virtual instruments across orchestral, synth, vocal, rock/pop, and world instrument categories. Subscribers receive all new product releases and instant downloads via the OPUS engine, with monthly and annual billing plus a verified-student annual tier and a 14-day free trial.
• Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition Best-selling and most awarded orchestral virtual instrument collection covering strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion, harp, solo cello, and solo violin with multiple microphone positions (Close, Mid, Main, Surround). Double winner of the 2022 NAMM TEC Award for Best Musical Instrument Software and Sound on Sound Best Software Instrument. Runs on the OPUS engine.
• Hollywood Fantasy Orchestra Fantasy orchestral collection with six themed sections—Strings, Brass, Winds, Percussion, Voices, and Orchestrator—covering Medieval/Renaissance/Baroque instruments, Wagner tubas, flugelhorns, alpenhorns, Irish whistles, uilleann pipes, ocarinas, and percussion, recorded in EastWest Studio One. Includes holiday expansion pack.
• Hollywood Strings 2 Chamber strings virtual instrument featuring a 21-piece string ensemble (6 first violins, 4 second violins, 4 violas, 4 celli, 3 basses) recorded with ultra-close miking in EastWest Studio 2 under Academy Award-winning engineer Shawn Murphy. Includes 148 instruments and 160+ GB of samples; 2025 NAMM TEC Awards finalist.
• Symphonic Orchestra Multi-award-winning orchestral virtual instrument recorded by Prof. Keith O. Johnson with three microphone positions and ready-to-use orchestral sounds for film, TV, and game scoring.
• Hollywood Choirs Cinematic virtual choir with WordBuilder 2 text-to-speech engine supporting English, German, Italian, Spanish, and Latin; male and female choirs with huge dynamic range, recorded with a 13-microphone setup. Diamond Edition contains 59 GB of 24-bit/44.1 kHz samples and is a NAMM TEC Award winner and Sound on Sound/ MusicTech Excellence Award recipient.
• Symphonic Choirs Award-winning virtual choir with WordBuilder technology featuring full choirs, soloists, and a boys choir; supports customizable lyrics in multiple languages for cinematic and concert scoring.
• Hollywood Backup Singers Virtual backup vocal library powered by WordBuilder 2, featuring powerhouse vocals by Durga McBroom, Lorelei McBroom, and C.C. White with custom lyric input for any language.
• Voices of Opera Virtual vocal library featuring soprano Larisa Martinez and tenor Carlton Moe with 229 multi-sampled vocal instruments and pristine legato performances for operatic writing.
• Voices of Passion Female world vocal library featuring singers from Wales, Syria, India, Bulgaria, and America with recorded phrases and expressive swell performances.
• Voices of Soul Soul vocal library featuring C.C. White with 600+ expressive phrases in every key, true legato transitions, and customizable syllables.
• Voices of the Empire Cinematic vocal library featuring Uyanga Bold's Mongolian and Bulgarian vocals with Mongolian legato instruments and 254 traditional phrases.
• Hollywood Pop Brass Pop horn section engineered by Grammy winner Moogie Canazio, designed for pop, rock, funk, soul, and Latin music with fiery, punchy brass sounds. MusicTech Choice Award recipient.
• DrumX Drum machine groove library featuring 10 iconic drum machines (TR-808, TR-909, TR-606, LinnDrum, LM-1, DR-55, DR-110, DMX, DrumTraks, SP-12) with 214 exclusive groove presets across 5 genre folders programmed by Jimmy Jam. Includes step sequencer, Groove Browser, tape saturation, and a professional effects chain. Priced at $199 intro / $299 regular.
• ProDrummer Pre-mixed drum kits performed by Grammy winners Mark 'Spike' Stent and Joe Chiccarelli, featuring 14,000 MIDI grooves. Drums performed by Steven Sidelnyk and Matt Chamberlain.
• Stormdrum 3 World percussion collection featuring instruments from Mickey Hart's (Grateful Dead) legendary collection, delivering huge cinematic drums for thunderous film and game scoring.
• Stormdrum 2 Epic drums and percussion collection delivering Hollywood blockbuster trailer sound with MIDI performances for drag-and-drop DAW workflow.
• Goliath Massive all-in-one collection featuring 180 instruments spanning percussion, guitars, keyboards, orchestra, choirs, and world instruments.
• The Dark Side Grunge and industrial virtual instrument produced by Grammy winner David Fridmann (MGMT, Flaming Lips) featuring distorted percussion, guitars, and choirs. MIPA Award winner.
• Fab Four Beatles-era instrument collection recorded with authentic EMI equipment, Studer tape, and vintage microphones, using over $1 million worth of period instruments and recording equipment.
• Ghostwriter Rock/industrial instrument library co-produced by Steven Wilson and Doug Rogers, featuring over 800 instruments including guitars, basses, drums, keyboards, and vocals.
• Ministry of Rock Rock instrument collection recorded in EastWest Studio 2 with dual-amp recordings and round-robin samples, featuring drums, bass, and guitars.
• Ministry of Rock 2 Heavy metal follow-up to Ministry of Rock featuring drums, bass, and guitars, with performances by legendary guitarists Shane Gibson and Greg Suran.
• ICONIC Synth collection of rare vintage synthesizers including ARP 2600, Minimoog Model D, Oberheim OB-X, Sequential Prophet 5, Yamaha CS-80, Synclavier II, Roland Jupiter-8, and Fender Rhodes. Contains 524 instruments, 500+ presets, and 138 GB of samples, programmed by Anthony Marinelli (Thriller synthesizer programmer). Priced at $89 intro / $299 regular.
• LO-FI Virtual instrument featuring dark, gritty textures and distorted sounds for hip-hop and EDM production, including an XY Pad with MacroFX (Stutter, Dream, Space, Grit), 16-step arpeggiator, dual filters, and extreme processing. Priced at $59 intro / $199 regular.
• Spaces II Convolution reverb plugin with over 1,020 impulse responses captured from real spaces including churches, concert halls, recording studios, catacombs, and train stations. MusicTech Excellence Award 10/10 recipient.
• String Machine Vintage string synthesizer collection sampling ARP Solina, Oberheim OBX, Roland RS-505, and Roland Jupiter 6, combining vintage string tones with modern strings, brass, woodwinds, and vocals.
• Forbidden Planet Cinematic synth collection enabling morphing between electronic layers, acoustic instruments, and futuristic sounds for horror, EDM, and hip-hop productions.
• Ancient Kingdom Virtual instrument collection featuring 26 rare ancient wind instrument categories from around the world performed by Lithuanian wind virtuoso Saulius Petreikis, with four groundbreaking FX signal paths using amplifiers, vibration enhancers, metallic surfaces, and distortion for otherworldly textures. Priced at $89 intro / $299 regular.
• Gypsy Authentic gypsy ensemble instruments with expressive legato transitions and nuanced performances by master musicians.
• Silk Silk Road instruments from China, India, and Persia featuring bowed, plucked, and wind instruments with live-recorded legato and full phrases.
• RA Rare world instruments collection covering Africa, Europe, the Middle East, India, the Far East, the Americas, and Australia.
• Pianos Concert grand piano collection with up to 18 velocity layers across Steinway D, Bösendorfer 290, Bechstein 280, and Yamaha C7.
• Hollywood Orchestrator AI-assisted composition tool for producing blockbuster soundtracks by loading instruments, choosing presets, and playing notes. Ships with Action, Adventure, Horror, and Comedy expansion packs and integrates with the OPUS engine.
• OPUS Player Proprietary software playback engine for all EastWest virtual instruments, featuring hyper-fast on-demand loading, advanced routing, multiple microphone positions, custom macros, and controller mappings. Supports VST 2, VST 3, AU, and AAX plug-in formats; runs natively on Apple Silicon (M-series) chips and PC M.2 PCIe solid-state drives.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 100 international awards recognizing product quality
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration16 records

