Five best software instruments for sound design
Creating amazing sonic textures and landscapes in your own studio can be done for very little these days. Here, we round up the top 5 software instruments for sound design and how they can make a big difference on your work… Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2 Price £339 www.spectrasonics.net This really is the daddy of all soft […]
Creating amazing sonic textures and landscapes in your own studio can be done for very little these days. Here, we round up the top 5 software instruments for sound design and how they can make a big difference on your work…
Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2
Price £339
www.spectrasonics.net
This really is the daddy of all soft synths at the moment and if you want something that will take you on sonic journeys that last years, this is it.
We said: “Thanks to genuinely innovative features, a wealth of extra sonic material to play with, it’s hard to imagine any software instrument delivering the same breadth and sonic excellence.”
Spitfire Audio Albion V Tundra
Price £399
www.spitfireaudio.com
One of Spitfire’s finest is a slice of Scandinavian atmosphere which is a brilliant exercise in sound design in itself but will also inspire you to travel chilly sonic paths yourself.
We said: “There are so many great patches. Every use of hushed string tones you can imagine, with beautiful harmonics and tremolo.”
Heavyocity Gravity
Price $449
www.heavyocity.com
Gravity is not only a great tool for composers wanting to soundtrack a film, but it is also a great sound design tool to create new sonics thanks to loads of on board effects and great core ingredients.
We said: “A great tool in its own right but Gravity has enough hands-on features to take the sounds into completely new dimensions.”
Gothic instruments DRONAR
Price £59.95 each
www.timespace.com
The Dronar concept is a series of modules that bolt around a similar interface that offers dramatic sound design features on the surface and then oodles of other options beneath.
We said: “Rich, menacing and atmospheric and they represent excellent value, especially for the sonic manipulation options that you get.”
Softube Modular
Price from £69
www.softube.com
Modular synthesis is obviously the recent big game changer for sound design. Literally anything is possible with a billion combinations of sound but it can be an expensive and daunting world to enter. A cheaper option is to try it out in software first and there’s currently no better way than with this suite from Softube.
