New Year, New Sounds – Kompare & Kontrast: Sounds and Presets
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Expressive E bring us another collaboration, this time with Dawesome and their excellent Kontrast instrument, with presets made for the Osmose but equally at home with most MPE-compatible synths and controllers.
We kick off 2026 with an interesting collection of sounds. We have the latest Expressive Suite collab from Expressive E using Dawesome’s Kontrast, some very specific patches for Michael Jackson fans, a lovely little freebie for Kontakt and a tribute to Dave Smith.
Sounds and Presets
Kontrast Expressive Suite by Expressive E
I don’t think there’s been a better advocate for MIDI Polyphonic Expression, or MPE, than Expressive E. True, it’s pretty much been their entire raison d’etre, and their Osmose really lit the fire underneath the whole MPE buzz a few years ago.
It’s been a slow and sometimes rocky road, but the Osmose has gone from strength to strength, and plans to make its internal engine, made by Haken Audio, much more accessible will hopefully further the cause.
In the meantime, Expressive E have flown the MPE flag quite impressively with their Expressive Suite range, which recently gained a new member in the form of the Kontrast Expressive Suite. These suites pair up MPE hardware with selected collaborators who make MPE-compatible software synths.
The sound design team at Expressive E conjures up a large number of presets that take full advantage of all the expression that MPE has to offer, and then sells them as bundles, either as just presets, for those who already own the plugin, or as a nicely discounted bundle with the plugin itself.
I’ve never seen any numbers, but I imagine this is a decidedly mutually beneficial arrangement that works for both collaborators. Better still, it introduces us to new and exciting instruments and broadens our palette of expressive sounds.
Dawesome is a quartet of developers and musicians whose sole purpose is to create new and interesting plugins that are free of corporate shackles. As such, they can often fly under the radar, but dismiss them at your peril. Kontrast is an excellent example of this.
Kontrast is a wavetable synth with a big difference. It does away with the traditional scanning back and forth and goes into multiple directions with crazier shapes. And rather than using complicated interfaces and settings, everything feels instantly familiar.
Pair Kontrast up with an MPE controller, and the expressive capabilities are almost limitless. Obviously, Expressive E would love that you use it with Osmose, but the Kontrast Expressive Suite is equally at home with any decent MPE controller, be it Ableton’s Push 3, ROLI’s Rise or ASM’s HydraSynth.
All I can say is that I’ve had a ton of fun with Kontrast and my Osmose 61. It has been fascinating to learn how MPE can really push the boundaries of expression via a familiar interface without having to learn anything too taxing, unless I really want to.
- Buy Kontrast Expressive Suite here for €59.99 (presets only) or in a pack with the Kontrast plugin for €149.00
- More from Expressive E
- More from Dawesome
Synthrilla – Michael Jackson Patches
Ok, this one is kinda niche, but I think it’s fun, and I bet there’s a lot of people who will get a kick out of this, not least any Michael Jackson cover bands! So, if you’re looking to recreate ‘Thriller’, this is the sound pack for you!
‘Thriller’ is a classic. It’s a song that took on a life of its own, with its infectious hooks and THAT video by John Landis. Written by Cleethorpes’ finest songwriter, Rod Temperton, it featured a wealth of musical talent, including Greg Phillinganes, Michael Boddicker, and Rod himself, recorded and engineered by the great Bruce Swedien, synth programming by Anthony Marinelli, and produced by Quincy Jones.
It remains a classic to this day and never fails to fill a dance floor when played. And so it’s a track that many covers bands or cruise ship singers love to cover. Now, with the help of Synthrilla, you can cut out a lot of the work by using their presets.
Available as a complete bundle for Arturia’s Analog Lab or as individual patches for mostly Arturia plugins, as well as the likes of Roland Cloud’s own Jupiter 8, and now Cherry Audio’s Mercury 8, everything you need to recreate this smash hit is here.
They also offer sheet music for a live horn section, MIDI files and transcriptions for other parts too, so you’re pretty much set. To me, this feels like an elaboration of the old pro-MIDI files you can buy for karaoke machines and club singers, but with a bit more focus and effort.
Sure, it’s niche and many people will likely comment that it takes all the fun out of making your own presets, but if you’re a working musician, this could be a real time-saver and might just guarantee you that elusive Halloween gig!
- Buy the Synthrilla pack here for €19.90, or individually from €1.50
HAPI Drum for Kontakt by Edu Prado Sounds
Christmas has been and gone, but here’s a little gift from Edu Prado Sounds to keep those vibes going a little longer. And before you say it requires Kontakt, HAPI Drum will work with the free Kontakt player, so hush your mouth!
HAPI Drum is a sample library of the HAPI Steel Tongue Drum, created by Edu Prado and Jan Pfitzer and features samples taken using both a cork and a rubber mallet. These samples have been used to create 11 different .NKI patches featuring a simple yet useful interface.
Users can tweak the envelope settings as well as reverb size and smear, as well as low and high pass filter settings. It also comes with a built-in sequencer and arpeggiator. Quite a spec for a free instrument! Oh, and it’s also NKS compliant.
The HAPI is a very lovely, gentle-sounding thing, but the samples provided here, along with the built-in sound shaping, make it altogether quite versatile whatever your musical style or tastes.
- Download EPS Hapi Drum for free here
Dave’s Legacy – Analog Soundset for KORG Wavestate by ADL-MusicLab
Dave Smith’s legacy can never be overstated. His impact and influence on both musicians and the music they made lives on to this day. His creations launched a thousand hits, and so it’s kind of fitting that this pack of sounds paying tribute to him is for the KORG wavestate, an instrument that itself pays homage to Dave’s Wavestation.
Using a Prophet 5 and Prophet REV 2 as its sound source, this pack features 25 Performances, 40 Programs and well over 3GB of custom multisamples. These presets cover everything from organic and evolving pads and soundscapes, as well as the usual fare of leads, bases, arps and plucks.
The multisamples are also provided in WAV format, which means that you can use them in your own creations. ADL-MusicLab has endeavoured to capture the character of the source instruments and, as such, pay due deference to the great man.
The patches, samples and full installation instructions are provided in the pack. Take a listen to the demo and hear for yourself.
- Buy Dave’s Legacy here for €12.00
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