Noisy Michael Unconventional Bundle [KONTAKT]

Hammerbass

Hammerbass: its somewhere between a bass guitar and a hammered dulcimer. But don't think the twee folky sound of a hammered dulcimer, but rather the jangly, noisy sound of hitting on your heavy-gauge roundwound GHS Boomers with a drumstick. Lots of character and body - great for bass, but also good in the higher register for more melodic uses. The Hammerbass has two sets of main samples (24-bit), one from a pickup and one close-mic'ed, with the mix being controllable from the custom interface. There are also separate samples for the attacks, for the note-off noises as well as for some string squeaks or scrapes (a noise like dragging a pick along a string). In addition, playing a high C triggers a "thud" sound like muting the strings on a bass. Multiple-velocity samples of course, and most samples have round-robin alternates. The custom interface provides controls for the amount of attack and for the volume of the characteristic note-off noises, and how often the "string scrape" noises are triggered between notes. You get two NKI instruments, the first where everything is combined and a custom script controls the triggering of note-off noises and scrapes, designed for just playing (this one was used for the Soundcloud demo) and the second where the main notes, note-off's and scrapes are key-switched so you can have full control over when they get triggered.

Max7imba

The Max7imba: Its somewhere between a Marimba, a Kalimba and a DX-7. Listen to the demo - its like a vacuum-tube marimba played with light-sabres. A metallic sort of percussive sound, but after the percussive hit, some drone voices come in and hang about for a bit, embedding the percussive main sound in a ghostly haze. This sample-set is based on an original DX-7 patch and the main samples have that non-linear DX-7 sound, sampled, of course, at multiple velocities. The mod-wheel brings in the drone voices. The drone voices are held for some time after you play the notes, so when you play a flurry of percussive notes, you are left with a long wash of drones. The custom interface has control for the length of the hold time. The drone voices have controllable vibrato. There is also a controllable attack sound (with round-robin alternate samples). A built in reverb and delay and an autophasing effect that adds subtle motion to your playing are all controllable from the custom interface.

Nostromo

Here's the sound of the USCSS spaceship Nostromo, an M-class commercial mining starfreighter. This Kontakt instrument has a multi-layered spacey, analogy pad, to build your space-opera melodies with, combined with a selection of the grimy, clanky sounds of the spaceship itself: rumbles, HVAC systems, coolant pumps, and clanks echoing through the long metal corridors. Several Kontakt NKIs are included: you can have the pad and the spaceship noises as separate instruments, or mapped out for either a 88-key or a 61-key (5-ocatve) keyboard. The spaceship noises are on the lowest 11 notes and the pad above that. Special programming allows some of the spaceship noises to latch - you hit the key once and the spaceship rumble starts, and doesn't stop till you hit the same key again, or untill you hit the lowest key, which kills all the drone voices at once. The custom interface provides volume controls for the various spaceship noises, a control for the latching behavior, and controls for the built-in chorus, reverb and delay effects.

Garlick Harpsichord

Garlick Harpsichord: A lovely single-manual example, made by the renowned harpsichord-maker Andrew Garlick. Lovingly multi-sampled in great detail, including both notes and note-off samples. Controls are provided to bring in a second choir of strings, tuned an octave above the first, and for the volume of the note-off noises, as well as to control the amount of the built-in convolution reverb. If you want a little funky with your powdered wig, there is a "Filter" button, which turns on a resonant filter which is under the control of the mod-wheel.

Tongue Drum

The Tongue Drum. Also known as a slit drum, instruments of this type have been used throughout Africa, Southeast Asia and Oceania. Woody, percussive, melodic - its log, its log! This Kontakt instrument is deeply sampled, and made from close-miked stereo stereo samples, for a nice full sound. Unlike the real instrument, which only has six notes, the Kontakt instrument plays chromatically, and the range has been considerably extended so you can get some nice bass hits out of it. Sampled at multiple velocities, round-robin alternates. Included is a "gank" sound which is a strange squeak that happens when you hit the tongues hard and just a little bit crooked. This sound is controlled from the custom interface, so you can go from "perfect" playing to playing that has an organic grit to it (you can select full-time, random or none). The interface also provides a choice of neutral sound, or you can colour the sound with two convolution resonance modifiers ("wood" or "metal").

Jaw-Harp Bass

The Jaw-Harp Bass. A breathy, lamellophone bass sound built from a comprehensive set of jaw-harp samples. The difference to an actual jaw-harp is that this Kontakt-instrument can be played chromatically - so you can play melodies, bass-lines ... symphonies no less. Multiple-velocity and round robin alternate samples of course. Samples in close-miked stereo for a nice wide sound. Modwheel fades between two different intonations. The custom interface provides controls for a "clanky" attack sound. The custom interface gives you control over a sub-bass which can be added, tone-colour, as well as the choice of two built-in reverbs and a built-in delay.

