Review: CINEMORPHX Kontakt Library by Sample Logic

Sample Logic CINEMORPHX Review

After spending a couple of days downloading the new CINEMORPHX Kontakt library from Sample Logic (yeah, took me longer than I thought, but, again, we’re talking about a 30 Gb library, so, you just need some patience), I could finally spent some quality time with it, and I tell you, it was probably my best moment this week, so, let’s check out what this Kontakt instrument can do.

Overview

As I’ve mentioned, this is a 30 Gb Kontakt instrument that can do a lot, but, as the name itself suggests, its primary use would be for scoring cinematic pieces and accents.

The GUI and basically how it works, it’s pretty much the same as with the SampleLogic Gamelan which I’ve reviewed a while ago. To not repeat myself, I’m not gonna go that deep in how this works, but basically, every patch is made of four different presets -which in turn, are made of two different samples each- with an X/Y pad, very similar to the joystick found in the Prophet VS, which allows modulation and morphing between the four presets.

This X/Y pad can be played in real time (it responds to MIDI CC,, which by default is CC 18 for the X and CC 19 for the Y) automated or step sequenced. The morphing between the two samples on each preset can also be played in real time, automated or step sequenced. Each preset, can also respond in a different way to velocity and have their own pan and volume settings, in fact, both pan and volume can be modulated with independent LFOs and/or Envelopes, so, yes, modulation possibilities are huge!

Speaking of presets, each of the four presets, has also some advanced page with some extra parameters to tweak, which are an ADSR envelope, conv, pitch – which again has its very own LFO and envelope for modulation, high pass filter and low pass resonant filter with independent LFOs for modulation, plus, LPF has a dedicated envelope and Velocity settings.

Finally, each of the four presets has their own four slots fx section with a variety of filters, EQ, compressor, a couple of saturators, cabinet simulation, modulation fx, reverb and transient shaper. Each of this four FX has depth control possibilities, and there are even some FX chains presets for some quick design.

Speaking of FX, each patch, has a master FX section with six slots plus an X/Y pad. Again, there are FX chain presets and the X/Y pad can control various parameters, and again, it will respond to MIDI CC, in this case CC 14 and CC 15 by default.

Patches

Patches, as with the Gamelan instrument, are divided into categories, which are: One note combos, Atmopsheres, Instrumentals, Loops and Percussive. Each category contains tons of patches, and they are all mind blowing and very inspiring.

As they are primarily meant for cinematic scoring, many of this presets take advantage of arpeggiator and sequencer which can be found in a secondary page called Step Animator. This Animator is very powerful indeed! I mean, you can sequence events like notes, stutters, gates, velocity and pan. You can in fact, sequence 128 events, which is to say a lot! If that’s not enough for you, there are four different pattern banks that respond to key switches (highest octaves G, A, B, and C). You can also apply swing amounts and have different playing modes like latch, freeze and random, plus forward or reverse playing. Sequence speed can be set to X1, X2 or X1/2.

Other goodies

You shouldn’t be asking for more, but, there are a couple other goodies in this beast, one of them, which I love is a Random Button: here, you select the category, and press random for changing patches randomly, which, can be really inspiring when you are looking for a patch that will suit your needs. Another cool stuff is the Setup Menu in the Animator page, here you can set which scale you are working in for transposing notes, the retrigger time, turn on/off the key-switches and random steps, and the ability to switch between DAW and internal Clock.

Conclusions

Well, I think this is a great instrument for cinematic purposes, I mean, you could probably score some stuff like short films or TV cues just with this beast, seriously. Patches are awesome and very inspiring, and with some minor tweaking, this can do pretty much anything. I mean, of course you are not gonna score something like the Imperial March with this, but, for some shorter cues, this has you pretty much covered for sure.

If scoring is not your thing, you can think about this as a very powerful and complex instrument and use it for percussions, pads, basses, leads or whatever comes to your mind.

One thing is worth mentioning is that it doesn’t take a lot of memory or CPU from your computer, meaning you can have this playing along with other libraries and instruments in the same Kontakt without much trouble and a relatively small buffer, no matter if your computer is not the latest Mac Pro or something like that.

So, final word, if you are into scoring or work with music for media, I think this CINEMORPHX Kontakt library is a must have. It will make your workflow easier and faster, and we all know time is money, so definitely this is an instrument worth to invest in. If you are not into scoring or music for media, then, it’s a very powerful and flexible tool for adding some timbres and textures you might not expect, so, again, it’s worth to have it in your arsenal!

More Details/Buy Link: CINEMORPHX

[author image=”https://www.producerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/piggy-sounds-logo.jpg” ]Rafael Hofstadter is a recording and mixing engineer and sound designer with 10+ years experience in playing and programming synths, recording, mixing and producing pop/rock/folk albums. He also runs piggysounds.com.[/author]