SOLO TEXTURES NP04 BY HEAVYOCITY
KK-ACCESS REVIEW
It has been quite some time since we have seen a new release in the Heavyocity Novo Pack series, it was way back in 2018 when we reviewed NP03 Synthetic Strings.
Now proving that there is still plenty of life left in this old orchestral canine yet, the masters of cinematic sound design have now release NP04 Solo Textures.
The essence of Solo Textures is to capture the more intimate solo performances of Cello, Viola & Violin with a contemporary modern chamber style, of course Heavyocity have done this whilst also managing to add their now legendary sound design techniques in a tasteful and creative way.
TECH SPECS
Solo Textures runs in Kontakt 7.8.0 or above, either full or Kontakt Player, and is compatible with all versions of Komplete Kontrol.
The original 21.58GB sample pool has been compressed to a 14.9GB installation size using the NCW lossless compression format.
There are four Kontakt master NKI files, Violin Solo Textures, Viola Solo Textures, Cello Solo Textures & The Solo Texture Designer.
Additionally there are a further 224 Kontakt NKSN snapshots, which are derivatives of the master NKI files which feed the majority of the Komplete Kontrol preset content.
DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION
At the time of writing, download & installation is handled by the Heavyocity Portal, although in certain cases after official release, it is possible that the library may be available through Native Access.
In either case, registration of your license will be necessary within Native Access in order to authorise it, and have it scanned into the Komplete Kontrol database.
PLUG-IN EDIT NKS PARAMETER MAPPING TEMPLATE
PERFORMANCE INSTRUMENTS – VIOLIN, CELLO, VIOLA
Page 1 – Dynamics, Delay & Reverb
Knob 1 – dynamics
Knob 2 – Delay on/off
Knob 3 – Delay Time
Knob 4 – Feedback
Knob 5 – Amount
Knob 6 – Reverb on/off
Knob 7 – Size
Knob 8 – Mix
Page 2 – Mixer
Knob 1 – Full volume
Knob 2 – Full Pan
Knob 3 – Close Volume
Knob 4 – Close Pan
Knob 5 – Hall Volume
Knob 6 – Hall Pan
Knob 7 – Room Volume
Knob 8 – Room Pan
Page 3 – Gate & Dynamic Modulation
Knob 1 – On/Off
Knob 2 – Rate
Knob 3 – Smooth
Knob 4 – Range
Knob 5 – Dynamics Modulation on/off
Knob 6 – Rate
Knob 7 – Range
Knob 8 – Unallocated
Solo Textures Designer NKS Mappings
Page 1 – Macro Control & Modulation
Knob 1 – Macro Knob
Knob 2 to 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Modulation on/off
Knob 6 – Rate
Knob 7 – Amount
Knob 8 – Unallocated
Page 2 – Punish & Twist
Knob 1 – Punish on/off
Knob 2 – Amount
Knob3 & 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Twist on/off
Knob 6 – Twist
Knob 7 – Tone
Knob 8 – Rate
Page 3 – Filter & Distortion
Knob 1 – filter on/off
Knob 2 – Cut-off
Knob 3 – Resonance
Knob 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Distortion on/off
Knob 6 – Drive
Knob 7 – Tone
Knob 8 – Unallocated
Page 4 – Chorus & Delay
Knob 1 – Chorus on/off
Knob 2 – Rate
Knob 3 – Depth
Knob 4 – Amplitude
Knob 5 – Delay on/off
Knob 6 – Time
Knob 7 – Feedback
Knob 8 – Amount
Page 5 – Reverb, Voice & Glide
Knob 1 – Reverb on/off
Knob 2 – Pre-Delay
Knob 3 – Size
Knob 4 – Mix
Knob 5 – Unallocated
Knob 6 – Voice Mode (polyphony)
Knob 7 – Glide (between played notes)
Knob 8 – Time related to glide
Page 6 – Channel 1 and Channel 2
Knob 1 – Channel 1 volume
Knob 2 – Pan
Knob 3 – Tune
Knob 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Channel 2 Volume
Knob 6 – Pan
Knob 7 – Tune
Knob 8 – Unallocated
Page 7 – Channel 3
Knob 1 – Channel 3 Volume
Knob 2 – Pan
Knob 3 – Tune
Knob 4 to 8 – Unallocated.
ACCESSIBILITY
If you own the previous Novo Pack release, then you will observe that the NKS mapping is identical.
whilst as a reviewer, this relieves me of my usual task of meticulously jotting down each page and knob, reducing the duty down to a simple cut & paste, with just a few labelling amendments.
it is a little disappointing to see that the NKS implementation arguably comes down to pouring new samples into the same pot.
Obviously in product development terms, this saves on production time and of course money, however there are certainly some controls that would have been of benefit to users like ourselves that do need to rely solely on the NKS template.
I would have liked to have seen some ADSR envelope controls for the sounds, access to the choice of impulse responses for the convolution reverb, and access to the articulation and sample source browsers, all of which would all be on our collective utopian wishlist.
The Solo Violin, Viola & Cello patches do feature keyswitch implementation, these are deemed as performer instruments and allow us to choose articulations on the fly, more of which later.
