SON ZINE

Boutique Sampling Magazine

SUMMER ISSUE 2014 | #001

Features

Reviews

Tutorials

Sonokinetic Orchestral Libraries

Galactic Invasion feature film
From Concept To GUI

John Debney's 'Predators'

Sonokinetic Highlights
Mark Isham Q&A

Scripting KSP Basics,

Track Techniques:
'Creating an epic track'

2014
#01

SETTING GOALS

HOW TO BE EPIC

08

12

Production instagrams

Multiple award-winning
renowned film composer
Mark Isham sat down with
Sonokinetic for a nice Q&A

PrePro Shots

05

Sonokinetic News
Where we come from and
where we're heading. It's been
an exciting time. Read about
where we started and what
goals we set for Sonokinetic's
future

MARK ISHAM

10

GALACTIC INVASION

KSP TUTORIAL

PREDATORS

REVIEWS

Interview

Track Techniques

The Making Of
Tomasz Maronski created a
milestone with his "Galactic
invasion" promo for Grosso,
here's how it came to be

OTHER
03 Editorial
25 Istanbul Sessions
25 Mister Design
26 Job Applications

SCHOEPS HIGH-END MICROPHONE

CMC 6 U

16

24

Is What You Get

A collection of audio
magazine reviews, summaries
and quotes on Sonokinetic
sample libraries by leading
music technology reviewers

What You See

14

A tutorial by Reuben Cornell

on how to create your epic
orchestral track using samples

ON THE COVER

TUTTI RECORDINGS

DESIGNING GUIS

27 Colophon

Our take on graphic design

in Sonokinetic user interface
development, evolution of
different approaches and
styles in the spotlight

nce every so often we

wander into social situations where we are
asked what it is exactly that we
do. On your side of the industry, that question is easier to
answer to the uninitiated, you
mostly deliver your products
straight to the end user and
composing music is something
most people can grasp.
Our answer to that question

Review Highlights

18

20

Create your first Kontakt

instrument script with this
getting-started guide
by Sonokinetic

An editorial review on John

Debney's magnificent score
for 2010's 'Predators'

Tutorial: KSP Basics

tends to be a little harder

to phrase for the general
population, but mostly we
try to explain that we make
tools for composers to create
music with, and leave it at that,
sometimes followed by some
high-profile example where
our products were used.
We love this work and all it
entails, and being the small
team we are, we get to work all

Score Review

sides of the production cycle,

which makes the release of a
new product a momentous
and hard to describe occasion,
it's a part of us we release into
the world.
Of course you, the reader of
this magazine, are much more
in tune with what we are doing, so we'd like to grasp this
opportunity to share with you
more insights in the sampling

industry (from our perspective

that is) and we hope to start a
dialogue too in future editions.
This magazine is meant not so
much as advertorial, we hope
it can be insightful, informative
and at times inspirational, as
we draw upon our network
to create content we think is
of interest to you as a community.
Son Thomsen (CEO)

BOUTIQUE
SAMPLING

SONOKINETIC
SETTING GOALS
OUR SAMPLING EVOLVED FROM
PLAIN LOOPING TO HIGHLY
CONTROLLABLE PHRASE
MANIPULATION

onokinetic has been honing its skills

since late 2008. Releasing our first
library "Felt Force One" back in 2008
turned out to be the start of something
remarkable. Back then, we felt the need
for more layer based high energy
percussion performances like the ones
found in libraries like Storm Drum 1 and
Steinbergs Groove machine 1 at the time.
The lack of realism and acoustic space
in products on the market then urged
us to try and create the sound we where
looking for ourselves, mainly to fill our
own need for a strong percussive base
for our midi-sequence production music
template.
One of the sampling companies that
really hit the spot in terms of authentic
orchestral sound was Project Sam. They
still are one of the leading companies in
our industry and back in the day, the tools
they offered provided a new acoustic
landscape. Besides Sam, Vienna
Symphonic Library took things to a new
level of detail and possibilities. Not quite
satisfied with the choice on offer though,
and a bit baffled by the price tag on the
good stuff, we decided to invest in
recording it ourselves.
The fire that started with producing Felt
Force One, the challenges we always face
and the learning we get to do still give us
a continuous flow of creative energy and
tons of production stamina. We came
a long way since that first session and
things have improved to a whole other
level but at the core we are still a couple
of guys trying to make these tools we
feel are missing from the market place,
and looking for creative ways to translate
existing instruments to their digital forms,
while keeping them inspiring to play, and
sounding like they should.

GROSSO
ABOVE &
BEYOND

In our industry there are basically two

camps. On one side there are the purists
who will only go for top quality multi
articulated multi sampled instruments,
while on the other side you'll find the
pragmatists, keen on loops and fx. We
thought we could set up camp in the middle and gather the best of both sides. We
call this concept 'Performance Sampling'
and it has since found its way into most of
Sonokinetic's instrument portfolio, defining us as a company..

What can you expect form the

Sonokinetic team the next few months?
We do not tend to give a way too much to
keep the momentum going or spoil any
surprises we have lined up. Yes we like
surprises. It's Christmas every time we
release a new library. But in this magazine
we'll make an exception an lift the veil a
little to give you an idea about what to
expect the coming months.

Performance Sampling by Sonokinetic, where Multi Sampling and

Phrase Sampling meet
Creating the Orchestral FX library "Tutti"
and "Vivace" changed our view on what
would be possible and marked a new
course for Sonokinetic to embark on. A
wonderful professional relationship grew
between musical genius and orchestrator
Piotr Musial, the best symphonic
production orchestra in Europe 'Capellen
Orchestra' and ourselves. With the
success of our atonal fx library Tutti and
the tonal fx library Vivace we felt the
momentum had changed.
From that moment on Sonokinetic
would invest in both Multi sampled and
Performance based sample libraries for
orchestra, while keeping a very productive
line open to create unique 'smaller' instruments, resulting in an impressive 30+
sample library collection as of mid 2014.

