FM SOUNDS & SAMPLES
> Whether or not you believe in the healing powers of sound, there is no doubting the appealing audio qualities of so-called singing bowls.
The tone any given object is capable of making is broadly defined by its shape and the manner in which it is struck. Circular objects tend to give off a relatively unchanging sound spectra, and one often heavily dominated by a single fundamental frequency. Singing bowls are no exception, giving out a pure tone almost like a sine wave.
It is with this spirit in mind that Spitfire have embraced the recording of seven quartz crystal bowls. These were played by composer Aska Matsumiya in the spacious surroundings of Hackney Round Chapel in London and recorded using six different beaters with three variously distanced mic positions. The resulting presets are broadly categorised into Longs, Swell, Rolls and Normal Short and Damped Shorts. There are also some tuning fork recordings and Warps (processed) versions thrown into the mix. These are selectable via Spitfire’s custom Kontakt GUI, which also offers some simple editing capabilities.
The price may prove to be a barrier of entry for some, but overall there are some nicely playable tones for creating ambient beds and ethereal backdrops. Bruce Aisher spitfireaudio.com
VERDICT 8.0
UVI – Glass Orchestra €199
> Moving from crystal to glass, UVI have recorded and sampled a set of 14 glass instruments for their new Glass Orchestra library. The instruments themselves are the brainchild of Jean-Claude Chapuis, though Benjamin Franklin’s Glass Harmonica (based around the use of differently sized rotating concentric glass bowls) also finds a place here.
One slight frustration of UVI’s more recent libraries has been the loading time of some presets – even those based on similar sample sets or instruments. A faster computer and storage drive will help, but even on the latest systems connected to a ridiculously fast SSD drive the loading process is not a smooth as it might be.
That aside, UVI have clearly put a lot of thought into this collection, and as well as the depth of sampling (equivalent to 71GB of WAV files) there are over 400 presets and there’s lots of scope for editing and experimentation via the usual array of UVI Workstation controls and effects. This means that as well as more conventionally played instruments there are arpeggiated, sequenced and processed presets that widen the sonic palette significantly.
As with the aforementioned crystal bowls pack, the price here may also put off some potential users, but it is also available as part of UVI’s sonicpass subscription. Bruce Aisher uvi.net
VERDICT 8.9
Audiotent – Vapor £37
> Boundary-leaping pack of bumping basslines, pulsating pads, rich rhythms and dope drum loops and hits. All
