Mosaic Neon By Heavyocity
KK-Access Review
Picture the scene, the lights dim as a hushed murmur of anticipation ripples through a captivated audience.
Up on the stage the magician glances at the crowd, raising an eyebrow, he confidently taps the brim of an upturned black top hat that sits on a small circular table draped in a red velvet cloth.
The tension builds further still as a snare roll begins, which then ends promptly with a kick drum and cymbal splash.
Smiling, The magician reaches deep into the hat, and retrieves Mosaic Neon, the latest in a succession of mosaic series products, drawn from the mystical and apparently bottomless Heavyocity magic hat of sample libraries!
This nonsense is of course an entirely contrived and preposterous mechanism used just to introduce number eight in the Heavyocity Mosaic product line up.
The point here, if there is one, is that Heavyocity seem able to extend the Mosaic range without so far compromising the quality, or exhausting any of the creative potential of this series, and there is still plenty of room I would also venture for a Mosaic Drums or Percussion library to join the collection!
The Neon Lights
With this newest outing, Mosaic Neon turns the attention back to some more familiar Heavyocity territory, combining classic vintage synth sounds with more modernistic sound design elements to sculpt a lively and hybrid cinematic blend of contemporary tones.
Tech Specs
Mosaic Neon runs in Kontakt version 6.7.1 and later, or the equivalent free Kontakt player, with support for Komplete Kontrol.
The library requires 3.7GB of hard drive space for installation.
There is one single master Kontakt NKI preset, with a further 114 NKSN snapshot presets which will be visible from within the Komplete Kontrol browser.
Download & Installation
Mosaic Neon can be downloaded and installed using the Heavyocity Portal, or directly from within Native Access following successful registration of your post purchase license serial.
Once installed, just load up an instance of Komplete Kontrol into your DAW of choice, and Mosaic Neon will almost instantly appear within the KK browser following the auto scan.
Komplete Kontrol Plug-In Edit Mode NKS Parameter Mapping
Page One – Macro Control & Modulation
Knob 1 – Macro Knob 2 to 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Modulation On/Off
Knob 6 – Amount
Knob 7 & 8 – Unallocated
Page Two – Channel 1, 2 & 3 Volume & Pan
Knob 1 – CH1 Volume
Knob 2 – CH1 Pan
Knob 3 – CH2 Volume
Knob 4 – CH2 Pan
Knob 5 – CH3 Volume
Knob 6 – CH3 Pan
Knob 7 & 8 – Unallocated
Page Three – Punish & Mono
Knob 1 – Punish On/Off
Knob 2 – Punish Amount
Knob 3 & 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – MonoOn/Off
Knob 6 – Glide On/Off
Knob 7 – Glide Time
Knob 8 – Unallocated
Page Four – Delay & Reverb
Knob 1 – Delay On/Off
Knob 2 – Feedback
Knob 3 – Damp
Knob 4 – Amount
Knob 5 – Reverb On/Off
Knob 6 – Pre Delay
Knob 7 – Size
Knob 8 – Mix
Page Five – E Q
Knob 1 – E Q On/Off
Knob 2 – Low
Knob 3 – Low/Mid
Knob 4 – Low/Mid Freq
Knob 5 – High/Mid Gain
Knob 6 – High/Mid Freq
Knob 7 – High
Knob 8 – Unallocated
Accessibility
There is really little to add regarding accessibility, as the NKS mapping continues to adhere to the already familiar template of previous Mosaic releases.
I would naturally still like to see additions to this layout, where immediate improvements could be made if keyswitches could be added to trigger various tempo rates for the ARP and Rhythm based presets, as currently blind & VI customers are stuck with the default speed as these controls are inaccessible being located as they are in the mouse driven GUI.
Neon Classics
Mosaic Neon undoubtedly delves into the enviable Heavyocity arsenal of classic vintage hardware, and re imagines them im the true Heavyocity fashion.
Effortlessly switching as it does between some diverse and broad sonic brushstrokes, transitioning seamlessly between the light and the dark, making good use of a variety of modulations along the way to introduce both movement and tonal shifts throughout the breadth of it’s well crafted factory content.
The presets are divided and distributed fairly evenly with four separate categories, which are:
- Arp
- Pads
- Playable
- Rhythmic
The Arp, Pads & Rhythmic presets all include their category definition within the preset name, so for those Komplete Kontrol M32 & A-Series owners who are without the benefit of a dedicated bank filter,, these are clearly defined, with the Playable’s section despite not being marked are audibly more obvious.
Arps
The Arp presets offer a selection split evenly between straight and triplet timings synced to your DAW.
For us, it would have been quite desirable to have equivalent timings for all of the presets, as accessibly we will not be able to switch a great sounding triplet preset over to a straight time if we should wish to do so.
Pads
Mosaic Neon includes some really nice pads which feature some useful layer morphing assigned to the modwheel.
Having three sound layers available within the engine means that there are some lush vintage strings included, with accompanying channels providing either more melodic or FX based sounds, which when blended together produce that wide and rich cinematic spread.
Playable’s
This section has a collection of playable melodic presets, featuring a number of FM sounding keys patches, again sometimes layered with analog sounding filter sweeps.
There are also some chimes, and metallic type material, which may not win prizes for originality but do remain perfectly serviceable when the need arises.
Rhythmic
The rhythmic presets are always somewhat of a treat within Heavyocity libraries, they can be used to build the foundation of a track, and are always cleverly programmed by the sound design team.
The obscurely titled ‘Cat Looking for a Friend’ is one such example, having a nice ticking tension clock, underpinned with a rising synth layer which comes and goes in waves every two bars.
There a plenty of examples such as this, with interesting tempo related modulations being assigned to the modwheel, which are useful for maintaining the sense of interest and constant evolvement.
As always I strongly recommend checking out the Heavyocity walkthroughs which always demonstrate the creative potential of their products, and often within the context of a track composition.
Conclusion
The appeal of the Mosaic series for Heavyocity users, is that they will enable you to refresh your existing sound palette alongside your already owned libraries, providing new inspiration to help keep your imagination fuelled.
For others, they can provide an opportunity to focus on a more specific sound type which is underlined with that distinctive signature Heavyocity style.
Mosaic \neon has a broad spectrum of presets that can be used across many music genres, and will offer you the opportunity to add a sprinkling of that special Heavyocity magic which I eluded to at the start of this review!
Mosaic Neon is available from the Heavyocity website, for a limited time, Heavyocity is offering Mosaic Neon for $99 (reg. $119).
In addition, owners of other Mosaic Series instruments will receive an additional 20% off. Offers end April 27, 2023.
Mosaic Neon Product Page:
https://heavyocity.com/product/mosaic-neon/
Mosaic Neon Product Overview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-oj_wHeSBg&t=14s
Mosaic Neon User Manual:
https://heavyocity.com/Downloads/Mosaic_Neon_Manual.pdf
(c) Chris Ankin
KK-Access.com
18th April 2023
Disclaimer
The author can not accept any responsibility for subsequent purchase decisions made as a result of this review,or Any inaccuracies found therein. All opinions and product functions stated are based solely on information perceived as a blind user whilst using the product and/or gathered from official factual sources such as the developer, web or supplied product manual.
About the Author
Based in Buckinghamshire, England, Chris Ankin has worked as a freelance review writer and contributor with articles published in Sound On Sound, Home & Studio Recording and ST Format Magazines.
He has also successfully worked extensively in and around music, recording, film Soundtrack scoring, Game & media composition, the creative arts, Charitable trusts,publishing, music streaming and property investments since 1982 whilst continuously and deliberately managing to evade any mainstream recognition under his own name by the use of various pseudonyms.
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