Big Fish Audio has brought Momentum to the web, which feels like the right move for a sample platform in 2026.
The pitch is simple: open a browser, search the Big Fish Audio library, preview sounds, use your points, and download what you need. No DAW session has to be open. No plugin window has to sit in the way. No extra step has to happen before a producer can start hunting for the right loop, kit, or full product.
That is the part I like here.
Sample browsing is one of those tasks that can either keep a writing session moving or kill the whole mood in five minutes. The less ceremony around it, the better. If a producer is looking for a horn phrase, a neo-soul texture, a post-rock guitar layer, or a drum idea, being able to search from a browser is a cleaner way to keep ideas moving before the DAW becomes the center of the room.
Big Fish Audio’s email also points to AI search, currently in beta, which is exactly where sample discovery seems to be heading. Producers do not always search by product name or genre anymore. They search by feel, tempo, texture, instrument, and the vague half-formed idea in their head. Better search has real value when the library is large enough to slow you down.
Momentum Pro Pushes the Store Closer to a Workstation
Momentum Pro is also available on the web as a monthly subscription.
The big feature is access to advanced options, including the ability to purchase individual loops. That is a better fit for how many producers actually work. Sometimes you do not need the entire library, pack, or kit. You need the one phrase that fills a gap, the one percussion loop that sits right, or the one musical layer that gets the track unstuck.
That single-loop purchase angle is where Momentum starts to feel closer to a modern production workflow than an older sample-store model.
We have covered this larger shift before in our article on what happens to sample packs when AI becomes free and infinite. The short version is that libraries now have to compete on search, taste, curation, speed, and trust. Producers have endless raw material. What they need is a faster path to the sound that actually fits the track.
Big Fish Audio Still Has the Library Advantage
The other part of this announcement is the size and history behind Big Fish Audio.
The company positions itself as the largest distributor of 100% royalty-free sample libraries, with its own recording facilities and producer network behind the catalog. That matters because a browser tool is only as good as the library behind it. Search is nice, but search without depth becomes another empty box.
The latest Momentum releases highlighted in the email include Funk Soul Horns 3, Satin: Neo Soul, and Edge: Indie Post Rock, which gives a quick snapshot of the kind of range Big Fish is trying to surface. Horns, soul textures, and indie guitar material all point toward producers looking for more musical source material, not only drums and effects.
For anyone building tracks around loops, chops, and playable fragments, that range is the whole point. It is also why our list of royalty-free sample packs still feels relevant here. The best sample source is rarely the one with the loudest marketing. It is the one that gets you to a sound you would not have made alone, then lets you keep moving.
Momentum Is Available Now
Momentum is now available in a web browser from Big Fish Audio.
Producers can search, preview, use points, and download sounds directly online, with AI search currently in beta. Momentum Pro adds subscription access to advanced features, including individual loop purchases, while the plugin and app versions now support MP3 files and personal audio import.
The browser launch is not flashy in the usual plugin-news way, but it solves a real workflow problem. Sample discovery should be fast, searchable, and available before the DAW becomes the bottleneck.
That is where Momentum on the web has a clear use case. It gives producers another way into the Big Fish Audio catalog without making the browser feel like a watered-down version of the plugin.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
