OSTINATO TEXTURES BY HEAVYOCITY
KK-ACCESS REVIEW
Heavyocity have just released the latest of their excursions into the world of orchestral strings with the launch of Ostinato Textures NP05, which follows the previous release of Solo Textures NP04 reviewed in March 2024.
Ostinato Textures promises to add movement and rhythm to your compositions with Cello, Viola, & Violins featuring both solo and combinations of all three instruments.
comprising a variety of Ostinato articulations, the library offers composers the best of both worlds with rich organic textures as well as the hybrid sound designs for which Heavyocity excel.
TECH SPECS
Ostinato Textures requires Kontakt 7.10.5 or higher, either the full version or free Kontakt Player edition.
It is compatible with all versions of Komplete Kontrol when hosting the above specifications for Kontakt.
The library requires 6.45GB of disk space for installation and uses the Native Instruments NCW lossless compression format for the samples.
There are Four Kontakt NKI preset files, one each for the Violin, Viola, and Cello, Solo Ostinato instruments, and also an Ostinato Texture Designer.
Further factory presets are delivered using Kontakt NKSN snapshots, these are divided into sections that match the above NKI files, 12 each for the Violin, Viola, & Cello instruments, an the Designer patch has a total of 140 presets divided into Organic and Hybrid categories, 110 & 30 respectively.
DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION
The initial registration and download of Ostinato Textures is via the Heavyocity Portal, which despite some unlabelled buttons is achievable with a screen reader.
The same provided serial number is then secondly used to authorise the library within Native Access, and once done you just need to locate the product on your system to finish.
Finally loading up an instance of Komplete Kontrol will auto scan the library into your factory browser ready for use.
FULL KOMPLETE KONTROL PLUG-IN EDIT NKS PARAMETER MAPPINGS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE END OF THIS REVIEW FOLLOWING THE MEDIA SECTION
ACCESSIBILITY
Ostinato Textures is built on the same Novo user interface seen in other releases, and is therefore exactly the same with no changes to the NKS mapping.
For us blind users, We do I think need to rely a little more heavily on what is provided in the factory presets in these releases.
This is because although that the solo instruments do have 8 pre-loaded keyswitch articulations included per preset, there is no accessible way for us to interact with the GUI in order to swap out or change these for ourselves, so the 8 you are given within a preset is all you will get.
given that there are only 12 articulation presets in total, if just a further 4 keyswitches had been implemented, we would have actually been able to access them all within a single dedicated octave.
Similarly the cycle sequencer presets use the Kontakt NKA file format, and these are not selectable via NKS or screen reader friendly via the GUI, so again no cycle sequencer pattern loading customisation is possible for blind users beyond those already loaded into the factory presets.
The library now uses the NKS2 format, so in theory at least, when used with a Kontrol MK3 keyboard, an extended parameter set could have been available had any new additional parameters been made automatable from the GUI.
THE OSTINATO ENGINE
The Kontakt engine for the Ostinato Textures designer allows for up to 3 individual sound layers or channels as they are referred to. These may comprise any combination of Violin, Viola, or Cello, and the included Designer presets cover a good range of these various configurations.
You will for example find combo presets featuring all Violin, Viola, & Cello combos, where articulations of a single instrument occupy each channel and are offered with differing microphone positions.
There are also ensemble arrangements that will make use of all 3 instruments simultaneously, again with microphone mix variants.
The Ostinato Textures Designer contains the largest quantity of 140 presets, with some well constructed and creative design examples that exemplify the hallmark Heavyocity signature sound.
These are referred to in the preset name as Hybrid, whereas the more natural and less processed presets use the term Organic.
The Designer mixing options allow for per channel volume, pan, and tuning. The tuning incidentally is by as much as plus or minus 4 octaves, that’s pretty low for a Cello at minus 48 semitones, we’re talking grumbling dinosaur territory, or conversely for the Violin, you can even obtain some squeaky rusty gate effects if you use the maximum upper transposition.
Further adjustments can be made using the stalwart Heavyocity Punish & Twist settings, along with Filter, Distortion, Chorus, Delay, & Reverb, all of which via the NKS mapping will be applied globally.
By contrast the solo instruments load a single instrument,and offer microphone volume and pan adjustment for the positions available, which are Full, Close, Room, & Hall.
The NKS control mapping for the Solo instruments further provide us with adjustment options for Dynamics, Gate, Delay, & Reverb.
The Gate control is actually a great tempo synced choppy effect, which would have been just as at home, or arguably even more so if it have been included within the Ostinato Designer NKS mapping.
KEYSWITCHES
As mentioned earlier, the Solo performer instrument presets, of which there are 12 per instrument, also have the 8 articulation keyswitches mapped at 2 locations on your keyboard. One set at the lower end starting at C1 (midi note 12), and the second set, at the higher end of the octave range starting at F6 (midi note 101).
