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Introducing Sound Dust
Prepared Pianet is a deceptively primitive looking recreation of an iconic late 70s / early 80s Pianet unit, featuring the charm of the original unit, accompanied by the desirable and sought-after quirks of musical aging. The “Prepared Pianet” package includes not one, but three individual, differently sampled Kontakt instruments; each instrument demonstrating its own sonically riveting, unique character. This welcome inclusion makes for a combination of sounds that is perfect for everything from smooth, warm chords, seen in the standard “Prepared Pianet” instrument; to textural twinkles, found in the “3 Muted Pianets” instrument. There truly is a Pianet sound suited for every production.
At the core of each of the three instruments, is a triple-layered system; with each layer containing it’s own, independently adjustable parameters. Alterations to gain, sample start point, pan, stereo width and ADSR, are all possible. Alongside these parameters are some simple effects, such as a basic EQ, vibrato and reverb. I found the addition of the ADSR parameters to be notably useful, as it enables the transient relationship between main, pitched sample layers and tactile ear-candy layers, to be fine tuned.
Alongside the aforementioned reverb controls, “Prepared Pianet” also offers a multitude of other high-quality channel effects — chorus, a rotary speaker emulation unit, and a phaser. By, in most cases, making third-party modulation plugins redundant, the included effects modules improve the efficiency of the instrument drastically. Flicking through the additional Kontakt pages reveals that a master effects panel is also available. This page firstly features a considerably more flexible four-band parametric EQ module, which I like to use as a tonal shaper, to characterise my sound, before using a reductive EQ, for enhanced clarity. Also housed in this window is a harmonic, tube and tape distortion emulation module, labelled “Dirt”, and a rudimentary transient shaper.
Subtle use of the “Tape” knob, inside of the distortion module, creates a perfectly usable saturation effect, that is perfect for pushing your Pianet straight to the forefront of a busy mix. Cranking up the “Tube” value, on top of a healthy amount of tape-saturation, creates extremely particular, yet musical tones, that could easily pass as a bitcrusher’s output. The included transient shaper allows for some, albeit limited, control over the dynamics of the sound. Despite being somewhat crude, this is a greatly appreciated inclusion, due to the lack of dynamics shaping from a compression module.
The final page, marked “Velocity & Round Robin”, is a relative velocity modification screen. Here, I found the velocity “Curve” parameter to be especially valuable, allowing for the impact response of the Pianet unit to be set to permanently harsh or soft, linear increase, fixed, or anything in between — including fully manual control.
The symbolic idiosyncrasies of “Prepared Pianet” really help push it to the forefront among the competition. I genuinely believe it is more than capable of strongly holding its ground against electric-piano plugin heavyweights — some of which costing up to ten times it’s price!
At a glance, Dulcitonium is a fantastically experimental, modern day influenced, ‘recreation’, or, perhaps more appropriately, ‘reimagining’ of the much-adored vintage keys instrument, the “Dulcitone”. Housing six independently adjustable layers, including two remarkably unique stretched convolution reverb layers, there is most assuredly no shortage of sonic potential. In a similar vein to “Prepared Pianet”, “Dulcitonium” is perfectly competent for use in generating tangible, ear-catching background layers, perfect for ambient productions, as well as warm, modern electric piano layers.
As is common with Sound Dust’s multi-layered instruments, each layer contains flexible loop length, loop start, volume, pan, ADSR controls, simple EQ controls, and a handful of convenient built-in effects. Even more distinction between layers can be achieved through the included octave transposition controls, independent to each layer.
By combining three clean, varying types of classic dulcitone samples, alongside two “Ghost” ambient layers, with an additional layer of modern, Nord electric piano, “Dulcitonium” effectively achieves the perfect ratio of vintage to modern styles. To accentuate the modern aspects of the instrument, a contemporary processing method, known as “Convolution Reverb” is used to construct the instrument’s reverb, which I found to be particularly useful on the “Ghost” tracks. “Convolution Reverb” utilises reverb space samples, known as “Impulse Responses”, to mathematically calculate the reverberated sound of a different instrument, in the same space. In this case, more than twenty different “Impulse Responses” have been included, to create beautifully spacious and atmospheric Dulcitone undertone layers.
