Welcome to a This Thing Rules edition a LONG TIME in the making. Truth is this track was done almost a year ago, but first of all, I was thinking of using it for my upcoming album, so I was holding it off. Then I got really busy with work and films and film festivals… But then a funny thing happened…

There was a contest to create a piece of music for the trailer to the excellent looking film “LFO,” and right away when I watched the trailer, I knew that this piece of music would be perfect for it. So I entered it, got a lot of great feedback, and since I’d hate to skip a review on a piece of software I received and loved, I decided to finally go back and get this thing up.

This is also a different kind of entry for This Thing Rules in that it wasn’t entirely created with just PlugIn Guru’s Omnipulse, the software I’ll be talking about today. I probably could make something only with Omnipulse… But it wouldn’t really go anywhere since the point of this package is sounds that pulsate rhythmically to help create tension and motion. As it is, you’ll notice once you listen to the track, it is a very tense piece of music, but I brought in sounds from other software to help mold it into a full track. This is also a different kind of edition of This Thing Rules because I’m embedding the track in the form of the trailer for “LFO.” I figured since it works so good in the context of the trailer, I might as well do it that way rather than a stand alone track. So here it is:

 

As you just heard… It’s a pretty tense and synth heavy track. The main two presets that I used from Omnipulse are “BPM BASS – Heavy Weight Offender” and “BPM GUITAR – 12 Stringer M.” The Bass sound creates that insane, heavy synth bass line while the Guitar sound adds a loop of tension to the track. I’m also using sounds from another of PlugInGuru’s Omnisphere Expansions, Omniverse, as well as some other sources.

While I wouldn’t use the sounds in Omnipulse alone to create a full piece of music, the presets that it does come with are absolutely essential for tense, dramatic underscore, as well as electronica music. The presets themselves are amazing as is, but they all have wildly variable results when played with the Mod Wheel… So much so that it’s seriously become my go-to for getting a score started. These sounds can provide the bed that any dark, atmospheric film needs. Then you can just build on top of it from there. Also, since they are arpeggiated based on Omnisphere’s built in Arpeggiator, they work with projects of any tempo. It couldn’t be easier to use.

The funny thing about this write-up taking so long, is that during these past months that I’ve been so busy, I was pretty much constantly using Omnipulse in everything I did! I really couldn’t recommend it more, and I really hope that they come out with a sequel. Omnipulse can be purchased at PlugInGuru.com for $30, and of course, requires a full copy of Omnipshere. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an item to cross off my to-do list that’s been sitting there for way too long…