SOUND ON SOUND, DECEMBER 2007

"..The EMS VCS3 and its Synthi derivatives were remarkable synthesizers, almost impossible to play as melodic instruments, but widely regarded as peerless sound-effect generators..

The 1GB library was sampled from Soniccouture's own Synthi AKS, and listening to the raw 24-bit, 44.1kHz WAVs reveals that the company have taken care to ensure that the samples are as clean as the original synth allowed. Happily, many of the samples have captured the slightly sharp, nasal timbre of the Synthi, and all are generally recorded with significant high-frequency content, which leaves the user to decide how much filtering to apply for the desired effects. Interestingly, I found that judging them by stepping through the library and listening to each in relative isolation did not fully reveal their scope. The audio demos on Soniccouture's website gave a much better impression of the capabilities of the library, and I'd recommend that you listen to these.

Now for the down side: everybody has a different view of what a library of this type should sound like. Do you crave the progressive experiments of Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon, the psychedelic effects of Hawkwind's Space Ritual, or the more recent electronica of bands such as Autechre? Depending upon your needs, these samples may or may not be suitable. But if you like them, you'll find that they are well recorded and easy to use. If anything, they're too civilised; the original instruments were total pigs to set up and play, and in many ways their deficiencies and instabilities determined how people used them. Sampling removes much of this eccentricity, and by creating playable melodic patches, stable loops and (shock!) polyphonic instruments, Soniccouture have created something pleasing, but with a somewhat different character from any of the above.."

Gordon Reid