Audiomodern ATOM – Review

We had the chance to do a quick review off ATOM, a new sample library for Native Instruments Kontakt 5 by Audiomodern. ATOM is a unique new virtual instrument with a powerful custom engine fully equipped to spark your creativity.

• 180+ soundsources categorised into five categories encompassing a wide variety of sounds
• 7.2 Total Gb of sounds (Compressed to 6.73 Gb using .NCW Lossless format)
• Full keyboard range of sample playback
• Multi-Layer Engine
• Individual Effects for each Layer
• Individual Arpeggiator for each Layer
• Random Sequence Generator
• Optimized Functionality
• Custom convolution reverb impulse engine
• 24Bit/48Khz resolution for all source samples
• Multi-Genre versatility

The installation of ATOM is super easy. After unzipping the zip archive to any folder of choice the instrument is ready to go. The GUI is very clean and self explaining. A preset drop-down menu with additional arrow buttons allows a very quick preset selection and browsing trough all the sounds. At the bottom is a second menu where all main pages of the instrument can be accessed. ATOM comes with more than 180 presets that are categorized into Atmospheres, FX, Keys, Percussion, Sequences and Synthesizers.

After starting Kontakt and loading the ATOM.nki patch, the main screen with the big ATOM logo appears with the preset browser and the main menu at the bottom. The main menu contains MAIN, MIX, LAYER1. LAYER2 and ARP. On the first page (MIX) there are 2 similar “decks” where a sound can be loaded – These represent one of two layers. The page includes the basic parameters like a volume-, pitch- and tune-knobs as well as a ADSR envelope. Below the 2 sound decks there is a second menu for LFO, FILTER, MODE and MASTER.
The pages LAYER1 and LAYER2 are similar and contain several effects like reverb and delay and other tone shaping tools like a stutter effect and distortion.

Last but not least there is an arpeggiator section where both layers can individually sequenced. Several options are available like the playback order (As Played, Random, Up, Down, Up & Down, Down & Up), Gate and Rate as well as a random step option. A great feature is the possibility to save an load arpeggiator presets.

As all Audiomodern libraries the overall sound quality is very good. Audiomodern ATOM has kind of a special charterer that fits very well to everything that is related to cinema and game. Especially well done are the atmos and the percussion sounds. But also all other categories are top notch. Another great feature of this library is the individual layer page with its well shaped effect controls. The combination of the 2 layers can create a big variety of sounds – maybe a third and even a fourth layer would be a great extension and lead to even more complex sounds. Another missing feature that would add more variety is a randomizer.

With ATOM, Audiomodern brings a really interesting all in one library for film- and gamemusic producers. The library also fits to musicians that produce electronic music like Ambient, Deephouse, Chillout and similar genres. The concept of ATOM with the layering, several effects and the powerful sequencer has proven itself. The sound is outstanding and the library contains some very inspiring presets. The only open point would be a randomizer but maybe Audiomodern is already working on this. It would be a fantasic feature for a already fantastic product.

ATOM can be purchased and digitally downloaded from Audiomodern for 149.00 EUR from here: Audiomodern | ATOM