Gravity review (Heavyocity)

Today we are going to go through a new Heavyocity product called Gravity. In the past Heavyocity has released some amazing sample libraries (Damage, Aeon, DM-307) that satisfied composers appetite. Is Gravity going to be worth your time and money? Let’s take a peak.

Content

Gravity weighs around 8,5/9 GB and can be run by both Kontakt (latest version) and Kontakt player 5. It features a lot of instruments ranging from percussions to synthesized instruments and it sounds phenomenal.

There are four main groups that divide Gravity: Hits, Pads, Risers and Stings each offering additional subgroups that I will not go into because then we would be here all day. The organization of samples or categories is simply put fantastic. It is easy to find the sound that you are looking for and I am guessing if the instrument wouldn’t be Kontakt player compatible, you would be searching for a desired sound for a long time and that certainly wouldn’t be very effective. In short, categorization of samples is important to make your life a bit easier. Having said that, there is still so much content here that you will probably spend a lot of time just browsing through them.

Each of the four categories offer full menus (meaning all loops/samples in one instrument) or individual parts that are appropriately named “Elements“. In “Risers” category you will find samples split into 15 and 30 second samples plus organic samples. Latter offers live instrument or risers that were recorded live.

In its 1500 presets, Gravity really shines in diversity and creativity and it takes you through their new graphic interface but before we get into graphic interface, let’s see how it sounds.

Sound

In one word: It’s Heavyocity so you know it is going to sound good. Their products always sound edgy, fresh and relevant to the current market.

Gravity is not an exception. Think of it as a Damage, Aeon and DM-307 combined. You have edgy hits, that you can now construct yourself, you have different types of pads for every occasion and you have the elements to beef up the sound however you like. All in all there really isn’t much to say except that it sounds fantastic.

Graphic interface

The core of the Gravity is its graphic interface which is well organized and you should have no problem navigating around it. All the controls that you have been used to (if you ever owned a Heavyocity products) are there including their famous “Punish” and “Twist“ effects. If you are interested in knowing more about these two effects, then please check out my other Heavyocity reviews, as I go into detail about these effects there. Back to Gravity now.

Having said that, I have to say that I have mixed feelings about the new interface. I will just talk about the look and feel of it and please consider this just a personal preference.

The thing is that sometimes you might get confused, thinking that it is an controllable knob but in reality it is just a graphical add on. Now, I know that you might feel differently but as I said it is just my personal experience.

The graphic interface does offer a lot of customization though. And that is great. You have two interface variations. One for sample/organic type of sounds i.e. hits, whooshes etc., and another for synthetic sounds. The difference is that synthetic sounds (pads for instance) offer a mixer and a pitch where you mix between three types of sounds, much like Aeon. The hits category replaces this with loop view and a couple of controls. One great addition is that you can control the time or the pitch directly from that view. This is especially cool for hits and whooshes where you can time the sound correctly. Eliminates the process of importing the sound manually.

The Gravity interface is split into four main parts. Main, EQ/Filter, Trigger FX and Motion much like Heavyocity’s previous graphic interfaces. On the main tab you will find (depending on the type of sound) a mixer or a sample view, Punish, Twist and Pitch if you are playing with pads. Next to that you will have your standard effects (Reverb, chorus, delay and distortion) and on the right side of the interface an ADSR which can be individually applied to each of the sound channels. You can affect all of the channels at the same time if you desire so. Below ADSR you will find velocity, glide (absent in hits category) and unison knob.

The EQ/Filter and the Trigger FX are similar to the other Heavyocity products so I won’t get into details here.

Next is Motion control which offers gate, pan and pitch. Again, the interface offers two variations of this. One for pads and one for hits similar types of sounds. The only difference is that with pads you can control each of the three channels individually which enables you to create a lot of different type of sounds. There are many controls here from basic ones like choosing a preset of the motion to choosing how long will the sequence play. You can check out the image I have provided and see for yourself. If you own a DM-307 then you shouldn’t have any issues navigating around this part of the instrument.

Motion control can also be triggered via key on your keyboard (A#6 to C7) which makes it handy to change your sound on the fly. Control wise, Heavyocity went all out with Gravity. I mean, everything is there and almost every control can be tweaked or controlled via sequence.

Even if I dislike some of the graphics in Gravity, there is no denying that Gravity is a Kontakt masterpiece.

Ease of use

Gravity shouldn’t be too hard to navigate through. If you get lost, then you can check out the provided documentation or look at the bottom of the Kontakt for information about the effect but like I said, you shouldn’t have any issues.

Price/Value

The Gravity will set you back for around 450 US dollars which certainly isn’t on the cheap side but there is plenty of content and a cool graphic interface to make up for the price.

I cannot say if the Gravity is something everyone will want since it is more marketed for modern, hybrid scoring but you can definitely adapt it for other uses too. One will have to decide for him/herself.

Conclusion

Much like the Sun uses its gravity to pull the planets towards it, Gravity pulls you in and makes you want to play with it. It is admirable how Heavyocity uses samples combined with the great interface to expand your sonic palette. Think of Gravity as Damage, DM-307 and Aeon combined. It uses the best of all worlds and makes it something unique and interesting. Gravity surely is an awesome library.

Screenshots