LOST GUITAR BY WESTWOOD INSTRUMENTS

KK-ACCESS REVIEW

Westwood Instruments have progressively been releasing some great libraries over the past year or so. Novella Origins, their flagship toolkit library has received positive critical acclaim from the industry, and Lost Synth reimagined classic analog vintage synthesizers with their own brand of processing.

Just recently, Untold Strings, the first of what will be an ongoing series of free libraries has offered musicians the opportunity to experience a small taste of their innovative wares without cost, courtesy of a Viola preset that was derived from the aforementioned Novella Origins parent library.

This latest release, Lost guitar continues the lost line up, which offers another take on the already popular cinematic Guitar theme, however to their credit, in this instance Westwood Instruments have come up with something where the results can seem quite divorced from their initial sample source, yet manages to remain eminently usable for contemporary composition , and most definitely adheres to their company mantra of creating alternative sounds for alternative composers!

TECH SPECS

Lost Guitar runs in Kontakt 6.6.1 or higher, or the free Kontakt Player version, and is NKS ready within Komplete Kontrol.

The library occupies 8.67GB of disk space, using the NCW sample file format.

There is a single master Kontakt NKI preset, which feeds a further 300+ Kontakt NKSN snapshot preset files.

DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION

Download is via the free Pulse software utility, which is quite accessible, and the provided license code will also further be used to register Lost Guitars in Native Access.

Once registered in the latter, you will need to locate the library folder on your system, assuming you have moved it from the original download path you may have set in the Pulse application.

Komplete Kontrol will then scan the library into your factory database when loaded, and you should then be ready to go.

Full Komplete Kontrol mappings can be found at the end of the review, after the library media links.

ACCESSIBILITY

To be clear, The three pages of NKS mappings do not offer us full potential for detailed ground up sound design, however there is still enough within the template to allow for some basic personalised preset tweaking.

Blending between the two sound layers, Pan & Pitch, level & other controls associated with the memories (which can be thought of as arpeggiated ambient layers) are possible, however the Delay & Reverb controls via NKS really only act as basic level attenuators.

Unfortunately ADSR adjustment is not included through NKS, nor is the randomisation control feature, which would have afforded blind users greater opportunity for further preset creation.

I took the time to cross referenced the NKS template with the parameters that had been made available for automation directly from within Kontakt, and discovered somewhat of a treasure trove here.

There were Attack & Decay controls for both sample layers A & B, some reasonable controls for filter, reverb, compression, Delay, Overdrive, Lo-Fi, Chorus & Attack & Decay for Memories, in total there were some 76 parameters which would have extended to nine pages of NKS mapping had they all of been carried across to the Komplete Kontrol template.

LOST GUITAR PRESETS

There are some great presets included within the Lost Guitar factory content, which can take you on quite a journey, travelling between melancholic ambiences, eerie alien landscapes, spooky dark shadowy underworlds and thrilling high altitude flights through sparkling cloud kingdoms.

Westwood Instruments have categorised these potential atmospheres into a series of snapshot folders, however they have not been added as tagged banks within the Komplete Kontrol browser, which would have helped with preset sound filtering directly from our Komplete Kontrol or Maschine hardware.

Single Sounds, Blends, Double Blends, Motions, Memories, Double Blends & Memories, Shorts, & Memories are the central themes.

these are then sub categorised into such titles as Light, Dark, Movements, Notes, Rhythms, Textures, Deep, Flicker, & Shallow.

Like many such preset naming conventions, these are not intended to be hard and fast rules, interpretation will naturally vary depending on an individuals perception, as well as other instrument combinations, in fact experimentation is very much at the heart of Westwood Instruments whole design and product creation ethos.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

For me, some of the most noteworthy preset content were those which made use of the Lost Guitar memories component, this adds a kind of atmospheric arp layer to the loaded A or B layers.

On the Memories NKS page, there is a Variation control which increases the amount of randomisation for the currently loaded Memory preset, this in combination with the controls for Haze, Density, Rate, Scatter and the ability to edit the range between the generated Low & High octaves, yielded some musically fascinating results, which with the help of your trusty sustain pedal will play on indefinitely.

The Lost Guitar library and resulting sample pool was recorded with a Reverend Descent baritone guitar, even out of the box the very first preset ‘Clean Guitar with Rhythms & Memories’ immediately conjured images of a dusty Wild West lanscape a la the classic Spaghetti Western scene.

