Native Instruments has announced Damage (www.native-instruments.com/Damage), a new instrument that provides cinematic percussion for movie scoring and music production. It will be available next month for US$339.

Created by by Heavyocity sound design house, Damage is powered by the latest Kontakt 5 engine and combines industrial sounds and orchestral percussion to add wide-screen character to any dramatic piece of music.

As the successor of Heavyocity's Evolve series, Damage is based on over 25,000 individual samples recorded in 24bit/96Kz, resulting in 30 GB of source material. Sounds were captured in a variety of locations ranging from various high-end studios to a Connecticut junkyard, and comprise types of percussion from traditional instruments to exploding cars and cranes dropping objects from great heights.

Damage contains over 700 beat-sliced percussive loops, as well as 58 multi-sampled kits, including an arsenal of "Damage Hits" for distinctive stings and transitions. Loop menus can be mixed and matched to create complex layered rhythms, while single loops offer playback control for sound tweaking. Certain kits are based on ensemble-style recordings with multiple velocity and round-robin layers.

The sounds are complemented by a specifically designed effects section that includes the new Trigger FX 2.0 real-time sound mangling suite as well as the central "Punish" knob for increases in pressure and intensity. As a Kontakt-powered instrument, Damage offers all relevant playback and sound shaping functionality through the free Kontakt Player software. All sounds can also be loaded into the full version of the Kontakt 5 sampler for advanced sound editing.