THE VINTAGE KEYS COLLECTION BY SOUNDIRON
KK-ACCESS REVIEW
It’s been a hot minute since we last reviewed a SoundIron product, and there have certainly been plenty of new releases since our last one, where we took a look at the excellent Core Micro back in December 2022.
The subject here is the new Vintage Keys Collection, which gathers together under one roof 23 old school keyboard instruments, 21 of which have already been previously released as separate libraries.
Included in this collection are some little known vintage organs and synthesizers, which are conveniently wrapped into a common interface, culminating into a large compendium of keyboard rarities for your playing pleasure.
The advantage of this big box anthology approach, is that when they are contained in the unique SoundIron multi layer user interface, it is possible to blend up to four of the sound layer categories & articulations at once, in fact with so many options on hand you can come up with all manner of retro flavoured mayhem, along with recipes for some pretty mature cheese 🙂
TECH SPECS
The Vintage Keys collection requires Kontakt version 7.1 or above, either full or Kontakt Player editions, and is compatible with Komplete Kontrol software & hardware.
The library is quite large, consuming a not insignificant 73.1GB of disk space, and draws upon 85,082 stereo samples, which are stored in the NCW compressed format.
For the factory presets, soundIron have opted to use 481 Kontakt NKI files, for the primary content that we will access from the Komplete Kontrol browser.
There is also a GUI based browser that includes 150 further presets that are stored in the Kontakt NKA format.
Unfortunately we are unable to access these from either Komplete Kontrol or indeed Kontakt, as currently the NKA file format is not included as an option for the standard file load menu, and the GUI is not accessible with a screen reader.
I am not sure why SoundIron occasionally use this more unusual format for presets, as at least from the accessibility perspective NKSN snapshots would certainly be more convenient, particularly as NKSN has now after many requests, been added to the Kontakt standard file menu, although I have
already made submissions to Native Instruments advocating that NKA is likewise included in the future, perhaps with the upcoming release of Kontakt 8.
DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION
The Vintage Keys collection comes with two different serials, one is to download and unpack the library using soundIron’s own proprietary downloader, which is provided as a download link post purchase.
the second serial is the Native Instruments license for authorising the product within Native Access.
Unfortunately the SoundIron downloader is not the most accessible, and using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to scan the app can be somewhat of a hit & miss affair.
Instead, I would recommend entirely sidestepping this installer, and alternatively heading straight to Native Access.
Here, if you paste in your serial, the whole library can be authorised & installed directly and most importantly accessibly without any difficulties.
Once installed, running Komplete Kontrol will autoscan the library into the factory side of your browser, ready for immediate use.
FULL Vintage Keys NKS PLUG-IN EDIT NKS PAGE PARAMETER MAPPING DESCRIPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE END OF THE REVIEW FOLLOWING THE MEDIA LINKS
ACCESSIBILITY
I have for sometime been an advocate of the soundIron approach for the mapping of their NKS templates.
The engine, with it’s four sound layers to work with, provides good and equal access to each of them, with options for choosing the sound bank category, as well as the individual sound articulations/presets that are contained within them.
SoundIron were among the first developers to include the ability to switch samples directly from within Komplete Kontrol inside the loaded NKS preset, which is thankfully now a concept which many others have now adopted.
there are, as we shall discover plenty of other options, but at the heart of this functionality it enables us to select, load, mix, & match the samples to blend and construct our own presets, or easily modify the existing factory content.
Keyswitches are available For the 23 core instruments, and these in common with many libraries are located in the lower octaves, enabling users to change articulations/sounds for the first sound layer only.
this is I believe a perfectly acceptable practice, as implementing multi layer keyswitching across all four layers would obviously have presented quite a Kontakt KSP scripting challenge.
There are still one or two omissions for the engine, for example, there is no NKS access to the FX rack, which controls the loading & modification of any FX, perhaps most notably the reverb.
This means that any ambience already applied by default to a factory preset cannot be accessibly removed or altered using NKS control.
There is a little saving grace here, as the 23 core instrument patches are presented dry, so you can at least if you wish, add your own FX through a second Komplete Kontrol FX slot, however for the majority of other included factory designed presets, they will have some degree of reverb already pre configured through the FX racks.
There is also a randomise button tucked away within the user interface, and sadly this has not been added to the NKS template, or made automatable within Kontakt, where we might otherwise gain access via a DAW parameter list, this would have been a quick and useful way to automatically generate some new preset ideas of our own with the roll of a virtual dice.
finally, I also noted that the Legato and Portamento mode switches are not a part of the NKS template.
VINTAGE KEYS INSTRUMENTS
As mentioned, the Vintage Keys Collection feature many of the individual libraries which are available for purchase separately (although these are not officially Kontakt Player compatible).
These include Cruiser, granada-49, bontastic, microrgan, magnus, disco-6000, ufo-61, principessa-organ, eko-panda, elektronik-25, jewel-runner-49, bontabulous, yumtone-h4, fatty-311, jewel-empire-ii, easy-6100, jewel-bandolero, eko-digit, Verve, Organetta, & Siel Flow.
