# Animato: String & Flute FX for Cinema



## Time+Space (Oct 20, 2010)

Zero-G employed the help of instrumentalists from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for this latest release which delivers cinematic audio inspiration for both composers and contemporary music makers.

Containing 3,000 samples and 139 separate Kontakt instruments, each with its own custom GUI created especially for this project, Animato is a uniquely realistic, expressive and playable Orchestral Effects library. With a wide sonic range from chaotic, tense effects to beautiful undulating pads, distant pianissimo sirens can shift seamlessly to fortissimo ungodly screeches all at the simple command of your Mod Wheel.

The starting point was to make this library perfect for creating soundtracks to films, TV programs and games, with a leaning towards the eerie and tortured.

However, for contemporary commercial pop/rock/hip-hop production you will also find some of the most beautiful pads you'll ever hear. It is also ideal for commercial producers looking for authentic live sounds that give their productions a leading edge.

Details and demos can be found at:
http://www.timespace.com/product/ANIM-326/3/9999934/animato.html


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## germancomponist (Oct 20, 2010)

Very cool!


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## manyfingers (Oct 20, 2010)

sounds great! i'll be getting this..shame no download option though..


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## Ed (Oct 20, 2010)

This is so tempting, but I may have to wait I already have so many of these kinds of fx :D

Never enough!


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## stevenson-again (Oct 20, 2010)

i bought it and it arrived today and well...first reaction...i'm not wild about it. sorry....and it's only a personal opinion....but the whole point of this website is for guys like us to give their impressions of things like this. first of all it is not a great sound, the way it has been recorded. i don't really understand it - i know the royal liverpool - it's an amazing sounding band, i have a friend who conducts it regularly and i have many recordings.

i wasn't that thrilled with the demos, but i thought, you never know.

what i do like is that the FX is recorded at different volumes so that you can modwheel blend. that is VERY cool. and there are a couple of usable sounds in there - but thought of eqing and panning and trying to get it set up in a room so that it sounds natural just has me sagging my shoulders, and my knees buckle slightly and i just want to curl up in a corner and start rocking back and forth.

one other thing i am less than thrilled about is that so far i can see, the sounds just start half way through an audio file. the actual wavs have had their starts chopped off. that's just weird.

i just don't understand why it should be done this way. i have recorded my own FX and they sound great. just stick mics up in front of band in a decent hall and away you go. add a little extra reverb and a touch of eq and that's it. its not rocket surgery.

i have really only dipped into it a bit and i might uncover other things which might be good. and at the price it is worth just getting and seeing what you can make of it - even if it is just a handful of worthwhile sounds so i don't regret buying it.


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## Ed (Oct 20, 2010)

Interesting review Stevenson, I guess Ill still probably buy it because I did like the demos. Can always use cool fx like that and I never seem to have any trouble placing stuff in a room, just add verb I never understand why so many have such a problem.


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## stevenson-again (Oct 20, 2010)

sure - don't let me put you off buying them. at the price there is bound to be something useful you can do something interesting with. the eerie violins and cellos i think will be useful. i haven't checked out the pads yet - but they sound like they might be promising. even if it only makes into a couple of cues it will pay for itself and i am sure i will find a way to get my moneys worth because i really flogged my own FX library to death.


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## snowleopard (Oct 22, 2010)

Demos sound good, and the price is right. 

I have to admit I'm still waiting for someone like Project Sam to make a large orchestral Rip/Cluster/Strike builder library where someone can stack together their own FX from thousands of samples. If it were done right it would probably sell big, even if several hundred dollars. But that's just my opinion.


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## dagmarpiano (Oct 26, 2010)

Hi there, I'm Dan Graham, the producer of this library.

I just wanted to respond to the point stevenson-again made, that some samples seem to be delayed when you press them.

He will be referring to samples in the 'Rises' section. This is by design not a mistake. The idea here is that it's not important to synchronise when the samples start, but it's VERY important to synchronise where they end.

