Presets for Messenger, Pigments and More: Sounds and Presets
5,0 / 5,0 | The Moog Messenger begins to receive love from the third-party preset community, plus free sounds for Arturia’s Pigments 6 and PolyBrute 12, and a huge bundle for Modal’s Cobalt5S.
Sounds and Presets
Koreform for Moog Messenger by Alin Dimitriu
When Moog Music announced the arrival of the Messenger, my first thought was that this was a Moog for the masses. An affordable, yet uncompromising Moog monosynth that anyone could afford and not only possess that classic Moog tone, but also begin their voyage of Moog discovery.
As soon as I played it, those thoughts were confirmed, and I craved one ever since. I have a Messenger here in my studio on loan from Moog Music, and I am desperate not to give it back! It is sat right next to another classic analog mono synth, the mighty Arturia MatrixBrute and, unsurprisingly, they can both easily live together.
Alin Dimitriu has now compiled one of the first third-party banks for Messenger and delivers a mighty package of sounds for a synth that, in my very humble opinion, lacks only one thing: Effects. Alin has used some effects on his demo and I would honestly say that anyone buying a Messenger should get even just a simple FX unit to complement it.
Koreform gives you 32 Messenger sounds, which are mostly bass and leads. It’s a monosynth after all! Making full use of Messenger’s tool kit, these sound great out of the box. Just listen to the demo! Koreform is offered in two different forms. First up, you have the standard edition which contains the 32 presets in SysEx format.
However, there is also an advanced pack that contains the presets along with 32 audio loops created by Alin with the Messenger, recorded in both wet and dry states and labeled by tempo and key. There are also 32 MIDI files, each of them containing Messenger CC data to control the various elements of the synth whilst playing.
You can buy Koreform for Messenger with 40% off for a limited time at just $19.99/$24.99 for the standard and advanced packs, respectively. After the offer, prices rise to $34.99/$44.99.
Imagined Realms for Arturia Pigments 6 by Cryptic Moses Sound Design
Who doesn’t like a freebie? I know I do, and here’s a little gem for all you Pigments 6 owners out there! I found this bank whilst ‘cruising’ the Arturia forums and I’m very glad I did. Created as a thank you to their subscribers and supporters, Cryptic Moses Sound Design have collated 21 presets and thrown them into a bank for zero pounds/dollars/pence!
Cryptic Moses is inspired by electronic, cinematic and ambient sounds, and their sound banks reflect this. I mean, the very name could be the title of a video game or level within one. And don’t for one moment think that because this bank is free that it is not a quality item!
It’s obvious that Cryptic Moses is incredibly familiar with Pigments. They use all of its tricks and treats, making sure that each macro is used well, and that expression rules the day. The modulation wheel and aftertouch features are used extensively.
At the end of the day, you have nothing to lose as this bank is completely free to download from the Cryptic Moses store!
Arturia PolyBrute 12 Factory 2.0
Arturia’s flagship polysynth is firmly installed as my favourite synthesizer of all time, and I don’t see anything being able to shift it any time soon. It is a magnificent machine, overflowing with expression and inspiration that every time I turn it on, I lose literal hours of my day.
I’ve often been derided for my passion and enthusiasm for this synth, but I’ll fight anyone who thinks this is anything but one of the greatest analog synths of all time. However, it does have one minor shortcoming. Or should I say ‘did’?
Of the 480 factory presets, there were some sounds that seemed to lack the magnificence of others. I think a lot of this stemmed from the fact that many of the sounds had been directly ported over from the PolyBrute 6, as it is now known.
Whilst the PolyBrute 12 can elevate many of these sounds simply by activating the FullTouch mode, I did feel that maybe they could have created many more PolyBrute 12-specific sounds and/or updated PolyBrute 6 sounds that took advantage of the new system.
That now seems to have been addressed in the Factory Bank 2.0, released within an update to the PolyBrute Connect application. Containing over 40 new sounds and rearranging the first page of 96 presets, there are definitely more impressive sounds from the get-go.
All PolyBrute 12 owners have to do is update PolyBrute Connect via the Arturia Service Center, and Factory Bank 2.0 is in the Sound Banks section. They gave also conveniently created a Factory Bank 2.0 Project so you can instantly apply these to your synth, and revert back to 1.0 at anytime by sending that project to they synth.
Best Analog & Ambient Sounds for Modal Cobalt5S by Nick Klimenko
You can easily be forgiven for completely forgetting about the Modal Cobalt5S. It followed in the footsteps of its bigger sibling, the Cobalt8, delivering a similar but not identical engine, packed into a midi-key keyboard and at a very affordable price. It should have been a hit. However, it fell by the wayside and out of our field of view.
Modal’s corporate anguish probably didn’t help things, and the fact that the 5S sounds were not compatible with the 8, and vice versa, meant that it was essentially a whole new synth trading off a bigger one. It kinda fell flat with the synth buying public to the point where if you ask anyone about it, some will have forgotten about it completely.
Well, Nick Klimenko didn’t forget and he’s just released a huge bundle of 300 presets for it, which is enough to satisfy even the meanest of Cobalt5S dissenters! Focusing, as it says in the title, on analog and ambient sounds, this bank exploits all of the great things about the Cobalt engine, be it in 5 or 8 voice form.
Along with those 300 patches come 50 sequences and a range of sounds that cover all types and genres, no matter what kind of music you make. Nick brings his extensive sound design expertise to bear on this diminutive synth. By the way, our affiliate partner currently has the Cobalt5S for a great discounted price, so this might be the right time to check the synth and these sounds out!
You can buy the ‘Best Analog & Ambient Sounds’ for Cobalt 5S for €50 from the LFO.Store.
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