Sonic Faction have released Whoosh Machine, an SFX generator built for use with Native Instruments Kontakt. The instrument is currently available as a free download, for a limited time only.
This is the first NI Kontakt instrument coming from Sonic Faction, a sound design company which is well known for building virtual instruments and effects for use with Ableton Live. Whoosh Machine was actually released as a free Max for Live device back in 2011 (here’s our coverage of that original release), however it is great to see that the instrument is now also available in NI Kontakt format, given the fact that Kontakt can be loaded as a plugin in any VST/AU compatible digital audio workstation.
See also: White Noise SFX by 99Sounds (Free Download)
Whoosh Machine is an interesting sound FX generator, sporting a cleverly implemented set of features which make it a really handy tool for creating modern EDM style build-ups, downshifters, white noise swells and similar sounds. The sound engine is based on three different sample based sound generators (noise, synth and texture) whereas each of the three modules comes with eight different preset sound. The modules can be mixed together, processed with built-in effects and modulated with envelopes and LFOs in order to build some really good sounding SFX sequences. It’s also possible to choose the desired length of the build-up/drop in bars (the instrument will adapt automatically to the host application’s tempo) and to apply an automatic side-chain compressor style pumping effect to the sound.
The user interface features a huge 3D spectrum display in the background which reacts to MIDI input (it doesn’t really show the spectrum of the generated audio signal) and although it does look great for the first couple of minutes, it becomes quite a bit annoying after a while. Thankfully enough, it can be easily turned off by pressing the LED On/Off switch in the upper-left corner of the GUI.
Please note that you will need the full version of NI Kontakt in order to use Whoosh Machine without any limitations (it will run in DEMO mode in the free Kontakt Player). You will also need to install the Continuata Connect downloader/installer application in order to download your free copy of Whoosh Machine. This wasn’t really a problem for me because I already had it installed on my machine and it’s actually a really handy utility for downloading larger files because it will continue the download if your connection fails during the download process.
On a related note, Sonic Faction is currently running a contest in which their are giving away a Komplete Kontrol S25 to one lucky winner. Get more info on the official contest page.
Finally, we’d like to thank our reader Stefan Hollaender for letting us know about this freebie release. Much appreciated!
Video Demo
Check out the Whoosh Machine demo video:
Download
Whoosh Machine is available for free download via Sonic Faction (162 MB download size, ZIP archive, Continuata Connect downloader required, ).
Last Updated on April 27, 2015 by Tomislav Zlatic.
