Sample Logic's Synergy is an epic 18GB collection of over 1200 instruments, tempo‑sync'ed loops, and multis, powered by NI's Kontakt Player. As its name suggests, it aims to be more than the sum of its parts. With such a large library, being able to quickly find what you're looking for is vital, so Synergy is divided into seven main folders (each instrument category helpfully having a differently coloured front-panel) covering Ambience, Bass, Drums, Impacts, Melody, Pads and Rhythms, while each of these contains between four and 18 subfolders named by genre or mood.
I found loads of inspirational material in the Ambience folder, with 295 sustained sonic textures covering a host of feels, from ancient landscapes to deep-space explorations. I'd have liked more organic and less electronic/distorted sounds in the Bass section, but there's nevertheless a lot on offer here, and the Arpeggiated and Loops folders contain great 'inspiration starters' for those on a deadline, especially since they're tempo‑sync'ed to your project.
The small Drums folder contains just seven weird and wonderful kits, but there's a rather wider selection of percussion ensembles covering a huge variety of instruments, from gongs and world drums to found sounds, deep sci‑fi hits, a slightly embarrassing set of vocal grunts and shouts, and a larger and rather more inspiring collection of world percussion.
Although most musicians might expect the 269 Impact sounds to concentrate on explosions and other sound effects (and, admittedly, there are a lot of these), I actually found loads of useful one‑shot percussive gems tucked away among the 18 subfolders that could punctuate many musical genres.
The gated and loops folders in the Melody category provide plenty of inspirational material, and there were loads of other sounds on tap — although less of these jumped out and grabbed me, and I'm afraid I also found the 57 Pads a bit of a mixed bag — some were in excess of 300MB, yet sounded less interesting than others under 20MB that used interesting programming!
With Rhythms, things get back on track, with 270 wonderfully inspirational sets of tempo‑sync'ed beats to kick‑start your compositions. The 40 Multis finally bring everything together: for the first time, the true vision of this library kicks in, with some really inspiring combinations that will send you scurrying into the other folders to track down the component sounds.
A huge amount of work has gone into this library, and it's certainly excellent value for money (Sample Logic could easily have released at least two separate libraries from the same material). Synergy offers loads to tempt modern composers and sound designers, but will particularly appeal to those who routinely need to work to deadlines in plenty of different musical styles, including those doing film, TV, and game work. Martin Walker