Trilian - Music Tech - January 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Bass sounds have long been an important part of Spectrasonics’ product line, from the company’s original Bass Legends samples CD released back in the mid-90s through to Trilogy, which, along with Atmosphere and Stylus, marked Spectrasonics’ first foray into the world of virtual instruments. Of course, a lot has changed in the world of Spectrasonics since the release of Trilogy – particularly with the introduction of the mighty Omnisphere, which advanced the original Atmosphere concept far beyond what any of us would have ever imagined. But what of Trilogy? Would it simply be repackaged as an add-on to Omnisphere, or could we hope to see a next-generation bass-led instrument?
The answer to the question, therefore, is Trilian: a mammoth ‘encyclopaedia’ of bass based on the same STEAM engine that powers Omnisphere. As you’d expect, the original Trilogy patch library is present and correct plus there are samples from Spectrasonics’ Bass Legends, but Trilian also offers a raft of sounds and samples designed to take full advantage of the STEAM engine. Given the continued popularity of the previous bass sounds included in Trilogy – not to mention the high standards set by Omnisphere – it’s fair to say that the arrival of Trilian was eagerly anticipated.
How low can you go?
As with Trilogy, Trilian is based around three broad categories of bass sounds – acoustic, electric and synthesized.
Given the level of detail applied in sampling many of the newer instruments, it’s no surprise to find that the full Trilian install now reaches a whopping 35GB. With this amount of sound data to install, installation takes some time to perform, although there’s plenty of printed documentation and a tutorial video to help you on your way. However, we experienced some minor difficulties while installing Trilian onto an external drive under Mac OSX 10.6, although this was easily rectified by subsequently installing the latest plug-in version (currently 1.1.4) from Spectrasonics’ website.
Of course, the first area you want to experience after installing and authorising Trilian are the new instruments, particularly the new acoustic and electric bass patches. Needless to say, we were blown away by the quality of what Trilian has to offer, with all the new instruments displaying a level of detail, expression and character that’s far beyond what was delivered in Trilogy. Ultimately, Trilian superbly demonstrates the potential and power of the STEAM engine in sample playback mode – something that was only hinted at in the original Omnisphere.
Best of bass
Arguably the stars of the show are Trilian’s two new acoustic basses, which come complete with a beautiful set of legato samples, mic and DI channels, detailed release triggers, plus multiple different articulations. Indeed, if you use the Multi versions of the patches (found under Trilian’s Multi tab) in Live mode, you can easily use key switching to move between the various different articulations – an Upwards Gliss, for example, or the more percussive-like X-Notes. The only potential downside, though, is the size of some of the instruments, although a handy ‘Lite’ option enables you to load versions with restricted round robins, velocity levels and so on, which is great either for auditioning instruments or in setups with a limited amount of RAM.
The electric basses have the same exacting levels of detail lavished on them, from a multitude of playing styles (including picked, muted and tapped) to a variety of different models of bass. Certainly, the sound and level of expression involved make Trilian’s output almost indistinguishable from a session bassist recorded in a top-flight studio, with the results slotting perfectly into the mix.
The list of models in the Synth Bass category reads much the same as an inventory for a museum of classic synthesizers, containing everything from the vintage delights of the Minimoog, Oberheim SEM and ARP 2600 through to modern-day classics like the Waldorf Pulse, Access Virus and the Metasonix Assblaster. Throughout all the patches there’s a definite ‘woofer-pleasing’ tone, with both the original samples and subsequent programming carefully orchestrated so that it fills out the bottom end of your mix with little effort.
STEAM-driven
Although the Main page provides a handy set of macro controls for each patch, it’s well worth delving a little deeper and exploring the wonders of Trilian’s excellent STEAM engine. On the whole, the operation and feature set is almost identical to that of Omnisphere, although some of the deeper synthesis features (like the granular synthesis options, for example) have been omitted. If you’re an Omnisphere owner, though, you’ll be pleased to note that you can access the entire Trilian library from within Omnisphere (assuming you’ve downloaded the 1.1 Omnisphere update from Spectrasonics’ website).
Despite its undeniable depth, programming your own sounds (or editing the existing patches, for that matter) in Trilian is a breeze. A clear Edit page provides an effective overview of the two patch layers (A and B), while individual screens accessible from this ‘top’ level enable you to explore aspects such as filtering, LFOs, envelopes and the modulation matrix in more detail. The FX section contains all the same effects as Omnisphere, covering everything from gritty distortion to compression, delay and reverb, while a built-in arpeggiator really helps many of the synth bass patches to come to life.
If you want any indication of just how much can be achieved with the STEAM engine’s synthesis features in Trilian, take a quick look through the ARP + Rhythm folder. In this collection of presets, the FX and Arp sections (not to mention some clever applications of Soundsource layering) create some amazingly animated ‘movement’ sounds – patches that will undoubtedly become the staple diet of any TV or film soundtrack composer for the next
couple of years.
Supersonic
Trilian is yet another triumph for Spectrasonics, offering an exhaustive collection of some of the best bass sounds we’ve ever heard. Far from being just a collection of half-baked samples, Trilian is a beautifully playable and expressive virtual instrument – something that begs to be used in the context of composition, if only to experience how the sounds might work in the context of your own music. As with Omnisphere, Trilian is clearly a labour of love for the team at Spectrasonics, driven by the need to create some of the most evocative sounds in the business as well as presenting them in a cutting-edge sound engine that’s both powerful and easy to use.
For a mere £209, Trilian is hard product to ignore – it’s actually one of the few software instruments we’d deservedly call essential. Better still, existing Trilogy owners can snap up Trilian for just $99 – that’s arguably the deal of the century...
Verdict
Easily the most comprehensive source of bass sounds yet produced. From delicate and expressive acoustic models through to earth-shattering electric and synth basses, Trilian produces superb results that define and enhance the low end of your mix.
Rating: 10/10 plus the Music Tech Excellence and Choice awards
Click here for more information on Trilian
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