Review: Mechanics of Noise & Shruti Box Bundles by Have Audio

Mechanics of Noise is perfect to add tension to your productions. It features a huge number of noises, crackling and one shots that can be used to create outstanding Sound Design textures. The Shruti Box bundle features the omonimous instrument in its more acoustic form but can be used also for Sound Design. A very nice choice to add an ethnic touch to your compositions.

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Review: Mechanics of Noise & Shruti Box Bundles by Have Audio

Mechanics of Noise and Shruti Box are two bundles of the Espresso Series by Have Audio. The first one includes three libraries, named Acoustic, Dystopian and Electronic, each of them featuring one master NKI file, while the Shruti Box includes 4 folders: Essential, Extended, Harmonic, and a Bonus Instrument, each of them including one NKI file as well.
They are made for Kontakt and require the full version (5.6.8 or above) of the Native Instruments’ player. They are not compatible with the free Kontakt Player and don’t support the NKS protocol, so you don’t need to activate them via Native Access.
The Mechanics of Noise Bundle was produced by Urs Bollhalder at Rooftop Rattle Studios in The Hague; the Shruti Box Bundle was recorded at Have Studio in Madrid using a Shruti Box played by Greta Ch’aska Rocchi.

Mechanics of Noise & Shruti Box Bundles normally sells for €49.00 (now €24.50) each from Have Audio

Thoughts

Let’s talk about the Mechanics of Noise Double Espresso Bundle first. The GUI is similar to the rest of the series, with a little cup of coffee which, if turned on, fills the cup with coffee, surrounded by a couple of sugar cubes (sliders) and two green coffee beans (knobs that when turned on become gradually dark brown). The interface’s background (basically a table) changes depending on the library and, like in the Cello Textures, Cinematic Cymbals and Toys 3, it recalls the main purpose of the sounds included in the library itself. Generally speaking, this bundle includes a great number of noises, one shots, crackling, textures recorded using analog gear and digital processing.

In this bundle, the parameters have the same function on all the 3 libraries: the big knob adds a Low-end Drone, the left slider a High Pass Filter, the right slider controls the Delay, the left bean adds a Custom Convolution FX and the right one a Tube Distortion. All of these parameters are CC assignable, which makes it easier to change the sound realtime recording automations inside your sequencer.
The Acoustic patch includes very dry noises organized on 3 Sound Banks accessible via Keyswitches. All the sounds can be synced to the sequencer’s tempo. If you take them as they are, they are nice but nothing very special. The best part comes when you start moving the knobs and the sliders. Just turning it up brings you into a completely different and mystic world: the Low-end Drone adds a kind of very soft ambience that rises in volume as the cup goes to the right. The overall effect you get is mostly about tension and suspense. If you play around with the other parameters, you can actually get very interesting textures that turn those noises into a powerful sound design addition to your scores. Besides the main knob I particularly like the right bean, which adds a kind of distortion that fills the sound with even more tension. Perfect to be used in particular moments of horror movies, for instance.

The dry sounds of Dystopian are more dark, lower and sometimes scratchier. Even here the big knob is what I’d call the core of the library: the low ambience drone helps a lot to make those noises more anxious and expanded in space and time to add more suspense. The sounds are organized in 3 Sound Banks called Distopian Hits, Machine Fury and Noise Clouds, names that already give you an idea of what expecting.

Electronic includes modern-soundings One Shots and Tempo-synced Loops. As for the other bundles of the series, here you will find processed sounds that remind of a more futuristic setting. They are not basic as in the Acoustic one but not even “dark” as in the Dystopian library.

A Shruti Box is a little acoustic instrument that reproduces sounds which go from the purest accordion-like to more complex textures, including pedals, drones, granular and almost synthetic textures. As mentioned above, this bundle includes 3 main libraries called Essential, Extended and Harmonic, plus a Bonus Instrument. The GUI is the same on each of those patches and it’s identical to the Acoustic of the previously seen bundles. As usual, all the knobs and sliders are CC assignable.

The Essential library includes Core Techniques and Articulations, organized into 5 Sound Banks switchable using Keyswitches: Short notes, Long notes, Movement, Pedal Tones (Mantra) and Soft Pedal Tones. It seems to be available two kinds of velocity layers, one softer and one louder, and you can trigger them using the Velocity. The sound of this library is the pure acoustic sound of the instrument. It’s very dry, so you can easily shape it with other effects. Just like the Mechanics of Noise Bundle, also in the Shruti Box the knobs and sliders have similar functions on every patch. There are 3 Reverbs available: the big knob adds a Concert Hall Convolution Reverb, the left slider a granular Accordion-Verb and the right slider a Freeze Reverb. The two beans are assigned to Reflections, a Custom Impulse Response FX, and Distortion.

