Heavyocity Gravity 2

Heavyocity’s supercharged sequel rockets into orbit.

Seven years after the original Gravity collection achieved lift off, Heavyocity have launched a sequel. Gravity 2 builds on the format of its predecessor, serving up a fresh collection of textures, risers, swells, impacts and stings along with an intriguing new ingredient: 144 rhythmic pedal loops which can be creatively combined to add impetus and groove to your tracks.

Constructed from over 1,000 unique sources, the library features Heavyocity’s signature junkyard and mechanical noises, electrical buzz and radio static, digitally mangled acoustic instruments (cello, violin, koto, zither, waterphone, piano) and eccentric performance styles such as bowed oil cans. Also included are a large collection of processed analogue synth signals, and guitar effects created by the company’s Neil Goldberg.

This gloriously diverse pandemonium has been crafted into playable instruments comprising both tuned and sound design elements, thus satisfying the needs of composers who juggle traditional note‑based composition with an exploratory sonic approach. Gravity 2 (9.55GB installed) requires Kontakt 7.6.0 or later and will run on the free Kontakt 7 player.

Overview

Gravity 2’s three newly designed Kontakt instruments house hundreds of ‘snapshot’ presets in themed folders. You can preview sounds in the source browser by clicking on their name, a huge timesaver. The Menu instrument allows you to quickly load sets of 36 sounds assigned to individual keys, while Menu XL’s snapshots squeeze 72 sound sources into six‑octave presets. The more elaborate Gravity 2 Designer is a three‑channel instrument with layered sound combinations designed to spark the imagination and get your creative juices flowing.

You can use the large Macro knob to modulate samples’ ADSR envelope, filter, EQ, distortion, rhythm gating, pitch, delay and reverb settings.

As in previous Heavyocity collections, presets can be loaded singly or in banks of 12 mapped across one keyboard octave. Tuned material is presented in ‘low’ and ‘high’ versions with samples mapped according to pitch — pitched samples initially play in the key of C, but you can alter their tuning on the fly with the built‑in keyswitches. A handy ‘expand source to keys’ function maps a selected sound over a full keyboard range for melodic and chordal work.

Rhythmic Pedals

The tempo‑synced pedal loops add an exciting new dimension to the Gravity experience, covering the spectrum from light percolating pulses to huge‑sounding riffs powered by a kickass low end. Multisampled over a wide pitch range, they feature processed analogue and modular synths such as the Moog Minitaur and Sub 37, Lyra 8, Make Noise Strega and DPO augmented by mutated acoustic sources.

The loops contain much excellent material. I liked ‘Cine Sneak’, a motoring plucked synth pattern which works equally well for bass parts and ostinato rhythm patterns. In a more aggressive vein, the see‑sawing, syncopated ‘Zero Day’ heavy synth bass riff sounds like a dramatic film cue in search of a movie. Rock fans will also enjoy the funky ‘Mechanicals’ overdriven palm‑muted guitar loop, while the wild octave slides of ‘Throwdown’ are great for building rhythmic momentum.

Delving into the ‘straight high’ folder, ‘OK Computer’ is a rampaging, distorted repeated‑note synth pattern that screams to be harnessed to a pounding rhythm track. Other highlights include ‘Squealers’ (which layers backwards swells over a joyfully percussive 16th‑note rhythm), the syncopated ‘Cuatro Pulsations’ acoustic guitar...