So in other words, if you press many rises together to get a big complex rise sound, you can be sure that they all end at the top of the rise together, even though it seems odd that they don't all start together.

Another thing I'd like to explain is this collection is all about how you use it rather than the raw sound when you just press a key down. I mean, it sounds nice enough, but in the middle of a piece of complex music if you automate the Mod Wheel level you can achieve some amazing string swarm crescendos. I've been using this everywhere all over my own stuff: http://www.gothic-storm.com and it really brings sequenced orchestrations to life (as long as it's fear, anxiety, excitement and so on you want !).

If anyone has any questions please ask!

Cheers

Dan


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## stevenson-again (Oct 26, 2010)

hi dan, actually i did not say that some samples are delayed when you press them. i was commenting about most of the samples that don't have the sample starts, they have been cut off. by this i mean i took a look at the waveforms of the raw audio files. i understand that you can use the modwheel to control the attack of them and for a lot of situations it would be fine, but i don't think it is necessary to actually take off the natural start of the sample.

i have been playing around with the modwheel effect and its a great idea and it works very well functionally, but the actual raw sound of the samples themselves is not very good. that's my chief complaint. i have recorded FX myself and it's actually very easy. just stick a decca tree in a good room and seat the orchestra where they would normally sit. the samples in this library are are harsh and un-lush as a result of sticking mics directly in front of the band too close and without natural panning and imaging. there is a flatness that is in my very humble opinion a mistake. you could have had those samples AS WELL but the 'goto' samples would normally be the room tree.

with some very clever panning, eqing and reverbing and fiddling and farting i should be able to emulate that natural sound and get it to blend in with the my other samples but that's what i don't like doing. since i already have these kinds FX already (but wanted some more variety within them) the danger is i will end up going back to the more natural 'better recorded' ones that i have used to death. emulation is difficult, time-consuming and never as satisfactory as recording it right in the first place. in point of fact, this is why tonehammer have been so successful and so beloved here - their recording philsophy. likewise symphobia.

all that said, i have poked about some of your processed patches and uncovered some really good ones which i am using at the moment. for the price, and despite my misgivings, i would still regard this library as a no-brainer. i'm just a bit peeved it wasn't recorded a little better. then you could have charged double and it would still have been a no-brainer.


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## dagmarpiano (Oct 26, 2010)

I see, you're referring to the way the samples start suddenly. This was a product of the recording approach - they are loops, which therefore have no sample starts or ends, the sound just cuts in and cuts out, but the idea is that you use the mod wheel to softly fade it in or out as needed.

This was small groups of players recorded in a fairly dry sounding room, overdubbed up to sound like many players. One advantage of this is that it's much easier to loop and create dynamic layers without any natural reverb, but I accept that the downside is a less natural, open sound which has to be put back in with some panning, EQ and reverb.

(NB: it is the fact that it was small groups multi-tracked up which means that ensemble sample starts could not be captured, which is why the sound starts suddenly if you start it with the mod wheel up - the solution is to fade it in, which is the way it was intended to be used - an effect you ride in and out as needed).

Maybe a more natural sounding version is something to consider in the future, but then it would also have a much bigger recording budget and would have a much higher price so would be a different type of product. This is something that's still a very expressive tool that does things other libraries don't do for a very good price.

Out of interest - which of the processed sounds did you like? I know them all inside out!

Dan


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## Time+Space (Oct 26, 2010)

Hi guys

We've just uploaded a small feature on the Time+Space blog where producer, Dan Graham, tells us about the making of Animato. Have a read at:

http://blog.timespace.com/2010/10/guest ... /#more-309

:D 

Mel


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## KMuzzey (Oct 26, 2010)

I got Animato yesterday and spent some time playing with each of the patches. I'm afraid I'm not a big fan either. There are a handful of patches I'll use, definitely - maybe 10 of them that really strike a chord (ouch) with me... and I have to give kudos for the undulating/fluttering string sounds which have a really lovely effect -- but overall it feels like an FX library, not a music-based FX library, if that makes sense. I can see it being a good fill-in for someone who wanted some of the riser-type effects from Symphobia but didn't want to shell out that much money, but overall I felt disappointed. 

