ZAK Sound

Sierras Altas is a cinematic plugin inspired by the beautiful high mountains that create unique, colorful landscapes around the world.

It features drum parts, sound effects, pianos, pads, and synths in one plugin.

• 69 presets
• 2.8 GB (Installed)
• XY Sounds

Duality of sounds

Each Sierras Altas preset is made up of two instruments that can be leveled independently. On the left side, you can control the gain of instrument X, and on the right side, instrument Y.

Each preset was designed with two sounds so that its color and essence can be modified by increasing or decreasing either instrument.

Sierras Altas Instruments

Sierras Altas contains four main categories: FX, Keys, Pads, and Sounds.

• FX: 18 presets of explosions, drums, and cinematic effects.
• Keys: 10 piano types with a soft, ambient touch.
• Pads: 19 pads to create huge sounds and atmospheres.
• Sounds: 22 unique sound presets designed from string, piano, and synth recordings.

Controls and Features

• Gain and pan: Master controls.
• X/Y: Controls the level of each sound separately.
• Filter: Low-pass filter.
• Room: Reverb to add more space to the sound.
• Settings: Curve, pitch, high range, width, three modes, and glide (for legato).
• LFO: Type (Pitch, expression, or pan), waveform (sin, saw, square, or exponent), speed, and depth.
• ADSR: Envelope controls for attack, decay, sustain and release.

Sounds of Cordoba

To create the plugin, we selected 13 samples (out of 29), designed a GUI, and created the Sounds of Cordoba in VST3/AU format for Windows and macOS.

With the plugin, you can do the same as with the samples, but instead of directly using the sample, you can use a MIDI keyboard to trigger the sounds. They are looped to play indefinitely while held down.

The plugin has five controls: saturation, high pass, attack, release, and main gain.

Nature Sounds

About the Piano

The acoustic grand piano was sampled using a total of seven microphones placed in five distinct locations to capture the best of the piano. The microphone positions used are as follows:

• Bass: A condenser microphone placed near the bass strings.
• Hammers: Stereo condenser microphones positioned in front of the hammers.
• Main: Ribbon microphones arranged in stereo in front of the soundboard.
• Room: Condenser microphones positioned six feet away from the piano.
• Back: A condenser microphone placed behind the piano seat.
• Each microphone position has its own volume knob in the plugin.

City recordings: To capture the sounds of the city, we use a stereo recorder to capture various sounds such as airplanes, squares, public works, motorcycles, trains, etc. From these recordings, we selected the best samples to be used as convolution reverb, ultimately creating a plugin that integrates the piano with the cityscape.

In total there are 44 city samples that you can use as convolution reverb.

Presets: Downtown Grand Piano comes with 39 presets divided into the categories: ambient, city-based, and piano. You can also create your own categories and presets within the panel. The ambient presets were created by removing the dry piano signal and experimenting with the wet signal of the convolution reverb. The city-based presets were created by blending the piano and convolution reverb signals to generate a hybrid sound. And the piano presets were exclusively designed using the samples from the acoustic grand piano.

Features

• Recorded at 44.1 kHz / 24 bit with seven microphones
• 6 gradual velocity layers for the piano
• Control for the piano’s hammer release
• The grand piano is made with 1800 samples
• 44 city sounds for convolution reverb
• 39 presets divided into three categories
• Saturation, reverb, stereo width, limiter, and delay effects.
• Customizable velocity curve
• Multi-band EQ, XY filters, lowpass, and highpass
• 2.8GB of space

Sapphire Guitar is a guitar plugin, but it’s not a traditional one.

Instead, it is a plugin created to generate chill and inspirational sounds from guitar samples and textures.

Sapphire Guitar is a guitar plugin created from guitar samples in combination with ambient textures.

The guitar samples were recorded from acoustic, classical, and electric guitars with different techniques such as palm-muted, fingerboard notes, open strings, short notes, and harmonics.

Five ambient pads/textures can be added to each guitar preset to create unique sounds.

Features

• 77 presets of acoustic, electric, and classical guitar.
• Instrument/preset selector.
• TXs Volume: Volume knob for each ambient texture. Before using it, you need to activate it with the button.
• Filter: Lowpass.
• Settings: Curve, width and envelope of the textures.
• FXs: Chorus, drive, and reverb.
• Delay: It can be synchronized with DAW (1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc) or manual (with the time knob).
• Guitar ADSR.
• Master settings: Gain, pan and volume meter.

Sandbox Textures is a dual-layer texture/pad library for creating ambiences ranging from atmospheric and serene to suspenseful and powerful. It processes 24 textures in two layers simultaneously to generate many unique combinations.

Double Layer

The Sandbox Textures engine has a dual-layer capability to play the 24 textures and generate unique combinations.  The volume of the X and Y layers can be controlled through the XY Pad on the main panel, allowing for a graphical and intuitive control of the volume for each layer.

