Output

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FM
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
Over recent months, we’ve taken a
look at arange of Spitreproducts
thatmakeuse of interestingand
unusual micpositionsand recorded
ambiencetodeliver engaging results.
London Contemporary Orchestra
Strings, on theother hand,places
theemphasisrmlyoninteresting
playing techniques.This is nottosay
that there’snoambient character,
butthe recording room is quite dry,
making theRoomMic samplestight
andthe Close Mic versions intimate.
Aconvolutionreverb is employed
within eachinstrument –thoughit
canbedialled out–and there area
number of effected layers and full
mixesthat up the interest.
TheLCO areknowfor their
collaborative approach to ensemble
playing andhaveworkedwithawide
range of artists across many genres,
including Radiohead,Actressand
FrankOcean.Thislibrary distills this
approach by covering arangeof
articulationsthat are neworrarely
heard.The oddgranular and
scratchy tones are particularly
engaging, butyou’ll also nd strange
vibratoand aggressiveshorterstyles.
Theyall haveavery contemporary
feel thatwouldwork in arange of
moreexperimentalcontexts,
especially when combinedwith
electronics. The shortest
articulationswork particularlywell in
their‘Pumped Mix’guise.
You’llnd theusual Spitre
attention to detail, includingthe
excellent Ostinatum rhythmic
engine. It isn’t cheap –which may
putoff thoselookingfor an all-round
string collection –but thislibrary
remainsaninspirational writing tool,
andaneasy waytoadd cutting-edge
string sounds to your audioarmoury.
BruceAisher
www.spitreaudio.com
 8.7
UnlikeSpitre’s LCOlibrary [below],
Analog Stringsfrom Kontakt
supremos Output is allabout
processing andmanipulation. Those
who’veusedtheirSignal andExhale
instrumentswillknowthatOutput
pay great attention to the waysin
which core samplecontent canbe
dynamically morphed usingscripted
rhythmic processing. TheirAnalog
Strings libraryisnoexception, and
once again featuresabeautifully
designedgraphical interfaceatits
core, which makes full useofthe
wider editwindow possibilities added
in Kontakt 5.6.
The core (39GB) samplecontent
comesfromorchestralrecording,
analogue synths andunusualsound
sourcecaptures. It’snoticeable that
–evenwithoutprocessing–these
areofavery high quality. The
software engineisbrandnew,and
allows two samplelayerstobe
processedand controlledusing dual
tape loopers,dual arpeggiators,‘ux’
sequencing, advancedmodulation
routingand four sliders for macro
control of multiple parameters.
Youtrulyrealisehow goodthis
instrument really is whenyou start
browsing through its 500 presets.
They’re of almostuniformly high
quality andwould be usable forall
kinds of music –fromsoundtrack
scoring to undergrounddance or
outright pop. There’sclearly
something potentinthe mix of ‘real’
andold-schoolsynthetic elements
thatworks verywell here. Creating
yourown patches is straightforward
once you’vemasteredthe various
pages,and is helped substantially by
the onboardhelpoverlay. However,if
this isn’t your bag, the keyword
search system will help you nd the
right patchwith the minimumof
fuss.AswithOutput’sother
instruments, CPU usageisonthe
high side, but overall thisisanother
strong release. Bruce Aisher
www.output.com
 9.0
Spitre London Contemporary
OrchestraStrings £299

 $199