Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars
Soniccouture continually push the extremes of sound design, and Polarity Tension marks the first in a series of collaborations utilising their impressive new Polarity dual‑granular engine.
The user interface adopts the classic SC minimal look and feel; beautifully engaging to look at, but may require a degree of working out. Upon first loading, the minimalist ethos is immediate, with visual representations of two samples above and below, and a series of four pictures across the centre. These pictures are visual representations of the four available macros. The temptation to start playing and drag the macros around is irresistible. In doing so, the graphic expands and contracts in tune with the sound that you play, and is a wonderful interface for playing in real time.
Beneath the initial ‘showstopper’ layer, the basic sonic construct comprises two identical sample playback engines, each equipped with their own granular synth and effects layers, all easily accessible via the descriptive wording at the very top of the instrument. The Grain layer allows access to the inner granular sanctum. The included samples and presets have been created by sound‑design specialists K/V. In essence, they have provided the ‘Tension’ part of the instrument, but very much in collaboration. The included sample content is exceptionally diverse, with a mixture of synthetic, acoustic, humanistic and industrial/machine‑orientated sounds. According to Soniccouture, K/V recorded the content alongside the Polarity instrument, loading content and creating patches as they went, taking a deep dive into the depths of the instrument during the sampling phase to really find out what works.
There’s also a wealth of abstract material, from TARDIS‑like piano string scrapes to washing machines!
The results speak for themselves, as the quality of the output is immersive and reassuringly expensive, reminiscent of SC’s amazing Haunted Spaces instrument. Polarity represents a sonic playground, which undoubtedly requires a degree of exploration, particularly when getting to grips with the granular side. Vocal sounds are always great granular fodder, and the included content is abundantly diverse, with changing vowel sounds alongside the more usual static ‘ahs’. There’s also a wealth of abstract material, from TARDIS‑like piano string scrapes to washing machines!
Once samples are loaded into the granular layer, you have total control over grain size, jitter and scan mode, which can be juxtaposed with considerable degrees of randomisation. You can achieve an awful lot with a single granular layer, while the ‘synth’ layer shapes the partial for musical deployment, through the usual filters, envelopes and LFOs. The effects layer provides endless expanse, with all elements open to macro control.
This is clearly an instrument which requires a degree of familiarity, particularly if you want to delve deep, but at a musical level it is instantly gratifying, with substantial preset content. Soniccouture are rightly proud of this release, setting an impressive benchmark for future collaborations, which are due in the coming months.