Osmose + Kilohearts, Woodwinds & Experimental Drums!
Expressive E Phase Plant Expressive Suite
Now that Osmose has been around for a while, users have been clamouring for more new sounds to use with it. Osmose ships with Eaganmatrix built-in and it is notoriously difficult to program. As with any such synth (I’m looking at you, FS1R!), users tend to rely on 3rd party patches. Patches designed by people with skills and patience levels far exceeding our own.
And now we have some! When the team at Expressive E saw Kilohearts Phase Plant synth plugin, they were instantly convinced this was a synth engine tailor-made for Osmose. To that end, they set about creating four sound banks for Phase Plant, specifically designed for use with the Osmose.
Stripes exploits wavetables and FM synthesis, Delicious focuses more on analog synths and keys and Onirica Vol.1 and Vol.2 deliver textures and soundscapes that one might call ethereal, orchestral and cinematic. Better still, these sounds will work fantastically well with any MPE-capable input device!
Each pack costs €15 individually, but you can buy the complete set for an introductory price of €39 (normally €79) as long as you own Phase Plant already. However, if Phase Plant isn’t in your plugin arsenal, you can buy it as well as all four banks for an introductory price of €99 (normally €199)!
- Buy Expressive E Phase Plant Expressive Suite
- More from Expressive E
- More from Kilohearts
- Related products from Thomann (Affiliate)
Action Woodwinds for Kontakt
One trend is to create libraries that work well with certain styles of music. Given that, nowadays, most orchestral libraries are used in film, TV and game scoring, we are seeing libraries geared towards cinematic styles. And NI’s ‘Action’ range does exactly that.
Action Woodwinds joins Action Strings 2 and Action Strikes in this motion-inspired set of tools. With Action Woodwinds, you can create your own score from scratch or use any of the more than 1000 pre-built phrases and themes. If you find a phrase you like, you can edit any part of it. You can even build your own set of phrases by combining your favourites.
Multiple mic positions are available and once you’ve created your masterpiece, you can even export your performance as a MIDI file that you can drop into other instruments, or your DAW, to really mix things up. Action Woodwinds is also fully NKS compatible for unprecedented integration with Native Instruments Kontrol keyboard controllers.
Action Woodwinds is available now for a launch price of £179, reduced from an MSRP of £269. The full Action Suite costs £449 or £269 if cross-grading from an eligible product.
- Buy Action Woodwinds for Kontakt
- More from Native Instruments
- Related products from Thomann (Affiliate)
Toontrack Elements EZX
EZX expansions work with both EZdrummer and SD3 and provide a fantastic way to expand your drum library for not a lot of cash. As well as being packed full of sounds, each pack comes with a collection of MIDI grooves to get your creative juices flowing.
Each kit also has a set of macro controls for you to tailor the sounds and samples to your taste. And Elements, their latest EZX, is no exception.
Elements contains 30 distinct kit presets with a raft of alternative variations which blend organic, electronic and analog drum sounds. These have all been recorded with an extensive array of outboard and FX, all produced, engineered and mixed by Alex Shulga (Sound Kalpa).
There are three libraries, Black Hole, Space and Earth, each with their own distinctive flavour. The one thing they all have in common is a unique and experimental slant. If other-worldliness in your beats is your goal, Elements EZX should fit the bill perfectly.
Elements EZX is available to buy now for €89.