Patch Perfect
Despite the variation in source instruments NADA’s patches all have a consistency of purpose. Sometimes this is achieved simply by the addition of reverb, and peeling this away reveals a clean dry source sound. Sometimes it’s part of the patch programming itself, and the patch is very different to the sound it’s sourced from. Either way, load up pretty much any patch and you’ll be presented with a rich, spacey, track-ready sound. Let’s take a look at some.
From the pitched percussion folder, Tibetan Bell Dreams combines four unison bells with vibrato to create a lovely, rich, bell-like chorus sound. Meanwhile, from the Pianos folder the various Harmonic Piano patches (there are nine in total) and Dream Piano patches (of which there are six) are more akin to synths than they are pianos.
Next up strings: Viola Da Gamba is a lead instrument that can keyswitch between legato and polyphonic modes and has a number of adjustable parameters including vibrato speed and intensity, bow noise and glide time. It also includes an optional pad backing. The legato is achieved artificially, and in isolation this is quite obvious. Even so, with the reverb engaged, the raspy bow noise sounds great. Switch the pad in and you’ve got a track-filling and quite beautiful string lead. There are plenty of very similar examples in the instrument folder including Koto, Bamboo Flute, Wooden Flute, Duduk and Hulusi. In some cases, keyswitches are used to select different phrases, and some patches use velocity to trigger additional sounds within the patch. Voice patches are a mixture or real and synth-generated. We particularly like the keyswitch equipped Voices Of Light and the various sung phrases available in the Voices of Silence patch.
Pads range from the wonderfully rich Seren Strings and spaced-out Deep Peace, to patches that are texture-heavy and almost pitch-free such as Silence Is The Answer or Portal To The Unknown. Also, in many cases, one patch comes with a number of variants, which is a nice touch. Rounding things off are 16 ‘nature’ pads that include sound effects ranging from birds and crickets to waves, streams and water drops. These could sound a bit cheesy, but they’ve been well programmed and you can usually adjust the nature sound levels to taste in the Quick Edit parameters.
Worthy?
At £179 NADA is not a cheap package, and one which is, by design, targeted at a specific genre and end user. However, its finesse is truly impressive and we think the sound set will also appeal to anyone who regularly uses evolving textures and atmospheric ethnic sounds.
What’s more, the instruments in NADA Meditation Sounds are just so ‘playable’; they invite you to get stuck in and start creating, and we think that’s the best praise that can be bestowed upon any software instrument. bestservice.com