Zero–G Electro Cinematic

Zero–G’s Electro Cinematic library provides approximately 2.5GB of sample material presented in Acidized WAV, Apple Loops, EXS24, Kontakt and Reason NNXT formats. I explored the library via Kontakt, but all the formats have access to essentially the same content. As the title suggests, this is a collection of electronic–based sounds and, given the ‘cinematic’ bit, there is more than a passing nod to the needs to media composers or sound designers.

In fact, Electro Cinematic is very much a library of two parts. On one hand, there is a substantial selection of drum, percussion, bass, synth and arpeggio sounds in a ‘loops’ folder, and these could easily be combined to create a purely musical composition, albeit with a fairly dark, electronica, vaguely Nine Inch Nails sort of a vibe. On the other hand, there are four folders containing collections of soundscapes, textures, pads and sound effects. These are much more in the sound-design territory and, if you needed to add atmospheric soundscapes or ambient noise to your next sci–fi/industrial apocalypse score, this would be a good source of material.

That said, because the atmosphere and sonics of both elements blend well, the two sections of the library can easily be brought together so, if you wanted to add a few vocals and create some electronica/industrial-inspired songs to stand alone or to sit within a suitable film or computer game score, Electro Cinematic will have plenty to inspire.

The sound-design section of the library is pretty much what you might expect and, while evolving metallic pads and pulsing electronic noise have been done many times before in sample format, there is plenty of suitably inspiring content here. If you want to drive your audience off the edge of their seat and behind the sofa via sound, combining a few of the textures and sound effects supplied here will provide plenty of ways to do it.

However, the highlights for me were within the ‘loops’ section. There are some very cool drum/percussion loops amongst this lot and, if you are looking for an instant dose of ‘rhythmic and dark’, then blending combinations of these loops together will certainly do the trick. I was perhaps less keen on the chord-based loops, but the bass, lead, sequences and arpeggio loops were all very good indeed.

Electro Cinematic is not going to be for everyone (singer-songwriter types need not apply) but, whether you are a media composer with a sci–fi brief or a music producer with a liking for fairly dark electro/industrial tunes, this is well worth a look. John Walden