There are several broad categories, and some may seem over-represented: 185 laser effects, or 65 guitar sounds. But they’re all good, and you won’t run into situations where you don’t have enough variations to put together a convincing background.

Sci-Fi II isn’t cheap, but you’re paying for A-list sounds done by Someone With a Name, and recording them all must have represented a huge effort (well, unless there’s a submarine docked nearby so you can record torpedo whooshes easily). If you’re just looking to add some sound effects to a dance mix, other libraries will do the job for less bucks. But if you’re doing serious audio-for-video work on a deadline, forking over a grand is going to be less expensive than hiring someone to get these kinds of sounds—assuming they would even be capable of recording, processing, and editing them.

Contact: Serafine Collection, www.serafinecollective.com
Format: DVD-ROM with 842 WAV files (2.35GB); 16-bit/44.1kHz
List price: $995