Galactic Spaces, Between Worlds – Sounds and Presets
5,0 / 5,0 | 
Galactic Spaces and Between Worlds… a distinctly astronomical feel with a twist to this week’s column!
Not sure if we’re still on an Artemis II buzz in the world of sound design, but I can certainly see how pioneering spaceflight fires the imaginations of these clever people. This week, we have Galactic Spaces and Between Worlds from Nick Klimenko and much more!
Sounds and Presets – Galactic Spaces, Between Worlds
Galactic Spaces for Zoom MS-70CDR+ by Nick Klimenko
So I know this column is for synth sounds and presets, but I couldn’t let this one pass us by, given that the Zoom MS-70CDR+ is used by many synth players. Galactic Spaces has been put together by long-standing synth patch designer, Nick Klimenko, with synth players very much the target audience.
Galactic Spaces contains 53 new, custom presets that include a range of reverbs, delays, pitch shifters, shimmers and choruses, so plenty of great effects for sprucing up your synth (or guitar) patches! As the name of the bank implies, expect lots of big, ambient processing.
If you haven’t already got an MS-70CDR+ pedal, you really ought to check it out, as well as the Galactic Spaces bank of presets. It’s very affordable and has some amazing effects inside that would not be out of place on an FX unit two or three times its price. What makes it great for us synth-heads is the fact it is stereo and also features MIDI control via it’s USB-C connection.
You can grab Galactic Spaces for the Zoom MS-70CDR+ direct from the LFO.store for just €15 now.
Between Worlds for Sojus Records Ensoniq SD-1 by Nick Klimenko
That Nick Klimenko has been busy of late. Not content with delivering the Zoom MS-70CDR+ presets above, he’s been busy making patches for the latest freebie sensation to take the synth plugin world by storm, Sojus Record’s rather brilliant take on the Ensoniq SD-1.
The original SD-1 was one of Ensoniq’s range of Transwave synths, using additive synthesis and wavetables to create some deeply impressive sounds at what was then a much more palatable price than its competition. Whilst their synths were a little rough around the edges, the bang for buck ratio was superb.
In what seems to be an emerging trend of taking MAME recreations of classic synths and making them into much more usable VST/AU plugins, the SD-1 is both a delightful piece of sonic nostalgia as well as an entirely useful and excellent instrument.
Nick has fashioned a decent collection of 54 presets that cover everything from strings to drones, pads to basses and plucks to lead sounds. Something for everyone! The plugin itself does require you to find your own ROM files, for legal reasons, but once you do, and you upload this bank, you’ll be having a lot of fun!
You can buy the bank from the LFO.store for €15 now.
New opsix Sound Pack for KORG opsix by Ian Dixon
We’ve featured the sounds of Ian Dixon here before, and I’ve been lucky enough to have appeared on his podcast show a couple of times, talking all things DX and Fairlight, amongst other things. One of the other things he does under his ‘The Digital Lifestyle’ banner is sound design.
Ian is a big fan of KORG and, in particular, their range of Pi-based instruments and, as has become all too common in this column, we’re featuring another bank of sounds for this range of synths, this time the opsix Altered FM synth.
KORG’s first Pi-based synth took on FM synthesis, a method that until recently, had a reputation for being difficult to program, a fallacy born from the early days of FM and the somewhat impenetrable OS of the Yamaha DX7.
The opsix, however, was cleverly designed to expose the important parts of FM programming in an intuitive and easy to understand interface that made FM far more appealing to the masses. Thet also added in various filter models from their legacy range of synths and a lot more algorithmic possibilities of the DX7 of old.
Ian’s bank contains over 40 custom patches, covering FM, additive and hybrid synthesis methods. There’s plenty of variety here too, with sounds covering everything from synth-pop to ambient, techno and more besides. The bank is currently on offer for just £9, down from £15.
Pirin V1 for Waldorf Protein by Natlife Sounds
One of my favourite synths of the last few months is also one of the smallest and most affordable in my studio, the Waldorf Protein. We’ve seen a noticeable resurgence in wavetable synthesis in recent years, but to get this level of performance from the spiritual successor to PPG is really great!
The Protein is inspired by the Microwave, Waldorf’s first attempt at resurrecting the wavetable synth all those years ago. They recently produced a brilliant software version of it as a plugin and it might be said that the Protein is a new hardware version, to a point.
For under £300, you get a compact, eight voice, four part multitimbral synth whose oscillators are based on the original Waldorf ASIC chip used in the Microwave synths. It also sports all the original Microwave 1 wavetables.
It has both a 12 and 24db filter and a nice, clean interface with an arpeggiator, sequencer, FX section and a small, but useful OLED screen. And it sounds fantastic! It has all the grit and gleam of classic vintage wavetables and delights on every front.
We’ve seen one or two third-party banks for it, making use of the now-expanded user preset spaces that appeared in the 1.0.1 FW update. This time, NatLife Sounds has developed Pirin V1, a bank that gives Protein users 40 new presets.
The bank contains patches that feature sequences, pads, arps, four intriguingly named ‘forest noise effects’, leads and other synth sounds. NatLife has also produced a very interesting promo video, featuring themselves playing the sounds on their Protein using their Novation Mininova as a controller and sent to a Zoom L6, all in the wilds of the outdoors with some spectacular mountain views! Lovely!
You can buy Pirin V1 from the NatLife website now for €25.
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