Goals
Our collection has been bigger than it is
today, but we have felt the need to either
update or discontinue products if they
did not meet the professional standard
we strive to maintain, a standard that
keeps creeping higher with every new
product we produce. There is so much
to learn, both during the development
process and from end-users who buy our
products, and though we strongly believe
in the value of the journey, we aim for
our customers to not have to take part
in it, and meet us at the destination. We
aim for all Sonokinetic products to score
100% on functionality, playability and
creativity.

Obviously Minimal
and Grosso have
been received with
much glamour and
raving reviews. So we
feel comfortable to
build on this platform
we've created. So
Orchestral Performances like you
found in Grosso will
be continued in our
next two libraries.
Yes, 2 more of these
are in the pipe line.
WHAT'S NEXT?
And hopefully the follow-up for
Grosso will be available for gazing in the
shop window before the Holiday season
of this year. We're currently in production
full throttle.

Tutti Recording Session in 2011 by Capellen Orchestra and dear friend Petr Pololanik

Productions
Aliye, Arpeggio, Bagpipes, Carillon, Carousel, Celesta, Da Capo, Delphi, Desert
Voice, EMP, FE, Felt Force One, Grosso,
Guzin, Haka, H.I.P.P., Hurdy Gurdy, Kemence, Maasai, Mallets, Minimal, Nevel,
Project Infinity, Qanun, Rojin, Shahrazad,
Sleigh Bells, Sultan Drums, Sultan Strings,
The Carnival, Tigris & Euphrates, Toccata,
Toll, Trailer Voices, Trailer Voice iOS, Tutti,
Vivace, Voices Of Israel, Yemenite, Yiddish

your productions, and in a way makes

you a shareholder with a collective voice.
Don't hesitate to contact us on our digital
domains and be assured we will continue
to release the Sonokinetic samples and
instruments you have come to expect
from us.

Sonokinetic has stepped up to the iOS

platform 2 years ago which has been a
great success and you can expect us to
have a major release on this platform before the first leaves start to fall this year.
So if you have any interest in going mobile
with Sonokinetic be sure to keep an eye
on our releases for the next few months.

Just a grab from the products we have

produced. We are very proud of the body
of work our blood, sweat and tears have
produced over the last couple of years.
It's an unbeatable feeling to create something that is appreciated by professionals
around the world. Especially in times like
these where economic stress is felt all
over the globe we are very thankful for all
the support we have received by all of you
that have invested in Sonokinetic sample
libraries and instruments.

Of course we will not neglect to release

the smaller gems we are known for, libraries like Toll and The Carnival. Something
Swiss is coming up soon. And we have
finally started work on the fruits from
our long trip to Cape Town where we've
captured some enchanting material.
Last but not least. Most of our collection
will get a major refreshment too.

You buying our products enables us

to keep creating the instruments and
samples you crave and badly need for
"Fe" recording session with Patrick Eijdems

"Toccata" recording Sessions the Bartholomeus Basilica

SK PRE-PRO SHOTS
MINIMAL
Son Thomsen & Piotr Musial focused on
every take performed by Petr Pololanik and
his Team during recording sessions with the
Capellen Orchestra in Zlin, Czech republic.

THE CARNIVAL
Teaming up at the MCO recording studios in
Hilversum - The Netherlands with A de Vogel
and his amazing collection of Barrel Organs
to record the instruments for "The Carnival".
Universal Audio's Apollo did an amazing job!

CELESTA
Celesta was also recorded in the old MCO radio
studios in Hilversum. The instrument used for
the recordings is one of three Celestas that have
been used for countless recordings of the Dutch
Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. We painstakingly
recorded round-robins, multiple dynamics, pedal
up/down samples and key noises.
SULTAN DRUMS
Istanbul has been our home for most Sonokinetic
Ethnic recordings, Ceyda Piralis studio in
Kadikoy, on the asian side of the Bosphorus,
makes us feel so welcome and she delivers on
great players and vocalists as well as pristine
recordings consistently.

TOLL (Cathedral Session)

200ft up in the air. A true challenge of
audio taming. After climbing 218 steps,
battling environment noise pollution, adjusting
our sensitive microphones to endure the baffling
air displacement of a 12.000 pound cast bell
being hit by this hammer, TOLL became one of
our icons.

TRACK TECHNIQUES
sample-based track is faking it, rather
than using live instruments, so use tricks
to avoid that dreaded machine-gun staccato effect. Using libraries that include
spiccato / staccato round-robin samples
is a good start. I also sometimes combine
the divisi sections of two different sample
libraries which will constantly change the
played combination of samples. Phrasebased packages like Action Strings,
Orchestral String Runs and Spiritoso
go some way to minimising the artificial
sound of repeated staccato notes at the
cost of some flexibility. Sonokinetics own
Minimal & Grosso use a different approach and can yield great results for a
live sound.

When it comes to composing

there are no rules

WRITING AN EPIC ORCHESTRAL TRACK

USING SAMPLES

ts never been more fun to create an

epic sounding, trailer-style cue using
just samples. The sounds available
from sample library producers like
ProjectSAM, Cinesamples, Audiobro and
of course Sonokinetic are first rate and
utterly convincing when used in the correct way. In this first issue of Sonozine
Ill guide you through the basic process
of creating an epic orchestral cue, from
selecting your sounds to the final mixing
stage.
Choosing instruments and samples for
an epic orchestral track is slightly different to the approach required for a more
traditional orchestral mock-up. Just like
baking a cake, the final result wont be
good unless you start with the right ingredients so choose the highest-quality

samples that your budget can stretch to.

