By Mike Gwertzman
Analog Strings is an outstanding virtual-instrument offering from the Los Angeles-based software designer Output, and its rather simplistic product title doesn’t quite do this impressive piece of technology justice.
Yes, Analog Strings does – as you might have imagined – give you analog strings. But that’s just scratching the surface of this engaging and immersive piece of software and vast sound library that is likely to be embraced by a wide-range of artists – dance-music producers, new-wave retroists, cinematic score writers, and everyone in between.
Output has quickly emerged as one of the more innovative producers of music production software. Its plug-ins offer up vast libraries of contemporary cutting-edge sounds and unique interfaces to manipulate them, with each program focusing on a different musical element. Just as Exhale focused on vocals, or Substance handles basslines, Analog Strings is Output’s entry into the world of strings.
Analog Strings uses Native Instruments Kontakt as its host, and it’s quite beefy. It requires at least 22GB of space to install (you can use an external drive), and at $199, the price tag is relatively high.
Output doesn’t offer demo versions, but it does refund your complete purchase after 14 days. And it offers bundled discounts if you already own other Output products.
Installing was very easy. You’ll first need to download Output’s own hub software to manage installation. The Analog Strings download itself can take some time, depending on your Internet connection. But once you’ve got everything on your machine, all you need to do is open up Native Instrument’s Kontakt and follow Output’s simple instructions for installation. You can start exploring the software on Kontakt’s standalone application – or get right into it with your DAW.
