Spitfire eDNA Phase #1 Earth Soundpack

By Chris Loeffler

eDNA is a bold new move for Spitfire and aims to give NI Kontakt users the ability to combine the DNA of different instruments and effects to create new sounds and textures impossible to coax from an instrument in the physical world. Released in “Phases”, the first eDNA phase is Earth. Earth features over 1,900 basic instruments organized into 1001 patches and sorted into cartridges.  eDNA Phase #1 Earth requires Kontatk 8 or higher to play and is a whopping 44.8GB in size for WAV and 26.8GB in NCW Lossless Compressed.

What You Need to Know

eDNA Phase# 1- Earth focused on building digital tools for the future rather than recreating extant instruments in sample form. All instruments begin with a sampled orchestral instrument played and captured using the highest quality analog gear. Part of the core philosophy of Earth is to marry organic orchestral instruments with otherworldly effects and samples to create something entirely new. Some patches wear their heritage on their sleeves, with string like swells and the soft grind of horsehair on catgut clear through the pads and modulation, while others veer closer to industrial soundscapes whose musicality only becomes apparent when subsequent notes are played.

From a sonic perspective, these interments are quirky. They sound like living, breathing instruments and aren’t afraid to allow the hair, grit, and intermodulation that would occur in the natural world to be a part of the instrument experience. While always pristine and clear, there is no digital sheen that compresses or removes dimension and depth from the sounds. 

The patches are assembled into cartridges that help divide them into similar groupings and provide a greater ease of navigation through the library. Cartridges are creatively but intuitively named and do an effective job of setting the expectation for the sort of esoteric sounds to be found within. Spitfire should be applauded for their full-featured but intuitive graphic user interface. With so many parameters to tweak and instrument combinations to make, it would be easy to create an inaccessible user experience to achieve the depth of control or sacrifice flexibility to simplicity.

For those who require a breadth of sonic options, Spitfire did the math… it would take 24 straight hours to play through 30 seconds of each instrument and patch. Despite the huge number of instruments, Spitfire managed to avoid virtually any overlap in the instruments. Each has its own unique characteristics and place in the mix. 

Limitations

Requires Kontakt Player and is a fairly large download file.

Conclusion

Spitfire eDNA Phase #1 Earth is a professional quality, mind expanding collection of future-facing instruments. Straddling the line between instruments and sound effects, Earth is equally capable of producing compelling leads or swishy soundscapes. Certainly worth a look for anyone complaining there’s nothing new out there.

Resources

Spitfire Audio eDNA Phase#1 Earth Product Page