Wide Blue Sound releases a significant groundbreaking, two-layer synth for Kontakt. Elysium was one of the biggest surprises of the year. Once I began playing it, I was stuck for over two hours, totally engrossed in this complex instrument. Elysium is a Kontakt player compatible instrument and downloads at 3.54GB. It contains 300 presets created by hundreds of deep multi-sampled instruments: including synths, keyboards, gamelans, pianos, guitars, mallets and even a string section recorded at a Church in New York. Elysium is a monster of organic rhythmic inspiration.
When you load up the instrument, you will find seven categories. Arps (Pitched & Unpitched), Atmospheres, Bass, Combo Splits, Hybrid Instruments, Rhythm Elements, and Synths. The presets in Elysium are simply mind-blowing and inspirational right out of the box. There are ethereal and evolving pads, pulsating basses, otherworldly sequences, and so much more. Wide Blue Sound stated that it took seventeen months to get this instrument right, and it shows. I played every preset and had no issues. The engine is smooth, and the sound of Elysium is flawless.
The layout of the interface is well designed and comprehensive. There are 3 pages: including Main, FX, and Motion found at the bottom of the GUI. There are 2 Layers found in the centre called Perc and Synth. The Percussion layer has one sound browser located above it and the Synth has a total of four sound layers that can be modified. Just click on any of the names of sound sources above the layers and you will then enter the sound browser which is essentially the fourth page. There are hundreds of sound sources available. Below the Perc layer are two other sound layer knobs called Morph and Bass that can be turned up or down. There are also four moon icons above each synth layer that can be turned on or off by simply clicking on each planet. Below the two layers, you will find two 16 step phrase Sequencers that controls the motion of both Perc and Synth. However, you can deactivate the motion at any time by clicking the round power icon next to the name of whatever sequencer you select. There are many other controls within the main page like tone, cut, pitch, pan, low/high pass filter, and more that you can read in detail within the manual. One other part of the main page I want to point out is the three performance modes found in the centre under the synth layer section. There is Pulse, Chop, and Flow which, I found to be extremely powerful. You essentially can transform the synth engine sounds into pulses, chops, or flowing evolving soundscapes.
The FX Page is very sophisticated and loaded with hundreds of effects for Perc, Synth, and Master. There is a total of seven lanes of effects for Perc and Synth that contain delay, eq, modulation, over 600 convolution presets, amps, and so much more. The amount of effects included in this instrument is simply staggering!
On the Motion page, you will see a Tide and Motion field. The Tide allows you to raise the volume over beats or bars to both Perc and Synth, creating some impressive volume swells. The Motion section comes with six sequencers that can be drawn on or altered through the included presets. You can access the presets by clicking on the upside-down triangle on the left side of each sequencer.
Wide Blue Sound was founded in 2015 by producer Nathan Rightnour and composer Jeff Rona and have released two other pivotal releases called Orbit and Eclipse, which have had exceptional reviews. I have not played these instruments yet, but after playing Elysium, I am putting these on my must-have list!
This synth instrument is perfect for anyone wanting to add modern intricate motion into their music productions. It's an excellent tool for hybrid scoring, underscoring, EDM, ambient, and many other genres of electronic music.
Elysium has endless possibilities and diving into it only reaps rewards. It was an inspiring voyage through an instrument of sheer creative power that ultimately exceeded all my expectations.
Score - 5/5
Original Source - SampleSoundReview.com
