FOLDS BY VOID & VISTA

FOLDS BY VOID & VISTA

KK-ACCESS REVIEW

It was in March 2023 that we reviewed Strands the debut release from Void & Vista.

We were immensely impressed by the work that V& V had put into the accessibility of this cinematic Bowed string hybrid instrument, and on top of all that, its sounded pretty awesome too!

Things may have appeared to be a little quiet on the release front since then, however when their new cinematic vocal library Folds, landed here last week, I was instantly blown away by the creative potential that this stunning new product presents.

The reason for this apparent silence is I think now attributable to the amount of spit & polish involved in bringing about this new release.

TECH SPECS

Folds runs in either the full version of Kontakt 7.7 or higher, or the Free Kontakt Player, and is compatible with all versions of Komplete Kontrol.

The library requires 4.5GB of disk space for installation, utilising the NCW lossless compression format.

There is one single master Kontakt NKI preset, with a further 322 NKSN Kontakt snapshot files providing an expansive selection of factory presets.

DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION

Folds can be downloaded and installed entirely through Native Access 2, making the whole process simple and straightforward after pasting in your post purchase license number.

Komplete Kontrol will scan the new library into your factory database upon launch, and then you will be all set to use the library.

KOMPLETE KONTROL NKS MAPPING

At this juncture I would usually present readers with the Komplete Kontrol NKS mappings, fear not, I will still be doing this, however due to there being 25 pages of them, I thought it more prudent to cut to the meat of the review, and instead provide these details at the very end after the related media links.

ACCESSIBILITY

As far as I can determine, the accessibility of Folds is almost on a par with sighted users.

This is not a statement I tend to throw around lightly, however since Strands the previous release, the ability to directly select from the libraries sample pool, and also load the available convolution reverb impulses has been introduced.

This practice used to be somewhat frowned upon in KSP scripting due to sample purging issues, however Kontakt 7 does now allow for this, and I have been encouraging the developers I work with to make use of this ability. The result is especially helpful for us a blind users, meaning that provided the developers are aware and willing to implement it in their GUI through automation, we will be well on the road to far more sound design possibilities.

I carefully cross referenced the parameters that were available when directly loading Folds into Kontakt outside of the Komplete Kontrol environment, and perusing the automatable parameters within Reaper my DAW, found that they appeared identical to those offered in the NKS mapping, this is another good indicator of the level of parity they have managed to achieve between visually impaired and sighted users.

UNFOLDING FOLDS

Folds is at it’s heart, a two layered vocal sample morphing instrument, which can combine and modulate between it’s two possible loaded sources.

The bigger picture is far wider than this of course, with extensive effects options (including Lo-Fi), LFO, Pitch, Envelopes, Filters, Delay, Reverb, and a rarely seen elsewhere onboard midi cc assignments option mapped to NKS.

This well executed template i believe, for us as NKS users enables far more sound design potential than many of the other Vocal based sample libraries currently on the market.

SAMPLE SOURCES

Without any doubt, the ability to select our own sound sources from the sample pool goes a long way in setting Folds apart from other products in this genre.

There are 32 sound sources offered for each of the two layers, and these have been divided into three categories.

Real, consists of mostly natural voice samples, each of which features the vocal talents of 3 pperformers, the pitch of the voice crossover points being assigned to the keyboard octaves in line with each of their true pitch ranges.

Effects, offer a series of multi-sampled and processed effect sources, which have been derived from the Real vocal samples.

Waves, provide you with a series of waveforms, shapes & noise types, which can be used to underpin sources from the other two categories.

 To expand further on these three categories, the Real voices feature all sorts of voice sustains, vowels, vowel morphing over a sustained note, La La La's, Ethereal, Tongue Rolls & Trills, Hey Ah, Breath, and assorted     Verbiage without      any real spoken words or identifiable language phrases.  

This works well in not attribuiting the voice content to any specific world region or genre, and in affect leaves things entirely open to interpretation, and thus improved user experimentation.

Similarly the vocal effects content takes material from the same voice artists, and chops, processes, loops, and generally abuses them in such a way that could not be readily achieved with the manipulation tools offered within the library itself.

