Paranormal Spectrums and Sonic Fiction vs Evolve Mutations Bundle

So, the Kore Soundpacks will be available til the 31st. This is an important fact for what I'm asking. Also important: I do not own Kore 1 nor 2.

I purchased Komplete 7 a few months ago. I never got around to installing it, and then Kore got discontinued. What I was going to get with my voucher from K7 was Paranormal Spectrums and Sonic Fiction , because I plan on doing dark ambient, some psy trance, and I'm sure with some work, I could find other genres and sub-genres to use the sounds that PS and SF offers. When Kore was discontinued, I changed my game plan and decided to wait to see what would happen to the Kore Soundpacks, but if they were not to return, I would instead use my voucher on Evolve Mutations Bundle. While EMB would be a bit more expensive, it seems like it would serve the same purpose as those two mentioned soundpacks.

So I, what I'm wondering is which of the two options given, either Sonic Fiction and Paranormal Spectrums or Evolve Mutations Bundle, would work better for what I'm trying to do. Yes, I understand that one is Kore powered and the other is Kontakt powered. All I want to know is, what you all, from your experiences, would be the better option. I'm sure some of you will respond with "just get both", but if that is your response, then I need to know if PS and SF are worth getting before they are gone.

 

I don't know the answer about these specific instruments, so I will leave those to other folks who have a better idea of what the instruments can or cannot do for you.

But I have some thoughts and decided to respond to another aspect of your original post. If I am way out on a limb here, I'm certain that some folks will no doubt cut the limb off while I'm still on it!

One of the big benefits of Kore is being able to use the controller's browser for organization, as well as the knobs to dynamically and organically control and morph the Kore sounds.

Now I'm not suggesting that you should run right out and buy a Kore 2 hardware unit. But you might want to think about mapping some sort of MIDI control unit to operate those knob "functions" in the Kore player so that you can get some benefit out of the real-time morphing capabilities. If my Kore broke down today, I would not be able to do anything about replacing the browsing functions, but I could and would do all I could to reconfigure my setup to use one of these units to control my Kore software:

MIDI Keyboard controllers: I have an Ozone, a Novation MK-II, a BCF-2000, and a BCR-2000, as well as a Machine and a Korg padKontrol, any of which can probably communicate with the Kore software to allow me to "play" the knobs while my track or automation is being recorded.

Yes, even Maschine cold probably do this in "manual MIDI" mode, or whatever they call that...

It's just a suggestion, and I'm sure people smarter than me can help you with that. Or tell me I'm full of bullpucky.

Good luck with your decision!

 

IMO, this is the deciding factor. Do you want to use your voucher towards a product that is officially discontinued or towards a product that resides in Kontakt, the industry standard sampler?

I have all the products mentioned and they are all very different to each other. For me, the Evolve series are go-to instruments in my library whereas SF and PS get way less use but are very good for what they are.

SF is a beautiful collection of sounds, very usable and worthwhile. The PS sounds are great but I was very disappointed with the morphed versions. The difference across each 8 variations per sound was not sufficient. However, both products offer excellent soundscapes and pads, and SF also offers quite a few very interesting and unique instruments. Very useful for dark ambient work.

EM1&2, on the other hand are so much more, with hits and transitional sfx, grooves, percussion kits and lots of dark, creative sounds. It has less in the way of playable pads however.

All things considered, if I had to relinquish SF and PS, I wouldn't be too worried. But I would hate to lose EM1&2.

FWIW, here's a wide selection of my music. http://soundcloud.com/cruciform/sets


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EDIT: Ps. Just to confuse the issue you might like to pick up SF and PS now before they're gone forever and get EM1&2 at the next major sale. ;-)

 

My own workflow is really different from most people, but I usually morph using the mouse. Or I set up a Reaktor XY pad and send them or I use the inner XY pads of Live macros. Whatever I do, I seldom (actually never yet) use the hardware knobs. I've tried them and they are cool, but I focus on the keyboard and computer monitor and there's no room left for another controller. I use foot controller, mod wheel, Axiom rotaries and sliders and screen controls, I don't really need the Kore controller when the software is easier to see and use.

I have all three of your choices and of these I use Sonic Fiction the most, but I'm heavily oriented in the Sci-Fi type sounds.

I have both Evolve packages and I listened to them a little, but I don't use drums very often. I actually bought a ton of these Kore packages on the last 50% off sale and I've not finished auditioning everything I bought then. I may never get around to using most of the stuff. If I do use drums, they get mangled really badly, much more than the types of mangling in the Evolve packages.

I feel really guilty about that, but I'd rather be playing than auditioning, so I wait until some inspiration makes me want to look around - I will always have some surprises.

Luckily, the Kore browser makes finding stuff really easy. Omnisphere has a similar feature. No other company I have dealt with comes close to having a good librarian, and Live has about the worst I've ever seen or used. (Actually, in the late 80's, DR. T had a really neat integrated studio called XOR that worked with a MIDI patch bay to do performance features just like Kore does, but the package as shown below was a little bit bigger)

 

Hi
I'd hesitate hardly between these pack too!
I haven't the level or xp of Arachnaut but i found evolve have its proper sound and
it is dynamic to play.
Better thing is you have all !

 

Paranormal Spectrums is pretty cheesy in my opinion. If you want to make sub-par Lustmord pastiches complete with horror film moaning noises then I guess its for you.
Both Sonic Fiction and Acoustic Refractions are beautifully designed pieces of work, distinctive but with enough depth to make getting original with them rather easy. If you can afford 3 packs, I'd suggest both of those along with the Deep Freq effect processing pack for some real sound melting fun.

 

Just remember Acoustic Refractions comes with Komplete 7 (which the OP says they own).

 

@Bif: I have an M-Audio Axiom Pro 49, I'm pretty sure I can map that out with Kore, no problem.

OzRob, Arach, Zeo, and JP: thank you for the input.

Theory: yep, and I know I'm gonna be using AR a lot too.

 

So is the consensus: get Sonic Fiction, skip Paranormal Spectrums, and get Evolve Mutations Bundle later?

 

The only thing wrong with PS is the 8 variations per sound are not wide-ranging ie. little difference across the morph pad. They blend beautifully with other sounds, form very useful foundations and can be combined in Kore 2 (with whatever else you like) to create new and very usable instruments.

 

I got SF and PS yesterday. They're both very impressive.

 

Enjoy! Actually, I've done a bunch with PS the last few days.

 

Anyone know if they ever made KSDs for EM2?

 

Chrys, I don't think so.