It’s well worth checking these out on the SoundIron website for more details, as we are unable to explore them in detail here.
There are also two brand new instruments which are currently exclusive to this collection, which have yet to be released individually, these are Concorda & Elytron.
Despite freely admitting to being of a certain vintage myself, I confess even I may be too young to remember many of these keyboards, although I seem to recall that we did have a Bontempi organ in the house, which I have to say, definitely did nothing to ignite my later interest in electronic music, as there was a distinct absence of Giorgio Moroder presets onboard!
THE VINTAGE KEYS INTERFACE
While the Vintage Keys Collection does include 23 different instruments, by design the library is not intended to create virtual reproductions of their original controls.
Instead, there is a consistent user interface across all of the included presets, with the master Vintage Keys patch additionally featuring an X & Y axis control section.
The first two sound layers, are named as Microphone 1 & 2 respectively, Mic 1 being a direct input recording, alongside Mic 2 where an external microphone was used to capture the same sounds.
These two layers include categories such as sustains, staccatos, SFX, & Percussion, and each category will then have a subsequent number of sample presets housed within them, these are simply named sustain 1, 2 & so on.
We can also then adjust the Volume, Attack & Decay, Sample Offset, Width, Vibrato Depth & Rate, Pan, autopan, Pitch, (up to plus or minus 36 semitones), Multi voice, (which doubles or thickens the loaded sound, with an amount control, as well as pitch options such as octave or detune for this second multi voice).
There are some nice retro sounding drum loop rhythms included, however for some reason, these did not always consistently tempo sync to my project as expected, so some further investigation will be required here.
some may consider that these rhythms are more of a novelty, but I would suggest that they do go hand in hand with the overall vibe of the library, and certainly invoke that nostalgic sound.
NATHAN BOLER’s Demo Track for Vintage Keys Collection
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AMBISYNTH LAYERS
The latter two layers are what SoundIron call Ambisynth layers, here the included samples have been derived from the original instrument samples for the loaded keyboard in question, which have then been modified into a collection of ambient sounds.
The second ambisynth layer, (also known as layer four), also feature a number of wavetable presets, including sub synths, sine, saw, triangle, and various pure noise tones, which can be useful for adding a little extra tonal boost that may not have been an integral part of the original instruments timbre.
LFO
The LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator) page of the mapping allows for the LFO to be routed to each of the four layers.
For example, by selecting layer 1, you can choose the LFO wave shape, and then target which parameter is modulated by the LFO. The choices are Volume, Bass, Treble, Pitch, Pan, Resonance, & Frequency
, and these can also optionally be synced to your DAW clock rate, with rate values ranging from 4/1 up to 1/32.
There is also an intensity control, with an adjacent fade in knob which allows for the LFO to gradually be introduced over time.
FILTER
The filter page boasts similar configuration options, offering you 12 types to select from, which can then be routed to various control triggers such as velocity or modwheel.
Finally there are Resonance and Frequency controls assigned to their own knobs, along with an on/off toggle to Invert them.
ARP, GLISSANDO, & STRUMM
The Arp page provides some decent options for selecting the Arp mode, Direction, Arp Time Value, swing, Random & duration, which is fairly extensive.
However, the Arp at least as far as the NKS controls go, will be applied globally across all active layers at the same time.
The Gliss & Strum page includes controls for the Glissando direction, Scale, Curve, & Rate, while the Strum feature has Direction, Chord, duration & Rate controls.
To use the Gliss or Strum feature, the arp needs to first be turned on, and then either Gliss or strum chosen from the Arp Mode knob, this section is particularly useful if you are looking to create some smartphone in app media tones, or perhaps even some retro computer game fx.
Do make a point of checking out the product walkthrough hosted by Craig from SoundIron, where there are some great examples of the factory presets and workflow.
Also, the composition synopsis video hosted by Nathan gives a nice workflow overview, and there are also midi & Reaper project files available that can be loaded into your own DAW, both videos are linked in our media links section.
CONCLUSION
The Vintage Keys Collection undoubtedly represents great value for money when compared to purchasing all of the contained instruments separately.
Depending on your music making needs of course, some might struggle to use this collection on their next banging dance floor anthem, however, it does nevertheless represent a quite curious and eclectic anthology of historic keyboard sounds that might just work their way into something more contemporary.
For historic keyboard enthusiasts, it’s an opportunity to play some of the sounds from now long obsolete organs & synths from the past 60 years, which arguably set the tone for the more advanced yet still affordable electronic instruments we use today.
If you are a media composer, or sound designer, looking for that distinctive vintage signature sound for a certain project, then this could be a handy compendium to have in your composers toolkit.
The Vintage Keys Collection is available from the SoundIron website for an introductory price of $152.00 (Regular price $179.00).
