First Look Review Octomorph FE from Epic SoundLab
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Octomorph FE
A Sound Design Drone Instrument from Epic SoundLab
Octamorph FE Retails for $59.00 (USD)
The Facts
Octamorph FE is sound design tool built off of the Drones section of Epic SoundLab’s “The Forge” Library.
Octomorph FE has 8 layers cross-morphing (thus the name 🙂 ) that allow the user to build complex soundscapes, morphing drones, shifting risers, rhythmic morphing drones, rhythmic Risers & simple risers.
It requires the full version of Native Instruments Kontakt 5.1 or higher and weighs in at around 900MB of content used for 100 preset instruments.
If you really dig the instrument Epic SoundLab offers a discounted crossgrade to The Forge which is equal to getting Octomorph FE for free.
To take the instrument a step further, Epic SoundLab scripted Octomporh FE so you can use your own samples with the dedicated “User Init”.
Interface
The stark black and white interface is easy to navigate and allows for 8 sample layers to be loaded in (A,B,C,D & N,S,E,W)
The animated center “XY Radar Monitor” is pretty cool and lets you visually see the coordinates of samples you are morphing FROM & TO. The morphing can be controlled both manually (by using the big X and Y sliders) or with the included Lemur or TouchOSC template.
You also have the ability to play the instrument as a Loop or in a one-shot mode.
The real power in Octomorph comes from the dedicated scripted-tempo-synced LFOs that turn the instrument into an animated morphing machine. The 2 Scripted LFOs allow you to select one of the 9 Waveforms per LFO and also give you a “Bias” control to adjust the intensity of the LFO wav form playback interpretation.
Effects include a Doppler, a Resonator, a Equalizer, a IR Reverb and a Preset Scrambler which randomly loads all the parameters including sample so you can come up with sounds you would not have thought of.
The interface is clean and gives you the ability to control all parameters from the front. If I am gonna be critical about Octomorph I would have to say that the interface, although effective, took a little time to understand. It took me a while to figure out just how to manually conrtol the X Y paramaters, which seems simple in hind sight.
Control from your Tablet
One thing I appluade Epic SoundLab for is that they have gone the extra mile and thought about how you could get the most out of controlling the instrument in real time. They have created and included at no extra cost two basic templates for TouchOSC and Lemur that alow you to “play” the instrument real time. This is where Octomorph can really shine. These allow you to control some of the key parameters in realtime and really extend the instruments use to a new level.
I’m gonna be picky though and say that I would really like to see the LFO Wav, Bias and all Volume controls on the template (Lemur) interface as well. I will go ahead and program my own, but why not give us as many controls as possible for the instrument from the control surface?
Final Thoughts
There are several great Hybrid instruments out on the market right now but Octomorph holds it’s own in a unique way. Epic SoundLab had an original vision for crafting a singular hybrid drone engine and they succeeded. The big bonus with Octomorph is the ability to load your own samples, making it infinitely expandable and insuring your drones, risers & soundscapes are truly original. And of course the dedicated scripted-tempo-synced LFOs are the heart of the presets and the real power behind the Octomorph engine.
If you like the sounds you heard in the presets or demos and dig the interface I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up Octomorph FE which is I have to say is a great buy at only $59.00.
