Sonixinema has released Ethereal Pads, a free ambient library for Kontakt Player and the fourth and latest addition to its Origins series. Ethereal Pads runs in the free Kontakt Player 8.
The Origins series has been exceptional so far, and if you missed the earlier releases, I recommend getting them all.
Previous releases include Delicate Strings, Whispering Woodwinds, and Emotive Brass.
Ethereal Pads combines strings, woodwinds, brass, and vocals taken from Sonixinema’s libraries and processed through various Eurorack modules, including the outstanding Arbhar Granular Audio Processor by Instruõ.
Ethereal Pads features five presets: one default patch and four variations. Each preset consists of a blend of four distinct pads.
You can mix, solo, or mute each pad freely, but the coolest thing about these presets is the Morph slider. This slider allows you to transition through various mix states of the four pads and gives you complete control over the evolution of the preset.
In the Global tab, along with the Morph slider, you have the standard Expression slider to control the overall volume and a Dynamics slider.
You also have controls for Blur (low-pass filter), Stereo (mono to stereo), and Gloss (high-frequency enhancer).
If you’ve used any of the earlier Origins libraries, you’ll be familiar with the interface; the Home page has Global, Mix, FX, EQ, and Envelope tabs. There is a second page for the Gater.
The presets are Complex Through (default), Puzzled (quite ominous), Morning Waves (Gater), Manmade Synthetic (includes vocals), and Shelter (Deep low-end presence).
The FX tab includes 24 reverb types (20 natural and four artificial), Delay, and Degrade (distortion). I like the Degrade effect on all Origins libraries, but in this case, it helps highlight one of my favorite elements of Ethereal Pads.
Ethereal or dream-like sounds sometimes lack texture, but Ethereal Pads maintains texture from the individual sources, and the gritty harshness from the strings is especially impactful.
Between the mix settings, FX, EQ, and ADSR envelope, we have more than enough to build on what are already excellent presets.
Even with the more dramatic use of the Morph slider, the movement feels organic, but if you want a more uniform, glitchy, modern movement, the Gater is great.
In addition to various Gater presets, you can customize velocity per step, change playback direction, and adjust the feel from the Rhythm Tree, which goes to 1/32 triplets.
I hope the Origins series continues for a very long time because these libraries are truly beautiful!
Download: Ethereal Pads (FREE – Kontakt Player 8 required)
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Last Updated on July 1, 2025 by Tomislav Zlatic.