The ability to load different “Impulse Responses” onto each individual layer creates almost infinite possibilities of soundscape depth, as each layer can appear to be playing in a different environment — an interesting departure from typical same-bus routed reverb. Although this may detract from the comprehensiveness of the mix, it more than makes up for this in the distinctive character it creates.
The versatility of this instrument is also a standout quality. On top of producing effortless layered, vintage Dulcitone goodness, I also enjoyed disabling all layers except the Nord keys, then playing gorgeously warm chords, with the tape saturation and chorus effect enabled; resulting in lush walls of harmonic lo-fi sound — perfect for gritty, nostalgic productions.
It’s clear to see Sound Dust’s vision with this instrument, which they’ve translated into a tangible product, without even the slightest error. The number of reverb options, paired with delicate, yet powerful layers make spacious soundscapes and ambient filler “Dulcitonium”’s crowning skill.
ODDular is a pulsating powerhouse that I’ve come to see as the king of modulation-based instruments. Not only does it sound fantastic, always spitting out beautifully sporadic musical madness, but it’s also addictively fun to use. Featuring a plethora of parameters, modulated by summing different LFO signals at user-definable ratios, accompanied by an arpeggio pattern module and an XY control pad, for hands on modulation absurdity, I’m yet to come across a more fully-featured multi-LFO engine.
At the heart of “ODDular”, are three of the most customisable LFO signal generators that I have ever had the pleasure of coming across. Each identical LFO module can have it’s rate either tempo synced, or free. To pair with this, a multiplier dial is included, meaning the rate can be up to eight times slower; accuracy is down to fractions of a second. Two separate waveforms are taken into account for each LFO, selected from a choice of eight; the selected waveforms can then be mixed and mangled together to your heart’s content, using the “Shift” and “Remix” dials.
The “Shift” dial alters the ratio of positive to negative portions of the wave, allowing for non-linear oscillations, even before the other LFO signals are summed in. While, the “Remix” dial either positively, or negatively, skews the shape of one waveform towards the other. Ultimately, the pairing of the parameters makes imagining more freedom difficult for even the most eagerly experimental producers.
Each parameter that takes an LFO signal input will appear alongside three dots to it’s left — one dot for each LFO signal. Modifying the size of each dot will tweak the input gain of the corresponding signal, hence, changing its influence on the final, summed signal. Just when you thought that the LFO controls were over, the master LFO controls step in — the curious looking LFO graph, “Clock” dial, play, rewind and various drop down menus, all affect the three LFO signals equally.
The excellence behind “ODDular”’s LFO signal generators massively overshadow how superb it’s selection of sounds is; jam-packed with 1.5GB of historically desirable synth samples, from the likes of the Moog DFAM, Technics WSA1 and the Nord Wave. Not to mention, this is before the LFO modules enhance the sounds even further! There really is an option for every production scenario.
Infundibulum 2 is an arpeggiation-focused, triple-layered instrument, ideal for the lo-fi producer in need of gritty, yet familiarly warm sonic combinations. As its name suggests, it perfectly funnels all three layers together into an impeccably cohesive package, resulting in a sound that would be difficult to recreate using just three separate instrument tracks — especially with the native master effects modules helping to keep the layers ‘glued’ together.
Each of the three arpeggiation modules featured inside of “Infundibulum 2” offers unrivalled flexibility, presenting parameters for changing step rhythm, length and pattern, along with number of steps, swing, and offset percentages. If these arpeggiation modules don’t offer enough versatility (which I imagine would be in exceptionally rare cases!), “Infundibulum 2” enables you to export the arpeggiation pattern as a MIDI sequence, straight into your DAW, for full, manual control.
In terms of sample selection, Sound Dust don’t hold back with this instrument; containing twenty different pitched instrument samples, from classic lo-fi dusty piano, to strange portamento guitar for experimental heaven, “Infundibulum 2” is virtually genreless. At the bottom of the window, a master effects parameters module is included, encompassing inserts and send lines for the distortion (more on this later), EQ, rotary speaker emulation, delay and reverb effects.
