The orchestral samples, recorded specially for Analog Strings, play a large part in making this instrument unique.

These sounds are augmented by less obviously ’string like’ recordings of feedback, tape noise, plucked piano strings and so on. The core synth sounds came from a selection of vintage synths and vary from sustained notes to shorter ‘pluck’-style sounds.

These can be searched by category and you can tag the ones you like by clicking on the star before the preset name. To get you off to a good start there are 500 presets that ably show off the scope of sounds on offer. When installed the library takes up around 20GB of drive space, but the actual library is apparently rather larger as the files would take up almost double that if left uncompressed. While you can conjure up some very stylish basic analogue string-style pads, the real strength of this instrument lies in the way it creates new textures and soundscapes, many of them cinematic in nature. It then uses a set of specially designed tools and step sequencers to bend them completely out of shape. Analog Strings is a Kontakt instrument based on a dual-layer playback engine fed from sound sources that include orchestral strings, vintage synths and other sound design elements. Output’s design team came to the conclusion that there was already plenty to choose from if that’s what you need, so they set about designing something very different. If you’re looking for a meticulously sampled set of all your favourite old string machines from names such as Crumar and Solina your search probably won’t end here.

Kontakt strings