Pinknoise - KontaktBanks: Synthesizer libraries for Kontakt
In recent months a small "musical-technological revolution" has been taking place: in practice, the trend in using, for one's live or studio works, very heavy libraries with sounds that are sometimes interesting, but which require tons of RAM and CPU more and more performing. In this issue we have taken a leap into the past, trying for you 4 synth libraries that also reproduce very dated hardware models, but which have made and will continue to make music history.
Pinknoise, coming from the refills market for Reason and specialized in bringing the typical sounds of vintage synths to new formats, has for some time been supplying libraries in the other famous and hyper-popular format, the one for Native Instruments Kontakt.
With the release of the recent “Virology”, a library full of sounds from the acclaimed Access Indigo2 / VirusC, there are four proposals currently in the catalog. TO virology are added Deep flight (based on the Roland D-50), Matrix (from the Matrix 1000) ed Evolver (from DSI Evolver).
Library structure
The patches for Kontakt exploit in a balanced and "usable" way the "scripting"By Kontakt, with a very clear interface that includes the main voices to apply some" tweak "on the fly, such as the filter (Low or High pass), double ADSR for the sound and for the filter, delay and reverb sends, as well as arpeggiator. All knobs are obviously mappable on controllers with the Kontakt midi-learn function. Patches are conveniently divided into categories such as Bass, Leads, Pads, FX, Poly, Arp & Sequence, and so on. In addition, the manufacturer has created a section on the site "Control map presets" where you can download the midi maps of the following controllers AKAY MPK 49, Korg control 49 and the whole series Novation, in order to use these settings to manage, as in the past, all the synth parameters in real time, without using the inconvenient and useless mouse that allows you to use one parameter at a time and does not have the precision of a knob and a physical slider.
How it sounds
The sound, in all four libraries, is of excellent workmanship: good tonal presence and balance, easily insertable in the mix, demonstrating a sampling acquired with the right precautions and an adequate "gear". It must be said that the libraries do not contain particularly elaborate and evolutionary sounds, as most of the time it was preferred to keep the original appearance of the sounds. In the opinion of the writer, the 2 most interesting libraries are those of the Matrix 1000, as we find pad sounds less abused than the classic Roland sounds that rage in almost all musical productions and difficult to find in other much more noble collections of sounds; on the other hand, Evolver, with a very inca… to sound, is definitely more suitable for electronic music productions.
Information about libraries
For each library, the author has prepared an Introduction section, where there is a small history of the synth, also indicating the kind of sound that is best able to reproduce and which historical group used this instrument. I found very interesting the release to the user of the midi implementation table conceived as a quick reference guide, which allows to identify all the MIDI controls (CC) of the 4 libraries in Kontakt.
In addition, the manufacturer has created a section on the site where the user can download a demo version to test the quality of the product.
The library can only be purchased via the internet and, therefore, we will obtain it via download.
Pro:
- The price is absolutely in the average of other similar products.
- The Control map presets section is beautiful
Cons
- It would have been preferable to have a section of programming that also reproduced sounds completely different from those of the original hardware.
USEFUL INFORMATION
Producer: KontaktBanks
Website: www.kontaktbanks.com
Model: virology
Download: 2.64 Gb
Price: Euro 37
Model: Deep flight
Download: 1.17 Gb
Price: Euro 27
Model: Matrix
Download: 827 Mb
Price: Euro 27
Model: Revolver
Download: 1.17 Gb
Price: Euro 27
