Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars
I’ll say it right now — Hemisphere is simply gorgeous. This ambient cinematic instrument adopts a similar approach to the electric guitar as Fracture Sounds’ ‘character’ pianos Woodchester, Midnight Grand and Glacier Keys. Following a similar format, and using the ‘house’ GUI familiar to owners of the pianos, Hemisphere substantially elaborates on the concept with a varied range of carefully curated sound sources, additional effects, and some unique features.
As with the pianos, the raw guitar tone can be blended with three different Atmosphere pads which act as sympathetic extensions of the guitar tone. Hemisphere provides a choice of 15 different guitar tones, based on either a Stratocaster or a Telecaster, each sampled in different ways through various amps and effects. They range from big and dark to crystalline and heavenly, even gritty, but always with a gentle touch.
The format is also augmented with a fine selection of 14 contrasting Atmospheres, any three of which can be assigned to the mixer slots in any combination. A Transient Emphasis control applies shaping exclusively to the guitar tone; positive values emphasise the attack whilst negative values range from subtle softening to a long fade‑in.
A Lo‑Fi control offers much potential for sound design, comprising tape simulation with Age, Saturation and Warble, three types of noise, and a choice of eight speaker emulations; this effect is global across the whole instrument, the rotary control governing overall effect intensity. The tempo‑sync’ed Echo includes saturation, damping and feedback, whilst the reverb comes with options for Room, Hall, Plate and the rather delicious ‘Shimmer’. Also featured is a remarkable Fade‑In parameter for the reverb, which I’ve not encountered before. Rather than being a standard pre‑delay, the effect is introduced gradually for each individual note, thus reducing reverb pile‑up and preserving the clarity of each note’s transient.
Pitch‑bending also features another innovation, whereby only keys being held down are affected; notes held by the sustain pedal are unaffected, allowing for an almost pedal‑steel playing technique. Fret noise can be triggered either manually by keyswitch, or automatically (with variable chance), in which case it’s only heard when all keys have been released — now that’s great attention to detail. Other refinements include low‑ and high‑cut filters, Timbre Shift and an Air control for the guitar tone, Colour (EQ), velocity response and sample start time, and the option to let the Atmospheres decay naturally or sustain constantly for as long as notes are held.
It’s impossible not to be enchanted by Hemisphere. The 55 snapshot presets are inspirational, and when you want to get creative there are many ways to tailor your own sounds.
It’s impossible not to be enchanted by Hemisphere. The 55 snapshot presets are inspirational, and when you want to get creative there are many ways to tailor your own sounds. This incredibly absorbing, immersive instrument sounds fabulous right out the box, surely destined to become an indispensable part of many a composer’s toolkit. Just load it, play it, and fall in love...
$99
$99