Palette – Symphonic Sketchpad

WELCOME TO PALETTE!

Palette is a series of thematic professional orchestral and cinematic Kontakt virtual instruments for songwriters and media composers. It was recorded in a dedicated hall with world-renowned performers by a passionate and experienced team of sample makers. It was a dream come true for us to make and we hope this expansive set of scoring tools inspires you to write some great music.

There’s an awful lot of content here, so to make things more accessible we divided it into multiple products. The first is “Palette – Symphonic Sketchpad,” which contains the building blocks to quickly and easily bring your cinematic ideas to life. Then, to add detail and color to your compositions we’ve put together additional tool sets we call “Brush Packs.” Brush packs focus on deeper and more specific scoring elements like orchestral FX, percussion loops or true-legato melodic ensembles. Pick up the tools you want and not the ones you don’t. Since all Palette instruments were recorded in the same hall by the same production team and the same musicians, they complement each other perfectly.

 

PALETTE – SYMPHONIC SKETCHPAD

“Palette – Symphonic Sketchpad” is a 26+GB library featuring strings, woodwinds, brass, choir and percussion and to fill out the list of essential writing tools we added piano, harp and even a set of modern trailer instruments. The orchestral ensembles offer a nice variety of articulations, including 4 kinds of short notes, as well as trills, tremolo, pizzicato, and other deeper techniques. We recorded 3 dynamic layers and up to 7 round robins and to give you even more flexibility we recorded everything in 2 different ensemble sizes (chamber and full) so you can go epic or go intimate.

As with the entire Palette line, our players were recorded in standard orchestral seating position with 3 microphone perspectives – close, decca tree and hall. The room is spacious but fairly dry, with only a 1.2 second tail, which allows for easy blending with other libraries using your favorite reverbs, so you’re not limited to the sound of one particular hall. Since “Palette – Symphonic Sketchpad” was recorded by the same amazing musicians and production team with the same equipment and in the same hall, it was designed to blend perfectly with all the other Palette libraries.

 

THE ENSEMBLES

The core of “Palette – Symphonic Sketchpad” are the strings, brass and woodwinds ensemble patches. With our players in standard seating position across the stage we recorded the full range of each ensemble in unison, from lowest to highest note. Instruments play together when their ranges overlap and drop out when they reach their limits (see graphic below). We’ve dubbed this approach “True Ensemble Recording.” The result is a rich, playable patch that’s natural, unscripted and full of life – instantly gratifying and perfect for quickly laying down ideas without sacrificing realism.

To provide you with an additional level of flexibility we recorded our ensembles in two sizes – Full and Chamber. These were not accomplished by layering samples – they are 2 unique sets of recordings, each featuring a different number of players. This allows you to achieve the ideal breadth for your score, be it powerful and dramatic or tranquil and moving.

 

CHOIR, PERCUSSION, PIANO & HARP

Our 24-piece choir features separate Womens & Mens sections performing sustains and staccato articulations in 3 vowels (Ah, Oh and Mm).

PSS also offers 23 essential tonal and atonal orchestral percussion instruments, sampled in up to 7 dynamics with 5 round robin for both left and right hand (where applicable). Standard hits, rolls and other unique articulations are included. The drums, cymbals and auxiliary instruments are combined in one simple GM-style patch to minimize your track count. We also added 6-player ensemble trailer drums and hand percussion patches with the v1.1 update.

Our piano is a beautiful Steinway B Grand, recorded in the hall with 6 dynamic layers and multiple round robin.

The concert harp patch features standard plucks and a unique “glissandi maker” script, which simulates realistic pedaling to produce hundreds of scales you can perform at any length or speed by simply sweeping your controller’s keys up and down.

 

TRAILER TOOLS

No modern all-in-one cinematic sketching solution would be complete without a set of custom sound design and trailer tools for adding instant impact to your score. “Palette – Symphonic Sketchpad” includes over 250 unique hybrid samples in 7 categories – Impacts, Sub-booms, Reverses, Whooshes & Transitions, Risers, Downers and Braaams – all custom created by our team of sound designers. There’s also a dual-layer subtractive synth patch to add extra grit or low-end to the orchestra.

 

Articulations

 

Reviews

“I went into this review expecting a sketch and came out feeling I’d experienced something of a masterpiece. The four libraries are supremely well organised, perfectly integrated and intelligently presented, and the playing is of an exceptionally high standard. A work of art indeed. Congratulations to the musicians and production team. Whether you need an easy-to-use writing tool or want to expand your orchestral armoury with some high quality instruments, I can heartily recommend Palette Symphonic Sketchpad and its three companion titles.”

-Sound On Sound | FULL REVIEW

“I am totally blown away with how much content there is in Palette Orchestral Series. The sketchpad alone covers pretty much all you need to compose orchestral music, and with the added brush packs you really get all the colors you need… a full palette indeed!”

-ProfessionalComposers.com | FULL REVIEW

“I am knocked out by the Palette line. Even though the main library name implies use in the formative stages of a composition, make no mistake: Symphonic Sketchpad is entirely capable of delivering finished quality results. The full series lives up to its namesake, offering a bounty of colors that can be applied with broad strokes or with a fine touch no matter the canvas, and with truly exceptional results.”

-Film Score Monthly

“Symphonic Sketchpad’s core Strings, Brass and Woodwinds are superb and evocative patches which lend themselves to ensemble score creation. The overriding feeling is that all the instrument sounds fit together extremely well – as you might expect coming from the same company and being recorded in the same hall. But it’s not just the ambience, it’s the tonal quality which has a cohesive quality so you know whatever combination of instruments and sounds you use in your composition, they will all work together with the minimum of hassle. Many media composers tend to use ensembles both for speed and ease of composition, and Symphonic Sketchpad provides the essential ensembles you need for many orchestral scenarios at a mid price range for an all-in-one orchestra.”

-MakingMusic.com | FULL REVIEW

“It is very bold for a new developer to come on to the scene with 4 new orchestral sample libraries for Kontakt, but that is exactly how Red Room Audio has entered the game. The developer’s flagship libraries cover a very nice range of scoring tools with orchestral sections, legato instruments, orchestral effects, choirs, runs and even a nice set of trailer Brahms and synths. If you’re looking for an affordable set of orchestral tools or a shortcut to “get everything in the same room” I highly recommend you check out what Red Room Audio’s Palette line of orchestral instruments for Kontakt have to offer.”

-SampleLibraryReview.com | FULL REVIEW

“Palette – Symphonic Sketchpad really offers a unique and overarching collection of orchestral instruments. If you are looking for a tool with a wide range of musical possibilities that focuses on modern epic orchestral arrangements and provides extensive effects as well as a careful selection of additional sound design and synth patches, this library could be just the right thing for you.”

-EpicComposer.com | FULL REVIEW

“With a harmonious selection of ensembles and additional instruments, Symphonic Sketchpad is an excellent foundation for orchestral compositions. For composers who already own other orchestral libraries the collection is an inspiring tool for broad strokes thanks to its great sound and intuitive operation.”

-Beat Magazine