There are plenty of cheaper lite libraries on the market which retain an epic
sound for a fraction of the price of their
bigger brothers: Consider ProjectSAM
Orchestral Essentials, Spitfire Albion I
or Sonokinetic Da Capo for an all-round
orchestral palette and then add smaller
supplemental libraries to embellish your
core orchestral sounds. When it comes
to composing your cue, there are no
rules for epic music. Every sub-genre
from hybrid dubstep-style through to
more traditional styles can be heard
underscoring movie trailers in 2014.
Soaring brass and string melody lines
over string and woodwind ostinati are
common. These repeated string motifs
can be an absolute giveaway that your

Percussion is usually used as embellishment in traditional orchestral pieces.

However, with epic music youll want
to use it liberally and often. Complex
rhythms played on timpani, taiko, snares
and sticks will drive the action of your cue.
You can use individual hits and construct
your own patterns with libraries such as
CinePerc & EastWest Stormdrum series.
Alternatively, use performance-sampled
loops like Sonokinetics Grosso or H.I.P.P.
Cymbal crescendi can be used to emphasise rises in tension or smooth transitions
between different sections of your cue.
Brass should be loud and proud, the 12
horn ensemble within CineBrass PRO is
a great choice for a really boombastic
sound. Alternatively you can build an
ensemble using individual instruments
within libraries like Da Capo. ProjectSAMs
Symphobia and OBC libraries also have
a really big sound. For quieter moments,
solo horn lines work especially well when
set against sordino strings and woodwind
chords.
Speaking of woods, these are used
sparingly in most epic orchestral tracks.
Simply doubling the ostinati or melody.
The occasional flourish, run or trill will add
interest and tension so utilise a library like
Berlin Woodwinds for this.

Choir libraries are used to either supplement the melody or harmony lines,
providing an ethereal tone, or as staccato
shouts or effects to add drama. The huge
range from Soundiron & 8Dio are very
flexible. There are other elements which
can regularly be heard in epic orchestral
tracks: Often a synthesized sub-bass is
used to provide low-end weight. This
neednt be more complex than a simple
sine wave from your favorite synth, but
for a more hybrid-style feel you might
consider a more complex tone. Solo
vocals samples can be used and these
are often abstract ethnic improvisations,
layered with plenty of reverb and delay
(think Zimmers Gladiator). Sonokinetic
and Eduardo Tarilonte produce a wealth
of ethnic vocal libraries perfect for this.
More unusual sounds can be utilized to
add interest. SonicCouture have some
great options and libraries like Evolve
and A.I.R are brilliant for twisted textures
which can be used as beds, underneath
your orchestral instruments.
Lastly, pre-recorded orchestral bangs
and hits can be used to punctuate your
piece when layering multi-sampled instruments just wont cut it. Sonokinetic Tutti
and Boom Library have some excellent
options.
The final mix of your track is important
although you may find that with careful
sample and mic position selection from
each library, you dont need to process
the channels a great deal. However, Id
always recommend a low-cut EQ filter on
each individual track (around 30Hz) and
a further subtle bell curve around the
500Hz mark. This will help each element
sound cleaner. Since most sample libraries are recorded with some baked-in
reverb, I often dont worry about complex
reverb routing for each individual track,
preferring to apply a reverb to the entire
master output to glue the tracks together
and create the room feel. Convolution
reverb plugins (such as Altiverb) are
a great option for this as the impulse
responses are recorded from a real-life
space. A church or concert hall IR with a
tail of more than 4 seconds will give your
orchestra an epic presence. Be wary of
the low-end of the frequency range which
can easily become muddy when using lots

of reverb. Most convolution IR plugins have

an EQ control so put this to good use, cutting the reverb frequencies below around
200Hz. This will retain the clarity of the lowend percussion, brass and strings. Lastly,
some multi-band compression and limiting
will help to get your track up to the volume
levels and punch of a commercial score.
The presets from iZotope or Wavearts mastering plugin suites sound great without too
much tweaking.
Reuben Cornell

AN INTERVIEW WITH MARK ISHAM

am
sit
le to
rk Ish
u
a
d
M
e
.
h
r
er
n sc
er M
uctio
d oth
dors
n
d
n
a
o
e
r
ic
ing
yp
kinet
Scor
s bus
i
m
f
l
i
o
F
Sono
s
t
e ou
A on
sines
&
u
m
i
t
b
Q
for a
took
osing
h us
omp
t
i
c
w
a
i
ed
down
the m
n
i
s
an
ht
insig
been

at ha

r th
pose

a com
e
r
e
lm
Is th
you?
in
my fi
r
o
f
n for
to go
e
l
o
i
s
t
p
n
a
r
e
i
m
p
e
m
a
p
d
a
m
h
ex
fa
co
This
lot o
ill be

a
s.
w
have mporarie mething reater or
y
l
n
i
o
e
a
g
t
t
S
r
n
a
ams
e
o
.
c
o
c
I
n Ad 's
ill (t
nally
h
o
sing
w
o
s
o
r
J
d
p
no
com for me pe while, an piration.
an E
a
s
ns
. Bri
i
r
i
e
v
k
o
n
f
a
c
a
e
n
w
e
io
or
lly de
cinat e) becom , as is G
It rea piration.
n
.
a fas
e
t
r
o
r
i
g
t

e
a
P
r ins
o
rd
pir
to fo
, Arv
lesse stant ins
n
s
i
t
r
e
o
v
i
irp
on
ld
is a c usic for a - what I'l
m
m
l
y
l
fi
r
ea
the
s on
pend

l
usica
m
s
you?
t doe
o
a
t
e
h
n
a
W
nd th
ou a
y me
t
y
ou
i
y
n
v
i
f
e
t
we
rt o
crea
r bet
e pa
,
t?"
filte
y th
f the topped b s this righ
o
d
i
s
"i
ng r
eing
?" or red.
Getti
Not b his good
e
.
d
c
n
i
i
nh
mus nks "is t
ing u
y
e
i
B
h
t
suall
ally.
that
u
i
t
i
s
n
i
i
st
sition
at lea

