Recording - April 2017 - 33

SOUND BANKS FOR CHROMAPHONE 2:
Cinematix, Epicycles, and Synbiosis
Chromaphone 2 is deep and fun to
program, but if you simply want to call
up inspiring sounds without the hassle
of creating them yourself, AAS has you
covered. All of its virtual instruments come
with impressive libraries of presets, created
by some of the best sound designers in the
world and easily and affordably added to
your arsenal.
Chromaphone 2 is no exception, with
four brand-new libraries specifically taking
advantage of the upgraded software. I
had a chance to work with three of them:
Cinematix by Christian Laffitte, Epicycles
by Richard Devine, and Synbiosis by
Daniel Stawczyk. (The fourth, Multiverse
by Thiago Pinheiro, was released too late
to include in this writeup.)
Cinematix is a collection of 100 percussion and sound effects for soundtrack
use. These are primarily centered around
unpitched and percussive elements: hand
percussion, snares, toms, and the like, plus
a fair number of dramatic hits and sound
effects. There aren't very many pitched/
tonal sounds, but the ones included are
among my favorites, especially the dramatic "Strings Mo". The shakers are eerily
realistic, as are some of the snares and
toms, and many of the hits and effects
are suitably over-the-top. Quick tip: if
a sound's too gritty on first listen, try
turning off or adjusting the High control
on the Reverb, especially if it's using the
Large Hall algorithm.
Epicycles includes 111 presets ranging
from beautifully realistic conventional
instruments (the basses are gorgeous, as
are the plucked strings and kick drums)
to completely whacked-out sonic landscapes, drenched in atmosphere. The
contrast with Cinematix and Synbiosis
is fascinating, showing a very different
approach to sound design; with a few
exceptions, these sounds are smooth as
silk, with a very deliberate approach to

spaciousness and ambience that tends to
make them fill a sonic space beautifully.
Clever programming tricks abound, as on
the patch "Open Air", where two parallel
audio paths combine an initial attack with
a cycling drone atmosphere.
Synbiosis brings together 130 presets,
most of them melodic vs. percussive,
plus a nice collection of sound effects
and atmospheres. Ambiences on most
of these sounds are restrained, with
shorter reverbs (an exception being the
echo-drenched effects), and the timbres
lean more toward the metallic than the
woody in most cases. There are some real
surprises in here, including a collection
of evocative (if not super-realistic) Choir
sounds. While the other two collections
do include some arpeggiated sounds,
Synbiosis really makes strong use of the
arpeggiator's capabilities to create inspiring
ideas, a great example being the five
"Guitarish" strum sounds.
You can check out audio examples of
all of these presets on the AAS website.
If these presets (or any other presets that
AAS sells, for that matter!) appeal to
you, you also have the option of buying
them ($39 each) and using them in the
free AAS Player plug-in, which has no
programmability to speak of but will let
you play back preset libraries from any of
the AAS plug-ins. That includes not only
Chromaphone 2 but also String Studio
VS-2 and Ultra Analog VA-2 as well.
And if that's not enough "free" for
you, you can get a free library for AAS
Player called Swatches, which contains a
few presets each from all of the available
libraries. It gets expanded every time a
new library is released, and now has 200
presets in it. It costs you nothing and is
a great introduction to the world of AAS
sound... letting you play sounds from all
three of the libraries mentioned here,
and more.-MM
RECORDING April 2017

33
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - April 2017
