Wide Blue Sound has released Elysium, a two-layer synth for Kontakt Player for creating music infused with tonal rhythms, movement and playability, saying:
With an entirely new way to create striking percussive pulses, beautiful organic arps, evolving pads, and hybrid instruments, Elysium simply cannot be replicated by any other synth on the market.
Elysium features two layers: Perc and Synth.
The Perc layer includes synths, mallets, pianos, guitar, and many other types of percussive tonal sounds. By twisting a knob you can quickly add Morph and Bass sounds, and use the Flux, Analog, and Spread controls to easily add variety between each note.
The Synth layer is familiar to Orbit + Eclipse fans, but with some special features, including 11 original and custom-shop filter designs. Combine up to 4 pads that include beautiful atmospheres, synth pads and even a live strings section. Then run them through one of the 3 engine modes — Pulse, Chop or Flow — to create anything from energetic rhythms to blissful atmospheres.
The 3 engine modes turn lush sustained sounds into rhythmic performers. Choose a mode, then adjust how it hits using the custom-tuned controls for each mode. The Depth knob brings in a sustain bed made from any of the 4 sounds, which you filter with the Settings icon.
The two layers are optionally controlled by the Phase Sequencer, which allows intuitive sequencing of the Perc Layer, Synth Layer or any of their individual soundsources. Choose which layer plays when, and how fast their engine runs. It also allows for step-based Pitch, Accents, and a set of Actions that includes Double and Triple hits (ratchets), Tightening notes and Reverse/Fade-in notes.
Performance features include the usual suspects: Mono, Glide, Force Legato (to force glide), and Input Quantize. Keyboard Split decouples the Perc and Synth Layers so you can split chord voicings between the two, e.g. Bass in the Perc and a string section on top. The Sound Browser allows you to preview entire pitch range of a sound before loading them into your patch. So if you know you want a great bass sound, you can preview the sounds in their bass range before committing. You can also filter by Mood or by the Type of instrument that was multi-sampled for Elysium. The Sound Browser includes a Generate Section that allows you to algorithmically generate Perc and Synth sounds based on your mood tags, or generate entirely new Perc FX and Synth FX chains. The Cancel button allows freedom for experimentation, as you can always revert back to what you had before opening the Browser.
Enter next the FX Pages, featuring a comprehensive FX section - 31 effects, 300 effect presets and over 700 practical and creative impulse responses. Create full FX chains for the Perc layer, Synth layer, and Master FX bus. Similar to the Sound Browser, you can conjure immediate inspiration by generating entire FX chains with the click of a button.
Last, the Motion Page gives you 6 sequencers to automate any parameter in the entire synth, including the ability to change the Perc layer's Morph and Bass sounds on every step. It also features a Global Tide module that allows you to create multi-bar swells or EDM-inspired LFOs. The Motion Sequencers can be generated for inspiration, or hand-drawn for precision. Elysium boasts a wide array of motion sources to add evolving motion to your patches.
Over 300 presets were made by sound designers who are also music producers in their own right. For ultimate variability for each preset, Elysium includes three useful sound locks to retain certain parts of the patch when changing presets: Rhythm Lock locks all rhythmic elements of the Phase Sequencer and Synth Engine Pitch Lock locks the Pitch sequence in the Phase Sequencer FX Lock locks the entire FX page.
Nathan Rightnour, founder of Wide Blue Sound, says:
Our favorite thing about Elysium is that we've created an unprecedented variety of ways to add motion to your patch over time, while keeping things musical. Everyone uses it in a different way, and we were surprised at the huge range of the patches that the sound designers sent back to us. Every single designer had a unique voice that came through the instrument, and they all loved exploring the instrument's unique features. That's when you know you have an expressive instrument.
Wide Blue Sound also worked with Native Instruments to ensure Elysium supports the full range of accessible NKS Keyboard and Maschine controllers, for a hand-on, mouse-free experience.
Price: $199.
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