po
f com
o
t
r
t?
t pa
poin
Wha
g
n
i
start
een:
your
has b

veral
to se g
n
i
r
e
f
in
Doep
- turn d
tly it
ecen s out of a quences
an
R
o
.
te
ian
ies
se
nd p e records
It var ng CV ga running
a
r
g
it
ic
ini
nd
oust
favor
-Cha pieces a
he ac ng to my
t
g
t
o
a
l
ana
itting . -Listeni
s. -S
s
nes.
knob the note
ew o
g
n
n
i
g
d
n
fin
veri
disco
ive
and
ou g

y
ould
w
s?
e
c
vi
oser
d
p
a
m
t
co
a gig
Wha
edia
have
m
t
'
g
n
o
n
i
ou d
footstart
. If y
tube

day
you
f you
ven i
every ull some
e
e
still
s
d
o
n
p
p
. A
ve to
t
i
a
Com moment,
h
e
r
u
o
at
e-sc
hes,
er, yo
at th wn and r
anag ngs, lunc gig.
m
a
o
i
r
xt
meet
age d
ent o
at ne or
an ag and take urself th
e
gf
v
n
i
a
h
t yo
look
here
e
t
g
t
w
Seek
u
o
d
get o k. Go an eone is n ou stop.
y
p the
m
or
netw cause so n't mean d open u
s
es
An
be
u, do
room
Just
ant.
or yo ts you w r writing
f
k
r
wo
rojec ark in ou
he p
ets d
out t
- it g
s
d
n
bli

ou
do y
e
r
a
ftw
?
re/so
a
w
ucing
d
r
d
a
o
r
h
p
t
cted
Wha
when
onne iece
n
c
r
o
e
t
nd
so in
gle p
depe
s are pick a sin robust,
udio

r st
ay a
ree
t to
ys ou it difficul have to s e have th
a
d
a
.
s
w
d
W
e
l
o
k
e
u
.
N
a
h re
o
rk
room ia
this m nestly, I w d netwo
g
n
i
e
that
n
v
o
n
e
ar. H ell-desig
/scre f the time
ixing
of ge
w
ia
o
m
v
l
d
l
n
a
a
y
l
d
,a
m
tical
a
clean rooms an ween the
ro
m
to
ble P
g
et
d au
writin e flying b wnloade na Ensem writing
ar
do
he
Vien
Files
ly on
om t
being tail, and
,
t
e
ine fr ight. Ear ot
n
h
r
h
c
e
g
i
a
h
t
m
et
or H
st a l
rate
to be
box
to ho pains
sepa ally has
o
r
a
Drop
P
n
ble
wing , if
ing o net. It re
nsem ome gro
runn
w
r
E
e
a
h
s
nn
id no
a et
g Vie
k sol orward
t thru
n
c
rig vi
n
i
t
o
e
r
p
w
t
f
e
p
gi
ado
les, w ut havin other ste e this is
after
amp
B
n
lik
s
a
.
y
k
e
d
r
o
ce
I fe l
of m
en.
netw
dvan l be ok.
e
a
er be er
h
r
v
t
e
e
l
v
i
s
t
e
a
s
n
with
h
'd
rs
ig
answ
pute
n, we writing r ar nerd"
o
t
y
com
a
e
ge
grea
this d
ful th
ost "
h. A
t
m
u
from st power
r
e
t
h
e
o
not t
t's th
the m robably
but i
le.
)
p
r
b
a
's
alua
v
e ge
v
That
n
i
o
l
s
I do
ork i
(and red netw
u
t
struc
is

ibrar

tic L
okine

a
were
aries
r
an
t
b
l
i
l
ic
(Su
ethn
land sr
e
e
h
t
d
n
ly
e
rtain me In Wo
impr ing
i
e so
t! Ce
r
l
T
ak
a
u
A
c
m
o
n
mo
ross
e
n
ly diffi nce Upo
G
d
b
i
d
r
e
r
th
an
ld ow
O
is te
imal
akes ser shou
ring
t
n
i
u
m
u
This
d
b
M
y
l
,
p
po
tain
hel
ey).
rary
m
r
b
e
e
o
N
i
l
g
c
c
,
l
u
e
h
.
ve
lm
gl
line
ming
a sin
ery fi
s, Ne
stral
r. Ev k it's not
gram
Drum he orche
e
o
i
r
s
p
a
T
he
hin
your
sive. s so muc oubt. I t
s into ibraries.
e
d
o
s
g
e
a
t
ut
he l
ha
proc
witho d detail t
y of t
t
,
u
P
.
a
P
e
H.I.
ht an
nd b
houg trength a
d to
the t
s
rwar
the
o
f
s
'
t
k
a
Th
e loo

n
h So
c
i
h
W
ite?
avor
f
r
u
yo

MARK
ISHAM

an w

sc
oject
r
p
t
Wha
you?
from

ch
, whi
ason
e
s
h
4t
rican
or a
"Ame a lovely
ack f
,
b
w
e
o
lb
ve
sh
o ha
e wil
l
new
ill als beautifu
A Tim doing a
w
n
y
o
a
p
a
s
he
m
'
U
d
I
o
t
he
nd T
Once ing - and pleased
t finis d, "Beyo
s
u
t
j
e
i
f
I
m
c
'
A w
.
oo
is ex , which I
week -Bythew his year.
y
r
"
ell!
e
e
t
v
e
as w
me
rinc
Crim hestra e
i
t
n
P
e
w
a
m
o
rc
Gin
ut so P of my
live o director
be o
E
d
l
w
r
u
e
o
f
o
n
film
at sh
nd a
?
s", th
ear, a
Light ter this y
share
o
a
t
l
s
e
lik
film
you'd
s
ake
t
h
ug
ruly m e fun.
t
o
s
h
y
t
u
r
ng
you g much mo
closi
ing t
y
o
a
h
d
n
t
e
A
you'r ke my job
a
what
m
g
n
t
i
a
do
th
Keep products
e
uniqu

