
But if the electronic side appeals more, you could definitely do yourself a huge favour and look at Omnisphere 2 from Spectrasonics. There is no doubt that this library will appeal predominantly to media composers, or those interested in creating soundtrack-based music.Īlbion III offers more straight orchestral patches, along with a multitude of other more synthetic colours, much of which is derived from an acoustic starting point. It has played host to all the main world orchestras, from the Berlin Philharmonic, to the London Symphony and Chicago Symphony orchestras, and been used by many a film composer. Both offer something different, in that wonderfully weird otherworldly sense, but I must also mention at this point the quality of the recording in general, as to my ears this comes across exceptionally with these two latter patches.Īll the samples on Metropolis Ark 2 have been recorded at the Teldex Scoring Stage, which is one of those studios that has the experience, pedigree and overall knowledge to be able to generate a library such as this.
#Metropolis ark 1 review Patch#
Nestling alongside this patch we have two major highlights, in the shape of a harmonium and chamber organ. The colour here is glorious and again, fulfils the low register and dynamic range superbly. Apart from obvious ubiquitous choices, such as an intimate piano, we also have three intimate pianos, in the shape of Steinways, playing as a section. What we have here is a really useful collection of timbre - at least useful to any scoring media composer. We have plenty of cinematic-type material here, but with no enormous clues as to the flavour of some of the colours. While the choir patches fall into the same dynamic camp pianissimo to mezzofortethey are exceptionally effective. Having three players at a time is a real coup here, but they also reside alongside some more obvious instrumental forms, in the shape of alto flutes, bass clarinets and tubas. Moving away from the strings, there is a sense that Orchestral Tools raided its local instrument-hire facilities in order to provide some more obscure low-end orchestral instruments for Metropolis Ark 2. In practice, I found that many of the patches took a while to speak, which keeps them in line with their slightly sub-dynamic roots. Low patches essentially play in octaves, dropping to the depths of the lowest note on the cello, with the basses accommodating an octave lower, clearly with double-bass extensions - expected in a library such as this, but highly effective nonetheless. The Mid string section scans down to a C below middle C, placing it at the bottom end of the viola register, presumably with some second-violin content in the upper range. Patch assignment can be made by singular articulation, or with my favoured option of key-switch based patch, where all is on offer. Not surprisingly, this level of excellence is continued through the Mid and Low strings, but if leisurely legato is not the order of the day, there are plenty of other choices.

Orchestral Tools Metropolis Ark 2 Review – The Epic Depths In context, this can almost be a little too on the back of the time, so some helpful thought in the programming here will assist.


#Metropolis ark 1 review registration#
Now, this effect is always a difficult thing to achieve, as the movement from one note to the next has to be treated carefully, especially when trying to take the specifics of the original instrument into context - and what we have here is something which is, by design, a leisurely movement from one registration to the next. Starting with the strings, these are organised into High, Mid and Low assignments, so starting with a High patch, I was immediately treated to a level of legato assignment which, frankly, is a bit special. German-based company Orchestral Tools has managed to establish an excellent reputation within a short space of time with its ever-expanding libraries of predominantly orchestral flavours, but having covered the main symphonic bases, the company took the decision about 18 months ago to release Metropolis Ark 1. Dave Gale descends to the realm of the Nibelung to examine its epic depths…. Orchestral Tools follows up its exceptional Metropolis Ark 1 library by spiriting us off to an altogether darker place.
