EastWest Forbidden Planet £245
An expansive odyssey of evolving sci-fi synth sounds, these evermorphing sonics will delight all Earth-based shapers of new frontiers…
Widely known for their vibrant range of meticulously captured cinematic string libraries – particularly the elegant Hollywood Opus collection – EastWest Sounds’ first bona fide synth collection is fittingly epic. With a name like ‘Forbidden Planet’, and a UI which underscores its futuristic niche, this dense assortment of sounds are squarely aimed at those who want to wrangle the types of pulsing, morphing electronic textures that permeate modern science fiction and fantasy.
Unlike traditionally genre-aligned packages, EastWest’s innovative new engine allows for a greater array of sonic control, with delicate morphing between multiple layers paramount to the engine. There’s also a trove of finer-detail shaping abilities here, like the deep levels of modulation control, and a colourful arsenal of rhythmic options on hand. All in all, there’s a whole new multiverse to discover.
Starship blooper
The fundamental concept for Forbidden Planet began when producers Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix elected to deviate from the usual oscillator-leaning approach, and instead work towards building a hybrid beast, melding sound layers from acoustic sources, orchestral instruments, choirs and a range of deftly curated sound effects. Harnessing EastWest’s adept Opus engine, they realised a synth that draws on a rich well of instrumental texture.
Within Forbidden Planet are 645 of said mouth-watering patches and a detailed workstation for sculpting and contorting these forms into something entirely new.
Upon loading the software within EastWest’s OPUS shell, and switching to the PLAY page, the first thing to notice is the central image of a
planetary body. This isn’t just for aesthetic purposes. Instead, the planet – or rather its small moon – serves as an interactive XY pad, letting you crossfade swiftly between the patch’s dual layers, or adjust filtering or any of the other assignable left-hand side parameters. Neat.
No man’s synth
Forbidden Planet neatly locks in step with Opus’ cleanly organised pages. On the Browse page, we see that the eight main folders – consisting of Bass, Drones, FX, Leads, Pads, Poly Synths and a stack of pulsing Arpeggiator-aimed ripples. One of the best things about traversing this deep well of sound options is a nifty auto-audition feature, playing a short motif with this currently hovered-over patch, this saves a lot of time.
It’s clear that a large swathe of these patches are solid from the outset, and designed to be dense, multi-charactered tension and dramabuilders. While many are ready-to-go, selfshifting themselves into being a swirling sound design canvas (particularly those in the FX and Drones category), it would be foolish to neglect the wealth of filter shaping control available.
Using the pop-up Filter section provides a swift way to capture and bottle those sweet spots, work out gated rhythms with the Step
LFO option, as well as the tantalising invitation to apply an envelope to the filter cutoff, allowing the automation of its movement with each note. Results will vary, and that’s exciting.
Forbidden Planet is nothing short of a sci-fi soundscape designer’s playhouse; fully loaded with staggeringly assembled synths, exemplary control of movement, layer transitioning and more. A word of caution: during tests we regularly experienced lag when going too far down multi-voice directing wormholes, so make sure your hardware is up to it. But that’s not to stop us from declaring Forbidden Planet a brave new world of synth design.
“Staggeringly assembled synths, exemplary control of movement, layer transitioning and more”