DX7 Bass

Here, celebrating the over 30-year history of one of the most popular synthsizers ever, is themost popular synthesizers ever, is the DX7 "electric bass" sound, one of the signature sounds from the DX7. This sound was everywhere in the early 80ies - think A-Ha "Take on Me", Janet Jackson "When I think of You", John Parr's "St. Elmo's Fire", Kenny Loggins "Danger Zone" or Howard Jones "What is Love", to name just a few. This sample-set is sampled direct from a 1983 brown battleship DX7 (original edition naturally), including the haze of digital distortion that you got from a 12-bit machine with 1983-level technology. Sampled at multiple velocities of course, to preserve the rich dynamics of the DX7. As ever, I give you more: a touch of a button brings in an extra pair of voices with controllable detuning for a fuller sound. The custom interface has controls for distortion and chorus, as well as allowing the selection of two amplifier impulse responses. The mod-wheel controls the amount of the built-in LFO, while its speed is controllable from the custom interface. Finally there is a "auto phasing" effect which adds a phasing effect, but rather than being cyclically modulated, this one changes with every new note to add a lot of motion to your playing

Rubberband Bass

Hand me down my walking cane, and y'all had better prepare yourself, because you never heard a sound like the Rubberbandbass. When I saw this short fat guy Stretch a band between his toes, hey, I laughed so hard, cause the man got down! Sure, some people play $3000 Alembics or double-basses worth more than their cars. But sometimes, you ain't got no cash and you just need to get down. That's when you turn to the Rubberbandbass, its the bass for everyone! This is a multi-sampled rubber band, a nice fat purple one if you care, for that rubbery bass-sound. As ever, extensive controls are provided. There is a choice of three different impulse-responses, including two custom acoustic-sounding woody soundboards and a Tweed amp along with a "Tone" control to adjust the midrange. A built in LFO, controlled by the modwheel can go from adding a bit of grrrmph buzz to a rubbery wobble. Two-octave pitchbend - hey, this thing is stretchy - and a choice monophonic modes with legato or full-time glide or polyphonic, and finally a built-in delay. (Thanks to www.freesound.org, where user Alienistcog a.k.a. Chris Castiglione provided the extra twisty rubber-band noises, and Vincent Sermonne provided the brushed-drum track used on the demo, and to the Spinners for advertising copy)

Vorsprung Durch Technik

Vorsprung durch Technik [ˈfoːɐ̯ʃpʁʊŋ dʊɐ̯ç ˈtɛçnɪk] - a German vocal construction kit for when you need that Teutonic sound for your tracks. Who wouldn't want, to quote Dylan Moran, a bit of "the sound of typewriters eating tin foil being kicked down the stairs" in their tracks? The sample-set has a selection of enigmatic words and phrases - each with round-robin alternates and recorded at different volume levels. Its an extensive set, with almost 200 individual samples. So your German robot voice can be expressive and emotive! The custom Kontakt interface provides controls for EQ as well as for the built in reverb and delay, and allows you to alter the pitch of the voice.

Reese Crunch

ReeseCrunch: a crunchy Reese machine, greasy like peanut-butter but cuts like a table-saw. Produces a reese-y bass sound, based on a triple sawtooth wave, so there is continuous movement as the three waves beat against each other. From there, there is an added layer of buzz which fades in an out randomly for extra movement, and then the whole thing is run through all kinds of further nonlinear nastiness. The custom Kontakt interface has a host of controls to tailor the sound to your depraved needs. There is a selectable "Attack" and a control for the sub-bass volume, the built-in filter, and the buzz volume, as well as built-in phaser and chorus effects, a choice of built-in delays, and of course the vital crunch (distortion) and selectable amp-simulator controls. You can also control the filter cutoff frequency using the mod-wheel to keep the sound moving, just like a proper reese. The soundcloud demo showcases only two of the myriad possibilities for tuning the sound.

