Review: MegaMagic: Viola & Cello for Omnisphere 2 by PlugIn Guru

MegaMagic: Viola and MegaMagic: Cello are just that – Magical! It’s not every day you are blown away by $49 sound sets, but these lush and versatile sounds left me impressed. These are sure to become part of my own musical pallet and scoring work. In a word – Excellent!

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Review: MegaMagic: Viola & Cello for Omnisphere 2 by PlugIn Guru

MegaMagic: Viola & MegaMagic: Cello for Omnisphere 2 sell for $49 feach rom PlugIn Guru

Thoughts

MegaMagic: Viola
When I first dove into MegaMagic: Viola I honestly expected to just find a few good viola samples; maybe something I could use for layering with my main string libraries to add a little depth. What I found was so much more. The first thing I like to do when opening a new Omnisphere 2 soundset is to go through the patches one by one and rate them using the Omnisphere rating system. As you probably know, the Omnisphere 2 rating system allows you to rate patches from 1-5 stars (I reserve 5 only for the best or most useful patches). Normally, by the time I finish this process I have a few 5-star patches, some 4-star patches, and then a smattering of 1 to 3-star patches. Well, out of 128 individual patches in MegaMagic: Viola I rated 35 of them with 5 stars!

The individual patches here are a veritable cornucopia of useful sounds. I especially loved a good number of the pads, sequences, and textures on offer here. However, there is so much more to like, from playable string patches and keys to leads and synths. These patches are very well programmed, and also make good use of the modwheel. One of the innovative things about the creation of MegaMagic: Viola was that the developer included customers in the creation of the individual patches. PlugIn Guru created a $2 demo version of the library that contained 16 of the 330 samples that are available in the full version. This allowed customers to purchase a $2 sample pack and then spend two weeks creating patches from the raw samples that could then be submitted for possible inclusion into the full library. In the end, over 25 programmers contributed to the final product. The variety definitely shows. The individual patches are diverse and cover so much sonic territory that I can see using this library in everything from hybrid trailer music to Scandinavian instrumentals. And we’ve only just begun! Even more fun is to be had with the 93 multis on offer. Here again is a treasure trove of sonic goodness, but in a completely different way. The multis are primarily focused on recognizable viola samples and articulations. From spiccato and marcato to vibrato and crescendos, there is so much to like here. These multis will be great for layering with your other string libraries to add even more depth and realism. I especially love the alternating spiccatos, the dream scapes, and the whisper pads.

MegaMagic: Cello
I am going to quickly sum up MegaMagic: Cello for you. Read everything I just said about MegaMagic: Viola, and voila! There you have MegaMagic: Cello! MegaMagic: Cello brings you the same quality, diversity, and usefulness that PlugIn Guru’s MegaMagic: Viola brings, but by utilizing 243 cello samples instead.

There are 138 patches and 75 multis included, and they are simply super! I especially love the simplistic cello multis and already have designs on using them in haunting, beautiful Scandi-style music. The individual patches are again fantastic with my own 5-star rating applying to 26 out of 138 of them!

MegaMagic: Viola and MegaMagic: Cello are pure magic. I heartily recommend them to anyone using Omnisphere 2. When factoring in the individual patches, multis, and price for these libraries, I would apply the 5-star Omnisphere rating to both of them!

Facts

128 patches/93 multis (MegaMagic: Viola); 138 patches/75 multis (MegaMagic: Cello)
330 samples (MegaMagic: Viola); 243 samples (MegaMagic: Cello)
MegaMagic: Viola for use with Omnisphere 2.4 or above
MegaMagic: Cello for use with Omnisphere 2.1 or above

MegaMagic: Viola & MegaMagic: Cello for Omnisphere 2 sell for $49 each from PlugIn Guru

Demos of MegaMagic: Viola & Cello

Videos of MegaMagic: Viola & Cello