Lamprey offers the Designer Bundle of Kontakt instruments and SFX for $25 AUD until July 5th, 2021. The website also features a Free Downloads section with four freely downloadable libraries.
The Designer Bundle ($140 value) is an extensive collection of instrument libraries and SFX packs that lends itself very well to ambient and cinematic music.
There are a couple of things to mention before I get into the collection. Firstly, the Kontakt version of the library is compatible with the full version of Native Instruments Kontakt only. The free Kontakt Player plugin is not supported.
NEAT Player
The next important thing to mention is that Lamprey offers a handy alternative in the form of NEAT Player (Beta) plugin which is a free download to anyone who purchases any supported instrument or bundle.
Neat Player serves great as a Kontakt alternative for sample playback.
NEAT Player lets you run the instruments as a standalone library without Kontakt. Otherwise, you will need a full version of Kontakt 5.8 upwards.
It’s worth pointing out that the NEAT Player plugin is currently Windows-only, which means it sucks to be a Mac user because I love stuff like this. That said, Mac versions are in the works, so not all is not lost, my fellow Mac sufferers.
Lastly, if you purchase the bundle, you will receive any new instruments if/when they are added to the collection.
The Designer Bundle (Overview)
The Designer Bundle includes 15 sound libraries for Kontakt and NEAT Player.
The Designer Bundle includes 15 individual products, so I’ll highlight a few of my favorites; Atlas, Blackout, Cloudburst Acoustic, and Oracle.
Atlas
Atlas is one that I’m interested in because it’s melodic, but it adds a lot of texture as well. It’s easy to over-complicate things when composing, and sometimes, an instrument that prevents you from over-thinking is all you need.
Atlas is strong enough melodically to lead a larger ensemble composition, but I think it brings enough textural qualities to use alone for more ambient work.
Blackout
I like Blackout because it does something simple but significant. It’s a loop-based pulse engine, the kind that keeps a million film scores moving in the right direction. The pulse and repetitive aspects of a score are often what dictate the feel and emotion.
That’s why someone like Hans Zimmer dedicates so much time and effort to ostinatos – it’s worth watching The Dark Knight for that alone.
Cloudburst Acoustic
Cloudburst Acoustic is a deep-sampled library of playable guitar harmonics. It’s something that works extremely well alone or layered with strings/piano, as Lamprey suggests. It’s also something that can be incredibly pretty and dreamy or turn dark in the proper context.
Oracle
Oracle delivers beautiful pad guitar sounds that fit a wide range of compositional styles. It can be melodic, but what I like most is that it’s one of those shimmering pads that can carry the weight of any reflective scene by itself.
Iamlamprey Mid-Year Sale
For $25 AUD, it’s hard to imagine going wrong with this bundle, especially if new additions are to come.
Visit Iamlamprey for more info about the Designer Bundle ($25 AUD) and the NEAT Player plugin. The sale ends on July 5th, 2021.
It’s also worth noting that Iamlamprey is running a Mid-Year sale until July 5th, offering a 50% discount on everything in the store.
Free Sound Libraries
Another part of Lamprey’s website is the Free Downloads section where you’ll find four freely downloadable sound libraries.
There is one free library for Kontakt and three more collections in WAV format (thanks to BPB reader Numanoid for the correction). These are some interesting SFX and instrument packs that you can use for music production or sound design.
The available free products are Pressure (cinematic SFX), Interim (modern sound effects), Producer Tools (drums and sound effects), and Endure (synthesized bass).
More info: Designer Bundle / NEAT Player / Free Downloads
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2 Comments
Numanoid
onThanks for the info. I have downloaded, the only free library that is for Kontakt is Endure. The other three free libraries is not made for Kontakt they contain straight WAV samples
Tomislav Zlatic
onOops, sorry for that mistake! I will update the info in the article. Numanoid, as always, thanks for the correction, much appreciated.