Berlin based soundmakers Sidsonic are relatively fresh on the library scene, but have succeeded to make quite some fuzz with their two first Kontakt-based libraries Circus Circuit Bending Library and Tubes! While this review only concentrates on Circus Circuit - it's quite clear that Sidsonic is not an ordinary bunch of sound designers. Circus Circuit is (obviously) about circuit bending and Tubes! is a library created from the mad innovations by Eric Barbour/Metasonix. In other words: these boys like it odd.

While circuit bending is widely known to most people by now, it doesn't hurt putting yourself in the right state mind seeing Picachu making funny noises while being electrocuted.

Sidsonic obviously have a penchant for odd, weird noises and we might thank The Maker these guys are german. And that german in the most german of german senses. These guys have no fear fiddling around with electronics, but thankfully they do it in a very methodic fashion, which after over 18000 samples of 14 seriously violated sound-making machines - have been distilled into 179 multi-sampled presets in Kontakt 3 format. While I do know one or two things about sampling old gear, but this must have been a gargantuan amount of a work. Sampling chaotic signals from mental instruments is one thing. Putting them together in playable, multisampled instruments is a whole different matter.

You already get impressed when getting the box. Yes, you read correctly. Box, as in physical item. The box itself is beautifully constructed with two very real rca sockets and a dip-switch on the right side. The sockets and switch serve no other purpose than to make the box stand out, and it sure does. It looks damn cool.

Inside the box there is the installation dvd, serial and a 36-page booklet. Before we move on to the actual meat and potatoes here, I'd just like to say a few words about this booklet. As the box is beautifully constructed, the booklet is a joy to read. Apart from that it describes the actual library, it also gives some history and insight about circuit bending (which started already in the 60s) and spends a lot of space on each and every instrument - about the instruments themselves, their bending capabilities and events that happened during the bending sessions.

Some details about the library:

Number of instruments bent: 14
Size of library: 5.2 gigabyte

Synths:

Casio SK-1: 24
Casio SK-2: 7
Casio SK-200: 16
Texas Instruments Speak & Spell: 14
Texas Instruments V-Tech: 2
Yamaha PSS-140: 19
Yamaha PSS-270: 5
Yamaha VSS-200: 26

Drums:

Alesis HR-16: 9
Boss DR-550: 5
Korg DDD-1: 12
Korg DDD-5: 19
Roland TR-505: 12
Roland TR-626: 9

Total number of patches: 179

As you can see, the library is divided into two parts: synths and drums. Let's start with the synth sounds. Casios sampling keyboard series SK and the Yamaha PSS keyboards are getting most of the attention from the tweakers. All of the sounds can clearly be put in the lofi category, but the Casio SK sounds are the lofi:est of them all. I assume this has to do with that the SK series only has a sample frequency of around 10 kilohertz, which makes the sound dark and damp. While the Yamaha PSS sounds neither can be put into the high fidelity box - those sounds are way brighter and have a total different character.

For those who have experienced circuit bent sounds before, it is most important to point out that these sounds are playable - these are multisampled sounds which are always tonal. Sometimes the sounds are looped - in the sense they give you a rhythmical pattern or in the sense it holds the tone steady as long as you press the key.

The sound range from slightly odd to quite odd - but never goes too far into the acidic fog of burned capacitors. The character is moody, melancholic. There is very little for any upbeat happiness here. It's very easy to see how well these sounds would work for animated short stories, such as the odd sounds of Rupert - The Dancing Demon. If you're a fan of Native Instruments Gaugear ensemble for Reaktor - this library is right up your alley, but is - in my opinion - more usable.

The patch names are not very descriptive, which isn't a big thing, but sometimes they are outright confusing. I know what I would expect from a patch called 'synth bass' and that's definately not a analogue reedish long-release padish sound. No big deal, but still.

While I personally found a lot of interesting ideas for odd melodies in the synth section, my favorite part of this collection is without a doubt the drums. First of all, Sidsonic have not - as so often is the case - provided us with all kicks, snares etc in separate presets, but have taken the effort to collect them into usable drum kits.

If you got Kontakt you know that you have access to most of the parameters and can fiddle around with the sounds as much as you want, but if you're bound to use Kontakt Player - it's good to know there are five pages with parameters you can access. For the drum presets, each preset also provides unique settings for kick, snare, tom, cymbal and the percussion. This really makes a difference. It's extremely easy to tweak these drum sounds and it's absolutely lovely as well. There is a solo button that let's you focus on one drum at a time. Creating seriously odd beats and breaks is highly enjoyable. Ever wanted to go for that Fractal Techno you've been dreaming about? Now's the time.

It's good that Sidsonic provides a shortcut to all important parameters, because - getting off topic for a moment - there are few things I detest more, than editing parameters inside Kontakt. It's a damn mess of parameters and fold-out menus and the fact that I have to resort to the manual just to find a simple function that exists in every sampler made since Akai and E-mu were the hottest names on the street, is in my opinion a huge fail for Native Instruments. I have no love for Steinberg Halion, but I do hope said coming version is going to put some pressure on the Natives, because this is neither practical or inspiring.

Enough of Kontakt-bashing and let's get back to Circus Circuit. One very very cool thing is that Sidsonic have supplied you with a quite a number of impulse responses, but instead of them sounding like reverbs, they coats the sounds in an additional layer of oddness. They are very difficult to describe and it's even more difficult to find any favorites. One effect might be glorious on one sound, but might be boring on another.

Also worth to mention is that Sidsonic have a bunch of quite useful video tutorials on their website, on how you navigate and can use the library. Here's on the Boss DR-550 drum machine.

Conclusion
When I wrote my review of Loopmasters library Circuit Bent Sounds Vol2, my biggest wish was that it would be so damn nice to hear sound designers do something useful with these madly weird sounds. To take circuit bending to the next level, so to speak.
This is it. With Circus Circuit Sidsonic are serving you a wealth of seriously unique sounds and have made all the dirty work for you. While many of the sounds work straight out of the box, the real fun begins when you start mucking about with the filters and lfos. Sounds tend to change very rapidly with these sounds. There are no libraries that deals with circuit bending on the planet better. This is the Holy Grail for circuit bending fans and a goldmine for anyone who are looking for odd, moody sounds. Brilliant.

Sidsonic Libraries Circus Circuit Bending Library
Web: www.sidsonic-libraries.com.
Price: 189 euro.
Good: Inspiring, unique, well executed, fantastic drums.
Bad: Nothing really.

Review copy: a huge thanks to Sidsonic for NFR review copy.