FX

Includes choral, delay, and reverb effects to customize and enhance each texture.  The XY Filters are a combination of two filters that can be controlled using the cursor and manipulate the final result of the texture.

Snapshots

The library comes with 55 presets, divided into five categories:

• Atmospheric (17)
• Delay-based (7)
• Powerful (10)
• Suspense (9)
• Voices (12)

Specifications

• Double-layer engine.
• 24 textures and pads ranging from atmospheric and smooth to powerful.
• Reverb, choral, delay, and XY filter effects. Transient, EQ, and limiter controls.
• 55 snapshots
• Designed for Kontakt 6.7.1 or higher (full version)
• Size: 295MB (unzipped)

Colorwoods Piano is an acoustic piano with a natural and serene taste but also powerful and crisp when you push it to the limit.

It is based on an upright piano and was recorded with five gradual velocities.

Symphonic Guitars is a plugin for orchestral sounds created solely with guitars.

Sounds of violin, viola, cello, flute, and horn recreated with different guitar techniques.

Symphonic Guitars is a plugin that creates orchestral instruments on the guitar. It contains 50 instruments in total, including variations with effects.
The orchestral instruments that we managed to recreate on the guitar were the cello, the viola, the violin, the flute, and the horn. Depending on the instrument, we are able to create long notes, staccato (short notes), and pizzicato sounds.

• Cellos (9 presets)
• Flute (4 presets)
• Horn (4 presets)
• Pizzicato (7 presets)
• Special (5 presets)
• Staccato (8 presets)
• Viola (5 presets)
• Violin (8 presets)

How was Symphonic Guitars made

At ZAK Sound, we used violin bows and electronic bows to create most of the sounds. We used different playing techniques for each instrument. For example, to get the violin sound, we used the violin bow on the first two strings of the guitar. On the other side, to obtain the sound of the cello we use the sixth string, which sounds thicker.

We did other experiments, like pulling the strings and muting at the same time, to get a sound similar to the pizzicato of the violin or cello. There are also versions with effects to create usable sounds for different styles.

All of this was recorded with four microphones: two XY small-diaphragm condensers, one large- diaphragm, and one dynamic.

Interface:

• Slider to control the depth and speed of the vibrato.
• Mics volume (3 microphones)
• Settings: Mode, glide, width, attack, and release.
• Reverb: Size, width, and mix.
• Delay: Time, repeat, and mix.
• Filer: Lowpass/highpass.

Sierras Altas 2 is an instrument plugin designed with cinematic, inspiring, and ambient sounds.

Its dual-layer engine processes a collection of 69 layers, including pads, keys, strings, and synths, allowing an extensive array of sound possibilities.

Dual-Layer Engine

Sierras Altas 2 features a dual-layer engine, granting you the ability to autonomously blend the 69 layers and produce distinctive combinations. The volume control for each layer is managed through a central XY pad, providing precision and creativity in layer blending. Additionally, a randomize button has been included to quickly select random layers and explore different combinations.

Dual Arpeggiator

Sierras Altas 2 introduces a new feature: the dual arpeggiator. Each layer has its own independent arpeggiator, enabling you to create unique and captivating sequences for each part of the instrument. With Sierras Altas 2, you can explore a wide range of rhythmic patterns and melodic variations by customizing the settings of each arpeggiator.

Presets

Sierras Altas 2 includes 89 presets created from combinations of layers, effects, and arpeggiators. These presets are categorized into five groups: 18 atmospheric pads, 17 chill sounds, 21 inspiring pads, 20 sequences, and 14 thriller sounds.

FX and features

The instrument offers a variety of effects such as saturation, reverb, delay, chorus, and filters. You can use these effects on each layer independently or activate the link button to apply them together

It also incorporates XY Pad filters, allowing you to experiment with new depths and textures, particularly with the pads. Furthermore, it features a multiband graphic equalizer that enables you to fine-tune the frequency spectrum and achieve a balanced mix.

To prevent undesirable distortions, address volume variations, and enhance the sense of spaciousness and sound depth, master racks for limiter, compression, and stereo width adjustments are included.

Sound FX

Sierras Altas 2 also includes the “Sierras Altas 2 Sound FX” sample pack, which features 36 audio effects such as impacts, explosions, and transitions. Previously, in Sierras Altas 1, these samples were part of the instrument, but in the second version, they are provided as a separate sample pack.

Specifications

• Dual-layer engine.
• XY pad for volume control.
• 69 layers of pads, keys, strings, and synths.
• Effects, XY filters, EQ, and master controls.
• ADSR, pan, and MIDI transpose for each layer.
• 89 presets categorized into 5 groups.
• Arpeggiator for each layer.
• Randomize function for selecting random layers.
• 450 MB installed.

Inspiring Sessions

Endless Clouds 2 is a collection of 72 pads that range from atmospheric and ambient tones to darker and more ominous sounds. It is available in VST3/AU versions for both Windows and macOS.

Double Layer