CV Mark Isham is a Grammy and Emmy Award

winning trumpeter, synthesist, and Academy
Award-nominated film composer.
He works in a variety of genres, including jazz,
electronic, and film.
www.isham.com
Sonokinetic's favorite Isham work:
Music for motion pictures
"Crash" & "Lions For Lambs"

FROM CONCEPT TO ART

THE GROSSO
"GALACTIC INVASION"

more information on Tomasz Maronski: http://tomaszmaronski.carbonmade.com

Galactic Invasion is a remarkable

and unique take on what a promo for
a sample-library can be. Production
for the video took as long as the
development of the library itself with
around-the-clock drawing, animating,
rendering, sound designing & scoring

very talented group of people is

involved in creating Sonokinetic
videos, and with our latest release,
"Grosso", we could hardly wait to show
the world our best promo video to date.
All images in this short film are hand
crafted by Polish artist Tomasz Maronski,
and later aminated by Marek Gajowski
and Tomasz. We wanted Epic, we got Epic
with a capital E.

The process started with a preproduction

meeting where ideas about the feel where
discussed using a mood-board with
several sketches of conceptual artwork by
Tomasz. Based on this we set out to write
a script. Grosso would feature a massive
orchestra and choir so we thought of the
famous John Williams epicness in the Star
Wars franchise.

An invasion of a foreign planet would be

the battle ground. The core in this story
line would be the familiar Sonokinetic
Orchestral Cello statue that is present in
most Orchestral libraries' video promos.
(with the exception of Minimal,
but that's a different story, we'll keep that
for another issue).
First of all Tomasz created the end scene
which features the Cello, because we

wanted to see what the environment

would look like before we set out to
create the bulk of the work; the sequence.
Every scene wrap we've received was just
pure magic and fun to see exploding from
our screens. We didn't have to adjust
much. Tomasz and his team did an
excellent job, nailing every scene, and
providing us with food for our musical
thoughts.

After 4 months of continuous work "Galactic

Invasion" found its way to the cutting room
for sound effects and music. The final stage
was approaching and who else but the
maestro Ivan Torrent would make this
feature what it is today with its fantastic,
EPIC(!) music score.
Experience the full movie here:
https://vimeo.com/96167997

WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET

INTERFACES
SONOKINETIC LIBRARIES HAVE
DIFFERENT LOOKS, SOME
EMPHASIZING THEMATICS,
SOME MORE FUNCTIONAL
IN NATURE, BUT ALL RATHER
UNIQUE...TAKE A LOOK:

MINIMAL

DA CAPO

The inspiration for this striking (and

polarizing) GUI obviously and quite
appropriately, stems from Dutch painting
school 'De Stijl'. With this interface design
Sonokinetic abstained from any flashyfancy-page-filling-bling in favour of a huge
amount of controls ergonomically placed
in one single screen. You either love it or
hate it, but you can't say it doesn't stand
out in Sample-Land;)

This multi-sampled orchestral library fits

right in with the 'less-is-more' philosophy
we like to implement.
Designed by Sonokinetic in coop with
Shawn Ellwood, the one-patch-instrument
setup used in Da Capo asked for this
minimalistic approach. We feel it is
necessary to keep things simple when
dealing with 30.000+ samples and an
entire orchestra in one single patch.

THE CARNIVAL
For our unique 'boutique' instrument libraries we tend to produce user interfaces
that are more thematically based.
These instruments generally need less
control elements on screen, so there is
more freedom for the designer to 'set the
mood'. The Carnival was designed by
Ryo Ishido, who has blown us away with
his work on more than one occasion.

GROSSO
Sonokinetic's designers set out for an
even more efficient way of making all
options accessible, continuing on the
Minimal road, and minimizing it further,
while adding features. The Grosso design
firmly stands its ground, every pixel has
been thoroughly reviewed. Square is the
new round, as far as we are concerned;)

DESIGNERS AT SONONKINETIC
ARE: RYO ISHIDO, PAVEL FUKSA,
MINCHO ARTHENA, SHAWN
PATTERSON AND THE IN HOUSE
DESIGN TEAM

SLEIGH BELLS iOS

As you could read in the 'Grosso Above
And Beyond' editorial Sonokinetic is
moving up on the iOS ladder. This fingerexercise prelude to a big release next
quarter shows that Sonokinetic
Designers and programmers are up to the
task to take our brand cross-platform.

KONTAKT
SCRIPTING
TUTORIAL
K

ontakt scripting, or KSP, is one of the most

powerful features of Kontakt, yet also among
the least understood. We'll try to shed some
light on the most basic functions at the hart of any
Sonokinetic instrument. You will need to use scripting
in kontakt if you want to go beyond the most basic
stuff, and for instance add a custom user interface to
your instrument, or if you want multiple articulations
to be selected via keyswitch. That's what we'll do in
this very short tutorial, mind that there is no place
here for the fundamentals of scripting, anything I
explain here can be found in further detail on the
internet and in the 'ksp reference manual' that came
with your copy of kontakt.
After you've created a new instrument (Files - new
instrument), we can start off with the interface, there
is more than one way of doing this, but we'll use the
script way, since we're going to need a resources
folder structure anyway. See screenshot 1 on how
to do that. Save the resources folder in a base folder
next to your nki. Place your background picture in
the 'pictures' folder, accompanied by a text file setting its properties. (you can just copy the same file I
used, and change its name) Make sure your background pic is exactly 633 pixels wide, and not higher
than 602 pixels. Also note that the top 69 pixels are
used by the kontakt panel, so you can't use those for
interface controls.
You won't see anything change yet, we'll add the
script now to make your background show. Though
it is possible to work in kontakt's little script window,
I prefer using an external editor. Just create a txt file
in any texteditor (I use textmate) and save it to the
'scripts' folder. Then in kontakt's edit view go to the
'Script Editor' tab, and choose 'apply from... resources folder', and choose your script. In this
example, 'script 1' is the most basic version of an interface script, just the 'on init' phase that runs when
you open the instrument, it tells kontakt to make a UI
the height of your picture (in this case the picture is
330 pixels, subtract 69 px from that for the top part
we can't utilize for the vlaue that kontakt needs), and
to make a 'performance view', and then it closes the
init phase with 'end on'. press 'apply' to implement
the script and see results.