Waves are more utilitarian in content, with things like Sine, Saw, Supersaw, Square, Triangle, Low, Mid, & High noise sources, which I think are pulled from Kontakt’s own built-in Wavetable sounds.

FOLDS – YOUR PROCESSING PLAYGROUND

The character FX section is I think in many respects the core of where Folds can really start shaping your sounds.

In Folds the term Character functions as a three part fX chain, named, A, B, &C, where you are able to choose the desired effect type for each of the three separately.

We may choose from an extensive selection consisting of Amp, Blur, Chorus, Compressor, Convolution, Deja, Degrade, Defuse, Distort, Filters, Fuzz, Glint, Mid EQ, Phaser, Resonate, Resoskin, Reverse, Rotator, Shaper, Shelves, Tape, & Trans.

The magic starts to happen when you progress to the next set of related Character pages, where the NKS controls will have automatically updated themselves to reflect the choices you made on the first Character FX Selection page.

These Character FX are global so they do effect both sound channels simultaneously, naturally they can be quite demanding on your CPU, so depending on your choice of FX, cranking every knob hard clockwise can potentially result in some complaints from your processor!

With such a wide collection of possible effect combinations at your fingertips, the number of variations is pretty extensive.

FOLDS DEEPER CONTROLS

Folds further offers users even more in depth opportunities for refined sound shaping on a per sound layer basis, including controls for the ADSR Envelopes, sample offset, Pitch, Pan, Distance, Filters, LFO with or without project sync, Glide, Ensemble, Spread, Reverb, Delay, Motion, individual pitch bend tuning and lots more besides.

The Cascade control makes it possible to delay the start time of the second sound layer, which is a useful feature when creating your own sounds, particularly as there is the option to use either milliseconds or beat sync to your project.

Another helpful inclusion is the ability to lock certain aspects of the two sound sources together, meaning that their controls will work in unison, this can be useful if your tweaking experiments do result in things becoming a little too wayward, or you instead simply wish to globally adjust a single set of parameters at the same time.

MIDI CC ASSIGNMENTS

An unusual and really thoughtful feature seldom seen in an NKS mapping template, is the Midi CC assignment page.

There are eight performance controls that can be assigned to Midi CC numbers, these are Morph, Dynamics, Filter, Motion, Ensemble, Lo-Fi, Character & Space.

Each of these performance controls also appear on a preceding page that lets you adjust the degree of modulation that is applied if and when a CC number is assigned to it.

As an example, this could potentially let you assigned something such as a breath controller cc02, to perhaps manipulate the filter or indeed several of the performance controls all at once.

Additionally, there is a toggle switch on the final settings page that enables you to switch from cc to aftertouch, although at the moment polyphonic aftertouch as seen in the new Kontrol MK3 keyboards is not supported.

FOLDS - THE PRESET BONANZA

Folds has a superb collection of over 300 factory presets included.

Like the sample source browser, they are presented in three basic categories, but do also have additional sub categories within the snapshots to help you to filter the content down further.

Highlights demonstrates the potential of the library with a series of well crafted patches that show off the many facets of Folds.

Design is where Void & Vista clearly had a blast coming up with a great curated collection of sound designed presets that cover a wide potential use case.

The Design sub categories feature Voices, Pads, Motions, Drones, Textures, Keys, Bass, SFX, & Leads.

Foundations concentrates a little more on playing styles, whilst at the same time still drawing upon all of the available sample pool.

Here you will discover additional sections for Dynamics, Ensembles, Cascades, & Tapes.

There are also three initialised utility presets, if you also include the Folds master .NKi patch.

Alongside this, are a full range initialised, and a Natural Range Initialised preset, which can serve as useful start points for your own metamorphic experimentations.

I need to give a particular mention to the Folds user manual, yes I do read them,and indeed every reviewer should, but seemingly seldom do!

In this case Void & Vista have done a excellent job in clearly and concisely explaining the many user interface controls that are in the Folds library.

Do also take time to checkout the media links at the review footer, and as promised earlier, you will find the details of those 25 pages of NKS mappings immediately afterwards!

CONCLUSION

Void & Vista have created an excellent sounding cinematic vocal library with Folds.

