PANORAMA GUITARS BY SONORA CINEMATIC

PANORAMA GUITARS BY SONORA CINEMATIC

KK-ACCESS REVIEW

Sonora Cinematic have just released Panorama Guitars, which promises a new take on the post rock & cinematic guitar library, with an intuitive, well thought out, and easy to use NKS interface, we took it for an in depth spin around the block, and rather liked what we heard.

SONORA CINEMATIC

It’s always a real pleasure to review products from growing sample library developers, and Sonora Cinematic are certainly rapidly gaining a well deserved reputation for creating some high quality yet affordable libraries.

Fronted by composer and sound designer Alessandro Mastroianni, who has credits under his belt for creating both music and sound design for several movies, tv shows and video games.

The Italian born ALESSANDRO , is based in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the UK, and I’m delighted to mention, is like myself, a dedicated user of Reaper as a primary DAW of choice!

TECH SPECS

Panorama Guitars runs in Kontakt version 7.7 or above, either the full or free Kontakt Player editions. It is compatible with Komplete Kontrol.

The library requires 5GB of disk space for installation, with it’s sample pool using the NCW lossless compression format.

There is one master Panorama Guitars Kontakt NKI preset file, which in turn feeds a further 50 Kontakt NKSN snapshot files.

DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION

The download & installation process is handled entirely by Native Access after pasting in your post purchase serial number.

Following the installation, running Komplete Kontrol either in standalone or as a plug-in within your DAW will add the library to your factory browser using the KK auto scan, making it altogether a painless process.

Note: Full Komplete Kontrol plug-in edit NKS Page Mappings can be found at the end of the review, following the media links

ACCESSIBILITY

Sonora Cinematic already appear to have a good grasp of accessibility, their Kontakt Aria engine is ergonomic and straightforward to engage with, having an intuitive workflow, that begins with the ability to select the samples used for each of the two available layers.

There are a couple of elements that have not been included in the NKS template, the X & Y axis settings are not available, by default they appear to be configured to blend between the A & B layers via the modulation wheel, so the central position would be an equal mix between the two.

The Attack and release controls are assigned globally, so independent adjustment between the two layers is not possible, I am not sure whether the two channels are locked together by design, or would be otherwise adjustable with a mouse in the onscreen Gui.

I did take the time to cross reference the Komplete Kontrol mappings with those available for automation within Kontakt separately, however there was no difference.

PANORAMA THE BIGGER PICTURE

Sonora Cinematic have carefully sample a selection of iconic guitars, including bass & baritone, and also ran them through various pedals, amps and outboard to achieve a high quality pool of samples for the library.

In addition to the traditional guitar recordings, they have further designed a whole bunch of well polished ambient tones, pads, reverses, washes, & lush timbres , derived from the original recordings, which perfectly compliment the cleaner instruments, and add some beautiful textures.

There are in total 40 samples available for each channel, which can be used in any dual combination you choose.

As we mentioned in the Tech Specks, there are 50 factory presets included as starting points, which may not seem like many, however the beauty of Panorama Guitars is that tailoring your own sounds is a big part of the joy of it’s use.

There are huge, bright, reverberant cinematic patches aplenty, that can be radically change simply by swapping out either of the layers for a alternative sample articulation , which can instantly transform the atmosphere.

At this point I should also add that there is the capability to drag & drop in your own samples if you select ‘user’ as the articulation, however as this will be a visual procedure, it will be hard to achieve for the majority of us.

Here is a very quick Rough & Ready demo I wrote using Panorama Guitars, made with just Panorama Guitars plus a simple drum track,

Dark Vista Panorama Guitars Demo:

THE PANORAMA EFFECTS

It is refreshing to see a library that implements the FX section in such a way that works well for NKS, and takes advantage of the control options available for each loaded effect.

All too often I feel that this area can be somewhat lacklustre with an NKS library, and you may find yourself just opting to turn off the FX altogether, (provided of course that this has even been made possible), and choosing to add your own through either a secondary Komplete Kontrol slot, or direct to a track.

With Panorama Guitars, Sonora Cinematic have implemented three effect busses, and the NKS controls will react dynamically and update themselves within the mapping to offer the related parameters, depending on which FX you decide to load into them.

Many of the included FX will already be instantly familiar to Native Instruments users, they include Replika , Raum, Dirt, Freak, Choral, & Phasis, which are already pre-built into Kontakt for developers to make use of, and there are also some others that may be bespoke to Panorama Guitars.

