Zodiac is a unique-sounding Virtual Instrument designed to provide composers and producers with a collection of original sounds and instruments suitable for film or TV scores, video games, and all types of ambient and experimental music.
No synthesizers were used to create the instruments in Zodiac. Instead, all instruments were created from organic sources such as found sounds, sonic manipulations inspired by classic Musique Concrete, Experimental and Avant Garde Music compositions, prepared or heavily processed musical instruments, and audio recordings subjected to extreme sound design techniques.
Zodiac features over 200 patches and Multis (over 8GB of uncompressed wav data), divided into six categories:
Zodiac's instruments range from beautiful and ethereal soundscapes to wildly inventive percussion and mysterious, haunting, atonal and experimental sounds that defy easy categorization. Search through Zodiac's patch folders, and you won't find anything like a regular bass, guitar, keyboard, or drum set. Instead, you'll find a collection of sounds that are quite unlike those made by any standard instrument.
Not only does Zodiac feature a constellation of ready-to-use instrument patches, it's also a powerful sound-design VI. Use Zodiac's simple but versatile controls to dramatically alter, sculpt, or tweak and customize sounds to fit your individual style. However, you don't even need to touch a single control to get a variety of sounds from Zodiac's preset patches.
Zodiac is made for experimentation: hold down a key on many instrument patches and a sound loops and morphs, revealing surprising musical timbres and harmonic strata. Play an instrument one way and it has a percussive quality; play it another, and the notes expand into a pad or atmosphere. Play a patch in one octave and it sounds dreamy and surreal; play it in another octave and it behaves and sounds quite differently.
No matter what soft synths, sound modules, or VIs you already own, Zodiac will expand the palette of sounds in your sonic tool box and add a unique character to your music.
The Zodiac GUI
Despite its somewhat enigmatic appearance, Zodiac's Graphic User Interface (GUI) is quite simple to use. Here's the key:
The Control Banks
ON either side of the Zodiac logo is a control bank consisting of SIX levers. Under each lever is a single letter, which stand for the following:
(Lefthand Bank)
AMP ENV - Amp Envelope controls:
A - Attack D - Decay S - Sustain R - Release
T - Tuning (Pitch) R - Reverb amount
(Righthand Bank)
DELAY - the Delay controls:
T - Delay Time D - Delay Damping P - Dealy Panning F - Delay Feedback
B - Bass T - Treble
The Levers
Note that the four white-tipped levers on either side represent a grouping of related controls, and have a range of 0 to 10.
Note also that the red-tipped levers represent controls not related to the white groups, and that three of these have a range from -10 to +10.
Use command-click (MAC) or control-click (PC) to return any of the levers to the default setting of zero.
The Reverb Window
The window below the Zodiac logo contains a drop-down menu, with a list of fifteen very different-sounding Convolution Reverb IRs. Click on this window if you'd like to change the type of reverb on the instrument being played. Note that the R(everb) lever to the left of the window controls the amount of reverb.
Zodiac is powered by the industry-leading Kontakt engine. It is compatible with VST, AudioUnit, AAX (Pro Tools 10) and RTAS (Pro Tools 9 & 10) plug-in formats allowing it to work seamlessly within any major sequencer, in addition to standalone use.
- Over 150 different instrument patches and 50 Multis
- Six Categories: Pads & Atmospheres, Melodic Instruments, Bass Instruments, Experimental Instruments and Zodiac Kits
- 4.6 GB (over 8 GB uncompressed)
- Kontakt Player 5.2.1 included
Patch List:
Pads & Atmospheres
Ambient Electric Bass 01
Ambient Electric Bass 02
Ambient Guitar Pad 01a
Ambient Guitar Pad 02
Ambient Guitar Pad 03
Ambient Guitar Pad 04
Ambient Guitar Pad 05
Ambient Pedal Steel Pad
Amped Glass Harp
Bowed Pedal Steel Pad
Bowed Waterphone Pad 01
Bowed Waterphone Pad 02
Bowed Waterphone Pad 03
Bowed Waterphone Pad 04
Bubbling Guzheng
Diminishing Guitars
Electric Bass Pad 01
Electric Bass Pad 02
Electric Bass Pad 03
Guitar Pad 01
Guitar Pad 02
Guitar Pad 03
Guitar Pad 04
Guitar Pad 05
Guitar Pad 06
Homemade Mellotron Flutes
Pantam Pad
Pedal Steel Pad 01
Pedal Steel Pad 02
Pedal Steel Pad 03
Pedal Steel Pad 04
Melodic Instruments
Ambient Glass Harp
Ambient Guitar Harmonics
Bowed Saw
Bowed Waterphone 01
Bowed Waterphone 02
Bowed Waterphone 03
Bowed Waterphone 04
Bowed Waterphone 05
Bowed Waterphone 06
Bowed Wineglass
Chime
Ecquadorian Drum Reamped
Flute Toneholes
