The New Secret Weapon For Sound Designers?

After Damage (Heavyocity), Hybrid Tools I, II and III (8dio) and Project Alpha / Bravo (Hybrid Two) another library that makes serious noise is on the market: Hybrid Elements CORE by Master Sampling

Other than their competitors, Master Sampling comes with a neutral GUI design that doesn’t make you feel like a warlord of noise but more like a sound accountant.

The Library

No distressed metal, rusty knobs and scratched surfaces. The GUI comes clean. Very clean. It’s kinda refreshing that Master Sampling decided to go in another direction when it comes to interface design. But I have to admit the fun factor for the eyes is close to zero. But let’s look at what’s under the hood.

4 Gigs of content and 101 Patches. The library runs only with the full version of KONTAKT. After purchase you can download the library in one ZIP-file. There is no installer. Just unzip the file into the directory of your choice and load it into KONTAKT. There is no documentary included. Some screenshots are available on the website.

The Patches

You have 101 patches in 5 folders:

• Hits and Swipes
• Percussion (Subfolders Ensemble and Solo)
• Tonal (Subfolders Ambient and Keys)
• Effects
• User Instruments

The Instruments

There are 101 instruments. Most of the names make sense and you’ll get an idea of what you can expect.

There are many gems in this library. Such as the Ruhlbach 1895 Soft Piano wich is great for soundtracks. The sub bass department is very well armed. You have great Swipes, Scapes and some great Wooshes as well. There are dozens of really great sounds. Some more Synths would have been nice.

User instruments:

You will find a “Empty Start” instrument in the “User Instruments” folder. Over the KONTAKT interface you will be able to add your own WAV files and create your unique instruments.

The Sound and Handling

All sounds are sampled in 24bits. 1400 unique sounds are packed into this library.  All sounds are nicely edited. The reverb is too limited for my taste . I also miss an arpeggiator. But overall the sounds are matching very well. That means it doesn’t sound like just a collection of samples. You can tell it comes out of one kitchen.

What can be tweaked?

Following parameters can be managed in the interface:

• Attack
• Decay
• Sustain
• Release
• Reverb
• Transpose
• Cutoff
• FR Booster
• FR Reducer
• Saturation
• Distortion
• Stereo

The Price

98 Dollar is a fair price. There is so much great stuff in this library that will provide you with the tools you need to make your tracks rumble. An arpeggiator would have been a nice feature.

You can purchase Hybrid Elements CORE right here.

Hybrid Elements CORE – Overall

If you own libraries like Hybrid Tools by 8dio, Damage by Heavyocity or Project Alpha/Bravo by Hybrid Two this library can be a nice ad on but won’t deliver too many new sounds you don’t already have  in your tool box. For 98 dollars you get a very nice collection of sounds that will spice up your tracks. The little enthusiasm in GUI design and the small amount of playable melodic instruments dampen the joy a bit.