Monday , March 18 2024
Cosmos from Impact Soundworks
Cosmos - Phrases

Software Review: ‘Cosmos’ Music Software from Impact Soundworks

Cosmos, the newest music software product from Impact Soundworks, offers a wide range of unearthly sounds from the cosmos that can be used in many applications – film, TV, game production, sound design – or to accompany your own musical compositions.

Cosmos is a highly expressive package with over 350 phrases and textures, giving you unlimited ability to combine elements to create inspiring works. The software combines high-quality sound with an easy-to-use interface for a truly musical workflow, allowing you to add a rich variety of soundscapes and atmosphere to your music.

With Cosmos you get nearly 7 GB of electronic cinematic ambiences and electronic phrases that run in Native Instruments Kontakt 5.5 and higher. These were created by composer David St-Hill. While this library of sound can be used in any kind of creation, it is especially suited for otherworldly sound creation.

Cosmos brings you two separate sound engines, one for phrases and one for ambiences. The former lets you trigger, layer, and perform many types of patterns set in any key. The latter contains a variety of sound design tools that allow you to manipulate the sounds you create.

Cosmos Phrases

Cosmos from Impact Soundworks
Cosmos – Phrases

Cosmos Phrases contains 175 rhythmic phrases that span a wide variety of tones and styles. The interface comes in several pieces. At the top you can select the phrase that you want to use, and you will see a waveform for that wave. You can use the sandwich menu on the left to choose a phrase, or the arrows on the right to scroll through. From there you can adjust the volume and tuning and manipulate the cutoff, resonance, and gain.

In the Mapping area you can map phrases to any keys in the three-octave range. A white or black key means the MIDI note has a phrase assigned to it; a transparent key indicates there is none. The red key is the currently selected note. There is also set of light blue keys marked “Playable Range.” This is where you play your phrases.

Cosmos Ambiences

Cosmos from Impact Soundworks
Cosmos – Ambiences

Here you have 100 tonal ambiences. Much like the interface for the phrases, this library offers a lot of options. Underneath the Cosmos logo, you can scroll through using the right and left arrows or select the dropdown to choose your ambience. You can even click the Cosmos logo to select a random phrase.

To the right of the logo is a sequencer you can use to create custom rhythms. You can change the number of steps (up to 32) and manipulate the volume, pitch, cutoff, and resonance, toggling them off or on as you see fit. There are ADSR sliders for filters and amplifier as well as one for velocity.

FX Rack

Cosmos from Impact Soundworks
Cosmos – FX Rack

Both modules I described above have an FX Rack for further creativity, including these effects: Bitcrusher, Scream, Compressor, Analog-modeled parametric EQ, Chorus, Delay, Convolution Reverb, and Limiter. These you can manipulate any way you choose. There is a button with an asterisk that will randomize the FX setting; shift-clicking it will reset the knobs to normal.

I was very impressed with how this all functions beautifully, and with the amazing range of sounds it can create. It is really something to get your creative juices flowing and have some fun creating custom rhythms. Cosmos retails for $49 USD. To find out more take a look at this video to see it in action. If you are looking for your next muse, I can highly recommend Cosmos from Impact Soundworks.

About T. Michael Testi

Photographer, writer, software engineer, educator, and maker of fine images.

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