Review: Riffendium 4 and Riffendium 5 by Audiofier

The folks at Audiofier have developed one of the best kept secrets in the world of vst guitars: Riffendium. Now, the world of Riffendium has been expanded to a fourth and fifth volume, including editable trailer guitar riffs (Riffendium 4) and editable action guitar riffs (Riffendium 5).

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Review: Riffendium 4 and Riffendium 5 by Audiofier

Riffendium 4 and 5 continue to unfold what has become, in my opinion, one of the best kept secrets in the world of virtual electric guitars. While the Riffendium series are not playable guitar instruments, the loops within Riffendium can be chopped and customized in a plethora of ways that allow you to create your own custom guitar performances. If you are looking for a way to add a real guitar feel to your tracks without having to spend tons of time tweaking parameters, but you also don’t want to sound like everyone else out there, Riffendium represents the easiest and quickest way to get there.

Riffendium 4 and Riffendium 5 sells for $85.00 each from Audiofier

Thoughts

To say I am a fan of Audiofier’s Riffendium series would be an understatement. When I need to insert a real-sounding electric guitar performance into my tracks, these libraries have become my go-to instrument. I have used Riffendium in rock, a sports track, and most recently within a hip-hop track. When delivering my first version of the hip-hop track to my production company earlier this week I was told “your mix is pretty good, but your guitars sound really good!” Mind you, that was all Riffendium. Riffendium featured heavily within my hip-hop track and I didn’t add a single bit of processing to it. The sound out of the box is first-rate – it just sounds amazing as soon as you open it up.

So, what is Riffendium? Well first, Riffendium is not a playable guitar vst. Instead, Riffendium is a collection of editable guitar loops that can be customized and saved to as many as eight key switches to create a total guitar performance. Each Riffendium volume focuses on a particular mood or genre, but the lines become somewhat blurred between each volume, with multiple styles popping up in each one while remaining true to the theme of that particular volume. Riffendium 4 and 5 each come with 44 guitar performances. Riffendium 4 comes with 3,040 loops, while Riffendium 5 includes 4,218 loops.

The wonderful thing about the loops within Riffendium though is that they can be combined in a plethora of different ways to create custom performances. Riffendium makes this especially easy through the use of the randomize (dice) button, which allows you to shake up the bag of loops associated with a guitar performance and put them into a new arrangement. At first blush, this might sound hap-hazard and make you think the loops could sound disconnected and robotic – nothing could be further from the truth. No matter how many times you hit the randomize button (and I’ve hit it A LOT!) most loop arrangements come out sounding musical and fresh. Don’t want to leave the order of the loops to chance? No problem. Riffendium allows you to set the number of articulations you want to use and choose from the loops created for that guitar performance to design your own custom loops.

You can even insert silent beats in between each articulation/loop to customize it further. One of my favorite parts about Riffendium is the speed with which it allows me to get things done. I’m a busy, busy guy – I have a family, work a full-time office job, compose production music for multiple libraries, do some film scoring, and write for Sample Library Review! All that to say, I’m regularly looking for ways to streamline my workflow to allow me to make the most of my composing time. Riffendium gives me a no-fuss way to interject adrenaline-charged guitars into my tracks with little effort.

Riffendium 5 Sound

What about the sound? Riffendium equally excels within the sound department. Out of the box, Riffendium sounds like the best studio guitar performances you could ask for. On top of 44 different guitar performances per volume (different styles, guitars, etc.) you can also select from different guitar cabinets, automatic double tracking, and a good range of onboard effects (chorus, distortion, eq, delay, and reverb). As if that weren’t enough, Riffendium comes equipped with step sequencers for volume and filter and a stutter repeater as well, which extends the usefulness of the looped performances while adding a healthy dose of craziness to your guitar tracks. Top this off with a nice set of Kontakt snapshots to get you off and running, and you really have something special.

Riffendium 4 Step

Riffendium 4 focuses particularly on trailer guitars. However, don’t let the name fool you – while this volume is a great addition to a trailer composer’s library, it spans a wide range of electric guitar performances, from single string riffs and ostinatos to grunge rock guitars and more. Riffendium 5 is referred to as “Action Guitars.” However, again this is spanning from clean riffs to fast rock riffs, fitting for action or chase scenes, but also for a lot of stuff in between. Riffendium 5 has some smoking hot guitar riffs that would be as much at home within a hard rock track as within a cinematic chase scene.

Riffendium 4 Main Interface

Each Riffendium volume also comes with a “Rev” edition in which the guitar loops and performances are presented in reverse. This just adds to the usefulness and flexibility of each library.

Riffendium’s dynamic and customizable loops are a welcome entry into a world filled with static guitar loops. Riffendium 4 and 5 do an excellent job of carrying the Riffendium legacy forward. Bravo to Audiofier for an innovative, creative, and excellent sounding series of instruments!

Facts

Riffendium volumes 4 and 5 work within the full version of Kontakt 5.8+. Riffendium 4 downloads as over 6GB, while Riffendium 5 weighs in at over 4GB. Each volume comes with 44 guitar loops with 3,040 loops (volume 4) and 4,218 loops (volume 5) respectively. Riffendium 4 and 5 are available from Audiofier for $85 per volume.

Riffendium 4 and Riffendium 5 sells for $85.00 each from Audiofier

Demos of Riffendium 4 and Riffendium 5 by Audiofier

Videos of Riffendium 4 and Riffendium 5 by Audiofier

Contributor Raborn Johnson reviews Riffendium 4 and Riffendium 5 by Audiofier
“One of the best kept secrets in the world of vst guitars: Riffendium. Expanded to a fourth and fifth volume, including editable trailer guitar riffs and editable action guitar riffs.”