DAMAGE MACHINA BY HEAVYOCITY

KK-ACCESS REVIEW

The Heavyocity Damage line of products have come along way since the original and ground breaking cinematic percussion library of the same name first took the market by storm more than a decade ago.

We have journeyed through a direct sequel, a dedicated drum kit, 2 Guitar libraries, and 2 related rock groove loop libraries, and now comes the latest in the franchise, Damage Machina.

Perhaps at first glance a slightly unlikely candidate for the Damage heraldry, however after a short time of playing, you realise that Damage is all about the superb sound process. Believe me, if my forma secretary had been able to make her old humble and mechanical typewriter sound like this back in the day, I would have been mightily impressed, if not a little scared by the power of the key strikes!

The beauty of Damage Machina, as it was with the original Damage library, is very much about taking these arguably mundane mechanical and industrial items, and transforming them into something imminently usable in a musical and cinematic environment.

MACHINA CONCEPTS

For this new outing, Heavyocity have worked with sound designer Robert Dudzic, to assemble an eclectic yet highly useful collection of mechanical and industrial machine sounds, everything from the aforementioned typewriters, pinball machines, clocks & watches, gears & cogs, steam driven machines, and all manner of other metallic clinks & clanks.

These have of course, all been processed with the classic Heavyocity signature sound, the results of which permit them to wear that prestigious Damage crown of glory!

TECH SPECS

damage Machina runs in Kontakt version 6.8 or higher, either the full version or the free player edition.

It is compatible with all versions of Komplete Kontrol hosting the above specified Kontakt editions.

For installation, (2.62 GB is required using the NCW lossless compression format, which reduces it from the original 5.4GB.

There are two master Kontakt NKI preset files, 1 for the Machina Ensemble Designer, and another for the Machina Loop designer.

These are further supplemented with additional Kontakt NKSN snapshot presets, which are sub categories to the two main types.

DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION

Download is via the reasonably accessible Heavyocity Portal, using the provided post purchase serial number.

Once downloaded, un archived, and installed to your preferred location, the same serial number is used to authorise Damage Machina within Native Access, and you will need to locate the content in order to finalise the registration process.

Loading Komplete Kontrol will then auto scan the library into your factory database ready for you to use.

FULL KOMPLETE KONTROL PLUG-IN EDIT NKS PARAMETER LISTINGS CAN BE FOUND AT THE END OF THE REVIEW FOLLOWING THE MEDIA SECTION

ACCESSIBILITY

Damage Machina utilizes the Damage 2 Kontakt engine, so if you are familiar with this, you will already be aware of the accessibility options.

Basic, yet functional is probably the fairest way to describe them, you will be able to do the important things like choosing and mixing microphone levels, Punish & Filter, EQ, Compressor, Saturation, Delay, and Reverb.

Unfortunately, there remains no way to select and choose from the main Damage Machina sample pool, either via NKS or the automatable parameters within your DAW, and this in common to most plug-ins that are not JUCE based, so easy access to the GUI is not really a realistic option.

MACHINA LEARNING

The Damage Machina library is divided into two distinct types, the Ensemble Designer, and the Loop designer, whilst ostensibly NKS mappings and operation remains the same from our perspective.

The Ensemble Designer features sub categories of sounds, Found Sounds and Time Keepers, Pinball Machines, Mechanical Sounds, Impacts & Transitions, and All Stars, (the latter being a collection of sound designed presets incorporating multiple sound types).

The Loop Designer in true Heavyocity style includes a comprehensive collection of tempo synced rhythmic loops and phrases, single loops being assigned to individual keys across your keyboard, which can be played singularly or in multi combinations, all are available in either straight or triplet meters.

Helpfully Heavyocity have once again included the four keyswitches mapped to a lower octave which can be used to temporarily create a stutter effect ranging from 8ths 16th, 32nd, to 64th machine gun blasts, to add further variety and spice to your tracks.

Further up the octave range past the loops, there are also some one shots which again, can be played over the top of the loops to provide you with further personalised results.

MACHINA – INTO THE FACTORY

There is plenty of factory content to work with, both with the ensembles or loop material.

