“A unique synthetic and vocal powerhouse”: Void and Vista Folds review

Void and Vista Folds: What is it?

It’s unusual for a Kontakt instrument to create a stir, but that’s exactly what Void and Vista managed through the release of its first Kontakt instrument, Strands. But with a new instrument in its library, we want to know how that ‘difficult second plugin’ measures up…

Void and Vista’s Folds focuses on the sound of the human voice. This translates as a considerable number of samples with the majority either presented as a form of raw acoustic vocal, or with some degree of relatively extreme treatment, captured at source. These samples form the basic building blocks and are categorised by menu. 

Void and Vista Folds: Performance and verdict

As we like to go down to the basic nuts and bolts, we began our sojourn through Folds by auditioning the raw content. These samples are very pure, captured beautifully in an up-close-and-personal setting. 

There are no basic ‘oohs’ or ‘aahs’, instead the initial selection of 12 samples are accompanied by helpful descriptions, providing guidance about the oncoming sonic treat, but there’s no substitute for just listening. Every one of these samples evolves or changes through time, being coupled with a degree of round-robin or random triggering, induced by velocity or note selection. The first sample ‘Weave’ saunters through a selection of vowels, with subtle variation of tuning that merely adds to the organic nature of the source material. 

One of our absolute favourite samples has to be ‘Arhythmic’, which provides what can only be best described as a cross between Björk and the band Yello. This sample benefits from variation in pitch, as you descend the keyboard’s register.  

The next set of 12 samples are coupled by association. All of these samples exhibit treatment to some degree, from a new set of vocal samples, so you’ll hear ‘Taped’ which provides a degraded and stuttered form of vocal, or ‘Breath’ which provides a form of humanistic white noise. 

‘Lull’ on the other hand, provides a thick vocal texture, separated by two octaves, with a textural and pitch-based behaviour that feels like a highly contemporary example of the ubiquitous Fairlight vocal sample – a technique which was uber fashionable in the pop music of the late 1980s.

The final sample menu provides synthetic bolstering, thanks to eight subtractive-style waveforms. There are five regular waves, which include a Supersaw, with the remaining three samples providing degrees of noise. The overall quality of a Kontakt instrument can often be informed by the purity of the initial sample content, and these samples are exemplary and hugely inspiring. This is before we’ve moved on to the synthesis stage.

Blend, patch and modulate

Folds is designed to combine samples into a 2-partial construct, through the use of Void and Vista’s award-winning interface. On the most superficial face of it, the interface is simple, but beneath each single parameter lies a whole host of modulatory and effect-based elements, which are put into application at either the partial or combined level. 

The dynamic layer is ingenious, allowing the samples to be placed across the stereo sound-stage with a sense of depth and 2-dimensional placement. The Motion settings relate to two independently assigned LFOs, which can be applied to destinations in the usual way. You can create a wonderful sense of subtle undulation here, which works beautifully with the acoustic and treated vocals.

Crossfading morphs

One of the undoubted strengths of Folds is its ability to combine and morph between the two partial sections. The initial samples are so strong, even just morphing or combining these elements can yield effective results, but factor in the re-synthesis components, and you can manually morph from a beautiful acoustic timbre to a more aggressive tonal colour with a minimum of fuss. This means that on a musical level, you can quickly and easily create builds and crescendos, before dropping back to nothing, as the onboard delay and reverb take up the slack. 

Thanks to the Kontakt instrument component, it’s easy to assign parameters to MIDI CC and hardware controllers, meaning you can control just about everything from your DAW, or play along in realtime. It’s perfect for creating inspired pads and acoustically innovative backdrops, so you can create the best kind of pads; ones that evolve in time with your music and production.

Verdict

If you’re requiring inspiration, Folds is populated with over 300 Snapshot presets, from which you can get an immediate feel of its capabilities. There is instant creative inspiration to be had from the presets alone, but for our money, the craving to scratch the patch-building itch is enormous. On this level, Folds is a very enticing prospect, whatever your preference for getting creative.

MusicRadar verdict: Folds is another absolute cracker from Void and Vista. The samples and synth engine combine to create a unique synthetic and vocal powerhouse.

Void and Vista Folds: Hands-on demos

Void & Vista 

Void & Vista: FOLDS - Trailer - YouTube

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Simeon Amburgey

FOLDS, Rethinking Vocal Libraries From Void and Vista - YouTube

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Sample Library Review

Checking Out: Folds by Void and Vista - YouTube

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Void and Vista Folds: Specifications

• macOS 11 or above.
• Windows 10 & 11.
• Natively compatible w/ Apple Silicon.
• VST, AAX & AU.
• Kontakt 7.7.0 or higher. NKS 2 / Kontakt Player Compatible.
• CONTACT: Void and Vista