OSTINATOS AT PLAY
All of the Ostinato Textures presets are tempo synced to your DAW project, whether that be in straight or triplet time, and here a reasonable distribution of each is available within each category.
I found that it can take a little bit of practice to maintain your timing when holding a chord and layering additional notes on top, which might well trigger your inner panic alarm in a live performance situation. However, I suspect that most users would be using Ostinato Textures as composers who work directly with a DAW environment, where there is ample opportunity for limitless pressure free retakes and quantisation, in which case any required adjustments can then very easily be made to produce a credible and well polished final result.
Please do make a point to checkout the various Ostinato Textures walkthrough presentations from Heavyocity in our media section at the end of the review. Heavyocity always do such a great job with these, and in particular their demo track deconstruction always offer some valuable insights for working with their products.
CONCLUSION
As with any Heavyocity product, the overall quality of the sound never falls short of excellent, which is unsurprising given their irrefutable historic reputation in the field of cinematic and media production work.
Ostinato Textures once again delivers users with a contemporary and production ready sound which is ideal for scoring and media composition.
Ostinato Textures by Heavyocity can be purchased directly from the Heavyocity website at the introductory price of $119 (reg. $149).
In addition, owners of NOVO, FORZO, VENTO, or Symphonic Destruction will get an additional $20 off with a registered serial.
Ostinato Textures Product Page:
Ostinato Textures Product Overview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UCQb_0mmvU
Ostinato Textures Preset Playthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NVfgvd5F4g
An Intimate Cinematic Track Inspired by Max Richter and Hans Zimmer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-DXmPGJJNA
User Manual:
https://heavyocity.com/Downloads/OstinatoTextures_UserManual.pdf
KOMPLETE KONTROL PLUG-IN EDIT NKS PARAMETER MAPPINGS
ostinato textures PERFORMANCE INSTRUMENTS – VIOLIN, CELLO, VIOLA
Page 1 – Dynamics, Delay & Reverb
Knob 1 – dynamics
Knob 2 – Delay on/off
Knob 3 – Delay Time
Knob 4 – Feedback
Knob 5 – Amount
Knob 6 – Reverb on/off
Knob 7 – Size
Knob 8 – Mix
Page 2 – Mixer
Knob 1 – Full volume
Knob 2 – Full Pan
Knob 3 – Close Volume
Knob 4 – Close Pan
Knob 5 – Room Volume
Knob 6 – Room Pan
Knob 7 – Hall Volume
Knob 8 – Hall Pan
Page 3 – Gate & Dynamic Modulation
Knob 1 – On/Off
Knob 2 – Rate
Knob 3 – Smooth
Knob 4 – Range
Knob 5 – Dynamics Modulation on/off
Knob 6 – Rate
Knob 7 – Range
Knob 8 – Unallocated
Ostinato Textures Designer NKS Mappings
Page 1 – Macro Control & Modulation
Knob 1 – Macro Knob
Knob 2 to 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Modulation on/off
Knob 6 – Rate
Knob 7 – Amount
Knob 8 – Unallocated
Page 2 – Punish & Twist
Knob 1 – Punish on/off
Knob 2 – Amount
Knob3 & 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Twist on/off
Knob 6 – Twist
Knob 7 – Tone
Knob 8 – Rate
Page 3 – Filter & Distortion
Knob 1 – filter on/off
Knob 2 – Cut-off
Knob 3 – Resonance
Knob 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Distortion on/off
Knob 6 – Drive
Knob 7 – Tone
Knob 8 – Unallocated
Page 4 – Chorus & Delay
Knob 1 – Chorus on/off
Knob 2 – Rate
Knob 3 – Depth
Knob 4 – Amplitude
Knob 5 – Delay on/off
Knob 6 – Time
Knob 7 – Feedback
Knob 8 – Amount
Page 5 – Reverb, Voice & Glide
Knob 1 – Reverb on/off
Knob 2 – Pre-Delay
Knob 3 – Size
Knob 4 – Mix
Knob 5 – Unallocated
Knob 6 – Voice Mode (polyphony)
Knob 7 – Glide (between played notes)
Knob 8 – Time related to glide
Page 6 – Channel 1 and Channel 2
Knob 1 – Channel 1 volume
Knob 2 – Pan
Knob 3 – Tune
Knob 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Channel 2 Volume
Knob 6 – Pan
Knob 7 – Tune
Knob 8 – Unallocated
Page 7 – Channel 3
Knob 1 – Channel 3 Volume
Knob 2 – Pan
Knob 3 – Tune
Knob 4 to 8 – Unallocated.
(c) Chris Ankin
KK-Access.com
25TH August 2025
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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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