Sampled in meticulous detail and programmed for maximum and instant musical usability, the collection includes hundreds of varied percussion instruments from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and more. A massive 4.2-gigabyte collection of Japanese Taiko drums recorded from multiple microphone positions forms a central part of the library. Each instrument has been recorded with numerous alternate takes and velocity layers, assuring realistic and dramatically expressive sonic results. World Impact is an essential tool in the toolbox of every film composer, movie trailer producer, and aficionado of world percussion instruments.

Beyond the instrument collection, World Impact is augmented by a powerful pattern engine, the same engine that lies beneath Vir2's Elite Orchestral Percussion, allowing instant access to varied articulations such as chokes, rolls, flams, and ruffs, as well as patterned loop programming for both traditional and synthetic creations.

World Impact is powered by the industry-leading Kontakt engine. It is compatible with VST, AudioUnit, and RTAS (Pro Tools 7 and 8) plug-in formats allowing it to work seamlessly within any major sequencer, in addition to standalone use.

World Impact boasts an impressive array of features built into its engine, designed to provide the best in realism, flexibility, and creative inspiration.

Humanize

An integrated Humanize engine offers a breakthrough dimension in realism. The scripting engine underneath World Impact will intelligently vary the pitch, timing, and volume of each hit by minuscule amounts to increase the diversity of timbre produced. Each aspect of the Humanize engine, from extreme effects to complete bypassing, can be controlled by the user.

EZRoom

EZRoom is an integrated convolution reverb option, allowing the user to instantly place the percussion instruments in one of more than fifty different custom sonic spaces; everything from chapels and halls to caverns, small rooms, and unique esoteric spaces is included. When EZRoom is activated, new knobs for dry and wet levels appear, allowing full control over the level and balance of the convoluted sound.

Articulations and Triggers

World Impact also features an extensive custom articulation and trigger engine. Built-in custom articulations include choke, flam, 3-stroke roll (16th notes), 3-stroke roll (32nd notes), 3-stroke roll (64th notes), roll (32nd notes), and roll (64th notes). Each of these are tempo-synced as appropriate, and can be customized in detail.

Furthermore, World Impact allows for the creation of rhythmic patterns which are triggered by the engine. Up to 25 user patterns can be programmed in each instrument, and some prebuilt patterns are included in each instrument by default. The pattern engine is capable of everything from traditional patterns to wild and unusual synthetic effects, all of which lock instantly and perfectly to host tempo.

This is a full list of instruments that are included in World Impact.

World Impact's main screen gives easy access to EQ, velocity curve adjustment, and EZRoom, as well as providing an onscreen display of the currently selected articulation:

The Humanize page offers detailed control over how the engine seamlessly adds additional randomizations to the performance, enhancing the realism of the playing:

The articulation and pattern editor allows you to preprogram patterns by altering velocity, smoothness, and pitch, for both subtle and drastically unusual results:

World Impact is compatible with both Macintosh and Windows platforms and includes the standalone Kontakt Player application as well as AudioUnit, VST, and RTAS plug-ins. All of these versions ship in the same box.

The Macintosh version requires an Intel Core Duo 1.66GHz or faster, 2GB of RAM, a DVD drive, and OS 10.5.x or higher. For optimum performance, Vir2 Instruments recommends a 2.0GHz processor or faster. The library requires 13GB of free hard drive space.

The Windows version requires a processor speed of 1.4gHz or higher (Pentium or Athlon XP), 2GB of RAM, a DVD drive, and Windows XP SP2 (32-bit) or Windows Vista or Windows 7 (32- or 64-bit). For optimum performance, Vir2 Instruments recommends a 2.0GHz processor or faster. The library requires 13GB of free hard drive space.

World Impact will run in standalone mode and is also compatible with every major sequencing package in the world, including but not limited to: Apple Logic and GarageBand, MOTU Digital Performer, Digidesign Pro Tools 7 & 8 (TDM, LE, and M-Powered), Steinberg Cubase and Nuendo, Ableton Live, and more.