Big Fish Audio | SoundsAndGear.com JK Swopes | Darkness: Cinematic Sound Design Product Review
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Darkness: Cinematic Sound Design | SoundsAndGear.com

Reviewer: JK Swopes | Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Back to Darkness: Cinematic Sound Design product details

So what is the Darkness library all about?

It's another library dedicated to cinematic and media focused sound design, fx, loops, and impacts. It's part of their KLI series, so you get a custom Kontakt interface ready to tweak and effect the sounds. In addition to the Kontakt version you still get all the normal loop versions as well. This library was made with all "real" or acoustic sounds, no synths, so every sound, effect, and impact you hear is built up from acoustic sample sources.

Quick Specs
- content: 2.8GB
- format: Kontakt 4 or higher, rex, apple, wav, acid
- price: $69.95


How does it sound?

A lot of times when it comes to sound design and cinematic fx, there is a lot of synthesis involved. Which I dig. But there is always something to be said for real acoustic soundsources, I always feel they provide such an awesome texture in the context of a track. These sounds really have a gritty, scratchy, in  your face element to them. Everything is recorded well and I really, really dig the sound fx menus. There is some awesome stuff in there from risers, to impacts, to evolving textures and soundscapes. Being able to play the sliced loops and alter each slice, or the whole loop with various fx allows you to get really creative, really quickly. Of course you still get the raw samples that you can load into your favorite sampler or daw and mangle yourself.


So what's the bottom line?

I like this library, because it allows you to get your hands on some really top notch sound design tools and fx, without having to break the 100 dollar mark. I think that's cool, and allow these types of sounds and textures to get into the hands of producers and musicians at all different levels in the industry.

I give Darkness 4.5 out of 5 subs, they did a really good job capturing and showcasing the acoustic samples sources in a way that is pretty inspiring. I love the texture and contrast this library brings to the various synths and synthetic sounds on the market. This really allows them to provide just the right texture you may be looking for...or didn't know you were looking for, until you heard it. It has a sort of "metallic" sound to it overall, not so much in a shiny, shimmery sort of way, but more of that raw, cold, metal scraping metal type of way. I dig it, I particularly love the sound fx section, I could live there....and that portion will probably get the most use from me.

I love it so much, I'd like to see them to a part 3, dedicated to sound fx menus just like that... Either way...it's a great product worth checking out if you like to throw some more organic sound design elements into your work

To see this product in action, check out JK's video review at SoundsAndGear.com

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