AI capability2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Jimmy Jam (Terry Lewis)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with legendary producer Jimmy Jam (of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis duo) for DrumX virtual instrument. Jimmy Jam brought his signature groove programming and provided 214 exclusive groove presets across 5 genre folders. This is described as a unique collaboration bringing together one of the most successful hitmakers in music history with EastWest's sound design capabilities. Jimmy Jam has 42 Billboard #1 hits and over 100 gold, platinum, and diamond certifications.
• Anthony MarinellicoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAnthony Marinelli served as synth programmer for ICONIC collection. He is best known for his work on Michael Jackson's Thriller album, having programmed the distinctive synthesizer sounds. This collaboration brought authentic recreation of sounds from the world's most beloved songs.
• Saulius PetreikiscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSaulius Petreikis is the featured performer for Ancient Kingdom virtual instrument collection. He is a Lithuanian composer and wind instrument virtuoso who has released 11 original albums and contributed to 30+ others. He has performed with Two Steps From Hell, Hans Zimmer: A New Dimension, and The World of Hans Zimmer. He masters over 50 unique wind instruments.
• Shawn MurphycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademy Award and BAFTA winner Shawn Murphy served as sound engineer for Hollywood Strings 2. His credits include Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Hunger Games franchises, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Titanic, and Mission: Impossible.
• Two Steps From HellcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founder Nick Phoenix of Two Steps From Hell (along with EastWest) has co-produced multiple award-winning sample libraries and virtual instruments. Two Steps From Hell music has scored over 1,000 film trailers and helped spark the trailer music genre globally.
• Nick PhoenixcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLondon-born, American-raised composer Nick Phoenix is co-founder of Two Steps From Hell and has created iconic virtual instruments including Hollywood Orchestra, Symphonic Orchestra, and Stormdrum. He has earned over 100 awards for innovations in virtual instruments.
• Doug RogerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDoug Rogers is the visionary behind EastWest and recipient of three NAMM TEC Awards in the past five years for Best Musical Instrument Software. His dedication to quality has provided musicians with tools that changed how music is created and produced.
• iLoksupportingTechnology or IntegrationElectronic license activation partner. ComposerCloud+ offers iLok electronic licenses placed on computer without requiring separate iLok key purchase, though users can optionally use existing iLok 2 or 3 security keys.
• EastWest StudioscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEastWest Studios provides world-class recording facilities for all EastWest virtual instrument productions. Studios 1 and 2 have hosted artists including The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Weezer, Metallica, and film recordings for Encanto, A Star is Born, Beverly Hillbillies, Hawaii Five-O.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Native Instruments: One of the largest music technology companies globally, producing Kontakt (the dominant sample playback engine), Komplete bundle, Massive, and a broad hardware/software ecosystem. While much larger and broader than EastWest, Native Instruments is the primary competitor in sampled instrument platforms and licenses many of the same developers.

