After a series of soundsets for Native Instruments Absynth and Massive, Polish sound designer Artur from Eclipse Sound Design takes on the Zebra synthesizer by u-he with Zebra Botanica.

Ethno-tropical sound set with a gentle breeze of warm equatorial regions.

The soundset includes a total of 54 patches:

• 32 Abstract Instants.
• 4 Lead/Bass.
• 3 Sequence Patterns.
• 15 Texture Pads.

Most patches have all 4 macro XY pads assigned for maximum expression.
At 54 patches, this soundset is rather small. However, it is surprisingly versatile.

Check out a few of the patches included in this audio clip.

For a demonstration of the sounds in a musical context, Torben Hansen created this lovely track.

So what do I think?

Zebra Botanica is a really nice set of sounds. I don’t know if it’s the concept, patch titles and the cover art for the soundset, but the whole thing feels very organic to me. Almost like a collection of real instruments, found scattered around a tropical forest.

There is a lot of color in the instruments, they’re vibrant and alive. Interestingly enough, Artur has shared that he likes to start off with the artwork of a soundset, using a wallpaper of it as an inspiration while designing the sounds. I think this approach works really well, resulting in a cohesive collection of original sounds.

The patch count is kind of on the low side, but the soundbank is priced accordingly.

More information: Eclipse Sound / Zebra Botanica

ADSR Sounds has released Drum & Bass – Bass / Synth, a collection of 50 drum and bass prefers for Native Instruments FM8.

This pack is for producers looking to add to their sonic palette. Consisting of 28 heavy basses and 22 synth sounds – this collection of sounds is sure to feature in many DnB productions.

A sublime collection of FM8 presets worthy of any Drum & Bass producers productions.

Drum & Bass for FM8 features

• 28 heavy / snarling basses.
• 22 complimenting synth sounds.

The soundset costs $17 USD.

More information: ADSR Sounds / Drum & Bass for FM8

Acousticsamples has announced the release of the Clavi D9, a sound library based on the well-known clavinet D6 by Hohner.

It is probably one of the most “funky” instruments ever invented, despite the fact that it was originally intended for classical music as its sound is close to the hapsichord. It turns out that it was very well suited to replace or double a rhythmic guitar and was used in many Funk and Disco hits.
The clavinet has 5 octaves (60 keys) and works in a simple way, when you press a note, the string is pressed against a bridge just like a hammer-on on a guitar, the non muted part of the string vibrates and the pickups amplify the sound.

The D6 has very few controls, 4 eq switches and 2 pickup switches to choose which pickup has to be used plus a global volume. We recorded both pickups and we modeled precisely the eqs, as a result you can use the whites switches exactly like on the real instrument. We sampled every possible aspect of the instrument, normal notes, staccatos, releases, mutes, every pickup, sympathetic resonances and more to give you the most authentic Clavinet sound possible.

Clavi D9 features

• 2,76Gb, around 4500 samples.
• Realistic staccatos.
• Precise simulation of the original filters.
• Separation of both pickups and independant volume.
• Sympathetic Resonances.
• High quality Amp simulations with the most used models.
• Real Wah effect with different pedal models.
• Complete FX selection with Phaser, Flanger, Tremolo, Chorus, Distortion and Spring Reverb.
• Real mute samples.
• Control over the MIDI response of the library.
• Advanced UVI scripting giving you access to a simple yet powerfull interface and advanced features.
• and more…

The Clavi D9 for UVI Workstation 2 and MachFive 3 is available to purchase for $99 / 79 EUR.

More information: Acousticsamples / Clavi D9

Toontrack has announced the release of The Mix Toolbox, a new presets pack for the EZmix 2 effect plug-in.

Today Toontrack released The Mix Toolbox EZmix Pack, an expansion for EZmix 2. It comes with a collection of extremely well-crafted presets specially designed to overcome some of the most classic mix and master hurdles you might find yourself in – a bag of tricks that shouldn’t be missing in anyone’s creative palette.

All content was designed by engineer Mark Hallman, known for his work with Carole King, Ani DiFranco and Toontrack’s Americana EZX.

Open the Mix Toolbox. Harness your digital audio. Unleash your creativity.

The EZmix Pack costs 39 EUR / $49 USD.

More information: Toontrack / The Mix Toolbox

ADSR Sounds has launched Cobalt, a collection of 50 drum & bass presets for the Absynth software synthesizer by Native Instruments.

This pack is for producers looking to add to their sonic palette. Consisting of heavy basses, rhythmic sequences, Techy Leads, Plucks, Sweeps, Rises and much more – this collection of sounds is sure to feature in many DnB productions.

A sublime collection of Absynth presets worthy of any Drum & Bass producers productions.

The soundset costs $17 USD.

More information: ADSR Sounds / Cobalt

HoRNet Plugins has announced 3XOver, a DJ-style equalizer effect plug-in for Windows and Mac.

The HoRNet 3XOver is a very peculiar plugin since it’a half a DJ eq, half a three band crossover with selectable slope and output for each band.

At it’s core there is a system of three filters, a low-pass, for the low frequencies, a band-pass for the mid frequencies and a high-pass for the high frequencies.

Each of the filters has a selectable slope of 24dB/Octave or 48dB/Octave, a freely adjustable cutoff frequency point, gain control, and a ON/OFF switch to kill that frequency band.

3XOver features

• Three band DJ style EQ.
• Selectable 24 dB/Oct and 48dB/Oct slope.
• Individual output for every band.
• ON/OFF button for every band to kill that frequency range.
• Dry/wet knob.
• Mac OS X (>=10.5) and Windows support.
• 64bit compatibility both on Mac and Windows.
• Audio Units VST2.4 and VST3 format.

The plug-in costs 5.99 EUR.

More information: HoRNet Plugins / 3XOver