SONARA – VOICES IN MOTION BY HEAVYOCITY
KK-ACCESS REVIEW
There is little doubt based on the feedback we have received over the years, that both Vocaliser 1 & 2 have been among the most favourite of readers Heavyocity libraries in the past eight years of KK-Access reviews.
With that in mind, their latest library Sonara – Voices in Motion, builds upon the premise of thematic vocals with a brand new collection of emotive cinematic scoring voices.
TECH SPECS
Sonara runs in Kontakt version 7.10.6, either the full edition or free Kontakt player, and is compatible with all versions of Komplete Kontrol where the appropriate Kontakt version is hosted within it.
The library requires 6.36GB for installation, using NCW lossless compression file format for it’s samples.
There are three master Sonara Kontakt NKI preset files, which reflect the separate sections of the library.
Further to this, there are over 1060 Kontakt NKSN snapshot files, which are divided among the three library categories.
DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION
sonara is downloaded using the Heavyocity Portal, which is reasonably navigable for screen reader users, although there are some unlabelled buttons to content with.
The provided serial number works both for the Heavyocity Portal, and also Native Access, which is the second part of the installation process where your product needs to be registered and finally located on your system.
Running Komplete Kontrol in either standalone, or simply adding an instance in your DAW, will add sonara to your browser, provided autoscan is turned on.
FULL KOMPLETE KONTROL PLUG-IN EDIT NKS PARAMETER MAPPINGS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE END OF THIS REVIEW FOLLOWING THE MEDIA LINKS
ACCESSIBILITY
Sonara is housed within the Gravity 2 Kontakt engine, which essentially means that aside from a few product specific tweaks, the NKS mapping remains unchanged between this and previous libraries that have used this engine.
SONARA – MOTION & EMOTION
The recording, sample editing and overall content delivery for Sonara feels incredibly well polished. right from the get go, just as soon as the first preset loads, you will be treated to pristinely curated samples, sublime vocal performances, and clean, clear wide, (dare I say), mix ready vocals that will grab your audience’s attention.
Heavyocity have been meticulous in covering as wider use case as possible, and the large number of included presets reflect this by offering variants such as performance key, voice tonality & softness, as well as straight and triple time meters for the content.
The Sonara Vocals & Sonara Motifs presets are intended to be the playground for sound designers, where it is possible to select, switch & swap content from the extensive sample pool, into the three available sound layers.
There are some fantastic examples of Sonara’s creative potential under the Sonara Vocals bank. The sub bank of dynamic textures in particular, demonstrate and fully exploit all of the libraries features, rich textures, animated sound layering, and evolving vocal ambiences can be found aplenty here.
In terms of accessible sound design, as blind users will be aware from previous libraries, access to the sample browsers are not assigned to NKS, and as such are not accessible via the graphical user interface that sighted users would be using to click with a mouse.
This does of course limit the degree of extensive customisation opportunities, however at least the large amount of included preset content may go some way to offer a degree of recompense.
There are also now some benefits of having NKS 2, which is present in the newer Komplete Kontrol3 software, as there are some control elements which have not been premapped directly to the KK hardware.
As an example, the sync on & off switch for the Macro LFO found on page 2 of the NKS template, Which in it’s default state, is set to off, and the rate is reported as GHz, if you bring up the parameter list within your DAW, the switch (at least for Reaper), was found at parameter 165, and when enabled sets the LFO to sync with your DAW project, with much more meaningful beat values.
Elsewhere, there are per layer tuning controls, which again are not natively mapped to NKS, yet could certainly be considered as valuable to some users.
Sonara features the talents of 3 vocalists, with their contributions coming in four keys, with both major and minor versions of A, c, D#, & F# which can be found in the Motifs category.
All of this content is available in solo form, ensembles and stacks, so when you multiply this by the aforementioned key and vocalist variants there is an awful lot to get through. This is not a complaint of course, just an observation on the overall product flexibility, the studio recording track sheet must have been a nightmare!
When it comes to NKS & Komplete Kontrol keyboards, browsing and filtering all of these presets to find what you need on the S-Series is helped by the presence of the banks option, and subsequent filters, but could unfortunately be a little bit onerous for owners of the A-Series & M32 without these more detailed browsing capabilities.
SONARA – SAMPLES ON THE MENU
The sonara Menu presets are where individual phrases have been mapped to their own individual keys, this is great when you want to combine and use multiple phrases at once, and in addition the lower range of your keyboard is assigned as keyswitches to allow for pitch control of the loaded samples.
There are also the performance and improvisation patches, which is a superb place to look if you perhaps just need a quick and impromptu vocal lick to insert into a track.
Many of the presets have a rhythmic stutter effect assigned to the modwheel, which is a nice performance tool for adding a contemporary vibe to the proceedings.
SONARA – SINGING IN TONGUES
The voices and phrases used within Sonara, have been constructed so as to cover as broad a use case as possible. The spoken phrases consist of rhythmic vowels and consonants, which are not really definable by any specific culture or world region, this makes them workable across genres, not only for the Heavyocity hallmark cinematic role, but also potentially for some more mainstream music styles.