7: BUTTONS

1: CREATE FOLDER STRUCTURE

Next we'll go about adding some buttons, 'button1', '
button2' and 'button3'.You can create the images yourself
using photoshop, pixelmator or similar. Note that a button
has six states, off-on/mouse down off-on/mouse over off-on.
See the example button pics in the project folder.
If you want to add buttons of your own, just copy the
'declare ui_switch' paragraph in the script and change the
button name, the position (from the top left corner, horizontal/vertical) in the interface, and the size of the button in px.
Use the height of just one state of the button to make sure it
displays properly. You might have to add a pixel like I had to
do here to make this button display properly.

2: PICTURES FOLDER, .PNG AND .TXT

3. APPLY YOUR SCRIPT

4. SETTING THE BACKGROUND...THE KSP WAY

5. 'APPLY' SCRIPT AFTER EVERY CHANGE

6. A BLANK CANVAS

The next step is giving the button something to do. For that,
you use the 'on ui_control' paragraph (see screencap).
Here it is set to switch the other two buttons off (0) when a
button is pressed. It will also change the value of the variable
$active_group. Group numbers are zero-based in kontakt,
so your first group is group 0 (although kontakt by default
calls it group 1). Note that everything you use in your script
needs to be 'declared' in the on init, kontakt will give an error
message if you are trying to use a variable that has not been
declared yet. So if you look in the script, button 1 will set button 2 and 3 to value 0 (off), it will set its own value to 1 (on),
(if you don't do this, it will toggle between on and off on each
press), and it will set $active_group to '0', so the first group.
We have loaded some Celesta samples in group 0, in group
1 there are some Da Capo flute samples and in group 2
some xylophone samples taken from our Mallets collection. Note that these are just a very small part of the actual
instruments, only every whole tone, there are no different
velocities, round robins, mic positions or pedal up/down or
alternate stick samples here.
So now how to use the variable $active_group? That's done
in the 'on note' part of the script, where everything is
processed that happens when kontakt receives midi note
information. Basically we'll disable all groups with the 'disallow_groups' command, and then 'allow' just our specified
'$active_group'. (download the example script to read along)
Now you probably want the instruments changed via
keyswitch as well. That is also done in 'on note' since a keyswitch is just a regular midi note command to kontakt.
Central C is midi note 60 in kontakt, figure out where you
want your keyswitches, and which note number to use.
I have used 24, or the lowest C on a 88 note keyboard for
group 0, 26 for group1 and 28 for group 2. You'll tell kontakt
that 'if the received midi note ($EVENT_NOTE in ksp) is equal
to your assigned keyswitch' it should then 'change your
$active_group to the group associated with that keyswitch,'
and 'change the button states' in your interface, and lastly,
'change the color on the keyswitches'. The main part of that
can just be copied from the ui_control part of the script, so
we just need to add the coloring of the keys, and, for good
measure, add that coloring also to the ui_control part,
otherwise the keycolor will not correspond to the active
group whe you're using the on-screen UI control.
(for the options for coloring keys see page 108 of the KSP
reference guide)

OFF
ON
OFF MOUSE-DOWN
ON MOUSE-DOWN
OFF MOUSE-OVER
ON MOUSE-OVER

8: ...AND THE END RESULT

Although this (script 3) works fine, it feels a bit dumb that we have
exactly the same script in two places, so we're going to replace that
by a kontakt 'function' that you can 'call' from the on note and the on
ui_control, as seen in script 4.
Lastly, I have made a version of the script (that would be script 5)that
is annotated, everything between curly brackets is not read by kontakt,
so that is there just for your understanding.
I really hope this very short tutorial has been of some use to you, my
main goal was to lift a tip of the veil, and show kontakt scripting doesn't
have to be that daunting. It can be though, the script that Ken Black
wrote for Grosso for instance consists of over 20000 lines of illegible
madness;)
Starting off with a simple script, and expanding on that using the KSP
reference manual, and for instance the example scripts built into
kontakt, can be very rewarding, and great fun to boot! There is also
a plethora of scripting tips to be found on the NI forums, a lot of it
provided by mastermind Evildragon, who has worked on numerous
Sonokinetic instruments as well.
In the next instalment of this column we will explain some of the math
functions that can make scripting more interesting, and your scripts a
lot smaller and 'elegant', until then, happy scripting!

DOWNLOAD TUTORIAL ASSETS

-All scripts
-The KSP tutorial Kontakt instrument with samples

PREDATORS
BY JOHN DEBNEY
We appreciate this score so much we felt obliged to share our thoughts on it, hoping to inspire you
to take the time to listen to this marvelous combination of craftsmanship and inspiration that takes
us back to the golden days of pure orchestral scores.
This to us is a typical example of a score
outscoring the movie.
Where the movie fails to rise above its 80s
predecessor, the music transcends, complements and finds new horizons. Where
Brody needs After Effects and Photoshop
to accentuate his abs, Debney pumps his
musical muscle with pure talent and skill.
This is maybe the most overlooked and
undervalued work of the decade.
Where the first sequel to Predator was
scored by Alan Silvestri, another great
master of film composing, for this one John

Debney takes over with his 21st century

approach. The score is a worthy adversary
to and at the same time complements
Silvestri's genius work in many places.
Debney shows off a deep knowledge of
tradition and an enormous awareness
of style; the space-tech-alien vibe, harking back to Jerry Goldsmiths Alien score
and even further back to Kubric's 2001: A
Space Odyssey opening scene,
accompanied by Ligetis Lux Aeterna.
Strong disturbing atonal harmonics and

images by Dan Goldwasser/ScoringSessions.com/John Debney

clusters, excellent thematic development

and Penderecki orchestra fx are employed
to make this a true adventure for the
musical mind. Keeping a strong theme by
Silvestri which pays homage to its creator's
inventiveness back in the day, Debney truly
excels here by orchestrating it for full
orchestra; its new-century approach,
scoring and orchestration is absolutely
genius.

percussion with pumping string

orchestration, is like falling out of an
airplane followed by an entire orchestra.
A subtle change in harmonics transports
us to a beautiful transition part where we
are presented with a wink to Goldsmiths
Alien after which Debney throws in a few
nice synthesized bass lines referring to
the original more FM synthesized score.
Subtle but very effective.

