Eclipse Sound Design has announced Artificial Bliss, a soundet for Native Instruments Absynth.

Absynth 5: “Artificial Bliss” is Film Score and Futuristic Music Sound Set with emphasis on experimental sounds.

Artificial Bliss features

• 52 patches for Absynth:
  • 7 Effect Patches.
  • 4 Wooble Bass Patches.
  • 13 Bass / Lead Patches.
  • 17 Texture Pads Patches.
  • 11 Rhythmic Patches.
• Requires Native Instruments Absynth 5; NABS format only.

The soundset costs $7.77 USD.

More information: Eclipse Sound Design / Artificial Bliss

Native Instruments has announced the latest generation of the its industry-leading KOMPLETE instrument and effect bundles, including the all-new MONARK and BATTERY 4.

KOMPLETE 9 includes 33 instruments and effects with six new additions, including the brand-new MONARK monosynth, plus the completely redesigned BATTERY 4 drum sampler.

KOMPLETE 9 ULTIMATE includes all 65 current KOMPLETE Instruments and Effects at the time of release and over 370 GB of content. Each bundle now also features essential studio effects, delivering complete production solutions from initial idea to finished composition.

Notably, KOMPLETE 9 and KOMPLETE 9 ULTIMATE are available for the same prices as their predecessors.

The brand-new MONARK delivers the warm, organic sound of a classic analog monophonic synthesizer that has shaped four decades of popular music. Its smooth and natural sound is complimented by an intuitive, streamlined control panel that allows users to quickly dial in sounds and start creating music.

Monark virtual analog synthesizer plug-in for Reaktor / Reaktor Player.

Based on years of research, MONARK uses REAKTOR’s powerful modular DSP framework to faithfully recreate the interaction of complex analog circuits, including the behavior of the filter when overloaded, filter and oscillator drift, and snappy envelopes that make stabbing melodic lines and even punchy electronic drum sounds easy to create. The sound has been fine-tuned by ear by MONARK’s engineers to create a powerful mono synth with a level of richness and depth not previously found in software.

BATTERY 4 is a completely re-designed drum sampler delivering powerful contemporary drum programming options in a sleek, easy-to-use interface. It provides over 70 new and exclusive contemporary kits tailored to electronic and urban styles.

Native Instruments 21st century drum sampler: Battery 4.

All kits load with an adaptable color-coding system, providing instant visual recognition of their layout. Custom kits are quickly created with intuitive drag-and-drop actions. BATTERY 4 also features a number of new effects and effect enhancements: SOLID G EQ and SOLID BUS COMP from the SOLID MIX SERIES, TRANSIENT MASTER, plus tape saturation, LoFi, and a powerful convolution reverb. Users can create chains, re-order effects, and set up sidechaining with simple drag-and-drop actions. These features combine to deliver an advanced drum sampler with an instinctive workflow that aims to accelerate the creative process.

Along with MONARK and BATTERY 4, KOMPLETE 9 adds a set of essential instruments and effects for the first time. Like all NI studio effects, the updated SOLID MIX SERIES now operates as stand-alone plug-ins in any DAW, giving users a complete studio effects suite for creating polished, release-ready productions. SESSION STRINGS is an easy-to-use contemporary string ensemble for quickly adding modern arrangements to all styles of music. THE GIANT delivers the immense sound of the world’s biggest upright piano, plus an additional cinematic mode perfect for atmospheric textures and soundscapes. The comprehensive bundle also features best-selling KOMPLETE Instruments and Effects such as the awardwinning KONTAKT 5, GUITAR RIG 5 PRO, and NI’s flagship modular synthesizer REAKTOR 5, powering the dynamic PRISM and SPARK. MASSIVE, FM8, and ABSYNTH 5 cover the complete spectrum of synthesis for any production task. KOMPLETE 9 also includes TRANSIENT MASTER, REFLEKTOR, THE FINGER, and TRAKTOR’S 12 for a complete production suite with powerful options for both studio and stage.

KOMPLETE 9 ULTIMATE is NI’s all-inclusive production package with all 65 current KOMPLETE Instruments and Effects at the time of release, over 16,000 sounds, and 370 GB of content on a single USB hard drive for easy installation. This one-stop production suite features all products included in KOMPLETE 9, plus the REVERB CLASSICS and PREMIUM TUBE SERIES studio effects, the essential cinematic strings collection ACTION STRINGS, the playable horn section SESSION HORNS, and the Rickenbacker®-approved SCARBEE RICKENBACKER BASS. Also included are the epic DAMAGE industrial percussion instrument, the 11-piece SESSION STRINGS PRO ensemble, the futuristic RAZOR and SKANNER XT synthesizers, and many more. Providing world-class sound and ease of use for all producers, composers, musicians, and sound designers, KOMPLETE 9 ULTIMATE’s collection of premium instruments and effects redefines value in a bundle of this size.

