ORCHESTRAL ATMOSPHERES BY FRACTURE SOUNDS
KK-ACCESS REVIEW
If you happen to be looking to add the natural warmth and organic textures that orchestral instruments provide, without necessarily wanting to delve into the intricacies of full orchestral scoring, then Fracture Sounds new release may well have you covered.
At it’s heart, Orchestral Atmospheres offers users access to these rich timbres and articulations via Fracture Sounds excellent and already well proven multi layer atmosphere engine, which delivers three separate fully configurable channels with combinations of 45 different atmospheres available for each of them.
Drawing from Fracture Sounds own and ever growing impressive portfolio of instruments, Orchestral Atmospheres has a truly rich vein of curated sample content available from which Fracture Sounds have tapped into to designed this affordable library.
Released to coincide with their big summer sale, Orchestral Atmospheres will not be available to buy separately until September 2nd , however, if you are looking to bundle up on existing Fracture Sounds products, then you can get Orchestral Atmospheres right now completely free of charge.
TECH SPECS
Orchestral Atmospheres requires Kontakt 7.6 or higher, either full or free Kontakt Player editions.
It is compatible with all versions of Komplete Kontrol hosting the above required Kontakt version.
2.25GB of disk space is required for installation, it uses the NCW lossless format for the samples.
There is a single master orchestral Atmospheres \Kontakt NKI preset, with a further 20 Kontakt NKSN snapshot presets which flaunt the sound design potential of the library.
DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION
The library is delivered via Native Access 2, upon registration of your post purchase serial number.
Orchestral Atmospheres will install to your default factory content location, and after opening Komplete Kontrol, will be added to your browser after auto scanning has finished, this literally takes seconds!
FULL KOMPLETE KONTROL PLUG-IN EDIT NKS PARAMETER MAPPINGS ARE PROVIDED AT THE END OF THE REVIEW FOLLOWING THE MEDIA SECTION
ACCESSIBILITY
Potential customers should be rest assured that Fracture Sounds have again fully implemented an excellent level of NKS mapping.
Crucially, for a product of this nature we can select and load any of the available atmosphere layers directly from the Komplete Kontrol hardware.
Further access is afforded through Attack & release, (global), filters for low and high pass, per layer soloing, octave selection, stacking or crossfading of the 3 layers, a very useful LFO section, Lo-Fi controls, Delay, Reverb, and accessible toggling of keyswitches via an on/off control.
I also cross referenced these controls with those made automatable within Kontakt directly, and they were the same, so there will be no later disappointments of later discovering that Kontakt might have harboured some otherwise hidden tasty Easter eggs!
There are only a couple of things that I could think to add to an otherwise already fulfilled wish list, a pan control for each of the 3 layers remains a welcome addition, and possibly the ability to tune each layer in semitones rather than just the whole octaves might give even more sound design flexibility.
ATMOSPHERIC ARTICULATIONS
I use the word articulation in a slightly looser context than usual, as a means to describe the 45 different sounds that are available for each layer.
They all feature content originally derived from Fracture Sounds numerous libraries that cover strings, brass, and woodwinds.
The samples all sustain when the keys are held down, but depending on how you choose to play them, the attack and decay can be adjusted globally, giving you the option to create a slow rise, or a sharper staccato type of attack.
Some sounds by nature of their original articulation are more static, whereas others feature a more animated and movement based sound, but all will loop for as long as you hold or sustain a key or chord, and feature many recognised and useful orchestral playing techniques relative to the
instrument.
Ultimately it is this marriage between all three layers that blend and harmoniously conspire to provide a vast interchangeable universe of lush and organic atmospheres, which certainly live up to the label on the tin, which in this case by name is the library itself.
NOTABLE NOTES
The useful accessible keyswitch control mapped on page 3 of the NKS template, toggles on the appearance of a cluster of 4 keyswitches, located at the furthest left of the keyboard range.
When active, these provide a shuffle function which if you do tire of manually combining and designing your own atmosphere layer selections, will do the job for you.
We can choose to roll a dice on all 3 layers, or individual layers, which covers all eventualities.
LFO
the LFO section enables users to create a globally effective LFO pulse across all layers, where we can control the effect intensity.
Next, we are able to either have it as a free running Hertz value, or alternatively, by turning on the sync switch it will tempo sync to your DAW project, with selectable beat values up to 16th notes.
EFFECTS
Rounding off the NKS mapping, there is a LO-Fi page, with some degenerative shaping effects that can transform the overall tone to something that might work for your particular sound design ambitions.
