A comprehensive symphonic sample library for Kontakt featuring strings, brass, winds, and choir with a powerful orchestrator engine for generating chords and textures from single notes.
Core Concept and Engine
Rhapsody Orchestral Colors is a companion library to Rhapsody Orchestral Percussion, recorded in the same neutral hall. It focuses on strings, brass, winds, and choir ensembles, offering deep-sampled sections for detailed control. The core innovation is a custom orchestrator engine that transforms single MIDI notes into lush, fully-voiced chords across multiple ensembles.
This engine avoids pre-baked results by allowing individual voicing control per section—violins, celli, and basses can each play unique intervals or chords. Two octaves of unison samples per ensemble enable creating chords from scratch, ensuring flexibility for anything from chamber music to epic film scores.
Voicing Modes and Keyboard Mapping
The orchestrator script offers numerous voicing modes. Wide mode triggers pre-voiced chords with low octaves playing major triads and upper octaves minor triads. Additional modes include Low & High, Fat super-dense chords, Octaves & Power with fourths and fifths, and Aleatoric modes that trigger up to three random notes per key press.
Int2 mode plays the third and fifth without the root, Scale degrees uses intervals built on the root, and Intervals mode plays two-note combinations. Random mode selects voicings from a user-defined pool for inspiration, while Split mode assigns different voicings to three keyboard regions. Unison patches offer Natural mode, respecting each instrument’s playable range, or Zone mode for custom keyboard assignments.
Performance and Sound Shaping
Each ensemble has independent controls for mic mix (close, decca, outrigger), a 4-band EQ, panning, and output routing. The Link control adjusts all ensembles simultaneously. The library includes a convolution reverb with custom impulse responses ranging from concert halls to chamber spaces, allowing quick tonal shifts.
A Doubler effect increases ensemble size and width, while Extra RR adds more round-robin variations for ostinato staccatos. Staccato Tightness adjusts the length of short notes from loose to ultra-short. These tools provide extensive performance customization beyond basic articulation switching.
Practical Application and Workflow
This library is designed for rapid orchestral sketching. By assigning a chord mode and pressing keys, composers can audition different voicings and textures without manually programming every note. The randomization features serve as creative catalysts, suggesting harmonies or dense clusters that might not be initially considered.
Typical workflows include using Unisons for precise melodic lines or ostinatos, then layering chord mode patches for harmonic padding. The three-mic positions and per-ensemble routing facilitate blending with other libraries. Given its range (C1 to C6 across ensembles), it suits both intimate cues and large-scale cinematic compositions.
Key features
- Over 30,000 samples covering strings, brass, winds, and choir
- Three microphone positions: close, decca, outrigger
- Custom orchestrator engine for single-note chord generation
- Multiple voicing modes: Wide, Low & High, Fat, Octaves & Power, Aleatoric
- Random and Split keyboard modes for varied voicing selection
- Convolution reverb with concert hall and chamber impulse responses
- Per-ensemble mix controls with EQ, panning, and routing
Best for
Film, TV, and game composers seeking a fast, expressive tool for orchestral mockups and textures, particularly those who value creative flexibility through randomization and detailed voicing control over pre-baked phrases.