ative Instruments this week introduced Kinetic Metal, a new instrument to help producers and sound designers create “ethereal sound beds, shifting textures, and delicate, tonal percussion.”
Comprised of over 200 multi-layered patches running in NI Kontakt 5*, Kinetic Metal combines sampled “unconventional” metal objects with artificial waveforms. The result is a broad range of atmospheric textures, mallet-like lead sounds, and delicate percussion. Two large, easy-to-use modification wheels allow users to quickly manipulate the sound. An auto-motion feature (explained at around 3:20 in the video, at the bottom of this story, as being “like an LFO on steroids“) allows users to set one or both of these wheels turning on their own, giving producers freedom to focus on performance.
Dude, that’s metal. No, seriously.
Kinetic Metal’s patches were created by sound designer Jeremiah Savage. For over a year, Savage recorded a huge inventory of unconventional samples, (rotary phones, typewriters, grammophones, swords and old military gas tanks, etc.) choosing the best of them to create the sound palette of Kinetic Metal.
Big wheels keep on turnin.’ Each patch is made up of a combination of four of these sampled sounds, plus four artificial waveforms. The four most distinct ‘personalities’ of each custom patch are set as starting points on Kinetic Metal’s Forge wheel. Turning the Forge wheel continuously, clockwise or counterclockwise, morphs the sound through different combinations of these four ‘personalities.’ An additional eight sliders in the interface allow manual adjustments to the level of each sample and waveform in the mix, allowing precise customization of each patch’s overall sound.
Kinetic Metal?s FX wheel provides another level of sound manipulation, controlling a set of custom effects that are mapped to blend together as the wheel is turned. Like the Forge wheel, the FX wheel has four main settings.
The combination of the FX and Forge wheels provides a broad range of possibilities for sonic sculpting. Producers can also design their own combinations by adjusting any of the eight effect knobs linked to the FX wheel — the new setting automatically maps to that position on the FX wheel for instant recall within the session. The Motion button turns Kinetic Metal into a dynamic performance instrument, freeing producers to play chords, melodies or percussion while the textures morph automatically.
System Requirements. Kinetic Metal runs in Native Instruments’ Kontakt 5 and the free Kontakt 5 Player.
Pricing and Availability. Native Instruments’ Kinetic Metal is available from the NI Online Shop for $99 US / 99 Euro / 9,800 Yen. Additional information on Kinetic Metal can be found at Native Instruments’ website.
*and the free Kontakt 5 Player.