Scoring a futuristic science fiction remake of ‘The Good, The Bad & The Ugly’ with this library would be an appealing 21st century option, although I’m not quite so sure that Ennio Morricone would have approved!

It is quite apparent from the outset that Lost Guitar is not intended to be a traditional Guitar library, with a good proportion of the content belying it’s instrument origins, Lost Guitar perfectly steers you into cinematic, soundscape and ambient experimentation territory.

With it’s muted pads, distorted timbres, warped & note bending loops, washes of mystery & suspense, pulsing tensions, distorted walls of noise, sporadic dark synth type waves, all juxtaposed alongside some wispy dreamscapes, there is plenty here for media composers demanding a wide palette to work with.

SOUND DESIGN POTENTIAL

For blind users who rely solely on the NKS implementation for access, there is unfortunately a shortfall where NKS implementation of the Memories presets and the two sample layers are concerned.

If samples or memory presets are not already pre-loaded into a factory patch, there is no accessible means to load them ourselves through the current NKS mapping template.

This is a pity, as if these GUI preset selection browsers could be made automatable and then passed through to NKS, it would significantly enhance our opportunity to be more creative with the Lost Guitar Kontakt engine.

Kontakt 7 does now allow for the automatic purging of samples and impulse responses, as we are now starting to see in other sample libraries, it can go along way in helping us to booss our overall productivity, so this is certainly something that would be on my wish list for an update or a hope that is seriously considered for inclusion in future Westwood Instrument releases.

Fortunately the large number of included presets make Lost Guitar a good option for composers in search of some new inspiration.

The library is crammed full of excellent examples which aptly demonstrate how Westwood Instruments have succeeded in coaxing their brand of sound design magic out of the humble guitar, with their thorough processing tecnniques and meticulous sample editing.

do make a point of checking out the various media links at the review footer in order to hear and fully appreciate the sound of Lost Guitar.

CONCLUSION

Lost guitar is a refreshing take on the traditional guitar library, it takes the core ingredients, mixes them up, and manages to come up with a new recipe for composers who are hungry for a new flavour to taste.

In terms of accessibility, as we have discovered, there are certainly some shortfalls, many of which could be rectified by carrying over those unused automatable Kontakt parameters to the Komplete Kontrol NKS mapping.

If access to the A & B sample layers as well as the Memories presets were available it would open up the sound design potential even more.

If you are considering the preset quantity versus access and overall value for money, it is a serious temptation right now at the introductory price, but may be more of a considered purchase for blind users when it reverts to the full cost.

Lost Guitar from Westwood Instruments can be purchased directly from their website.
Price $139 / €139 / £119
Launch Offer 40% off during launch – $79 / €79 / £69 (runs until Midnight May 21st)

Lost Guitar Product Page:
https://www.westwoodinstruments.com/instruments/lostguitar/

Lost Guitar Walkthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi4hMZR-yfM

Lost Guitar Online User Manual:
https://www.westwoodinstruments.com/user-manuals/lost-guitar-user-manual/

KOMPLETE KONTROL PLUG-IN EDIT NKS PARAMETER MAPPING

Page One – Motion, Mood, Reflect, Delay, Reverb

Knob 1 – Blend
Knob 2 – Depth
Knob 3 – Speed: 4/4 to 1/64 Including Triplets
Knob 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Mood level
Knob 6 – Reflect Blend
Knob 7 – Delay Level
Knob 8 – Reverb Level

Page Two – Side A & Side B (sample layers)

Knob 1 – Side A Level
Knob 2 – Side A Pan
Knob 3 – Side A Tune
Knob 4 – Side A T Pitch
Knob 5 – Side B Level
Knob 6 – Side B Pan
Knob 7 – Side B Tune
Knob 8 – Side B T Pitch

Page Three -Memories

Knob 1 -Variation
Knob 2 – Damp
Knob 3 – Haze
Knob 4 – Density
Knob 5 – Rate: 4/4 to 1/32 (No Triplets)
Knob 6 – Scatter
Knob 7 – Low Octave: 0 to minus 2
Knob 8 – High Octave: 0 to plus 2 octaves

(c) Chris Ankin

KK-Access.com

3rd May 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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