Delay and Reverb are commonplace effects, but Fracture Sounds throw in a little more creative possibilities by including not only the usual room and hall stock ambiences, but also a nice convolution reverb with a collection of impulse responses.
The previously seen and rather yummy shimmer reverb now has a new companion, with the aptly titled Lush, which is indeed, er well for want of a better descriptor, Lush!
Do checkout the excellent product walkthrough for Orchestral Atmospheres presented by Marcus Warner, where you will be able to witness first hand the sounds you can expect to hear from the library, along with a deeper dive into the product concepts that I have outlined within this review.
CONCLUSION
The atmosphere layer engine has become very much a popular signature element of many Fracture Sound products, providing users with an extra layer or three of cinematic richness that has underpinned and supported the central subject for many of their releases.
With Orchestral Atmospheres it is great to see the layer system taking centre stage with a myriad of layer combinations being made possible.
In modern scoring, pads are now so much more than mere padding, when the right blends are used along with nuances such as movement and textures, they are capable of carrying an emotive scene and telling a story, equally they can have just as valid a place when used across many music genres.
With a great level of accessibility, and very reasonable price point, Orchestral Atmospheres should find it’s way into the template of many composers.
Orchestral Atmospheres will be available separately from September 2nd at the Fracture Sounds website for £49.00 (inc vat)
Alternatively, it is available immediately as part of their summer sale for free if a product bundle is purchased, (Bundles currently have a 40% discount), or a bundle upgrade, see website for details.
Orchestral Atmospheres product page:
Orchestral Atmospheres Walkthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi84Cqcqv38
KOMPLETE KONTROL NKS PLUG-IN EDIT MODE MAPPINGS
Page One – Main, Atmospheres, Envelopes, Filter
Knob 1 – Blend amount
Knob 2 – Layer 1 Source x 47
Knob 3 – Layer 2 Source x47
Knob 4 – Layer 3 Source x 47
Knob 5 – Attack
Knob 6 – Release
Knob 7 – Low Pass Filter
Knob 8 – High Pass Filter
Page Two – Layer 1, 2, 3, & Blend Mode
Knob 1 – Layer 1 Solo On/Off
Knob 2 – Layer 1 Octave Selection + or minus 1 octave
Knob 3 – Layer 2 Solo On/Off
Knob 4 – Layer 2 Octave Selection + or minus 1 octave
Knob 5 – Layer 3 Solo On/Off
Knob 6 – Layer 3 Octave Selection + or minus 1 octave
Knob 7 – Blend Mode Type: Crossfade or Stackable
Knob 8 – Unallocated
Page Three – LFO, Accessibility
Knob 1 – LFO Depth
Knob 2 – LFO Rate: Beat Values or Hertz (depending on sync option)
Knob 3 – Sync On/Off
Knob 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Accessibility Keyswitches On/Off
Knob 6 to 8 – Unallocated
Page Four – Lo-Fi Settings
Knob 1 – Lo-Fi Amount
Knob 2 – Saturation
Knob 3 – Age
Knob 4 – Warble
Knob 5 – Hiss
Knob 6 – Mechanical
Knob 7 – Speaker Impulse Response: None, 12 Inch, Small, Car Radio, Ambient, Telephone, Boom Box, Cassette, Horn,
Page Five – Delay Settings
Knob 1 – Delay Amount
Knob 2 – Type: Modern, Tape
Knob 3 – Time: In Beat Values
Knob 4 – Feedback
Knob 5 – Sync On/Off
Knob 6 – Saturation
Knob 7 – Damping
Knob 8 – Unallocated
Page Six – Reverb Settings
Knob 1 – Reverb Amount
Knob 2 – Type: Room, Hall, Shimmer, Lush, Convolution
Knob 3 – Size
Knob 4 – Damping
Knob 5 – Modulation
Knob 6 – Impulse Response selection x 8, (when convolution is chosen from type)
– Knob 7 & 8 – Unallocated
(c) Chris Ankin
KK-Access.com
30TH July 2025
KK-ACCESS Our Transparency Statement
KK-Access believe in journalistic integrity, and through respect for our readers,that our product reviews should strive to be be honest and unbiased, and that any of our opinions should not be influenced by financial reward or other incentives from a plug-in or sample library developer for which a review of their wares may be a subject matter.
Therefore while offers are appreciated, we do not accept,, and will continue to decline any offers of affiliation links, for all products under review for publication on this website.
Disclaimer
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.
E&OE
KK-ACCESS 