The ensembles consist of pre-mapped kits, appropriately named so that yu will in most cases know what to expect, for example Junkyard Metals, Heavy Impacts, Mechanical Reverses, Monster typewriter, Pinball Boomers & bumpers, Timekeeping clocks, well I’m sure you get the idea!

There is a ton of quality sounds here, and the high gloss processing polish is as always production ready to roll, perfect for cinematic music, trailers, game sounds and the like.

The loops are as you would expect up to the same usual Heavyocity premium standards, as well as straight & triplet timings,the loop patterns are also available in variations which split the material into low, medium, and high instrument sounds, which enable users to separate particular elements when constructing and piecing together the parts.

Checkout the always excellent and inspiring Heavyocity walkthroughs linked in our media section at the end of the review, to hear the sounds of Damage Machina in more detail.

CONCLUSION

Many long term Heavyocity product owners will have made the journey after being blown away by Damage all those years ago.

Here the tradition continues, and Heavyocity are still successfully able to coax new experiences and add worthwhile and appealing variations to the line to replenish the Damage toolbox for composers who need that hallmark sound.

Regarding accessibility via the NKS system, as mentioned in previous reviews, once a specific engine type is released, there are seldom if any variations added during the course of it’s life, nevertheless despite a lack of full access for blind & visually impaired users, the libraries do remain usable.

Damage Machina can be purchased directly from the Heavyocity website at the current introductory price of $119.00 (regularly $149.00)

Damage Machina – Product Page:
https://heavyocity.com/product/machina/?srsltid=AfmBOorSbURWo7oJ77pXl8TV7Vo2eYwEiy7diH9ylYtwSd67V3DxT2df

Damage Machina – Preset Playthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz12dYNOUIk

Damage Machina – Product Overview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbj706bkwW8

Damage Machina – User Manual:
https://heavyocity.com/Downloads/Machina_User Manual.pdf

KOMPLETE KONTROL NKS PARAMETER MAPPINGS

Damage MachinaEnsemble Designer

Page One – Mixer

Knob 1 – Close Microphone (levels in dB)
Knob 2 – Room Microphone
Knob 3 – Hall Microphone
Knob 4 – Overhead Microphone
Knob 5 – LFELevel
Knob 6 to 8 – Unallocated

Page Two – Punish & Filter

Knob 1 – Punish On/Off
Knob 2 – Amount
Knob 3 – Response
Knob 4 – Tone
Knob 5 – Filter On/Off
Knob 6 – Cut-Off
Knob 7 – Resonance
Knob 8 – Unallocated

Page Three – EQ

Knob 1 – EQ On/Off
Knob 2 – Low Gain
Knob 3 – Low Freq
Knob 4 – Mid Gain
Knob 5 – Mid Freq
Knob 6 – High Gain
Knob 7 – High Freq
Knob 8 – Amount

Page Four – 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 Five – Saturator

Knob 1 – Saturator On/Off
Knob 2 – Drive
Knob 3 – Warmth
Knob 4 – Roll-Off
Knob 5 – Output
Knob 6 to 8 – Unallocated

Page Six – Delay

Knob 1 – Delay On/Off
Knob 2 – Time (Half up to 32nd Triplet)
Knob 3 – Feedback
Knob 4 – Tone
Knob 5 – Quality
Knob 6 – Level
Knob 7 & 8 – Unallocated

Page Seven – Reverb

Knob 1 – Reverb On/Off
Knob 2 – Pre-Delay
Knob 3 – Size
Knob 4 – Low
Knob 5 – High
Knob 6 – Mix
Knob 7 & 8 – Unallocated

Damage Machina Loop Designer

All mappings are as per the Machina Ensemble Designer, with the exception of Page 1 which is assigned to Send Fx as follows:

Knob 1 – Send FX On/Off
Knob 2 – Level
Knob 3 & 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Send Modulation On/Off
Knob 6 – Amount
Knob 7 – Smooth
Knob 8 – Unallocated

(c) Chris Ankin

KK-Access.com

21ST May 2025

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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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