Fracture Sounds – Trails

ABOUT THE LIBRARY

The Fracture Sounds team has collaborated with composer Alexander Parsons to devise a set of tools and sounds that encapsulate his textural approach to composition. As a trained violinist with a background in Electronic Music, this collection of solo strings, synths, and unique performances shows the full spectrum of Alexander’s palette and tastes.

The solo strings in this library focus on long and short textures that can be combined to create tension and movement. The articulations are expanded with the brand-new Granular Engine, creating a huge array of possibilities and blurring the lines between acoustic and electronic performance. As with Zen: Meditations, this library also contains Layer Blends but this time, the team at Fracture Sounds and Alexander Parsons have assembled 28 synth sounds that can then be combined in thousands of combinations with the use of additional effects.

Trails is built to enable maximum sonic exploration with minimal effort, so you can focus on writing music with an inspiring set of sounds.

SOLO STRING TEXTURES

The main element of this library is the solo violin and cello textures recorded by Alexander Parsons and his frequent collaborator and friend, Joe Zeitlin. Eight of Alexander’s favourite and most frequently used articulations have been captured in the same dry studio space in London that we used for Dan Keen’s Petrichor library.

The dry space enables the use of more effects within the instrument presets and as part of our brand-new granular engine, transforming the sounds into mesmerising textures with limitless possibilities. Returning is our Lo-Fi and Delay effects found in Hemisphere Ambient & Cinematic Guitars, which, when combined with the Reverb and 16 unique Atmosphere Layers, can alter the original acoustic recordings into a dramatic underbelly of undulating textures- what Alexander refers to as Trails.

OUR NEW GRANULAR ENGINE

Our newly designed Granular engine has distilled both the knowledge and experience from the Fracture Sounds team with Alexander’s methodology of working with Granular effects on his modular rig to expand his sound palette and create truly unique compositions. The engine is a culmination of curated sounds found throughout the library and offers many control options as well as simply being able to shuffle all of the parameters and let the instrument decide the direction of the sound for you.

The original sounds can be reversed, mutated, and tweaked using the controls available on the interface, making the original source unrecognisable, and generating a level of randomness and inspiration that Alexander craves in his writing tools.

The team at Fracture Sounds and Alexander Parsons have curated 57 presets as starting points for those who are new to Granular Synthesis. These presets are also found in a basic form in the Lightweight folder for those who need greater CPU efficiency.

Over the years Alexander has collected an array of his favourite analogue synthesisers and modular effects units and has provided a personal collection of samples inspired by those that he has used on scores over the years, combined with recordings made at Press Play.

To enable maximum playability, we have placed the synth samples into the Layer Blends engine that was introduced with Zen: Meditations, enabling up to three synth samples to be blended and controlled using the mod wheel. There are 28 unique synth sounds found in this library with 28, providing 546 possible blending options, which can then be extended further with the ADSR envelope, filters, and other effects found on the interface.

FAULKNER DULCICHORD

A key tool in Alexander’s arsenal is the Faulkner Dulcichord, a small single-stringed tabletop piano that has a delicate and enchanting tone. As well as the effects included with the solo string textures, Dulcichord has a Broken Tuning function that can alter the original cleaned-up samples into a more antique sound. Those who are familiar with our pianos will be aware of our Colour and Timbre Shift controls that can shift the tone of the instrument into a darker or brighter space, and we have also included an extended range switch to increase the range of the instrument beyond its natural limitations.

Alexander Parsons is a composer and performer who has a background in a number of music practices. He has worked on numerous television series for Netflix, Amazon, and Channel 4, including the highly-praised Grayson’s Art Club (featuring artist Grayson Perry), and Black Power: A Story of British Resistance (Steve McQueen).

As a trained violinist, and with a Masters in composition, Alexander would go on to explore electronic music culminating in DJ performances across London and Europe which influenced much of his work in music for media today.

He continues to regularly perform live, and can often be found playing alongside collaborator Joe Zeitlin, a cellist who also features on Trails.

ARTICULATIONS

Emergence

A long, wispy sustain.

Flickers

A long sustain with a gentle tremolo texture.

Divergence

Long sustains that ‘diverge’ from the central note.

Ricochets

The shortest string articulation- great for fast playing.

Short Swells

Very short dynamic swells.

Stutters

Repeated and random ricochets.

Reflections

Long sustains with folk-inspired turns.

Deviations

A whistling harmonic texture with a focus on bow noise.

MIX

Each performance was captured with an array of close and room microphones and combined in a single, broadcast-ready mix. The raw mix can then be combined with up to three Atmosphere Layers created by the Fracture Sounds team and Alexander Parsons.

NKS SUPPORT AND KONTAKT PLAYER COMPATIBILITY

We are delighted to offer full NKS support for Trails. Harnessing the power of Native Instruments’ Komplete Kontrol keyboards, you have full hands-on control of the instrument, using the built-in display and parameter controls on the keyboard. This also means that Trails is accessible to blind and visually impared musicians. Furthermore, Trails is compatible with the free Kontakt Player, with activation through Native Access, meaning you can use the library without purchasing any additional software. You can download Kontakt Player from the Native Instruments website.

WALKTHROUGH

FEATURES

• 16 String Articulations and Textures
• 28 Synth recordings and performances
• Incredibly rare Dulcichord tabletop piano
• 57 Granular Presets
• Articulation switching and individual articulation settings
• Layer blends engine
• Granular synth engine
• Recorded in a dry space
• Full NKS support – works with Komplete Kontrol hardware.