Arcade

Arcade is Output's playable loop sampler, and it reframes what a sample library can be. Instead of shipping a fixed set of one-shots, it streams a living, royalty-free catalog that grows every day: dozens of curated "Lines," thousands of Kits, and tens of thousands of loops spanning modern pop, hip-hop, trap, lo-fi, cinematic, ambient and more. The core trick is that every loop becomes chromatically playable across your keyboard, so a single melodic phrase or texture instantly turns into an expressive instrument you can jam with, chop and re-pitch in real time.

It excels at momentum. Load a Kit, play a few keys, and you have the skeleton of an idea in seconds. The macros, built-in effects and Loop Mode make it genuinely fun to noodle with, and the interface is one of the cleanest in the business, which lowers the barrier for beginners and keeps pros in flow. For songwriters chasing a hook, beatmakers building fast, or creators scoring video, that speed is the whole point.

The trade-offs are real. Arcade is subscription-only, and unlike a one-time purchase such as SampleTank 4 or MODO Bass 2, the day you stop paying is the day the sounds go dark, including anything you built into your projects. The sound palette, while enormous, leans loop-based and can feel generic if you lean on presets rather than mangling them. And it is not a deep sampler: if you want granular editing, sample slicing and beat-matching for your own drum library, XO or a full Kontakt setup will go far deeper.

Value depends on your workflow. At $12.99 a month it is cheap inspiration and a bottomless idea machine, but over years it costs far more than owning a comparable library outright. Choose Arcade if fresh, playable, hassle-free sounds and constant novelty matter more to you than permanently owning your tools. If you want a fixed instrument you keep forever, look to the alternatives instead.