Every now and then a new producer of plug ins, sound libraries and loops appears targeting the sounds of Kraftwerk. What was once magic and very much the result of devoted experimentation in the Kling Klang studio has now become so much easier to realize through modern day DAWs and software emulations. But even so, many of the unique sounds of Kraftwerk still require a lot of hands on experience and knowledge to faithfully reproduce. Trust us we’ve tried, sometimes with good result and sometimes not even close. LoopLords are the newest team to the crowd and a couple of days ago they released Kraft Sounds. Which is the newest plugin and sound library available to help you channel the robots.
We tested the new plug in and the associated sound library during the course of this week. We installed the VST version for Mac and had it running in our DAW along with some similar sound banks and, of course, some original sounds from the Kling Klang vaults. It features 84 multi-sampled and hand-crafted sounds, that users can shape with an array of sonic parameters. Think: analog modeled oscillators, an amp envelope, reverb, legato and a voice mode selector.
What we can easily say is that the sounds are faithful to the original, especially when you run through the pads, which have a lot of TEE vibe. They basically cover all of the basic bass and lead sounds, plus some additional bleepy FX sounds to spice up your tunes. Important to note though is that the gross part of the sounds, for good or bad, can be dated back to their breakthrough albums, meaning that the sounds at some points may feel a bit vintage, dated even. But if you are in the mood to reproduce those golden ages of electronic pop you are well set. What this means is that you will not find anything related to Kraftwerk’s more modern persona, like what you hear listening to the Tour de France album or even how Kraftwerk at many points has updated their sounds on the 3D-album. But again this is all about taste and what you are potentially looking for. Below is a teaser coming from LoopLords:
In general it is interesting to listen in to many of the acts that are today following in the footsteps of Kraftwerk and at points are both re-inventing their sound, but also at some points taking it further; below are two nice contributions:
Key Features:
84 sounds inspired by Kraftwerk (view the list of sound)
3.1 gigs of content
HL/LP filters
3 voice modes: polyphonic (up to 32 voices), monophonic & legato
Reverb
LFO with depth and rate control to pitch/pan/expression
Aftertouch controls for the LFO’s depth
Amplitude range controls
VST plugins for Windows & macOS (32-bit/64-bit)
VST3 plugins for Windows & macOS (64-bit)
AU plugin for macOS (32-bit/64-bit)
You can pick up the instrument at LoopLords website here.
By the way, last year LoopLords introduced Modalities, a plugin instrument that they say is inspired by the sound of Depeche Mode. The plugin featured 162 multi-sampled sounds. The plugin interface provides access to sound-shaping parameters, including amp ADSR, reverb, glide and voice mode selector.