Harness the Limitless Potential of Chaos
Part of the company’s Play series of plug-ins, Native Instruments built Playbox to be an unbridled space of near-infinite possibilities, from beatmakers and solo performers to foley artists and composers. The randomness at Playbox’s core knows virtually no limits, delivering a diverse suite of searing synths, booming basses, phantasmic voices, foley noises, effects, and an ample assortment of acoustic-sampled instrumentation. What’s more, Playbox sounds can be generated as both solo parts and harmonized chords, thanks to a chord library with over 200 entries. Further flexibility is granted via selectable root keys, as well as comprehensive post-randomized tweaking that lets you easily like, save, and recall as a preset to use later. The sheer versatility of Playbox more than warrants its name, thoroughly impressing Sweetwater’s producers with its meticulous balance of inspiring, intuitive user interfacing, and multidimensional sound design capabilities. Plus, Playbox’s deep support of user-provided information means not only customizable import and export of MIDI files, but a quartet of user libraries to house up to 450 audio samples of your choice, infinitely personalizing the Playbox ecosystem. With a slew of onboard effects, multitudes of rhythmic tools, malleable modulation opportunities, and a virtual X/Y pad, this sonic sandbox lets you build with all the support needed to meet you at the furthest reaches of your imagination.
Note: This virtual instrument requires version 6.7+ of Native Instruments Kontakt or Kontakt Player. Please contact your Sweetwater Sales Engineer with any questions or concerns.
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Six ways to conjure creativity and beat writer’s block
This randomizer plug-in’s delightfully streamlined UI conceals an immensely versatile primordial pool of latent creative potential, and its hexad of colorful cubes are your starting points: Synths, Instruments, Bass, Voices, Noises, and User. Each roll of the dice taps into the cube’s respective suite of sonic possibilities, randomizing samples, sounds, effects, and chords to elicit one-of-a-kind instruments. Your six assignable macros let you further tailor your tones, with even more refinement at the tip of your fingers via global or patch-specific effects. Conversely, Playbox enables you to thread the needle between static rigidity and no-holds-barred randomness, thanks to a slew of 1,300-plus presets and per-category themes.
Endless, personalized expression: rhythm, modulation, and more
Playbox’s secret weapon lies in its vast array of interoperative capabilities and fine-tuning controls. Its armature of more than 200 chord sets supports up to six notes for every chord, each of which can be adjusted to suit your progression. Every chord generated includes the appropriate MIDI data, allowing you not only to build entire progressions, but to drag-and-drop the MIDI data straight into an accompanying instrument, within your DAW. What’s more, this is a 2-way street: you can bring supply Playbox with user MIDI data, too. This applies to Playbox’s powerful rhythmic tools, such as the onboard arpeggiator and sequencer. Plus, its bevy of expressive and modulation tools comprising multitudes of filters, LFOs, envelopes, 14 effects, and dynamics controls can be custom-mapped for DAW automation, your MIDI controller, or the built-in X/Y pad, which can itself be mapped to external sources.
The Play series: intuitive and inspiring libraries from Native Instruments
To get the most musical results, sometimes it’s best to take Frank Zappa’s advice and just “shut up 'n play yer guitar”… or keyboard, or drums, or whatever else! The Play series from Native Instruments features dozens of outstanding libraries that encapsulate this idea perfectly by offering you fantastic sounds, intuitive interfaces, and immediately inspiring results. Of course, should you wish to dive a little deeper, the Play series plug-ins also offer a plethora of adjustment parameters to keep even the most seasoned studio pro entertained for weeks on end.
Native Instruments Playbox Features:
- Multi-instrumental randomizer supplies a diverse sonic sandbox of ideation for beating writer’s block, sound design, and more
- Six sound sources comprise Synths, Instruments, Bass, Voices, Noises, and User categories to focus your aural exploration
- 1,300+ included presets have been meticulously crafted to cover a broad swath of moods and vibes, streamlining your production process, remaining as malleable as from-scratch sounds
- 900+ audio samples add immense harmonic depth and support atonal timbres for cinematic and evocative foley-type sounds or textures
- 200-chord MIDI library means up to six notes per chord that can be individually modified or swapped for audio samples, supporting complex sound crafting
- Versatile MIDI management lets you supply your own MIDI data to use within the plug-in and save for extended preset customization
- Groundbreaking drag-and-drop system means the MIDI data generated with each roll of the dice can be seamlessly placed into other DAW instruments
- Extensive user support includes four libraries to host a total of 450 audio samples to personalize your sound and breathe new life into classic audio
- 14 included effects accompany detailed humanizing adjustments and stereo-sculpting dynamics for near-endless performance possibilities
- Comprehensive modulation and interoperative integration features ensure complex and detailed opportunities for expression via the X/Y pad, automation, or custom MIDI mapping
