Heavyocity released Intimate Textures (Novo Pack 1). Intimate Textures is the first Novo Packs that made an encouraging impact and I look forward to the next Novo Packs that seem to be scheduled. Heavyocity did send me a review copy with no strings attached. Intimate Textures is a standalone library that can be used without Novo.
“We developed Intimate Textures to equip composers with an exclusive new arsenal of orchestral textures and articulations,“ said Ari Winters, Partner and Creative Director, Heavyocity. “By combining the lush, intimate beauty of chamber string ensembles with our signature hybrid sound design, we were able to create a truly inspirational palette of cinematic sounds.”
Intimate Textures blends the delicious and lush beauty of the violin, viola, and cello chamber string ensembles and allows you to play an inspirational palette of cinematic orchestral textures. So far the number of libraries that did address this market has been limited. For example, SPITFIRE AUDIO did release several evolution libraries in the past years, Gothic Instruments launched DRONAR Live Strings in early 2017. I do see Heavyocity’s Intimate Textures addressing those composers who did fell in love with those evolution libraries or do want to expand their current palet with fresh and not so much heard content that is not recognizable (yet). In comparison and looking at all to me available libraries, I would see Intimate Textures leading the current market of evolution libraries.
You may ask yourself “Who is Heavyocity?” Heavyocity Media develops award-winning Virtual Instruments for the modern composer and sound designer. The instruments don’t contain the typical sounds that form the foundation of most composers’ setups. Heavyocity philosophy is simple: Provide cutting edge, inspiring instruments and sounds that supercharge creativity, formatting them in ways that enhance productivity. One of the main goals of Heavyocity is to provide those perfect “go-to” signature elements quickly and effectively.
Installation
14.2 GB uncompressed (9.46 GB on Disk with NI lossless compression) are downloaded through the Continuata Connect Application and after downloading and moving the library to your preferred hard disk location you need to add the library through Native Access (Native Instruments). Don’t forget to do a bath re-save in Kontakt to reach shortest load times.
Sound
The included tone and sounds have been recorded at the Reservoir Studios in NYC performed by world-class players. Section sizes are three and four-person violin, viola, and cello ensembles. Intimate Textures helps you to create artistic extensive tones, including waves and pulses, and more traditional extended articulations like sul tasto and sul ponticello. These advanced technique performances deliver a distinct and musical sound, producing lush movement and textures, perfect for scoring to film, games, and television.
Intimate Textures includes 3 String Chamber Ensemble Sections (6 NKIs, 30 Snapshots):
- Violins Textures 1
4 Players (Articulations: Sul Pont, Sul Tasto, Scrapes, Sul Pont Spiccato, Sul Pont Grace Minor, Sul Pont Grace Major) - Violins Textures 2
4 Players (Articulations: Vibrato Pulses, Butterfly Tremolo, Octave Pulses, Vibrato Waves, Droplets, Wavers, Shudders, Overtones) - Violas Textures 1
4 Players (Articulations: Sul Pont, Sul Tasto, Scrapes, Sul Pont Tremolo, Sul Pont Spiccato, Sul Pont Grace Minor, Sul Pont Grace Major) - Violas Textures 2
4 Players (Articulations: Vibrato Pulses, Butterfly Tremolo, Octave Pulses, Vibrato Waves, Droplets, Wavers, Shudders, Overtones) - Celli Textures 1
3 Players (Articulations: Sul Pont, Sul Tasto, Scrapes, Sul Pont Tremolo, Sul Pont Spiccato, Sul Pont Grace Minor) - Celli Textures 2
3 Players (Articulations: Vibrato Pulses, Butterfly Tremolo, Octave Pulses, Vibrato Waves, Droplets, Wavers, Shudders, Overtones) - Texture Designer Engine (Evolved Content) with 161 Snapshots
User interface & Usability
As with Novo Heavyocity has found a very user-friendly way to use the included sounds or change them through included advanced processing capabilities. Overall the ease of use factor of the library is high while allowing you to tweak the tone and sounds generated through one of the many included tools and settings.
Rating: Five out of five stars
Intimate Textures (Novo Pack 1) sounds fantastic and comes with mind-blowing malleable lush sounds which I consider in a leading position when it comes to evolution and texture libraries. With this library, you can do compose both dark and warm scores. This library is perfect for composing to film, games, and television and could be easily one of your best investments you make in 2017. Intimate Textures is also extraordinarily beneficial for highlighting feelings. Intimate Textures is simply put a marvelous excellent songwriting tool which comes with lovely sounding textured strings.
