MPE Expressions for Pigments, Organic Waves for Behringer – Sounds and Presets
Marc Barnes dives into the wonderful world of MPE with MPE Expressions for Arturia’s Pigments, and we have new sounds for the Access Virus B/C and Behringer’s Wave.
Sounds and Presets – MPE Expressions and More
MPE Expressions for Arturia Pigments 7 by Marc Barnes Sounds
The mass adoption of MPE seems to be continuing apace, with more hardware and software supporting it than ever before. With software instruments like Arturia’s flagship synth, Pigments 7, MPE makes total sense. Mapping the multitude of parameters to expressive controllers takes it to the next level.
One recent convert to the wonders of MPE was Marc Barnes. He and I both acquired our Expressive E Osmose 61’s at around the same time, and it is fair to say that Marc was not only very impressed, but suitably inspired also, as this new bank, MPE Expressions, stands testament to!
These 32 patches for Pigments span the usual categories, but all of them have MPE at their heart and whilst you absolutely don’t need to have an MPE controller to play them, they certainly leap to life when you do.
With most patches making full use of the four macros, non-MPE users will still be able to make use of the added expressivity in MPE Expressions as key MPE settings are mapped to the mod wheel. Given his Osmose ownership, Marc has fully tested this pack with that, but hasn’t tried it with others yet.
The next best thing about this pack is the price! You can grab MPE Expressions for just £6.99 over at Marc’s site!
Pure Nylon – Soundbox Pack by Sonora Cinematic
The Soundbox concept from Audiomodern is an intriguing one and seems to be slowly gathering some momentum. Put simply, the Soundbox player is free. It’s a sample playback instrument that offers MPE and is available on Mac, Windows and iOS.
There are some nice free packs for it, but there are more and more 3rd party soundpacks being released for it, not least by Sonora Cinematic, who have just added their seventh such pack to their portfolio. Entitled ‘Pure Nylon’, this is a deeply sampled nylon string guitar library.
Making full use of the MPE functionality, ‘Pure Nylon’s’ samples were derived from the same sessions that were held to create their Panorama Acoustic Kontakt library. Given yesterday’s troubling news out of Berlin, a move to this new platform might be worth considering!
‘Pure Nylon’ features three articulations, including soft-plucked, picked and harmonics, all of which feature note-by-note sampling with three round robins to ensure a more natural and realistic recreation. They’ve also included some experimental improvisations that deliver some surprising and pleasing results.
Clocking in at 2.5GB, compressed to 1GB, ‘Pure Nylon’ is currently on offer for just £10, down from £15, for a limited time.
Check out the Audiomodern Soundbox range at our affiliate.
Organica for Behringer Wave by Nick Klimenko
Wavetables are all the rage again these days, with both software and hardware synths featuring this unique and popular synthesis method. Of course, it was PPG’s Wave that introduced it to the masses via its hefty blue wonder.
Masters of the recreation, Behringer, brought their version, simply called ‘Wave’, to the market last year and not only replicated the colour, user interface and limited display but also that classic, gritty sound. It even featured those lovely, chunky white buttons.
To give them their due, Behringer actually did a great job, and now Nick Klimenko has released a bank of sounds for it via the LFO.store. Entitled ‘Organica’, it is comprised of 55 presets that include arps, sequences, basses, pads, plucks and keys.
Most patches make use of aftertouch and the mod wheel for added expression. What isn’t clear is whether this bank also comes with new wavetables or samples, or whether it uses the ones from the factory. Either way, full installation instructions are provided, which involves the use of Behringer’s Synth Tribe app.
There is something very compelling about wavetable synthesis, and this pack only adds to that. You can grab it now for €20 via the LFO.store shop.
Heka Psytrance Soundset for Access Virus B/C and TUS Osirus by Kulshan Studios
The work of The Usual Suspects development team has been garnering plenty of attention recently for their brilliant JP-8000 recreation, the JE-8086. However, it is worth remembering that they cut their teeth on a family of synths that used the Motorola DSP56300 DSP chip.
That family was the Virus range of synths from Access, a much-loved set of instruments that enjoyed huge popularity at a time when Virtual Analogue synthesis was in its pomp. The Virus B and C, whilst similar to the original A, featured a 3rd oscillator.
It’s great to see a sound designer still embracing old, classic synths, but I think it’s fair to say that this may be somewhat down to the popularity and success of the software recreation by TUS. That said, this bank of Psytrance sounds is also compatible with the Virus KC, Rack XL, Indigo 2, Virus KB, Virus Rack and original Indigo!
The bank is a chunky monkey, weighing in at 94 patches, specifically designed for Psytrance lovers and making the most of the synth’s unison, spectral waves and multitimbrality. So if you’re a fan of Vini Vici, Infected Mushroom, Astrix, BliSS, Liquid Soul and other Psytrance acts, this is for you.
The Heka Psytrance soundset is available direct from Kulshan Studios for $29.
You can test out Osirus from The Usual Suspects here.
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