*Note: soundIron are participants of the Able Artist Foundation scheme, where members may obtain a 50% reduction on standard pricing. *
Vintage Keys Collection Product Page:
Vintage Keys Collection Walkthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-FmP6ZdElc
SoundIron Composing with Vintage Keys Collection:
https://www.youtube.com/live/3Gouha2y6OY?app=desktop
Vintage Keyboards Separate Products:
https://soundiron.com/collections/vintage-keys
Vintage Keys Collection User Manual:
https://dist.soundiron.com/SND/Manuals/Soundiron%20-%20Vintage%20Keys%20Collection%20-%20User%20Manual%20-%20v1.0.pdf
KOMPLETE KONTROL PLUG-IN EDIT NKS PARAMETER MAPPING
Page One – Mic 1 AM
Knob 1 – Layer On/Off
Knob 2 – Sound Category
Knob 3 – Articulation (preset)
Knob 4 – Volume
Knob 5 – Attack
Knob 6 – Offset
Knob 7 – release
Knob 8 – Width (reduces to mono or wider stereo)
Page Two – Mic 1 B, Multi voice
Knob 1 – Vibrato Depth
Knob 2 – Vibrato Rate
Knob 3 – Pan
Knob 4 – Autopan
Knob 5 – Pitch (plus or minus 36 semitones)
Knob 6 – Multi voice On/Off
Knob 7 – Multi voice Amount
Knob 8 – Multi voice Mode (Octave or Detune)
Page Three – Mic 2 AM
Knob 1 to 8 – As per Mic 1 AM controls
Page Four – Mic 2 B, Multi voice
Knob 1 to 8 – As per Mic 1 B controls
Page Five – Ambisynth 1 AM
Knob 1 to 8 – As per Mic 1 AM controls
Page Six – Ambisynth 1 B
Knob 1 – Vibrato Depth
Knob 2 – Vibrato Rate
Knob 3 – Pan
Knob 4 – Autopan
Knob 5 – Pitch C
Knob 6 – Pitch M
Knob 7 & 8 – Unallocated
Page Seven – Ambisynth 2 AM
Knob 1 to 8 – As per Ambisynth 1 AM
Page Eight – ambisynth 2 B
Knobs 1 to 8 – As per Ambisynth 1 B
Page Nine – Select LFO
Knob 1 – Layer Select 1,2,3, or 4
Knob 2 – LFO On/Off
Knob 3 – LFO Shape: Sine, Square, Triangle, Sawtooth, Random
Knob 4 – Target: Volume, Bass, Treble, Pitch, Pan, Resonance, Frequency
Knob 5 – Sync On/Off
Knob 6 – Rate
Knob 7 – Intensity
Knob 8 – Fade In
Page Ten – Filter
Knob 1 – On/Off
Knob 2 – filter Type x 12
Knob 3 – Modulator
Knob 4 – Resonance
Knob 5 – Frequency
Knob 6 – Invert
Knob 7 & 8 – Unallocated
Page Eleven – Arp
Knob 1 – On/Off
Knob 2 – Arp Mode: Normal, Hold, Hold Plus, Gliss, Strum,
Knob 3 – table
Knob 4 – Arp Direction: Up, Down, Up & Down, Down & Up, ZigZag Up, ZigZag Down, zigZag Up Down, ZigZag Down Up, Move In, Move Out, In & Out, Out & In, EZ Roll, Random, As Played
Knob 5 – Time
Knob 6 – Swing
Knob 7 – Random Amount
Knob 8 – duration amount
Page Twelve – Gliss & Strum
Knob 1 – Gliss Direction
Knob 2 – Scale
Knob 3 – Curve
Knob 4 – Rate
Knob 5 – strum Direction
Knob 6 – Chord
Knob 7 – duration
Knob 8 – Rate
Page Thirteen – Constrain & X Fade
Knob 1 – On/Off
Knob 2 – Key
Knob 3 – Scale
Knob 4 – X Fade Amount
Knob 5 to 8 – Unallocated
Vintage Keys Master Preset
The Vintage Keys master NKI is identical to others, with the addition of the following three pages:
Page One – Main & Macros
Knob 1 – X Axis
Knob 2 – Y Axis
Knob 3 – Macro 1
Knob 4 – Macro 2
Knob 5 – Macro 3
Knob 6 – Macro 4
Knob 7 & 8 – Unallocated
Page Two – X Axis & Y Axis
Knob 1 – Target
Knob 2 – Motion On/Off
Knob 3 – speed (in beat values)
Knob 4 – Range
- Knob 5 – Y Axis Motion
Knob 6 – Y Axis Speed (in beat values)
Knob 8 – Y Axis Range
Page Fifteen – Wavetable
Knob 1 – Position
Knob 2 – Form
Knob 3 – Mode
Knob 4 – Quality
Knob 5 to 8 – Unallocated
(c) Chris Ankin
KK-Access.com
*25TH June 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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