Output Audio
110 / COMPUTER MUSIC January 2016
> reviews / mini reviews
A rapid-ire round-up of sample libraries, ROMplers and music gear
mini reviews
Web www.timespace.com
Format PC/Mac, Kontakt 5/Player
The latest addition to the Albion line, which also
includes the less ‘general purpose’ Albions II
(9/10,
185), III and IV, marks a reboot for
Spitire’s original full orchestral Kontakt library
and its side dishes. Built on almost 50,000
samples of a 109-piece orchestra plus full
percussion section (orchestral drums, taikos,
metals, etc), recorded to 2" tape at Air Studios
via vintage ribbon mics, Neve Montserrat
preamps and the world’s biggest Neve 88R desk,
Albion One weighs in at an impressive 54GB
(90GB uncompressed).
The orchestra is provided in full sections and
High, Middle and Low breakdowns, with the
usual array of long and short keyswitchable
articulations, plus string runs and legato
patches. Supplementary to all that, the Darwin
Percussion Ensemble patches ire up Spitire’s
percussion-orientated Kickstart engine, as used
in The Grange (9/10,
216), while Stephenson’s
Steam Band (recycling the raw orchestral
samples as fuel for a ton of synth-style patches)
and Brunel Loops (tempo-synced, repitchable
layered rhythm loop kits) now run in the
excellent eDNA engine, as previously
encountered in eDNA Earth (10/10,
211).
Clearly the main draw here, though, is the
new orchestral material, which sounds
absolutely magniicent. The strings are lush and
expressive, the brass is tight and punchy, the
winds are airy and sweet, and the fully sampled
legatos are supremely smooth and convincing.
Tweakable parameters include dynamics and
release times, convolution reverb and
microphone mix (Close, Decca tree, Ambient
and Overhead), while the Ostinatum sequencer
makes light work of programming rifs, and the
nifty Punch Cog menu enables customisation of
individual notes and their round robins.
The library as a whole is harder, cleaner, and
more consistent and modern-sounding than its
predecessor. Indeed, Albion One doesn’t
necessarily feel like a replacement for Albion,
which still has its own thoroughly desirable
sonic qualities, but rather a bigger, brighter
alternative – in fact, you get a small selection of
sounds from the original included, which is good
news for those who don’t already own it.
Albion One is Spitire’s greatest orchestral
package to date, combining exemplary
ease of use and a knock-out sample bank to
stunning efect.
n 10 /10n
Web www.virsyn.com
Format iPad
We must confess to having totally forgotten
about VirSyn’s weird and wonderful “spectral
modelling synth”, Poseidon, which scored a solid
8/10 way back in
114. With the recent release
of the iPad version, some eight years later,
however, we’re glad to have it brought back into
our line of sight, as it’s one of VirSyn’s more
esoteric instrumental oferings.
An additively generated waveform called a
“spectral sound model” serves as the source
signal for the oscillator. This is essentially a
512-partial additive construction, shown in the
main Wave page of the GUI as a 3D spectral
waveform, with colour representing amplitude.
Unlike the desktop version, you can’t load in
your own samples for resynthesis, but that’s far
from the end of the world, as a well-stocked
library of them is built in, comprising all manner
of sampled synth waveforms, instruments,
vocals, environmental sounds and more.
Like a wavetable synth, the movement of the
playhead through the spectral model can be
controlled and modulated by various sources
(LFOs, envelopes, keytrack, etc), and is fully –
and very smoothly
– animated in the Wave
display, which can also
be zoomed and rotated
via multitouch.
As well as its main tonal
qualities, the spectral
model also has a noise
component, and both can
be manipulated using a
range of controls, including
mixing between the two,
reducing the number of
partials, modulating the
brightness of the sound,
and “blurring” the
frequency and level transitions between
partials. Beyond that, it’s fairly standard synth
fare, with two LFOs, two envelopes, the same
high-powered 32-step arpeggiator seen in other
VirSyn synths, a wicked multimode ilter
(featuring the morphable ZPlane-style PoleZero
mode), seven very capable efects modules, and
randomisation buttons scattered throughout.
The colour-coded tabs of the Synth and FX
pages work really well, keeping the two most
important controls for each element (LFO, ilter,
Spectrum, etc) constantly visible, while the strip
at the bottom hosts the rest of the parameters
for the currently selected element.
Poseidon Synth’s primary areas of proiciency
are pads, ambiences, textures and otherworldly
efects of all kinds, from pure and melodious to
jagged and inharmonic; but it’s also pretty
good at basses, leads and other more ‘mono’
tones. A hugely creative iPad synth at a very
reasonable price.
n 9 / 1 0 n
V i r S y n
Poseidon Synth £10
Spitfi re Audio
Albion One £383
CMU225.rev_mini.indd 110 18/11/2015 13:44