Heavyocity Symphonic Destruction £325

Ever wondered what a symphony would sound like if it were to do battle with Optimus Prime? You’ll get a kick out of this then…

Fiery, powerful, destructive, aggressive – all overly-used synonyms for the kind of sound mangling for which Heavyocity is renowned. Ever since 2012’s game-changing Damage blew the lid off home cinematic percussion, the company has been central to discussions around the best methods of constructing epic soundtracks and organic-sounding textures. While Damage and its recently released sequel emphasized dramatic percussion, the team have now applied a similar approach to the entire orchestra. Symphonic Destruction’s central concept is explained pretty succinctly by its title – this isn’t a typical string sample library, more of a meticulously crafted chaos machine.

Symphonic Destruction is a rich resource of over 11,800 samples, in a download that clocks in at a surprisingly slight 17.4GB and leans on Kontakt 6 (or the free Kontakt player) to run. Installation is a breeze and within half an hour we’re confronted with the software’s idiosyncratic UI.

A design for life

As with Damage, Heavyocity are keen to reinforce the idea that Symphonic Destruction is a customisable toolkit as opposed to merely a bank of well-curated samples (which it also is, of course). By default, we enter into the SD Designer window. This is the flagship of the three main ‘Designers’ as it allows you to weave together three channels of the software’s myriad treated sounds into various selectable places on your MIDI keyboard, or let the software intelligently concoct new sonic monstrosities. The Macro Control and Sequencer let you program animated modulations and rhythmic pulses, too.