,   These FX are applied globally to both channels via NKS, and I guess you could argue that the same is equally achievable by using the Komplete Kontrol FX slots. 

However, it is I feel more useful to have them there immediately at your fingertips within a single control set, where you can experiment with the three part FX chain and ultimately edit it more rapidly, rather than button bashing between FX slots on your KK keyboard to try out ideas!

The other advantage here being, that if you do wish to save your preset, then the FX chain goes along with it, whereas with KK, saving a multi slot chain is not Possible (at least not on the older hardware).

THE PANORAMA LFO

There is a dual LFO modulation facility included within Panorama Guitars, one for each of the two sound layers.

This joint control is useful, as rather than applying them globally across both of the sound layers , which many libraries seem to do, it’s possible for example, to create a gentle tempo synced pulse effect for just one layer, maybe a single low bass note from a pad articulation, leaving the other unaffected layer free to perhaps play a melody higher up.

The LFO modulates the volume or filter, and is quite subtle in nature, but can sometimes be made to sound more aggressive depending on which of the FX were loaded.

Please do take a look at the media links at the end of the review, where you can get to hear many of the presets, and there is a more in depth guide on the Sonora Cinematic Aria engine.

CONCLUSION

If you happen to be looking for a lush, ambient sounding cinematic guitar, that is easily capable of carrying your melodic theme with bags of atmosphere, then Panorama Guitars may well tick all of your boxes.

The selectable samples for the two layers mean that you can easily blend your choices from the entire range of clean, treated, and sound designed content available within the library.

The NKS control mappings have been generally well thought out and implemented, which in practice allows for a straightforward and uncomplicated workflow.

Panorama Guitars from Sonora Cinematic can be purchased directly from their website for the introductory price of £49.00 (regular price £59.00)

Panorama Guitars Product Page:
https://sonoracinematic.com/products/panorama-guitars-by-sonora-cinematic

Panorama Guitars Walkthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIGfX-7UyCE

Sonora Cinematic Post Rock Demo Track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql2Fq7doaoU

Sonora Cinematic – 3 Tips for realistic guitars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNJLE15O-6s

Sonora Cinematic – Aria Engine Walkthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z1yACE2YzU

KOMPLETE KONTROL PLUG-IN EDIT NKS PARAMETER MAPPING

Page One – Main Controllers

Knob 1 – Sound A (selection)
Knob 2 – Sound A, Volume
Knob 3 – Sound B (selection)
Knob 4 – Sound B, Volume
Knob 5 – Attack
Knob 6 – Release
Knob 7 – Interval, (tuning between layers plus or minus 12 semitones)
Knob 8 – DAL NIENTE On/Off (linked to CC11 expression where if turned on defines lowest level as silence)

Page Two – LFO & Filter A

Knob 1 – Frequency, (in Hertz or beat values depending on sync mode being off or on)
Knob 2 – Sync, On/Off
Knob 3 – Volume Intensity
Knob 4 – Pan Intensity
Knob 5 – Filter, On/Off
Knob 6 – Frequency Cut-Off
Knob 7 – Resonance
Knob 8 – Filter Intensity

Page Three – LFO Waveform Layer A

Knob 1 – Sine
Knob 2 – Triangle
Knob 3 – Rectangle
Knob 4 – Saw
Knob 5 – Random
Knob 6 to 8 – Unallocated

Page Four – LFO & Filter Layer B (as per page two)

Page Five – LFO Waveform Layer B (as per page three)
Page Six – FX Slot Layer A

Knob 1 – FX : None, AC Box, Bass IMB, Bass Pro, Hot Solo, Cat, Cry Wah, Distortion, Stortion, Dirt, Bite, Lo-Fi, Screamer, Tape, Wild Flood, CL. Delay, Replika, Psych Delay, Twin Delay, Out Rev, Plate, Raum, Choral, Flair, Freak, Phasis, Ring Mod, Rotator, Vibe Chr,
Knob 2 – Rate, Hertz
Knob 3 – Blend
Knob 4 – Width
Knob 5 – Mix
Knob 6 to 8 – Unallocated

Page Seven – Additional Controls & Advanced

Knob 1 – TBC

Page Eight – FX Slot B (as per page six)

Page Nine – Additional Controls (dynamic dependent upon loaded effect)

Page Ten – FX Slot C
Page Eleven – Additional Controls & Advanced (dynamic content dependent upon loaded effect)

(c) Chris Ankin

KK-Access.com

*28TH 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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