Something I've noticed - and I wonder if anyone else has noticed this? - is that with Zero-G and Big Fish Audio libraries, I always find about 10 useable, likeable patches in every library, and the rest of the library feels like filler. Whereas with Tonehammer and ProjectSAM stuff, I feel like 98% of the stuff is so useable that you can't stop playing with it. Just my .02.

Kerry


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## Ed (Oct 26, 2010)

Wish I could get this and see for myself, the demos sound like they have some really usefull sounds.


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## stevenson-again (Oct 27, 2010)

at the risk of sounding like i am contradicting myself, despite the initial sense of disappointment you might have right out of the box with this library, i do still think it is a 'no-brainer ought to have it anyway'. i agree KMuzzey, there are lots of libs that have that sense of a few really cool patches and the rest are simply place holders on the HD. you never know how you might find a way of feathering it into a mix or whether some patient mixing might yield a more natural sound.



> Maybe a more natural sounding version is something to consider in the future, but then it would also have a much bigger recording budget and would have a much higher price so would be a different type of product. This is something that's still a very expressive tool that does things other libraries don't do for a very good price.



i dunno if it's that....in the past on really small budgets i have literally only used single strings to create the FX and overlaid multiple takes and goteen fairly satisfactory reaults - but the key is that they were recorded with enough distance from the mics to provide a natural frequency response curve. it doesn't generally work to close mic them. certainly i always always go back to whatever was the main tree - they always sound better. still at least in know why the samples don;t have starts to them.



> Out of interest - which of the processed sounds did you like? I know them all inside out!



there is a muted patch which is just gorgeous. it's just 'so'....it's going to get a fair bit of use. muted sweet pad it's called. perfect for my beautiful Machiavellian witch cues.


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## Pedro Camacho (Oct 27, 2010)

A word of warning:

This library is NOT like Symphobia.

"four world class Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra players were heavily multi-tracked up to create 16 violins, 8 cellos, 6 flutes and 6 piccolos for that big ensemble effect"

They only had 4 players TOTAL recorded over and over again to create a fake ensemble effect - one violin, one cello, one flute, 1 piccolo.


REAL rnsemble effects like Symphobia has, sound wonderful because instruments resonate with each other creating a natural and rich sound.


The price is good though, but don't expect miracles from this.


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## dagmarpiano (Oct 28, 2010)

well near enough, it was 2 violins, 1 cellist and 1 combined flute/picc player.

i think it's important to see what Animato is - it's a very handy tool for creating your own expressive effects using automation, with some nice pads and programmed stuff thrown in. I know that it's extremely useful for me, creating reverse effects, crescendos and distant atmospheres for movie trailer pieces, but I guess I can't say it's useful for everyone, and you might be expecting something different to what it is.

Anyway! I should stop explaining myself or I'll look like a defensive nut job.


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## Mr. Anxiety (Oct 28, 2010)

Hey Dan,

Congrats on your new library.

It's a tough room here at V.I. Control; the good news is everyone is being civil and just being honest about the their thoughts.

Yes, it would be great to get tons of great patches and use out of every library, at all price points, but it seems it's hard to achieve, especially trying to make everyone happy.

I will be checking out your library and I do hope to find a few things to make the purchase worthwhile.

Mr A


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## Udo (Oct 30, 2010)

Thanks for the reviews/observations. I was wondering if/how Animato would compliment Symphobia 1&2.

Nick is very positive and considers it a worthwhile addition. However, I read the following quotes on the Time+Space website:

"........but as you listen through the material you realise many of the same root samples have been used over and over with different FX treatments. ..................I don't think there's enough discreet material for the price. ...............(it is)Filling in gaps that even Symphobia doesn't. It just doesn't go far enough for me."

Can anyone who has used Animato comment on that please. Thanks.