"Free fall", the epic opening and actionfilled track featuring pulsating orchestral

"This Is Hell" is the perfect mix between

electronic sounds, full orchestra fx and
sound design.

The way it sparks imagination, its well

You can definitely hear we are fans of this
worth listening to this track without images style of composing, just take a listen to our
and let the music tell its story. Marvelous!
Tutti library.
"Predator Attack" is, to us, the highlight
of this score. Though it is hard to pick a
favorite out of all these jewels, we'd like to
point out a few of the elements that make
us appreciate this score, and give you a
good starting point for checking it out. in
this track, the electric guitar accentuates
and is a worthy opponent to its classical
counterpart; the 52 headed string section.

The Predators Score elevates its movie from

a mediocre sci-fi-action flick to an absolute
classic that we believe is a must see/listen
for anyone considering themselves modern
day professional media composers.
Hail to The Debney!

BUY THIS SCORE ON AMAZON HERE

SONOKINETIC REVIEWS
HIGHLIGHTS

TOLL
SOUND ON SOUND
Toll offers a lot of sonic variety and is very realistic. The
resonating tail of each bell has been recorded to the
end, so there is no looping to spoil the illusion and the
quality of the recordings cannot be faulted.
Sonokinetic Toll I'm not sure how many customers will
recognise the sound of bells from a particular country
or time period, but the differences provide vital tonal
and textural variety. For dark and mellow, for example,
there are the cathedral bells, while the tower bells are
much more severe and bright. The historical bells are
somewhere in between and the carillon options provide
chromatic scales.

MINIMAL
Sound On Sound and Dave Stewart
did an extensive review of our "Minimal"
library in December 2013. A summary;

QANUN
MUSIC TECH MAGAZINE
Minimal's phrases are nicely
composed, with particular
attention paid to voice-leading
so that chord changes tend to
avoid jarring leaps in register.
To take an example, if you
play a C-major phrase whose
melody line features alternating notes of G and E and then
change to F major, the two
melody notes will move to the
adjacent Different types of
phrases are represented by a
menu of easily differentiated
graphic symbols.
Different types of phrases are
represented by a menu of
easily differentiated graphic
symbols.
scale notes of A and F, rather
than jumping up a fourth to
C and A. An essential element
of good arrangement, this
voice-leading expertise helps
to smooth over transitions and

makes the library sound more

polished.
Having scrutinised its contents mercilessly, I found half
a dozen or so small bugs and
programming errors in the
review copy. None of them
were show-stoppers, and I'm
assured that they will all be
fixed in an update by the time
you read this, so I won't bother
listing them. However, if you
find a new blooper amidst the
33,000 samples, I'm confident
that Sonokinetic (a relatively
small company who pride
themselves on good customer
support) will fix it without undue delay.
Sad to say I have never been
to Zlin, but if its concert hall is
anything to go by, it must be a
cultured and progressive place.

This large, modern building

has fantastic dcor and lighting, and its sound is very nice
indeed.
The samples were recorded
from four mic positions, none
of which sounds remotely dry:
the 'Close' miking has a great
stereo image and a fabulous
ambient die-away; the 'Decca
Tree' option is brighter and
more ambient, while the 'Wide'
and 'Balcony' positions respectively add a sense of panorama
and distance which would be
great assets in a surround mix.

While this is a great way for

inexperienced composers and
arrangers to get immediate
results, there is (as ever with
phrase-based libraries) a danger that if you don't venture

beyond simply stringing a few

phrases together, your 'composition' may end up sounding
exactly the same as those of
other users! That said, these
well-conceived phrases leave
enough space for you to add
original ideas of your own, so
there's really no excuse for not
getting creative with them.
I found Minimal quick and easy
to use. Phrases load immediately, and once you figure out
what they all do (something
of a lottery, initially), it's fun
to assemble, layer and mix
them. This is an entertaining
library which delivers authentic
symphonic sound in a flexible
and manageable form, and its
modular section construction
opens up countless colorful
arrangement possibilities. .
FULL STORY HERE

Sample company Sonokinetic has added to its growing

library o specialist middle eastern instruments with this
latest release, Qanun, which complements its previous
Ney and Kemence instruments to build a rich ethnic
ensemble. Overall, this is a unique and evocative instrument that could be used to add instant Middle-Eastern
flavour to your tracks or projects MT.

