NOTE: Rhapsody is not a Kontakt Player library, and requires the full version of Kontakt to run.
Rhapsody Orchestral Percussion is a library produced by Impact Soundworks (creators of the Shreddage series, Bravura Scoring Brass & Pearl Concert Grand). This particular library is a versatile and very worthy addition to the many various orchestral percussion virtual instruments on the market today.
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Rhapsody is designed to be flexible and easy to use with various different styles of orchestral music, whether it’s the ‘epic’ trailer-esque kind, or the more classical/symphonic style piece. As a result, it will also mix well with the orchestral libraries of your choice! It features 50 percussion instruments, both pitched and unpitched, traditional and extended, all recorded in 3 different mic positions (close, stage and hall). Purchasing the library gives you access to both the 16-bit and the 24-bit versions of the library.
Rhapsody boasts an interface designed for quick adjustments, quick access to mic mixing, and of course, playability. There are 8 main patches, 6 of which are multi-instrument patches. Each of these contains a way to tweak every individual instrument – you get ADSR controls, a simple EQ, volume, and tuning controls too. There’s also a basic reverb control, which affects all the instruments in the same patch. If you need to tweak a specific instrument separately from the rest, Impact Soundworks also gives you patches for each individual instrument (located in the Single Instruments folder).
The key mappings are consistent across each patch. Most of the individual unpitched percussion instruments get two keys on the keyboard for single hits, with the black keys reserved for modwheel-controlled rolls. The aux percussion, cymbals, tubular bells, crotales, and timpani come with a clearly-marked red ‘choke’ keyswitch, which stops the sound from ringing on when pressed.
The samples themselves are top-notch, with each set of samples being almost spot-on – especially the pitched percussion. The one thing that bothered me was the absence of pre-recorded timpani and cymbal rolls, I’d have much preferred having some on hand in addition to the modwheel-controlled ones. However, I’ll put that down to personal preference!
The library currently retails for around $199, but will be available for a great discount at the Audio Plugin Deals website.
Tech Specs
- 9 GB disk space (for 24-bit version) or 4 GB disk space (for 16-bit version)
- 4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended)
- 2009 Intel Processor or better
- FULL VERSION of Kontakt 5.3 – NOT Kontakt Player