It does raise the question as to whether as a composer you would find yourself writing your music around the phrases, or decide to later add vocals to your instrumentations, the answer, I think is that the voices can serve as an inspiration for your writing, and both elements will compliment one another.
The other factor, is that among composers, the content may become instantly recognisable once released into the wild and used within mainstream media. We have all spotted plenty of Damage & Gravity presets in trailers and movies over the years, but the human voice is perhaps a tad more distinguishable, but maybe at the end of the day, not so much to the ears of the popcorn munching public!
Please do make a point to checkout the links in the media section below, the preset playthrough will provide you with a good sense of what is included within Sonara, and the overview has a broader description of the categories and how they can be used.
CONCLUSION
Sonara – Voices In Motion offers plenty to satiate the creative needs of those who already own the Vocalizer libraries, and in many ways continue the series in all but name.
There are some accessibility shortfalls that we have come to live with, and thanks to NKS2 these can at least be partially addressed, essentially the more parameters that a developer makes automatable, the more chance we have to get more creative value from any given library, and this will become more apparent when Native Instruments make the Kontrol MK3 range accessible.
The quantity of presets is certainly plentiful, and whilst many of these are variations, it does provide a very useful flexibility to add some subtle, yet appreciatively creative changes to your tracks, which can significantly elevate the professional sound of your music.
Sonara – Voices in Motion sounds wonderful, being pristine, vibrant, and instantly gratifying to work with, and succeeds in continuing to preserve the spirit of previous Heavyocity vocal libraries.
Sonara – Voices In Motion can be purchased directly from the Heavyocity website at an introductory price of $149 (regularly $179)
In addition, there is a Limited-Time Sonara: Voices in Motion Offer for existing Gravity1 or 2, Vocalise 1, 2, or 3, or Mosaic Voices owners – $119 USD
Sonara Product Page:
Sonara Preset Playthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3rxzX5lViw
Sonara – Product Overview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhnhCST7CXg
Sonara How to Compose an ambient vocal track for film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLVazKpb6o8
Sonara User Manual:
https://heavyocity.com/Downloads/Sonara_User Manual.pdf
KOMPLETE KONTROL PLUG-IN EDIT NKS CONTROL MAPPINGS
Sonara Vocals
Page One – Macro Controls
Knob 1 – Macro Amount
Knob 2 – Modulation On/Off
Knob 3 – Modulation Amount
Knob 4 – Envelope
Knob 5 – Tone
Knob 6 – Drive
Knob 7 – Motion
Knob 8 – Space
Page Two – Macro LFO
Knob 1 – Macro LFO On/Off
Knob 2 – Rate (Hz)
Knob 3 – Spread
Knob 4 – Envelope
Knob 5 – Tone
Knob 6 – Drive
Knob 7 – Motion
Knob 8 – Space
Page Three – Mixer
Knob 1 – Random On/Off
Knob 2 – Drift
Knob 3 – Scatter
Knob 4 – Volume Channel 1
Knob 5 – Volume Channel 2
Knob 6 – Volume Channel 3
Knob 7 – Mixer X
Knob 8 – Mixer Y
Page Four – Punish & Filter
Knob 1 – Punish On/Off
Knob 2 – Punish Amount
Knob 3 – Bass
Knob 4 – Response
Knob 5 – Tone
Knob 6 – Filter On/Off
Knob 7 – Cut
Knob 8 – Resonance
Page Five – EQ
Knob 1 – EQ On/Off
Knob 2 – Amount
Knob 3 – Gain
Knob 4 – Frequency
Knob 5 – Gain
Knob 6 – Frequency
Knob 7 – Gain
Knob 8 – Frequency
Page Six – Compressor
Knob 1 – Compressor On/Off
Knob 2 – Threshold
Knob 3 – Ratio
Knob 4 – Attack
Knob 5 – Release
Knob 6 – Make-Up
Knob 7 – Mix
Knob 8 – Unallocated
Page Seven – Modulation
Knob 1 – Modulation On/Off
Knob 2 – Rate (Hz)
Knob 3 – Amount
Knob 4 – Feedback
Knob 5 – Width
Knob 6 – Mix
Knob 7 & 8 – Unallocated
Page Eight – Delay
Knob 1 – Delay On/Off
Knob 2 – Time 1/1 to 1/32 (Including Triplets)
Knob 3 – Feedback
Knob 4 – Quality: Low, Medium, High
Knob 5 – Tone
Knob 6 – Level
Knob 7 & 8 – Unallocated
Page Nine – Reverb
Knob 1 – Reverb On/Off
Knob 2 – Pre-Delay
Knob 3 – Size
Knob 4 – Damp
Knob 5 – Modulation
Knob 6 – Mix
Knob 7 & 8 – Unallocated
(c) Chris Ankin
KK-Access.com
25TH October 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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