MALLETS
SOUND ON SOUND
The quality of the sampling, as with Sonokinetic's other orchestral products, is first rate.
Apparently, a semi-close stereo Schoeps microphone configuration was set up in a mediumsized studio with high ceiling, and the convolution reverb's response curve is taken from the
same venue that Sonokinetic's Tutti, Vivace and Da Capo orchestral libraries were recorded.
The library comprises over 4000 samples, which goes to show what it takes to create
realistic-sounding virtual instruments with round-robin variations and multiple velocity layers
for every note.
Obviously, Mallets is a useful tool to have for anyone producing a variety of orchestral
scores, but it also might be relevant to musical genres like jazz and progressive rock. Frank
Zappa, for example, used marimba and xylophone frequently in his music, and cartoon
score composers realized very early on that melodic percussion was great for accompanying
fast-moving action. Ultimately, this product does exactly what it claims to do in impressive
fashion. Tom Flint

DA CAPO
SOUND ON SOUND

Things get far more complicated when the

All Sections kit is in action, as it enables
articulations to be 'stacked' and, in truth, it
is hard to keep track of what articulations
are being used by the various sections
and sub-divisions. I also noticed one or
two minor bugs that occasionally caused
certain zones to fall silent, but Sonokinetic
are conscientious when it comes to releasing updates, so such hiccups should be
ironed out quickly. Even during the course
of the review, I was sent version 1.2, which
introduced 'lite' kits plus a new shortarticulation velocity slider (short articulations include staccato, marcato, pizzicato
and all percussion instruments). Pulling
the slider from left to right progressively
shifts articulation control from key velocity
to the mod wheel, so there is the option of
working with just one tool, or a custom mix
of the two. Sustain and legato were already
mapped to the mod wheel and remain so.
Other notable features include the option
of switching from 440 to 442 Hz tuning
with one click of a
button, and a set
of Bartok Pizzicato
samples.
Compared to Sonokinetic's Tutti and
Vivace libraries, which
were recorded in the
same hall by the same
orchestra, Da Capo is
much more of an 'instrument'. In fact, the
samples from which
it is built are not
intended to be used in isolation at all. This
product is really for composers who want
to play a sizeable orchestra like a synth
patch, and have little interest in writing for
individual instruments.
The sound is excellent, as one would
expect, given Da Capo's price, and seems
to have a little more bite and depth than
the typical 'Hollywood' sound. The brass,
in particular, has a wonderfully forceful
timbre that is very compelling. Apparently,
the samples were not cleaned up, and if
that is the reason for their sound quality, it
was a great decision. The minor flaws in the
design are certainly not deal-breakers and
only slightly detract from what is generally a very easy-to-use product that will
undoubtedly prove to be very successful.
Tom Flint

RECORDING SESSIONS
ISTANBUL
WITH CEYDA PIRALI
Since 2009 Ceyda has been a much valued professional family member of the Sonokinetic clan. She's been at the cradle of
nearly every exotic library we've produced
and always guarantees 100% authenticity
and highly professional musicians with
knowledge of tradition and the skills to
deliver the sound we are looking for.

Son Thomsen - Ceyda Pirali - Gzin Deimez - Gediz orolu

Ceyda Pirali - Trker olak

Her studio is located in the middle of one

of the most mesmerizingly beautiful and
diverse cities of the world; Istanbul, from
where she operates. With a master degree
in audio engineering from Berklee she
consistently delivers top quality recordings
and rich musical material we can delve
from.
A few of the highlights from the top of
our memory where the recording sessions with Gzin and Gediz, where some
memorable sessions where laid down.
Sultan Drums, Sultan Strings, and Kemence where among the other projects we
look back to with much pride and satisfaction. We hope to continue to work with this
amazing team of music professionals.

MISTER DESIGN
SAUL BASS: MASTER OF DEDUCTION AND SYMBOLISM. ONE OF THE MOST
INFLUENCING GRAPHIC DESIGNERS OF OUR TIME. PIECES OF ART THAT NEED
RECOGNITION IN MUSEUMS BECAUSE THEY CAN AND WILL STAND THE TEST OF TIME

here do we find our mojo?

Can you remember those film
posters from the 50s and 60s.
Like "Anatomy of a Murder', "Man with the
golden arm" and Hitchcock's classic
"Vertigo". Or the beautifully minimalistic
logos for brands like "Bell", "AT&T" and
"United Airlines". They all represent a
zeitgeist we hold dear.
Where modern day design tends to blind
you with 'bling' or grab back to an extreme
minimalistic approach, we very rarely come

across someone able to reach the design

quality heights Saul Bass did.
Joni Ive and Max Meidinger touched his
level on a few occasions but to us there is
only one modern day Michelangelo: Bass.
Recently we received our copy of the book
"Saul Bass: a life in film and design" and
it got us from producing anything useful
for days. 428 pages of pure finger-lickinggoodies. We ate that book from cover to
cover. Thank you Jennifer for making this
design bible available for the public and in

honor of your father's beautiful

craftsmanship and talent. If you, the reader,
are into 'design' make sure to go visit
amazon right now and get your "Predators"
score and a copy of this amazing guide
through the world of Mr. Saul Bass and all
its brain spindels.
And on that note, while we're making
recommendations; watch the documentary
'Helvetica' for an explanation of the
aforementioned 'Meidinger moment'.
Enjoy!

STORE.ISHAM.COM

PUBLISHER
Sonokinetic BV
EDITORIAL STAFF
Rob van den Berg (Editor in Chief)
Son Thomsen (Editor)
Reuben Cornell (Editor)
Sonokinetic BV (Art Director)
Sonokinetic BV (Advertisements)
SONOKINETIC OFFICE
Main Office
Nieuwpoortkade 2a, 1055 RX
Amsterdam
www.sonokinetic.net
support.sonokinetic.net

Mark Isham Soundtrack Catalogue

Available on CD, DVD and Digital distribution through iTunes.

ADVERTISING
Contact us through:
http://support.sonokinetic.net
SOME OTHER INFORMATION
Sonozine is a product by Sonokinetic BV
This free magazine is available as
download from the Sonokinetic website or
thought our newsstand in iOS.

SUPPORT MUSIC EDUCTION

I BUY MY MUSIC 10% DONATED TO BENEFIT MUSIC EDUCATION

For any editorial comments or submissions

for future articles, requests for interviews or
advertising please contact Sonokinetic at
support.sonokinetic.net
Sonokinetic BV 2014
Amsterdam (NL) - London (UK)
www.sonozine.com

SON ZINE
Merchandise
Popular "I Buy My Music" T-shirts by MIM Records