Sonokinetic has introduced Grosso – a new ‘grand orchestral sample library’ for Mac & Windows.
Here’s what they have to say about Grosso:
We have conceived this instrument from the ground up, using parts of the Minimal engine and reimagining many other things to accommodate for the added flexibility Grosso brings to the table. The main difference, apart from the obviously upbeat nature of the recorded material and the addition of a choir part and a taiko and non-melodic percussion section, is that we split out the orchestral sections into more parts. Strings and choir are split in low – mid – high, woodwinds and brass into low and high, percussion into taiko and more traditional orchestral percussion. All of these elements have been carefully composed to work well with all of the others, resulting in millions of possible combinations of sounds.
The nature and sheer amount of this raw material, and the added flexibility we needed to offer to you in an intuitive way, led us to a completely new interface style, and it made us split up the instrument into different Kontakt .nki’s. Don’t worry though, we have laid out the keyswitches in a way that still makes it possible to play this instrument ‘Minimal-style’ with the whole orchestra on one midi channel.
Grosso is a 12/8 feel library, and we have configured the engine to work in both 4/4 and 12/8 time signatures within your DAW. Though the instrument was conceived with trailer and action styles in mind, the finished product is capable of so much more, limited only by your imagination.
Here’s an ‘epic style’ demo video, scored with Grosso:
Here’s an in-depth look at Grosso:
Here are official audio demos for Grosso:
Grosso is available now, with an introductory price of €249,90 after which it will retail for €299,90.
Sick balls.
WAY too damned easy. There is sleight-of-hand and then there’s just plain fakery. This is like pressing Play rather than composing. It does sound good, but you’d have to use it sparingly not to come across as a poseur. You should sweat a little more if you’re going to create a ‘fake’ orch. Taking a little more individual time per section is what makes it really shine. I’m not raggin’ on the tool or anyone who likes it, but understanding at least X amount of how an orchestra is laid out and what it can do makes a nice difference in the results. Playing a block chord with a string section can sound good, but balancing 2 violins, 3 violas and 3 cellos results in a whole different beastie. Sometimes, a piece deserves more detail and sometimes, “cheesy” will do fine. 😛 Just be savvy enough to see the line.