New Native Instruments Kontakt 6 Player libraries: Piano Colors reinterprets the magic of a grand piano & the 2nd release explores instruments from East Asia
Sampling is a wonderful technique. It allows you to capture sounds and play them back later in a sampler. So you can preserve sounds in a very easy way. Today there are hardware and software samplers that can do this and the market for sample libraries is growing and growing. There is hardly a piano or a Synthesizer that has not been sampled.
This is also noticeable on the market for such sound banks at the moment. In the past, companies sampled instruments and created virtual instruments to playback these samples. Basically, romplers. Today, high quality engines are built around these samples that can do a lot more than just play sounds. These are true sound design toolboxes.
Native Instruments recently released two new Kontakt 6 Player libraries. One more classic, the other very deep and challenging. In the latter you can tweak the character of a piano as intensely and variedly as a Synthesizer. But without being one. And as an extra info: Kontakt 6 now has VST 3 support, finally.
Native Instruments Piano Colors
No no, Piano Colors is not just another simple piano library. It takes you on a journey where you can explore the instrument piano from new, unknown sides. The core is based on recordings from grand pianos. However, these were recorded using a variety of unorthodox tools and materials including mallets, drumsticks, rubber, screws, and multiple EBows.
The NI developers have embedded the recordings in a new hands-on engine, categorised them and made them quickly accessible for musicians. You can explore individual articulations, combine them and craft new unexplored pianoscapes. The engine consiste of two layers, each with a piano source. You can shape them in the tone page (color, tonal shift..), add a noise source, and activate the innovative particle engine that premiered int he NOIRE library. This time in an expanded version capable to give your piano play another layer of complexity.
One of the special features of the library is its sophisticated modulation and motion sections for creating tones, patterns, or for animating your sounds. It shoot energy into the sounds and make them livelier and more organic. Here you get two modulation sources for each layer including LFOs and sequencers. You can operate all this on the interface or with an haptic feeling on the NKS-powered NI Maschine and Komplete controllers.
Piano Colors is probably one of the most playful and exceptional grand piano libraries I know. With its 28GB (compressed), it promises very long fun and sounds that you won’t find in any bread and butter virtual instrument. And now it’s off to Far Asia.
Native Instruments Spotlight Collection East Asia
In the second library you can explore the fascinating sound world of instruments from East Asia. These are certainly not the sounds that you come across directly in the music production. But they can be the elements that can make a track stand out. Electronic with East Asia elements could be an interesting mixture.
The Spotlight Collection East Asia consists of 38 melodic and percussive instruments from China, Japan, and Korea, played by renowned performers. Choose from a selection of 14 string and wind instruments, from blown flutes and oboes, to plucked lutes and hammered dulcimers
Here, too, the instruments have been captured in great detail. The NI developers then embedded them in new powerful engines that are packed with creative features. These libraries have a simpler structure than the Piano Colors but not more inflexible.
The library offers an impressive bank of customizable phrases allowing distinctive parts to be constructed easily. You also get traditional scales and tunings for the instruments that let you quickly create unique melodies with an authentic sound.
The Spotlight Collection East Asia Library has a size of 26 GB (compressed), contains 42 NKI patches (ensembles, melodic and percussive) and is fully compatible with NKS. Thus sounds can be manipulated directly on the keyboard and you get a haptic experience
Both, Piano Colors & East Asia are very exciting libraries, especially PC as it enables musicians to explore new facets of the magic grand keyboard instrument.
Availability
Native Instruments PIANO COLORS is available from July 8, 2021 at the Native Instruments online shop for 149€, with a 25% discount until July 28, 2021. Regular 199€. The Spotlight Collection East Asia is available for 99€ or for 79€ as an upgrade. Both libraries run in Kontakt 6 and in the free Kontakt 6 Player.
More information here: Native Instruments
Be the first to comment