Sample Logic has announced the upcoming availability of Gamelan, the latest in a lengthening line of instruments powered by Native Instruments' Kontakt Player, this time morphing and mutilating 25 Balinese gamelan instruments to create a selection of cinematic-quality atmospheres, melodic instruments, thundering percussive impacts, and twisted loops.
Gamelan is where world instruments meet hybrid synthesis. Recorded at Skywalker Sound in California, Gamelan features over 1,700 traditional and morphed gamelan instruments for sound designers, composers, musicians, and producers alike. No fewer than 25 instrumental (Grantang, Jegogan, Jublag, Kajar, Kantilan, Kempli, Pemade, Penyacah, Reyong, Suling, Trompong, and Ugal) and percussive (Cedugan Wadon, Cedugan, Ceng Ceng, Gentorag Chime, Gong, Gupekan Wadon, Gupekan, Kempur, Klentong, Krumpungan Wadon, Krumpungan, Rebab, and Vocalese) Balinese instruments were recorded there in 24-bit/88.2kHz, then morphed and mutilated to craft the highly-creative content for Gamelan.
Gamelan weighs in at over 14GB as a result and features a diverse library of 1,700 Kontakt Player-compatible patches, divided into the following categories:
- 421 Atmosphere (58 Bizarre, 97 Dark - Mysterious, 71 Electronic - Effectual, 87 Mixed Emotions, 28 Stingers, and 79 World Organic);
- 316 Instrumentals (55 Arpeggiated, 104 World Organic, 74 Synth, and 82 Traditional);
- 332 Loops (84 Action Packed, 120 Electronic - Effectual, 51 Pop Hop, 56 World Organic);
- 368 Percussives (31 Arpeggiated, 11 Hit Ensembles, 266 Impacts, 17 Traditional, and 42 Transitions);
- And 260 Multi Cores (34 Atmospheres, 71 Instrumentals, 53 Loops, and 47 Percussives).
A user can explore possibilities within Gamelan by combining Atmospheres, Instrumentals, Loops, and Percussives within a single, easy-to-use interface. Moreover, mix up to eight 'Soundsources' while retaining nuanced control over each sound to create massive ambiences, crushing impacts, complex loops, soaring leads, or even stacked multis with all of the above triggered by a single note.
All such 'Soundsources' are loaded into a so-called SOUNDCORE — each capable of playing back two 'Soundsources' (Soundsource 1 and Soundsource 2) simultaneously, packed with SOUNDCORE FX, including reverb, convolution, filters, distortion, and much more.
More adventurous users can explore their creativity by using up to four SOUNDCORES simultaneously, allowing for infinite blends of up to eight SOUNDCORES at any given time. And, as if that was not enough to be getting on with, Master FX can be applied to all SOUNDCORES.
With over 880 'Soundsources'; 700 SOUNDCORE presets; 1,400 SINGLE CORE instrument presets; and 260 ready-to-use MULTI CORE instrument presets to its name, Gamelan gives its users over 2,400-trillion sonic combinations to work with.
Gamelan utilises Sample Logic's intelligent randomisation technology to allow users to randomly generate presets with the click of an always-available RANDOM button. Powerful randomisation options allow a user to specify the types of sounds and settings to be selected from during the randomisation process.
Finally, Gamelan includes its creators' Step Animator sequencing engine with arpeggiation and sequencing delivered right to a user's fingertips. For example, Link/Alt mode makes it possible to select individual SOUNDCORES to be triggered by each step of the Step Animator while unselected SOUNDCORES sustain.
Price: $399 ($299 pre-order).