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## gsilbers (Oct 30, 2010)

this is the way i see it;

its symphonic effects geared for film/tv and its not more than $100....

is there anything else like that in the market right now? 

(i really dont know :( and im usually in KVR and here looking for new stuff, maybe i missed it)

and we are comparing it to a +$1000 "other product" ?!!?!? :shock: 
(or talking about it in the same thread)

im getting it... 

hows the US shipping? anyone in CA get it already?


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## stevenson-again (Oct 30, 2010)

at the price it is a no-brainer. get it. plenty of interesting stuff. i'd be surprised if you didn't find something there that justified the buying it.


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## Udo (Oct 30, 2010)

stevenson-again @ Sun Oct 31 said:


> at the price it is a no-brainer. get it. plenty of interesting stuff. i'd be surprised if you didn't find something there that justified the buying it.


But it still costs money (over $160, incl. shipping to AU), which I'd like to spend wisely  

I was after some comments on the specific criticisms I quoted in my post. (If I didin't have Symphhobia it wouldn't be an issue).


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## KMuzzey (Oct 31, 2010)

gsilbers @ Sat Oct 30 said:


> this is the way i see it;
> 
> its symphonic effects geared for film/tv and its not more than $100....
> 
> ...



I'm in L.A. & actually ordered from BestService: it arrived quickly. But it's running $149 through soundsonline.... but it seems like a $79 Zero-G library, not a $149 library. It does have a handful of cool sounds, and it might work well for someone who's into sound design or who's working on suspense-type music, but it feels more like an FX library to me than a musical FX library, if that makes sense? So it'll be great for some people & some will think it falls short. To me it felt sort of like dropping $18 on a CD only to find that there are 3 songs you like, and 10 that are just sorta so-so. You don't mind that feeling if you found it for 5.99, but $18 makes it feel like you wasted money. 

A general observation: my expectations of sample libraries have gotten really high because I think that overall the bar has been raised. When you have peeps like Tonehammer releasing spectacular libraries from $39-79, and they're chock-full of brilliant sounds (and there aren't any "filler" sounds), if I find a library that has too much filler in it, I'm more critical of that library. So my opinion is a little tainted by that fact.

Kerry


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## dagmarpiano (Nov 4, 2010)

Nick Harvey @ Thu Oct 28 said:


> I really like Animato.
> 
> It sounds totally different to Symphobia 1 & 2 and that is IMO one of its strengths. Don't get me wrong, I love the Symphobia sound, but didn't want to get more of the same.
> 
> ...




Glad *someone* is completely happy with it! Maybe part of the problem is that people think this will be Symphobia for a tenth of the price, and it's not. In a way this was my response to Symphobia, which I bought and was disappointed to find that much of it duplicated what I already had, and even though the effects sound really great, they didn't have the fine level of control that I wanted to be able to use it as a completely expressive tool, to gel together bits of orchestral music inside movie trailers.

So, for me this is all about the small number of 'Live' sounds in there which I'm just using all the time. Does it have disappointing filler material? Well... we did our best to present some 'mutated sounds' that give you a sense of what's possible if you get under the hood and use the samples in a sound design way. Some of them I think are absolutely wonderful (if I say so myself!) - like the string and flute pads, which are the nicest, most realistic-sounding string pads I've ever used, because the players were told to fade in and out, undulating naturally, and this creates a kind of emotional and 3D sound as it pans around.

As for some of the dark burbling growling weird noises in there. Well, maybe we should have dropped them and made it smaller and nicer on the ears


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## Time+Space (Nov 29, 2010)

Earlier on in this thread, there were a couple of you who commented about there not being a download version of Animato available. 

I'm pleased to announce that from now on Time+Space will exclusively have all Zero-G new titles available as downloads at the same point of release as the DVD format! Only available from Time+Space for the first six months of release!

This therefore means that Animato is now available to download - only at Time+Space! :D 

http://www.timespace.com/product/ANIM-1 ... ad%29.html


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