KOMPLETE 9 and KOMPLETE 9 ULTIMATE also include an e-voucher worth $25 USD / 25 EUR, valid towards any KOMPLETE instrument or effect or MASCHINE Expansion at the NI Online Shop.

Native Instruments is offering nine lucky winners to win the new KOMPLETE 9 ULTIMATE bundle before its release. The competition takes place on the newly launched KOMPLETE Twitter Channel.

KOMPLETE 9 is available for pre-order at a suggested retail price of $559 USD /499 EUR. KOMPLETE 9 ULTIMATE is available for a suggested retail price of $1099 USD / 999 EUR. Updates for owners of KOMPLETE 2 through 8 are available from $149 USD / 149 EUR. Expected in-store date is March 27, 2013.

More information: Native Instruments / Komplete

Prime Loops has announced Essential Absynth Ambient Presets, a collection of 64 presets for the Absynth software synthesizer by Native Instruments.

Inside this pack you’ll find all the ambient inspiration you’ll need, including delicate sub basses, gliding pads, ethereal synths, fractured SFX and more.

These sounds are available in the form of presets, each one of which has been precision-designed by the Prime Presets team to make full use of all the oscillators, filters and routing options available in your synth. Trust us, we leave no rock unturned and have spent hours making sure every single sound is bang up-to-date with current musical flavors, tweaking every dial and slider to bring you the very best your synth has to offer.

The soundset costs £14.95 GBP.

More information: Prime Loops / Essential Absynth Ambient Presets

The Unfinished has announced Absynth Geometron, a collection of 128 beautiful and dark sounds aimed at ambient, downtempo and electronic film scoring.

Full of warm, lush and experimental noises, Geometron specialises in cinematic pads, dusty keys and subtle basses.

The idea behind Geometron is global-friendly post-club, early morning sounds. Think riding an empty metro train in Tokyo at 3am, waiting for the sun to rise over horizon in downtown Buenos Aires, or sitting on a Bali shore watching the fishermen go out for their first catch of the day.

The soundset is available to purchase at £14.99 GBP. A demo pack of 20 sounds can be downloaded free of charge. Geometron requires Absynth 5 (some sounds will not work in Absynth 4) and uses the .nabs format.

The Unfinished has also launched a Christmas Sale, offering a 50% off everything (except Geometron) including some new bundles.

More information: The Unfinished / Absynth Geometron

Corin Neff aka Esgalachoir has been working on a much anticipated orchestral soundset for the Zebra software synthesizer by u-he.

After hearing this first audio demo, I have been following the development eagerly. The entire piece was done with Zebra sounds only (and some additional effects like reverb).

Now Corin has posted another amazing track putting Zebra in the spotlight.

This is a piece I did for a short film by a talented young fellow named Michael Rees. This was for one of the earlier drafts of the film and is now unusable, since I’ve got to recompose most of, if not, all of it. I like this take though, so I don’t want it to just sit on my hard drive gathering dust. This is, once again, all Zebra, with some slight external EQing and minimal extra reverb modules. DAW used was FL Studio Producers Edition.

Obviously there is a lot of talent involved in making these tracks, but what a most wonderful showcase of what Zebra is capable of.

There is no word of a release date yet, keep an eye on this thread at the KVR forums. In the meantime, check out some of Corin’s previously released sounds for Zebra, Absynth and Massive.

If this is the first time you have heard of Zebra, make sure to check out this amazing software synthesizer at u-he.

More information: u-he Zebra

The Unfinished has introduced its Advent Calendar, offering free patches every day until Christmas.

I shall be creating free patches for Absynth, FM8, Massive, Omnisphere, Synthmaster and Zebra.

As well as giving away free synth presets, I shall be releasing new commercial soundsets, creating discounts on existing ones and also running competitions to win all my soundsets – not just the ones I’ve made, but every soundset I will ever make!

There will also be new music as talented composers and producers create new demo tracks for my existing synth collections. Plus there will be one or two bonus free soundsets for some of the best free vst synths out there.

There’s going to be lots going on (except perhaps sleep!) so bookmark this page to keep up to date with all the Yuletide news.

More information: The Unfinished