MOONLIGHT CELESTE BY FRACTURE SOUNDS
KK-ACCESS REVIEW
Hot on the heels of their truly excellent Trails library in February, Fracture Sounds have clearly been burning the midnight oil to release Moonlight Celeste.
Moonlight Celeste takes the seldom exploited sound of the orchestral Celeste and pairs it with Fracture Sounds Kontakt engine and it’s textural atmosphere layers.
TECH SPECS
Moonlight Celeste runs in either Kontakt full version or the equivalent free Kontakt player, and is compatible with all versions of Komplete Kontrol.
The library requires 2.6GB of disk space for installation,
There is one master Moonlight Celeste Kontakt NKI preset, and eleven Kontakt NKSN snapshot derivatives.
DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION
Download & Installation is handled entirely through Native Access, from registering your post purchase serial number to the download, unpack & install process, making it a Kompletely painless experience.
Komplete Kontrol will scan and add your new library to the factory database upon launch, and in no time you will be exploring Moonlight Celeste.
KOMPLETE KONTROL PLUG-IN EDIT NKS COMTROLS
Page One – Layer Mixer & Microphone Mixer
Knob 1 – Raw Volume
Knob 2 – Atmosphere Layer 1 Volume
Knob 3 – Atmosphere Layer 2 ~Volume
Knob 4 – Atmosphere Layer 3 Volume
Knob 5 – Microphone Mixer Perspective
Knob 6 – Microphone Close
Knob 7 – Microphone Mid
Knob 8 – Microphone Far
Page Two – Sound & Character
Knob 1 – Sound Colour
Knob 2 – Attack
Knob 3 – Release
Knob 4 – Atmosphere
Knob 5 – Hammers
Knob 6 – Music Box
Knob 7 – Room Tone
Knob 8 – Not Allocated
Page Three – Reverb
Knob 1 – Reverb Amount
Knob 2 – Reverb Type: Room, Hall, Convolution, Shimmer
Knob 3 – Size
Knob 4 – Impulse Response Selection
Knob 5 – Fade-In
Knob 6 – Modulation
Knob 7 – Damping
Knob 8 – Not Allocated
Page Four – Low-Fi
Knob 1 – Low-Fi Amount
Knob 2 – Age
Knob 3 – Saturation
Knob 4 – Warble
Knob 5 – Hiss
Knob 6 – Mechanical
Knob 7 – Impulse Response
Knob 8 – Not Allocated
Page Five – Response & Settings
Knob 1 – Velocity Range
Knob 2 – Volume Range
Knob 3 & 4 – Not Allocated
Knob 5 – Sample Start
Knob 6 – Clarity Filter
Knob 7 – Atmosphere Decay: Natural, Infinite Sustain
Knob 8 – Room Tone: Always On, Post transient
ACCESSIBILITY
I should make it clear from the outset that unlike the most recent Fracture Sounds libraries, Moonlight Celeste does not offer selectable atmosphere layers, there is only one available for each of the three layers.
There are three named atmosphere layers which are omnipresent throughout all of the provided presets, these are, Mystic, Reversed Rites, & Bright Lune.
This is not related to accessibility as such, as sighted users also have the same number of fixed atmospheres, so in this respect this is not a case of us missing out on anything.
MOONLIGHT – THE CELESTIAL BODY
Moonlight Celeste was recorded in the same location space as some other Fracture Sound libraries such as Midnight Grand, Spotlight Piano & Glacier Keys, so combining it with any of these libraries will assure you of tonal consistency.
There are three microphone positions which range from Close, Mid & Far, and the helpful Perspective control allows you to blend between them.
Additional adjustments to the Raw Celeste sound can further be tweaked using the Colour control to modify the tone, and the instrument envelope may be edited with the Attack & Release parameters, as well as the sample start control located on the settings page.
Other modifiers allow the introduction of Hammer sounds, Music Box, Atmosphere mix level, and the level of Room Tone sound, the latter can be left permanently switched on, or only introduced whenever keys are played, which is very useful if you happen to forget that you have turned it on, and then spend fruitless hours trying to eliminate this strange new source of unwanted ambience from your system!
Further to this, where Ambience is concerned, there are reverb options for using Room, Hall & Shimmer, as well as the real life Convolution reverbs, where here you can select from the nine available Impulse Responses.
THE AGING PROCESS
Using the Lo-Fi page controls it is also possible to give Moonlight Celeste a pseudo vintage feel by adding the optional combinations of Age, Saturation, Warble, Hiss, & Mechanical.
more Impulse Responses are also offered here, such as Cassette, Car Radio, & Telephone among others.
There are no keyswitches configured within Moonlight Celeste, typically these would be employed to switch between articulations, and in this respect the instrument by it’s nature has only the one, so the sustain variations and dynamic subtleties are handled with velocity controls, along with the attack & release to shape the overall sound envelope.
The instrument is extremely well sampled, and with the sustain pedal applied the natural harmonics really do sing out.
There is mention of an option to extend the lower octave of the Celeste beyond the natural tonal range of the instrument, however this control is not currently mapped to NKS, and after cross referencing the parameters available for automation within Kontakt outside of Komplete Kontrol, it does not appear there either, so must only be offered in the visual user interface.
There is a little workaround for this anomaly, and that is to load one of the factory presets such as ‘Pale Blue Dot’, which has the extended playable range already engaged, and then make your own sound tweaks using this as a starting point.
MOONLIGHT CELESTE PRESETS
There are not many factory presets included in the library, normally I would bemoan this as a purchase consideration when evaluating the content versus cash ratio, however as Moonlight Celeste is a relatively low cost product, a degree of leniency I think is in order.
Those that are available do demonstrate well the range of what the library is able to deliver.
Whether it be the pure vanilla Celeste sound, to the Ethereal magical atmospheres, which are all possible launch pads for your own exploration.
I would highly suggest checking out the excellent Dan Keen Walkthrough linked at the review footer which guides you through the assets of the library perfectly.
CONCLUSION
I had a tough time weighing up the pros & cons of Moonlight Celeste, especially after been so wowed with Trails, the last Fracture Sounds release.
The Celeste as an instrument in it’s own right, for many may not be the most exciting of sounds, and I feel that the inclusion of more atmosphere layers could have extended the possibility of taking it to even more dimensions.
Having said this, Moonlight Celeste has a beautiful timbre, and can very capably add a splash of crystal clear sparkle to an otherwise dull instrument palette.
It may well be the cherry on the top of your multi layer orchestral cake, or perhaps with some judicious changes to the original sound, become the source of a creepy music box in your next horror score!
With this degree of variance, Moonlight Celeste can find a useful place within many composers compositional toolbox.
Moonlight Celeste by Fracture Sounds can be purchased from their website at the introductory price of $39, £39, €39 (Intro Price (Ends 25th April).
RRP: $59, £59, €59 inc. VAT
Bundle offers are also available combining Moonlight Celeste with other Fracture Sounds libraries (see website for details).
Moonlight Celeste Product Page:
https://fracturesounds.com/product/moonlight-celeste/?mc_cid=2a5bf1a69a&mc_eid=aaf420fe16
Moonlight Celeste Walkthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7yGOyvM7iM
Moonlight Celeste User Manual:
https://fracturesounds.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Moonlight-Celeste-User-Manual.pdf
(c) Chris Ankin
KK-Access.com
26TH March 2024
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Disclaimer
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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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