Hybrid Two: Project Chaos

[Guy Rowland]

Hybrid Two have released Project Chaos for an introductory price of $199 (existing owners of Alpha or Bravo should have received a $20 discount). RRP is $249.

DEFINITIVE USER EXPANDABLE HYBRID INSTRUMENT

Our most advanced UI (Requires the full version of Kontakt 5.8.1+)
2+ gigabytes of all new sample content
Bring in your audio and create your own Project Chaos expansions with the included Bank Manager tool
Custom Preset System
Per-Layer Step Sequencers with Per-Step Sub Sequencers
Sample selection across 32 Sample Categories on every layer
Solo play mode and Menu play mode with Keyswitch Tuning per-layer
Modulation Matrix with 2 Scripted LFOs and 2 Sequencers
Created by renowned sound designers Daniel James and Aaron Frensley
Open Wave Format allows easy drag and drop of all sample content into your DAW

Full Version of NI Kontakt 5.8.1 (Project Chaos will NOT work in the free Kontakt Player)
2.6GB Hard Drive Space

http://hybridtwo.com/newsite/project-chaos/

[Lawrence]

I’m fond of Alpha for that drop/whooshbang/easy braam touch, but it was way cheaper. Interested to see why Chaos justifies the much higher price.

[Guy Rowland]

I'll confess that mostly I ended up using the straight WAVs in Alpha for dropping the impacts, whoosh bangs, reverses etc onto the DAW timeline, and Bravo very little in truth. I'd be interested to see a couple of short demo videos here, but it seems from my understanding like the exact opposite of how I used it, very much designed to manipulate user samples and indeed build user banks.

[Arcana]

I’m fond of Alpha for that drop/whooshbang/easy braam touch, but it was way cheaper. Interested to see why Chaos justifies the much higher price.

Alpha was £149 ( $192) originally, so essentially the same as the intro price for Chaos.

I have Bravo, but never really used it, as I found the sounds all very aggressive and distorted, to the point where I couldn't think of an application for them outside hybrid trailer music.

[Luciano Storti]

I'll confess that mostly I ended up using the straight WAVs in Alpha for dropping the impacts, whoosh bangs, reverses etc onto the DAW timeline, and Bravo very little in truth. I'd be interested to see a couple of short demo videos here, but it seems from my understanding like the exact opposite of how I used it, very much designed to manipulate user samples and indeed build user banks.

This is, to 99%, is still how I use both Alpha and Bravo today. But occasionally, I’ve used the Bravo engine to create flavors of sounds the weren’t included, and it worked rather well. As I progress in this stage of creating my own sounds, I think a tool like Chaos, that allows for easy sound manipulation, even from very simple sounds, will find frequent use. If this creation process really is as easy as demonstrated, it opens up even more value in Kontakt for me.

[Lawrence]

I’m fond of Alpha for that drop/whooshbang/easy braam touch, but it was way cheaper. Interested to see why Chaos justifies the much higher price.

Alpha was £149 ( $192) originally, so essentially the same as the intro price for Chaos.

I have Bravo, but never really used it, as I found the sounds all very aggressive and distorted, to the point where I couldn't think of an application for them outside hybrid trailer music.

I think I must have bought it on sale at some point, then. I honestly don’t remember paying that much, though at well over 100 years old I can’t remember what I had for breakfast either.

Hybrid trailer music and EDM/electronica are exactly what I use Alpha for.

[kurtvanzo]

Hybrid Two have released Project Chaos for an introductory price of $199 (existing owners of Alpha or Bravo should have received a $20 discount). RRP is $249...

http://hybridtwo.com/newsite/project-chaos/

I was a little put off by the price and the discount ($20?), but then after seeing Daniel's walkthough I saw the real potential of this thing -THE BANK MANAGER! Drop old loops or wave files in and it maps it all to kontakt? Isn't that what most (lazy) composers like us were dreaming of?

Now granted, I don't have a lot of old loops hanging around I want to use, but what about SFX??? (I know, I know... it's looking for 4 bars). But for all those times I map sound effects into Kontakt (which is becoming more common for me in sound design or layering sfx) would it not be great to use Bank manger, then in seconds use them in the Chaos engine?

I think many are missing the ease of this, and how it can speed up how we use wav samples. Especially for sfx. Maybe I'm missing something, but that alone sounds like a great tool, regardless of what samples are in Chaos. Here's the video where he explains it repeatedly and shows how quick it is...



Hopefully for Guy, a shorter version will pop up eventually. Now I'm just waiting for a sale where it's $99, but that may be another year or so off... (where, oh where did I hide my credit card? Drat you money pinching alter ego!)

[Guy Rowland]

Yes, that does sound potentially very worthwhile. So many people are asking for more sensible videos / walktlhroughs, hopefully there will be something soon.

I've been slightly surprised by the mechanics of this release, it all seems geared to those who want to follow it all as a full time drama and not for working composers who just want to know what something does. I've done my fair share of long walkthroughs in my day, but a) I try to at least put up a menu of how to skip to the relevant bit, and b) I'm just a numpty usually showing something in detail, not the developer.

[NoamL]

This was one of my most anticipated libraries of '18 but in the end I decided it wasn't for me. Not because anything about it is bad, but because the value emphasis is so clearly on "CHAOS is the best version yet of the refresh-your-own-samples technology we were experimenting with in Alpha and Bravo." (which is true!) but I can't wear 19 hats as a composer... I must shamefully admit that when it comes to sound designs, I'm really looking for cool and varied off-the-shelf solutions. Alpha and Bravo are excellent for that, as are a few libraries by AudioImperia, and all the Photosynthesis series by Jeremiah Pena.

Interesting how different backgrounds = different approaches. I noticed in DJ's videos when he explores libraries, if there's ever a step sequencer or similar engine, he always spends some time looking into its capabilities. In a way CHAOS is like putting a mini version of Ableton inside of Kontakt, which is a cool idea. As someone who comes from a classical background, I don't even use the "Ostinatum" technology in Spitfire libraries. It's a cool piece of tech but I always think like an orchestrator and want my instruments written out.