Toontrack EKX: Cinematic Pads

For most of us, the anatomy of sound and its inner workings as a creative catalyst is a peculiar thing. The moment we hear something we can’t define – a new instrument – our minds inevitably open up to interpretations beyond the convention. Sound becomes visuals that in turn transform into tangible ideas. This library of sounds for EZkeys is a prime example of just that.

EZkeys Cinematic Pads is based around several analogue and modular synths as well as a vintage grand piano and an electric bowed guitar. Together, these components form a never-before-heard hybrid instrument of reverberant, peculiar, fluttering, ominous, visceral, fluid and literally out-of-this-world audio landscapes. With this at hand, you’re an intrepid explorer at the helm of an audio vessel headed straight into the unknown – weightlessly drifting through an interstellar cosmos en route to uncharted sonic frontiers. If you let yourself go, you’ll enter a realm where the divide between reality and dream is nothing but a lucid gradient ready for you to pierce though.

• A hybrid instrument of never-before-heard textures of sound
• Based on several analogue and modular synths as well as a grand piano and an electric bowed guitar
• In excess of 70 mix-ready presets offering a widely creative panorama of ambient sounds
• Ideal for anything from soundscapes, scores and sound design to modern pop and electronic

Modular Synths

In simple terms, a modular synth is a make-your-own-synth system where modules like oscillators, filters, amplifiers, LFOs, envelopes and more are used to produce one-of-a-kind sounds in real-time. Several classic modular systems were used to create the unique sounds in EZkeys Cinematic Pads.

Analog Synths

A handpicked selection of classic analog instruments were blended in as a contrast to the modular sounds.

Bowed Guitar

The bowed guitar is a Togaman GuitarViol. Essentially, this unique instrument is a hybrid of a guitar and a viola or cello. It's traditionally tuned like a classic guitar but played with a bow.

Grand Piano

The piano featured in the back end of EZkeys Cinematic Pads is a Bösendorfer from 1891. It was sampled in traditional Toontrack fashion but had each note reversed in the final product.