Sampleson – SkyWaves $59

>Over the last year or so we’ve looked at a number of Sampleson products. Although often sitting in similar sonic territory to sample-based libraries targeted at cinematic use they have also embraced spectral modelling and other interesting techniques in an attempt to deliver something different. Sometimes though the use of sound layering is often the best approach to creating complex sounds, and this technique was taken to an extreme level with their Sandstrom soundscape builder. This time, the number of layers has been reduced to four, but balanced by the increased complexity of each.

The layers consist of three (dual waveshape, single oscillator) analogue-style synths and a fourth that employs a wavetable to deliver its primary waveform content. They all make use of the usual array of subtractive shaping and modulation controls and can then also feed into an effect section that consists of a basic stereo delay (with feedback), reverb (with modulation) and ‘shimmer’ (aimed at creating pitch-shifted ambience effects).

This is all rounded off with some factory presets in a range of broad categories to get you going. Delving into these it was possible to access a range of useful tones, though it is fair to say that presets are both low in number and of a rather average quality. Whilst the synth engines of each layer are not particularly complex, there should be enough parameter control here to deliver some more inspiring patches.