I found that, primarily, “Infundibulum 2” showcases it’s quality noticeably well in two, equally common, scenarios; either by taking the place of your primary space filler, with the keys or organ options being held throughout, or for adding pitched, texturous layers to an otherwise bland and characterless mix, by employing the more transient-sensitive options, like guitars or violins. However, as a producer who has roots in lo-fi productions, I’m particularly partial to warm and nostalgic sounding keys instruments that sound like they’re ripped straight off of a vinyl record. As a result, the “Dusty Piano” sound resonated outstandingly well with me.
To add to an already undoubtedly impressive array of options and effects, “Infundibulum 2” features Sound Dust’s most comprehensive distortion and saturation module yet; housing both transistor amplifier circuitry distortion and harsh tube distortion, with a bitcrusher thrown in for good measure. Accurate to classic tube driven amplification units, the tube distortion selection creates a heavily saturated, warm tone, perfect for accentuating the pre-existing tones of your sound. Conversely, the transistor circuitry selection produces a much nastier, grittier and tonally harsher sound, which is sure to satisfyingly wreck any incoming signal.
Overall, pairing these sonically captivating effects with the versatility of the instrument samples creates a remarkable Kontakt library that is sure to spark inspiration in ways that no other library can.
“Flutter Dust Module” features a modern adaptation of a classic form of audio synthesis, developed throughout the 70s, known as wavetable synthesis. Presenting a set of carefully sculpted amalgamations of samples from a huge array of Sound Dust’s libraries, including Dulcitone, various pianos and their revolutionary “Cloud” collection, these wavetables are full to the brim with options for creativity.
The basic idea behind “Flutter Dust Module” is to make creating naturally evolving, ambiguous and genre defying atmospheric layers achievable inside of a single, intuitive and, above all, fun to use window. Ultimately making the days of multitrack experimentation, frequently followed by unrewarding trial and error, in an attempt to craft unique audio obscurities, a thing of the past.
At the forefront of the instrument is the sample start position knob, the value of which can also be modified by dragging the playhead point along the waveform at the bottom of the window. This position can be adjusted through 128 concurrent points on the waveform. A “Loop Length” parameter is also included, permitting for the fine-tuning of waveform portion.
The instrument’s hallmark “Flutter” effect is perfect for creating glitchy, grainy texture, simply by momentarily dropping the output, causing a peculiar, yet gratifying result. This feature also exhibits several envelope options, to control the character of the audio dropouts — allowing for exceedingly efficient dialing in. Much akin to the effectiveness of the “Flutter” feature, to deliver pleasing textural nuances, “Flutter Dust Module”’s note triggering and syncopation parameters, positioned at the bottom centre of the window, can really aid in taking your already sonically interesting chords to the next level of ear-candy sweetness.
Both transient character and tone can be altered through the ADSR and filter controls. The main screen controls may seem primitive on the surface, but they make up for this in their efficiency — ideal for when inspiration strikes and perfect tonal accuracy isn’t tantamount to creative quality. Once you’ve reached the point where full accuracy is required, the page can quickly be flicked to the appropriately named “Micro” mode, where the standard fully-featured parameters are available.
It should also be noted that the “Micro” page allows for these precise changes to be made per-key — a level of customisation that I have not yet come across. This addition pushes the boundaries of originality for this instrument to unprecedented levels. Granting certain notes to be accented over others, can create for compelling emphasis on desired undertones, on root notes, for example.
You can even alter the chorus, reverb and delay parameters per-note in this window — creating virtually infinite possibilities for textural and spatial stereo enhancement. It’s often common to be stuck with dry, dull and lifeless sounding pads with many Kontakt instruments; another one of the many ways that Sound Dust combat this issue is with the inclusion of an autopan module. Combining both the organic autopan effect and the chorus effect can help make for astonishingly intricate and desirable stereo pulsating effects that blend beautifully with every wavetable option.
Simply letting a MIDI chord progression play out as you swipe through the wavetable to reveal various ‘snapshots’ induces effortless inspiration. As if the wavetables didn’t offer enough freedom in and of themselves, the handily included “Flutter Dust Loopers” are supplementary instruments, that use the same wavetable samples, but instead map each individual note to a different portion of the wavetable, with differing loop lengths and start times. I can’t conceivably imagine a way that the freedom of this instrument could get any greater.
“Flutter Dust Module” really is a creative powerhouse — even subtle features like the “Chaos” button, randomising values such as the loop points, along with chorus, delay and reverb parameters, make for an instantly rewarding creative feature.