Direct peers

• Spectrasonics: Direct peer in premium sampled instruments, with flagship products Omnisphere, Keyscape, Trilian, and Stylus RMX. Spectrasonics competes head-to-head with EastWest in the composer/producer category with similarly priced perpetual licenses and overlap in synth and keyboard instrument markets.
• Spitfire Audio: London-based developer of high-end orchestral sample libraries widely used in film, TV, and game scoring. Closely comparable to EastWest in target customer (professional film/TV composers), product category (sampled orchestral instruments), and pricing tier (premium perpetual licenses and subscription bundles).
• Output: Developer of virtual instruments and creative production tools (Arcade, Exhale, Signal, Rev) sold via subscription and perpetual license. Output competes with EastWest in the synth/effects category and shares the B2C digital distribution and subscription monetization model.
• UVI: Developer of the Falcon hybrid sampler and a large catalog of sampled instruments across orchestral, synth, hip-hop, and world categories. UVI overlaps significantly with EastWest in product breadth, delivery model (Falcon engine + libraries), and target customer (producer/composer), making it a direct niche competitor.
• Heavyocity: Developer of cinematic virtual instruments (Damage, Evolve, Mosaic, Voices of Gaia) targeted at trailer, film, and game composers. Heavyocity competes directly with EastWest's Hollywood series and Stormdrum in the cinematic orchestral/percussion category.
• Cinesamples: Developer of high-quality cinematic sampled instruments (CineBrass, CineStrings, CineWinds, CinePerc) used in film and trailer scoring. Comparable to EastWest in category, target customer, and commitment to premium recording at world-class facilities.
• Orange Tree Samples: Developer of acoustic instrument sample libraries (guitars, bass, plucked strings, world) positioned similarly to EastWest in perpetual license and digital delivery. Comparable in catalog depth and customer (composer/producer) but smaller scale.
• Vir2 Instruments: Developer of premium acoustic and cinematic sample libraries (Vir2 Mojo Horn, Vitus, Electri6ity, Acoustic Legends HD). Vir2 competes in the same producer/instrument category as EastWest with similar B2C digital distribution and perpetual licensing economics.

Others

• EastWest Studios: The physical recording studio business owned by Doug Rogers. EastWest Sounds' instruments are recorded at these facilities. While operationally and legally separate businesses, the studios represent a vertical-integration advantage unique to EastWest versus competitors like Spitfire and Cinesamples.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/EastWestSounds
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/EWQLTutorials
• Facebookfacebook.com/eastwestsound
• Instagraminstagram.com/eastwestsounds
• TikToktiktok.com/@eastwestsounds

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about EastWest Sounds