ALLURE MODERN UPRIGHT PIANO BY HEAVYOCITY
KK-ACCESS REVIEW
A new addition to the Heavyocity ascend series has just landed, and this time the upright Piano is the focus.
Allure brings with it a rather more intimate timbre, with both the natural and felted tones of the K800 upright being captured, and in true Heavyocity style, they delved deeper, sampling beyond the conventional in order to create a compelling collection of presets.
TECH SPECS
Allure runs in Kontakt version 6.8 or above, either the full or player edition, and is compatible with all versions of Komplete Kontrol with NKS support.
The library will require 16.8GB of free disk space for installation, being compressed from the original 34.8GB using the NCW lossless compression format.
There is a single Allure master Kontakt NKI preset, which in turn feeds a further 95 NKSN snapshot presets.
DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION
Download and installation is via the Heavyocity Portal upon registration of your post purchase serial number.
Once downloaded you will be free to move the compiled library folder to your preferred location, and then using the same license serial number to register Allure within Native Access 2, you can simply locate the product on your system in order to finalise the process.
running an instance of Komplete Kontrol either standalone or directly within your DAW will trigger the auto rescan and add Allure to your factory browser.
ACCESSIBILITY
The NKS mapping template for Allure is the same as previous Ascend releases, and you will find the full mapping description at the end of the review following the media links.
As mentioned recently in a previous review, there is some slightly better news for those working with the Komplete Kontrol 3 version software, as NKS 2 is now implemented within the coding.
Although on the surface if you are using MK2, A-series or M32 hardware you will not find any cosmetic or functional differences, there is however a little bonus tucked away.
You may recall in previous Ascend instruments that I bemoaned the lack of NKS implementation for attack & release controls, despite these being present when inspecting the Kontakt parameters outside of Komplete Kontrol.
Now with NKS 2, although still not physically mapped to the controller knobs, we can at least now see them and also adjust them using a DAW parameter list whilst still remaining in the KK environment.
Other controls that are exposed using this method are, Pedal up & Down, Velocity curve, & Key Noise.
Unfortunately there is still no access to the more advanced features, most notably the sample loading browsers, which remain tantalisingly out of reach using NKS.
These options will need to be made automatable within Kontakt before we can realistically hope to accessibly see them, perhaps this may become possible when Heavyocity adopt Kontakt 7 as the base level host for their products, where sample purging is feasible.
THE ALLURE OF ALLURE
Allure is divided into several banks of sound presets, which demonstrate the various capabilities of the library.
Examples exist that range from the more traditional and natural sounds of the upright piano, through to the more exotic and creatively designed material we generally associate with Heavyocity.
The categories consist of:
Alluring, Core Upright, Dancers, Extended, & rhythmic.
Alluring, feature some beautiful washes, pad like tones, swells & cascades, ideal for emotive scoring and soundscapes, and perhaps writing in the style associated with Nils Frahm.
Core Upright is where you will find those traditional sounds, there are natural, felted, Soft, compressed, close, plucked, Rubber Mallet and other treatment variants.
Dancers, make use of the arp & echoes feature to add an added dimension of musical animation, the notes you play feedback and get repeated in interesting ways.
Some of the Dancer presets are quite subtle, others are full flowing cascades of notes. These are demonstrated within the Heavyocity product walkthrough linked in the media section after the review.
Extended, takes the sound of the humble upright piano and places it out of context, the presets here stretch the concept entirely out of character, from pads, strings, harpsichords, deep reverb’s all of which conspire to take the vanilla ivory keys out of their comfort zone.
Rhythmic, takes us back to familiar Heavyocity territory, with a collection of tempo synced presets, again some are more delicate and relaxed in their rhythmic style, others like the excellent ‘Pearls & Crystals’ offer you the option for some more dynamic rising piano sweeps and cascades.
ALLURE CONTROLS
There are three sound layer channels within the Ascend Allure engine, we have access to the Volume, Pan, Convolution, & Tone controls directly using mapped NKS knobs, and as mentioned earlier the missing Attack & Release parameters are available through your DAW parameter list provided you are running the latest version of Kmplete Kontrol 3.
Elsewhere, the Arp and Echoes page gives you some good opportunities for experimentation by triggering additional notes based on what you play, for example turning on both features and then offsetting the note values between them can yield some great results, the octave ranges off the repeated notes can also be extended to further broaden the sweep of notes.
