Symphonic Viola

What it does

A sampled viola pack for SoundBox, AudioModern’s free sampler, and a companion to Kompose Audio’s Symphonic Cello. It covers bowed writing rather than atmospheres: marcato patches, sustains, pizzicato, sordino and tremolo, plus arpeggiation presets that play a whole figure from one held key. Each preset stacks four viola samples from different mic positions, and any of those layers can be swapped for a sound from another pack.

In the demo

Jade imports the pack, then plays every preset from a KeyStep in AUM with an overhead camera on the keys so the mapped range is visible. She opens the Controls page to show the four layers in columns, replaces one with a vocal, runs the arpeggiation presets under a single note, and adjusts decay and release on a patch that cuts off when keys are released.

Worth knowing

SoundBox is free but unlocks its editing, effects and modulation pages only once one of AudioModern’s own in-app packs is bought. Jade covers this alongside four other Kompose Audio packs in the same video, and it is the only one of the five that is a playable instrument rather than a soundscape set.