- Spitfire Audio's reputation as a provider of high-quality orchestral samples is almost completely deserved. But why only almost? While numerous companies address the sonic needs of composers for television, film, advertising, computer game soundtracks and other assorted media, Spitfire has provided libraries that are relevant to regular producers. Take the eDNA Earth library, which took the raw sample data amassed through the creation of multiple Spitfire libraries and remixed it into a collection of synthetic sounds that belied their orchestral roots. Then look at its collaborations with artists such as BT, Jason Bonham and Martin Ware, all of whom have contributed sample collections that are equally at home helping producers to make EDM as they are in soundtrack-writing.
The latest Spitfire Audio library to continue this left-field approach is Glass and Steel, which features a collection of samples sourced from kitchen objects, found sounds, junk percussion and other pitched and non-pitched percussive sources. These metal, glass and porcelain objects have been hit with sticks and beaters, plucked with fingers, flicked and triggered by other homespun means. The resulting sounds are intimate and small, and they've been run through Spitifire's own Kontakt-hosted eDNA engine for instant playability.
Loading the first patch–Alien Distortions 2–provides an opportunity to examine exactly how Glass and Steel interacts with its host software. You can load a sampled source into one of eDNA's two engines, which are labelled A and B. The two patches combined in Alien Distortions 2 are called Shallow Bowl and Cafetiere 8cup, which offers an insight into the kinds of recordings at the heart of this library. eDNA then comes into its own, using the Oscillate Mixer to morph from one sound source to the other over a duration of your choosing. If you don't want automatic movement, you can switch this off and use the modulation wheel or DAW automation as a crossfade source instead.
The sounds can be enhanced further by inbuilt LFOs, assignable to the volume, pitch and filter sections of both engines, alongside envelope settings and low- and high-pass filters. But the best way to build rhythmic patterns into any of Glass and Steel's sounds is the Gate Sequencer. Here you can create a stepped pattern of volume data for both sounds, which can operate together or separately. Also, the time value of each gate step can be set to your preference. You can select further parameters, including Gate Volume, which lets you choose from severe or subtle drops in volume on any given step. There is also an option to gate after effects have been assigned to a sound layer, punching volume holes into your delays and reverbs. The eDNA engine provides multiple effects layers. There's the capacity for inbuilt effects to enhance the overall Master layer, the individual Bay A and Bay B sound layers, an Auxiliary effects layer and a Motor FX layer, which you can choose to assign to Layer A, Layer B, or "all sounds." The Motor FX engine partners specific parameters to effects assignments, resulting in a comprehensive set of effects capabilities.
However, your interest in Glass and Steel will come down to the sounds themselves. The first folder is called Cinematic Rhythms and it contains several programs perfectly configured for musical underscoring. As its name suggests, these are most readily devised for the kinds of underscore musical beds you'd hear in dramatic movie scenes and sequences. But their musical remit stretches much further. With a little tweaking of the eDNA engine, these fit immediately into many genres of electronic dance music. If you're a fan of "Cirrus" by Bonobo, these sounds will be hugely appealing. And things extend further than "ticky" rhythmical beds too, as many programs feature a pad or drone-like quality whose rhythmical movement is but a subtle part of their overall texture.
The Cinematic Systems folder comes next, offering a tuned percussion approach to the sound sources. You'll find a variety of gamelan and chime-like sounds, often featuring subtle to prominent rhythmical, gated or arpeggiated qualities. Most patches come alive with more extreme velocity routings. Gentle attacks trigger soft, barely-there pitches, while harder strikes yield a more open, rounded and even violent clang. This concept is taken further in the Disturbed Morphs folder, which features textures miles away from the libraries' humble sound sources. Again, velocity can wrest anything from the subtle to the brutal, while modulation wheel assignments come into their own, frequently introducing distortion and other internal effects that allow sounds to show their darker sides. There are gnarly bass sounds, screaming mid-range textures and plenty more to inspire producers of many genres. The Hand-Blown Pads folder yields a series of sounds that would be at home in ambient productions but there's a coldness, a darkness and an otherworldliness to them at odds with the celestial shimmer of many pad collections. These are pads with an introspective spirit.
The Raw Glass and Steel folder presents many of the source sounds in a simple, almost unprocessed form, so that you can quickly get to the essence of the sounds. Emphasis should be placed on the word "almost," as these patches frequently pair two sound sources together. And while parameter assignments are kept to a minimum, there is a still a carefully selected internal effects provision assigned to each program.
Glass and Steel provides a pleasing number of rich, organic, small sound sources that have been recorded so as to represent their idiosyncrasies and nuances. These sounds, when inflated, magnified, smoothed, softened and developed with the eDNA engine, make for a compelling library. Composers for media are Spitfire Audio's principal clientele, but this sample collection will find a wider user base. There's a huge amount here for producers of almost any musical style.
Ratings:
Sound: 4.6
Cost: 4.2
Versatility: 4.0
Ease of use: 4.5