In terms of accessibility, The NKS mapping template is quite outstanding in this particular vocal library genre.

This enhanced access is unquestionably boosted by the ability to load your own choice of available samples, and where applicable, impulse responses all directly from your Komplete Kontrol keyboard.

In my opinion, Folds surpasses the sound design possibilities from other premium vocal libraries in this respect, which can all too often become expensive preset romplers for blind & visually impaired users.

Folds by Void & Vista is available from their website for the regular price of £129.00
At the time of writing you can apply an introductory 20% discount on the regular price by using the CODE FOLDSLAUNCH20

There is also a bundle offer where you can grab both Strands & Folds with 20% off using the code BUNDLE

Folds Product Page:
https://www.voidandvista.com/products/folds

Folds Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbAJwqXPMHMRverulwHeS5Q

Folds User Manual:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eMkRjbC0MLcQ7lsMAnxFJgJzJ5FNF_z2/view?usp=sharing

KOMPLETE KONTROL PLUG-IN EDIT NKS PARAMETER MAPPING

Page One – Perform

Knob 1 – Morph
Knob 2 – Dynamic
Knob 3 – Filter
Knob 4 – Motion
Knob 5 – Ensemble
Knob 6 – Lo-Fi
Kknob 7 – Character
Knob 8 – Space

Page Two – Sound Source, Morph

Knob 1 – Sound Source Layer 1
Knob 2 – Sound Source Layer 2
Knob 3 – Morph Mode
Knob 4to 8 – Unallocated

Page Three – Staging, Spread

Knob 1 – Staging Pan 1
Knob 2 – Staging Distance 1
Knob 3 – Spread 1
Knob 4 – Staging Pan 2
Knob 5 – Staging Distance 2
Knob 6 – Spread 2
Knob 7 – Spread Mode: 1 & 2
Knob 8 – Unallocated

Page Four – Dynamics, Envelope, Sample Start, Cascade

Knob 1 – Dampen
Knob 2 – Velocity
Knob 3 – Unallocated
Knob 4 – Envelopes Link
Knob 5 – Sample Start Offset 1
Knob 6 – Sample Start Offset 2
Knob 7 – Cascade Time
Knob 8 – Sync On/Off

Page Five – Amplitude Envelope Layer 1 & Layer 2

Knob 1 – Layer 1 Attack
Knob 2 – Layer 1 Decay
Knob 3 – Layer 1 Sustain
Knob 4 – Layer 1 Release
Knob 5 – Layer 2 Attack
Knob 6 – Layer 2 Decay
Knob 7 – Layer 2 Sustain
Knob 8 – Layer 2 Release

Page Six – Pitch Layer 1, Pitch Layer 2

Knob 1 – Sample Pitch 1
Knob 2 – Note
Knob 3 – Sample Pitch 2
Knob 4 – Note
Knob 5 to 8 – Unallocated

Page Seven – Pitch 1, Glide, Pitch Envelope 1

Knob 1 – Lock
Knob 2 – Glide Time
Knob 3 – Intensity
Knob 4 – Pitch Envelope Amount
Knob 5 – Pitch 1 Attack
Knob 6 – Pitch 1 Decay
Knob 7 – Pitch 1 Sustain
Knob 8 – Pitch 1 Release

Page Eight – As Page 7 above for Layer 2

Page Nine – Layer 1 Filter & Layer 1 Filter Envelope

   Knob 1 - Filter Type: Low Pass, High Pass, Band Pass, Off

Knob 2 – Resonance
Knob 3 – Key Track
Knob 4 – Filter Envelope Amount
Knob 5 – Filter 1 Attack
Knob 6 – Filter 1 Decay
Knob 7 – Filter 1 Sustain
Knob 8 – Filter 1 Release

Page Ten – As per Page 9, relates to Layer 2

Page Eleven – LFO Layer 1

Knob 1 – LFO 1 Rate (switches between HZ & Beat Timings depending on status of sync)
Knob 2 – Sync: On/Off
Knob 3 – LFO 1 Shape: Triangle, Square, Saw, Razor Up, Sine, Random, Saw Down, Razor Down
Knob 4 – Re-Trigger: On/Off
Knob 5 – Fade: Time in MS
Knob 6 to 8 – Unallocated

