Rating: **** 4/5 Stars
Mobeus is a loop‑based instrument which uses three rhythmic layers plus additional processing to create rhythm loops, sequencer‑like riffs, pulses, grooves and even shifting textures. The sounds it produces are particularly well‑suited to cinematic or experimental music and the on‑board sound library comprising 600 individual sounds ranging in style from clock mechanisms and machinery to analogue hardware and musical sequences. Creator Si Begg took many of these sounds from his own library as used in his work on trailers, scores and so on. It requires the full version of Kontakt 6.5 and installation is straightforward; the download includes .RAR files that you need to uncompress and there is a free utility you can download to do this if you don’t already have the capability.
Presented as a three‑channel sample player with separate level controls for each layer, each channel can play one loop selected from a long list of options available for the selected ‘instrument’. Each can have its own Envelope, Pan, Pitch and Speed controls as well as multi‑waveform, assignable LFOs, Filters, Drive and Reverb. There are around a dozen instruments to explore, categorised by titles that reflect their content, such as Abstract, Darkside, Metal and Wood, Organic, Positive, Electronic Melodic, Electronic Percussion, Synths and Pulses.
There are also over 450 individual snapshots created by Si Begg, which are well worth exploring. Editing patches is easy as you can simply swap out some or all of the sound sources to create something new and maybe make a few tweaks to the envelops and filters. Because the samples are in standard WAV format, you can also use them in your projects as they come, but when played via Kontakt, there’s so much more scope and everything can be sync’ed to DAW tempo with different tempo division rates available for each channel. Keyboard Pitch is switchable on or off individually per channel.
Mobeus is certainly capable of producing interesting rhythmic and sequencer‑style beds with the minimum of effort... and because of the permutations in which they can be combined, it’s easy to produce something that nobody else is likely to use.
Mobeus is certainly capable of producing interesting rhythmic and sequencer‑style beds with the minimum of effort. Most of the loops have an organic quality to them, and because of the permutations in which they can be combined, it’s easy to produce something that nobody else is likely to use. Layering some of these looped sounds over a more conventional drum loop could certainly add a lot of interest but they can also work as main rhythm tracks for more abstract compositions. The various instrument menus provide plenty of variety from industrial‑sounding rhythms to Stranger Things‑style arpeggios, all sensibly arranged by instrument so that you can find the style you need quickly and easily. Given its modest price, there’s a lot to explore in Mobeus.
£50.95.
$59.95.
www.zero‑g.co.uk