The Concert Hall Reverb it’s just a usual reverb, which adds a bit of tail to the dry samples. The Accordion and the Freeze reverbs are instead two kinds of sound design tools. These reverbs seem quite artificial, they add a very sustained tail to the sound and in both of these cases you can hear them moving: it’s not fixed but you can hear variations of intensity. Reflections seems to be a mid-way between the above parameters: it adds a kind of reverb tale, which is longer than the Concert Hall Verb but not invasive like the others.
The Extended patch features Extended Techniques and Ranges. It includes 6 Sound Banks. In the first one you can find harsher short sounds, in the second clusters played in different styles and techniques, the third and fourth slots are for pedal tones (louder and softer) but with a more extended range than in the Essential library, the fifth slot includes Pleasant Textures, that have a kind of dreamy vibe, and finally the sixth slot includes the basic range with a wah effect.

The Harmonic patch basically includes 4 Sound Banks of chords: Major, Minor, Augmented and Diminished Triads.
The Bonus patch is called Shruti Interval Machine. The GUI is identical to the other libraries in this bundle except for a Sync button right under the left slider. The big knob still adds a Concert Hall Convolution Reverb, but here the left slider controls real-time Time Stretch, the right slider the level of Delay, the left coffee bean the Delay’s feedback and the right bean adds a Sub Bass Drone. The keyswitches are assigned to different kinds of intervals inside of the instrument’s range and all together cover the entire set of intervals available.

So, we have here two different kind of instruments: the Mechanics of Noise bundle follows the path of the other libraries of the same series, intending to be more a sound design instrument. The Shruti Box it’s meant to be used also as an acoustic instrument since it has by its own some interesting textures and clusters that can add something to your compositions. In any case, the added effects can enhance this even more. In both bundles you have just a few parameters so you cannot experiment a lot with sound. The ones available are by the way enough to create interesting textures. The Mechanics of Noise bundle is also able to cover multiple genres thanks to the different approaches of the libraries included in it. The very simple and dry sounds on the Acoustic patch allow you also to use them as they are but it’s when you turn on the effects that you can really get the best out of it. The Shruti box hasn’t impressed me so much as the Mechanics of Noise, or the Cello Textures, did but it’s anyway a quite good instrument to add a kind of ethnic touch to your productions, especially if you have to write about olden northern lands. Sometimes the Accordion and Freeze Reverbs seem to be even too much but I really liked the Reflections parameter.

Facts

MECHANICS OF NOISE DOUBLE ESPRESSO
Requires the Full version of Kontakt (5.6.8 or above)

Acoustic:
571 MB Uncompressed file size
1 .nki file
160 samples
3 keyswitches/sound banks

Dystopian:
525 MB Uncompressed file size
1 .nki file
185 samples
3 keyswitches/sound banks

Electronic:
508 MB Uncompressed file size
1 .nki file
170 samples
3 keyswitches/sound banks

SHRUTI BOX DOUBLE ESPRESSO
Requires the Full version of Kontakt (5.6.8 or above)

Essential:
1.08 GB Uncompressed file size
1 .nki file
294 samples
5 keyswitches/sound banks

Extended:
400 MB Uncompressed file size
1 .nki file
116 samples
6 keyswitches/sound banks

Harmonic:
345 MB Uncompressed file size
1 .nki file
52 samples
4 keyswitches/sound banks

Shruti Interval Machine:
1 .nki file
75 samples
12 keyswitches/sound banks

Mechanics of Noise & Shruti Box Bundles normally sells for €49.00 (now €24.50) each from Have Audio

Demos of Mechanics of Noise & Shruti Box Bundles by Have Audio

Videos of Mechanics of Noise & Shruti Box Bundles by Have Audio

Contributor Giuseppe Corcella reviews Mechanics of Noise & Shruti Box Bundles by Have Audio
“Mechanics of Noise is perfect to add tension to your productions. It features a huge number of noises, crackling, one shots that can be used to create outstanding Sound Design textures. The Shruti Box bundle features the omonimous instrument in its more acoustic form but can be used also for Sound Design. A very nice choice to add an ethnic touch to your compositions.”