Page Twelve – As per Page Eleven relating to Layer 2

Page Thirteen – LFO 1 & LFO 2 Ancillary

Knob 1 – LFO 1 Amp
Knob 2 – LFO 1 Pitch
Knob 3 – LFO 1 Filter
Knob 4 – LFO 1 Pitch
Knob 5 – LFO 2 Amp
Knob 6 – LFO 2 Pitch
Knob 7 – LFO 2 Filter
Knob 8 – LFO 2 Pan

Page Fourteen – Layer 1 Ensemble, Layer 2 Ensemble

Knob 1 – Layer 1 Ens On/Off
Knob 2 – Layer 1 Harmony
Knob 3 – Layer 1 Cascade: Timing in MS or Beats depending on sync status
Knob 4 – Layer 1 Sync: On/Off
Knob 5 – Layer 2 Ens On/Off
Knob 6 – Layer 2 Harmony
Knob 7 – Layer 2 Cascade: Timing in MS or Beats depending on sync status
Knob 8 – Layer 2 Sync: On/Off

Page Fifteen – Ensemble, Lo-Fi

Knob 1 – Ensemble Width
Knob 2 – Ensemble Detune
Knob 3 – Lo-Fi Noise
Knob 4 – Noise Type: Tape, Wire, Room, Hall
Knob 5 – Warble
Knob 6 – Tone
Knob 7 – Saturation
Knob 8 – Unallocated

Page Sixteen – Character FX, Phase

Knob 1 – Character A Type:
Knob 2 Character B Type:
Knob 3 – Character C Type:
Knob 4 – Phase Inversion On/Off
Knob 5 to 8 – Unallocated

Page Seventeen – FX Slot A

Knob 1 to 8 – Controls are dynamic and vary relative to effect type selected

Page Eighteen & Nineteen – As per page Seventeen controls relate to Character FX B & C

Page Twenty – Space & Delay

Knob 1 – Space Crossfade
Knob 2 – Unallocated
Knob 3 – Delay Time: Presented in eith MS or Beats depending on status of Sync Switch
Knob 4 – Sync: On/Off
Knob 5 – Delay Feedback
Knob 6 – Delay Dampen
Knob 7 – Stereo
Knob 8 – Unallocated

Page Twenty One – Reverb – Pre Delay
Knob 2 – Time: In Milliseconds
Knob 3 – Reverb Size
Knob 4 – Modulation
Knob 5 – Tone
Knob 6 to 8 – Unallocated

Page Twenty Two -Modulation Amount

Knob 1 – Morph
Knob 2 – Dynamic
Knob 3 – Filter
Knob 4 – Motion
Knob 5 – Ensemble
Knob 6 – Lo-Fi
Knob 7 – Character
Knob 8 – Space

Page Twenty Three – Modulation Source

Knob 1 to 8 – As above Modulation sources with switchable options for each between midi cc & add

Page Twenty Four – Midi CC Number Selection

Knob 1 to 8 – As above modulation sources with midi cc number selections between 1 & 127

Page Twenty Five – Pitch Bend, Voices, Preset, Settings

Knob 1 – Layer 1 Pitch Bend: Plus or Minus 12 semitones
Knob 2 – Layer 2 Pitch Bend: Plus or Minus 12 semitones
Knob 3 – Pitch Bend Layer 1 & 2 link: Locks Pitch Bend amount for the two layers
Knob 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Voices: Mono or selectable from 2 to 64 note polyphony
Knob 6 – Preset Volume
Knob 7 – Not Allocated
Knob 8 – Settings: Settings can be defined as per each factory snapshot, or retained globally

(c) Chris Ankin

KK-Access.com

5TH April 2024

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KK-Access believe in integrity, and through respect for our readers,that our product reviews should strive to be be honest and unbiased, and that any of our opinions should not be influenced by financial reward or other incentives from a plug-in or sample library developer for which a review of their wares may be a subject matter.

Therefore, we do not accept,, and will continue to decline any offers of affiliation links, for all products under review for publication on this website.

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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