Gas Cylinder Bell Sharp
Glass Harp Short
Gong Mallet Small
Guitar Low Harmonics
Guitar Mid Harmonics
Guitar Single Note
Metal Lamp Shade
Muted Guitar Harmonics
Pipe Strike 01
Pipe Strike 02
Raga Flute Drone
Tank Drum Tine
Tapped Alto Flute
Water Gong
Bass Instruments
Aggressive Piano String Strike
Amorphous Brass Drone
Bari Sax Toneholes
Bass Flute Drone
Bass Flute Taps
Boulez Rubber Bands
Bowed Acoustic Guitar
Dumpster Long Drone
Dunun String Pluck Amped
Dunun String Pluck Low
Large Aluminum Bowl
Low Muted Guitar Harmonics
Ominous Drone
Pipe Palm Bass
Rubber Band Amped High
Rubber Band Amped Medium
Rubber Band Medium Amped Lite
Tape Dispenser Bass
Trumpet Muted Pedal Tone
Upright Tap
Wood Tongue Drum Tine
Percussive Instruments
Asian Gong Mute Hits
Awesome Laundry Door Drum
Bansuri Mallet Percussion
Bertolozzi Bridge
Chappa Brush Hits
Chime Muted
Copper Pot
Dragon Cymbal Brush Hits
Dumpster Bass Steel Drum
Dunun String Percussion
Dunun String Pluck Medium
Gong Flat Hits
Gong Metal Hit Mutes
Gong Pings
Gong Ring Mutes
Guitar Knocks
Hyped Cymbal
Metal Bridge
Metal Hard Hit
Metal Shop Kalimba
Metal Thermos Bell
Metal Thermos Vibraphone
Palm Hit Bamboo
Perky Metal Taps
Piano Strike Low Short
Polyphonic Burmese Drum
Small Metal Bowl
Space Heater Marimba
Waterphone Tube Hits
Zodiac Kits
Heavy Industry Drum Kit
Industrial Glitch Kit
Industrial Kit
Musique Concrete Kit
Pitch-Shifted Ethnic Drums
Pitch-shifted Metals Kit
Radio Static Kit
Zodiac Drum Kit
Zodiac Glitch Kit
Experimental/Atonal Instruments
Atonal Tank Drone
Autoharp Mallets
Bowed Autoharp Multi
Bowed Pedal Steel
Bowed Ruan Psycho Hit
Bowed Waterphone FX 01
Bowed Waterphone FX 02
Bowed Waterphones
Bubbling Pantam
Cage 4' 33
Dripsody Classic Le Caine
Gong Ring Mute Riser
Gu-Quin Scrapes Up & Down
Guzheng Bowed
Guzheng Scrape
Hard Bowed Acoustic Guitar
Harp FX
Harp FX Hits
Harp FX Riser
Harp Gliss Hit
Metal FX Pad 01
Metal FX Pad 02
Muted Guitar Harmonic Strum
Pedal Steel FX 01
Pedal Steel FX 02
Pedal Steel FX 03
Pedal Steel FX 04
Pedal Steel FX 05
Piano Strange Gliss Pad
Piano String Scratch Low
Reverse Wineglass Hit
Ruan Psycho Hit Riser
Soda Can Wobble
Struck Autoharp
Tank Drum Bottom
Tank Drum Mallet Side
Tankenspiel
Waterphone Tine Hits
Download Sizes
Version
Compressed Download Size
Kontakt Player/Kontakt/Plug-in Download includes
Installation Instructions:
Zodiac Pt.1: 2 GB
Zodiac Pt.2: 2 GB
Zodiac Pt.3: 600 MB
*When ordering the download product from Big Fish Audio you will be given one or more links for each of your product purchases. The links will be active for 24 hours. During this time you should download the file and expand it. You can return to your Big Fish Audio account at any time and download your products. You will find your products in the "My Products" area of your account page.
License Agreement
The Following End User License Agreement is included with Zodiac. This License is only valid for the individual who has purchased an unopened, new and lawfully made copy of Zodiac from a dealer or distributor authorized by Big Fish Audio.
"End User License Agreement:
The samples contained herein are licensed, not sold to you, the individual end user, by Big Fish Audio. This non-exclusive, non-transferable license is granted only to the individual end user who has purchased an unopened, new and lawfully made copy of this product from a dealer or distributor authorized by Big Fish Audio. All samples remain the property of Big Fish Audio and are licensed only for use in the creation of a live or recorded performance that includes the licensed samples as part of a derivative musical work created by the licensed end user. This license expressly forbids resale, rental, loan, gift or transfer of these samples in any format or via any medium, except as part of a derivative musical work. The samples may not be included, whether unmodified or as part of a derivative work, in any sample library product. Any unlicensed usage will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible under the law."
AskAudio Magazine
Aside from their extensive library of loops, Big Fish Audio have created Zodiac, a Kontakt-based virtual instrument with your sound design and soundtrack needs in mind. Hollin Jones...
You could be forgiven for thinking that most of Zodiac's sounds derive from synthesizers. In reality, the sources for the library's unearthly collection of pads, evolving soundscapes, melodic instruments, and percussive timbres come from found sounds, heavily processed...
The entire concept behind Zodiac is aimed at composers, media/tv producers, game, and film music creators. The library is made up of natural sounds, found sounds, natural instruments, and other crazy noises made by banging, scraping, hitting, and overall abusing any type...