I cross referenced the controls that were available for automation within Kontakt outside of Komplete Kontrol, and there were no differences there between them and the NKS mapping template.
EMOTIVE TEXTURES
The Violin, Viola & Cello performance instruments have distinct articulation types, as defined in their preset naming as Detaches, Soundscapes, & Sustains.
Each of these also have identical presets in various mix styles, these being Close, Default, Full Mix, & Wet.
The Detaches (which are the shorter samples), have eight preloaded articulations, as do the Sustains.
The Soundscapes only have four articulations preloaded, and I would assume that this is to save on memory as the loaded samples are more RAM hungry.
KEYSWITCHES
As mentioned earlier, the articulations within the performer instruments can be freely moved between using Keyswitches, which is naturally going to be of benefit to the player within a performance or live recording situation.
Thoughtfully, Heavyocity have assigned these keyswitch groups to two locations on the keyboard, one set at the lower end starting at C1 (midi note 12), and the second set, at the high end of the octave range starting at F6 (midi note 101).
Without access to the articulation browser via NKS, we only have use of the preloaded articulations which are duplicated for each preset, and I am unclear as to how many others we may be missing out on.
This is of course frustrating, however it is a situation that we as blind users regularly experience in most libraries that offer multiple articulations, and for us results in somewhat of a trade-off between having lots of presets with a single articulation loaded, or the obvious benefits of a useful keyswitch system that provides instant access to several, but not all of everything there is to offer, it’s kind of akin to not being able to reach the top shelf of your larder where some tasty treats may be stashed!
Having said this, there are some nice sounds available, they are non-static, that is to say there is movement within the sample, which unless otherwise stated in the preset name are tempo synced to your DAW project.
Although described as performer instruments, to me they seem like phrases, as they playout over a time period and loop.
Being Heavyocity, this has all been very well implemented, and by placing a variety of instances and articulations over several tracks It’s a very credible prospect to be able to build up some emotive cues when scoring for picture or media projects.
SOLO TEXTURES DESIGNER
The Solo Texture Designer which for Komplete Kontrol MK2 users will appear as a separate bank, is where you will find the sound designed material that heavyocity always excel at.
This is reflected in the slightly more populated NKS page numbers, although there are still only seven available, we do get the Punish & Twist section enabling you to mangle your global sound, along with Filter, Distortion, Chorus, Delay, & Reverb, all of which effect the sound globally rather than on a per sound channel basis.
On the topic of sound channels, there are three in all, with controls for volume, pan & tuning which goes from between minus 48 to plus 48 semitones.
These presets will not automatically have all three sound slots loaded, much depends on the preset, and through NKS as mentioned earlier we cannot access the core sample pool.
There are some nice presets here, however again it’s worth pointing out that in some circumstances they can be duplications which really only reflect different mix types such as Close, Hall, Room, Full Mix or Non Sync, and this without wishing to sound cynical, does inevitably bulk up the overall preset count.
The pads are inspiring, many of these use all three sound channel slots, and in their nature use long sustains.
This being the case we can take the opportunity to pan these sources left, right & centre, quite literally, which is perfect for achieving that big wide cinematic sound.
Presets like the dystopian ‘Abandoned Playground’ will instantly transport you to a post apocalyptic landscape, while Light Raindrops with it’s prominent use of some excellent Cello Col legno samples, will add a sense of dramatic tension with the string bow strikes.
The Rhythmic presets are likewise equally well crafted, this time seemingly making most use of the shorter articulations.
I would like to have seen a more expansive selection of factory presets for the Pads & Rhythmic content, the team always do so well with this kind of material, and as there are GUI tools like modulation sequencing and rhythmic programming that we are unable to access, greater content can very much be a bang for buck factor for blind & VI users.
Do make a point of checking out the various supporting media from Heavyocity linked as ever at the review footer.
CONCLUSION
It is good to see a new addition to the more affordable Novo Pack series from Heavyocity.
Not all creators have a use case or indeed the budget for the full blown flagship Novo library, so these bite sized yet still desirable libraries can focus on a specific area of the hybrid orchestral cinematic genre.
In terms of accessibility, and in spite of my grumbles, the NKS mappings at least remain consistent if not as extensive as we would like, and some of those limitations are undoubtedly due to restrictions of the NKS system.
If you are looking for orchestral products that deliver a more traditional set of instrument articulations, then Solo Textures may not be for you.
Heavyocity generally spurn the traditional, and instead strive to provide fresh and contemporary material to help inspire the modern media composer, and if that’s you, then this could be a new and welcome addition to your creative sound palette.
Solo Textures Product Page:
https://heavyocity.com/product/solo-textures/
Solo Textures – Product Overview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjzLoswdqyw
Solo Textures – Preset Playthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ0AngO2_WE
Letting Go – Music Demo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84t5A7Cyes4
Solo Textures User Manual:
https://heavyocity.com/Downloads/SoloTextures_UserManual.pdf
(c) Chris Ankin
KK-Access.com
8TH March 2024
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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 the 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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