Review: Quantum: Bird Whistle & Quantum: Steel Tongue by Emergence Audio

Quantum Bird Whistle and Quantum Steel Tongue by Emergence Audio add a touch of the mystic to any composition. Thanks to the Quantum engine, these single sound sources create a brand new universe of pads and soundscapes. Packed with presets and powerful LFO features, it’s easy to create constantly moving sounds, perfect for background, atmospheric and minimalist scores.

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Review: Quantum: Bird Whistle & Quantum: Steel Tongue by Emergence Audio

Quantum Bird Whistle and Quantum Steel Tongue are two libraries by Emergence Audio that share the same idea and approach: to give composers a sound design tool starting from a single sampled instrument. In this case, the developer has sampled a Bird Whistle and a Steel Tongue Drum. Both instruments come with a single NKI master instrument and several presets organized in folders. They require the full version of Kontakt (6.4 or above) and NKS protocol is not supported.

Quantum: Bird Whistle & Quantum: Steel Tongue normally sells for $29.00 each from Emergence Audio

Thoughts

For both instruments, the interface is not very eye-popping but is quite functional with all the main parameters available on the same window. The Quantum engine lets you layer together two different sounds, with waveforms displayed on the high right and left corners of the GUI.

By clicking on the name of the layer itself you can switch between the instrument’s sample set. The big knob at the centre of the interface crossfades between the two layers and it’s assigned by default to CC1, so you can easily control it via the keyboard’s Modwheel. Keep in mind that each knob is assignable to any CC, just right click on the knob you want to assign and move your controller’s fader or knob, which is very useful especially if you want to shape your sound real-time by changing some parameters drawing an automation inside your sequencer while you’re playing. Just under the knob you can see a small oscillator which makes the sound switching faster between the two layers. You can amplify or reduce the wave in order to increase or decrease the crossfading between layers, function that you can also synchronize to the sequencer’s BPM thanks to the “Sync” button. On the left and right sides of the knob, there is the volume’s fader for each layer, and just under each fader you can find a Fine Tune knob that allows you to pitch the corresponding layer up to one octave up or down.

We’ve got then an ADSR engine, independent for each layer, but you can also link them together in order to control them simultaneously. Below the ADSR engine, there are three more knobs, controlling Cutoff, Resonance and Pan. Each knob, except for the ADSR’s, has a Relative LFO value parameter assigned to it, meaning that you can set a percentage relative to the Universal Sinewave LFO’s Amplitude, aka the bigger oscillator’s wave in the center at the bottom of the GUI. You can set this wave’s values both vertically (percentage) than horizontally (frequency). The “Link” symbol just near the LFO on/off button lets you bypass the relative values you set on each parameter and lock it to the Universal Sinewave LFO.

In the FX window you can find some additional effects, such as Reverb, Delay, Distortion, Saturation, Chorus. This allows you to shape your sound even more and deeply experiment with it. When the Delay’s Pan is set at 100%, it ping pongs the delay left and right. The Delay can also be locked to the session’s tempo. All the knobs are still assignable to any CC.

Both the libraries come with several presets, organized by types, you can use as they are or just as a starting point to shape the sound even more and create your own.

Let’s have a closer look. Bird Whistle’s presets are divided into Correlated, Dimensions (Suspended and Arcs), Infinite Pads , Multis and Pulses.

Correlated features the same sound in both layers, but pitch and some settings are different to create variations in sound. They are in general quite calm and some of them are truly inspiring. Dimensions presets explore the libraries’ patches with a kind of minimalist approach. The number of parameters available is minimized (only ADSR, Cutoff and Resonance are still available) and there’s not the two layers engine anymore. Even the effects are reduced to Reverb, Distortion and Delay only. These presets are organized into two subcategories: Suspended, including sustained pads, and Arcs, in which when a key is pressed you can hear a swell of both volume and pan.

Infinite Pads include very long sounds, that in some cases can last even two minutes or more before they repeat and each note was sampled a bit differently than the others, so you can obtain very interesting textures pressing multiple keys together. Finally, Multis include ten multi patches that mix together various presets, and Pulses use the LFO to create pulse-like preset, very useful to add movement to your projects.

Quantum Steel Tongue includes the same types of presets, with the only difference that Dimensions include also a “Short and Keys” folder of presets designed to play arpeggios and ostinatos. They are indeed really shorts sounds, more closer to a synthesizer than an FX pad. Infinite Pads are here called Evolving Pads but they basically seem to have the same function.

In conclusion, this is a pretty nice library. The number of knobs in a very tight space could scare you at the beginning but if you look closer there’s nothing too complex: just an ADSR engine and a few more parameters. The very interesting part is the LFO, with a wave you can set for each parameter in order to get them changing dynamically. The two layers engine lets you experiment a lot with sound and the presets available are a very good starting point to dig deeper into these libraries, but also give you a number of brand new patches to use in your compositions. The overall sound is quite intimate, perfect to use as a background or to underline dramatic moments in your productions. Many of the patches reminded me of quiet and calm places, the mountains at night and Space. I believe the price is very affordable for the quality of these libraries.

Facts

Quantum Bird Whistle:
Requires the full version of Kontakt (6.4 or above). Not compatible with the free Kontakt Player.
It weighs 1.07 GB installed
Includes 1 master NKI instrument and more than 90 presets
Sampled at 48kHz / 24 bit
NCW lossless compression technology

Quantum Steel Tongue:
Requires the full version of Kontakt (6.4 or above). Not compatible with the free Kontakt Player.
It weighs 973 MB installed
Includes 1 master NKI instrument and more than 100 presets
Sampled at 48kHz / 24 bit
NCW lossless compression technology

Quantum: Bird Whistle & Quantum: Steel Tongue normally sells for $29.00 each from Emergence Audio

Demos of Quantum: Bird Whistle & Quantum: Steel Tongue by Emergence Audio

Videos of Quantum: Bird Whistle & Quantum: Steel Tongue by Emergence Audio

Contributor Giuseppe Corcella reviews Quantum: Bird Whistle & Quantum: Steel Tongue by Emergence Audio
“Quantum Bird Whistle and Quantum Steel Tongue by Emergence Audio add a touch of the mystic to any composition. Thanks to the Quantum engine, these single sound sources create a brand new universe of pads and soundscapes. Packed with presets and powerful LFO features, it’s easy to create constantly moving sounds, perfect for background, atmospheric and minimalist scores.”