It is a shame that the NKS arp controls do not provide the full gamut of controls included in the onscreen user interface, here the option to choose the way that arp patterns play is a mouse click away.
As a workaround, we can always opt to bring the onboard Komplete Kontrol Arpeggiator into play here if a greater range of patterns are required.
When it comes to the Allure built-in FX, then there are four slots that are assigned within the NKS mapping template.
Compression, EQ, Delay, & Reverb frequently occupy the slots, , However these can vary between presets, so there can be a little guesswork in working out what effect the controls relate to.
These FX are applied globally across all three of the sound channels, but they can each be turned on or off separately if preferred, which gives you the option to add your own FX on one of the Komplete Kontrol FX slots.
Do make a point of checking out the Heavyocity walkthroughs, as these audibly explain the concept and sound behind the library.
CONCLUSION
Allure Modern Upright Piano will be a welcome addition to the Heavyocity portfolio, particularly for keen piano aficionado’s where just like guitarists, one size definitely does not fit all.
The Heavyocity signature sound is as you would expect always omnipresent , and the warm upright tones certainly deliver a more intimate sound which will suit particular projects, especially using the soft and felted options.
Ascend Allure Modern Upright can be purchased directly from the Heavyocity website
At the time of publication, For a limited time, Heavyocity is offering ALLURE: Modern Upright for $119 (reg. $149).
In addition, owners of ASCEND, ASPIRE, or AVANT will get an additional $20 off with registered serials. Offers end June 7, 2024.
Allure Product Page:
Allure Product Overview:
Allure Preset Playthrough:
Intersecting Planes” by Ari Winters ALLURE Demo:
Allure User Manual:
Komplete Kontrol Plug-in Edit NKS Parameter Mapping
Note, the assigned control knob functions for the Four available FX will vary with each preset, as they are predetermined by what effects have been assigned.
Page One – FX On/Off & FX 1
Knob 1 – FX1
Knob 2 – FX 2
Knob 3 – FX3
Knob 4 – FX 4
Knob 5 – Threshold
Knob 6 – Ratio
Knob 7 – Attack
Knob 8 – Make-Up
Page Two – FX 2 & FX 3
Knob 1 – Time
Knob 2 – Feedback
Knob 3 – Defuse
Knob 4 – Level
Knob 5 – Pre-Delay
Knob 6 – Size
Knob 7 – Colour
Knob 8 – Mix
Page Three – FX 4 & Convolve
Knob 1 – Pre-Delay
Knob 2 – Size
Knob 3 – Colour
Knob 4 – Mix
Knob 5 – Convolve On/Off
Knob 6 – Master
Knob 7 & 8 – Unallocated
Page Four – Shape
Knob 1 – Shape On/Off
Knob 2 – LP Cut
Knob 3 – HP Cut
Knob 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Gate Rate
Knob 6 – Gate Amount
Knob 7 & 8 – Unallocated
Page Five – Ambience
Knob 1 – On/Off
Knob 2 – Delay Time
Knob 3 – Delay Amount
Knob 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Pre-Delay
Knob 6 – Size
Knob 7 – Mod
Knob 8 – Mix
Page Six – Arp & Echoes
Knob 1 – Arp On/Off
Knob 2 – Rate
Knob 3 – Octave
Knob 4 – Swing
Knob 5 – Echoes On/Off
Knob 6 – Transpose
Knob 7 – Rate
Knob 8 – Amount
Page Seven – CH1 & CH2
Knob 1 – CH1 Volume
Knob 2 – Pan
Knob 3 – CONVOLVE effects Level
Knob 4 – Tone
Knob 5 – CH2 Volume
Knob 6 – Pan
Knob 7 – CONVOLVE effects Level
Knob 8 – Tone
Page Eight – CH3 & Random
Knob 1 – CH3 Volume
Knob 2 – Pan
Knob 3 – CONVOLVE effects Level
Knob 4 – Tone
Knob 5 – Random On/Off
Knob 6 – Scatter
Knob 7 – Drift
Knob 8 – Unallocated
Page Nine – Stereo & Tone
Knob 1 – Stereo Width
Knob 2 – Flip
Knob 3 & 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Resonance
Knob 6 – Resonance Volume
Knob 7 – Release
Knob 8 – Release Volume
(c) Chris Ankin
KK-Access.com
*31ST May 2024 *
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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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