SineBass

Sinebass: a pure sine-wave bass with a difference - you can keep going down and down and down! It works like this: for notes below a certain point, a subtle octave doubling starts to occur. Its like the foldback on a Hammond organ, except the effect is gradual. It means your bassline can go down and down and down, but still not fall off the bottom of what your speakers can reproduce. The point below which the foldback occurs is selectable, by note or frequency, so you can tune it for your computer speakers or your club bins. Check out the Soundcloud demo to see what it sounds like. The custom Kontakt interface allows you to select either a pure sine, or a waveshape with some second or some third harmonic content. There are three selectable types of attack (all three can be heard on the Soundcloud demo), as well as controls for the built-in saturation and chorus effects

Jam Jar

Another one from the kitchen: a tuned percussion instrument made from the sound of snapping a Mason jar lid. But that doesn't tell you much - listen to the demo. Its somewhere between a steel drum and a kalimba. This very responsive Kontakt instrument has main samples at five different velocities as well as round-robin alternates. Tweakability is provided by the custom Kontakt interface, which has several controls to fine-tune the tone, and allows you to select a damped mode, where the notes end when the key is released, complete with note-off noises, or an undamped mode where each note rings to its natural conclusion. A "dubby" version of the instrument is also included, where the mod-wheel brings in a delay.

Saurus

Here's a complex, analogue resonant-filter sound for you. It consists of four separate layers, the two main ones providing a nice stereo sound with just enough detuning to make it fat, a separate sine-layer to make sure that the bass-oomph is always there, and a unique "buzz" layer, which is occasionally triggered to provide just a bit of rattle and buzz, so each note is a bit different. There's a Kontakt script which implements a legato mode, much like most analog synths, where legato notes play without retriggering the sample or the filter envelope. A button controls whether its polyphonic or in legato mode, both modes can be heard on the demo. The mod-wheel is routed to the filter cutoff, and the Kontakt interface has knobs to allow other fiddlings, because this is a fiddling sort of sound!

DirtySync

DirtySync is an "Oscillator sync" sound, implemented using Kontakt programming and scripting. Since sampling technology is not well suited to oscillator-sync, brutally forcing Kontakt to do it results in a rich, gritty sound. If you want the digitally distressed version of Van Halens' of "Why Can't This Be Love" you've come to the right place! There is loads of control. The custom-scripted interface allows you to select the mod source to be either the Mod wheel, a built-in envelope with or without velocity sensitivity, with controllable decay rate. It also provides front-panel controls for the filter. Finally, the effects section includes switchable chorus, delay and bit-crushing effects.

Mechanalog

A creaky, rather detuned "mechanical" synth, which makes its sounds with a Heath-Robinson sort of mechanism involving lots of tiny little gears and ratchets. The main samples are from my venerable Korg MS20 (not strictly speaking mechanical, but very definitely analog). In addition to these, there are grindy noises and Hammond-type keyclicks. Perfect for a grindy reese bassline, good for leads and for when you need that retro-funky but not-quite-adequately-lubricated disco sound. As usual, this patch is optimized for real-time playability: The mod-wheel goes to the filter cutoff, and key-pressure brings in vibrato. Pitch-bend is 2 octaves. The custom Kontakt panel has controls the amount of mechanical noise, pitch and amount of keyclick. .

Sample and Hold

The sample and hold circuit: another standby from the analog synth era, propelled headlong into the digital present as a Kontakt instrument What was commonly called "sample and hold" was usually noise fed into a sample and hold circuit to produce stepped but randomly varying control voltages, which were then usually used to control the filter cutoff. Think "Rez" by Underworld or The Who's "Won't get fooled again". This Kontakt instrument goes beyond that: the custom scripting produces a waveform that changes randomly in rhythmic steps. So you get a "sample & hold" effect but the filter is still free for whatever else you want to do with it! Of course, you can also route the stepped random control to the filter cutoff frequency to produce the traditional effect if you want, but you could instead control the filter with an envelope or with the mod-wheel - the possibilities are endless. What's more, the "sample and hold" can either be free running, or can sync to your track's BPM. This instrument can produce a wide variety of sounds - its virtually a full-blown synth VST all in its own! The Kontakt panel has a host of controls for the filter and waveshape and modulation - see the . Check out the Soundcloud demo for just three of the many possible sounds.

Bone Flute

The Bone Flute. A rare, 12,000 year-old example made from the thighbone of the Megatherium or Giant Ground Sloth. This Kontakt sampled instrument is designed for realistic flute lines: long main samples, a selection of different attack samples for various playing styles, and separate samples for wind noise. The custom Kontakt script allows realistic monophonic legato-playing. Real-time controls for breath, wind-noise, tremolo and octave-doubling are available through knobs provided by the Kontakt script or through Midi CCs. The Kontakt Bone-flute is lovingly programmed to provide a playing experience markedly superior to anything else available in the Paleolithic and even well into the Neolithic ages. (Truth in advertising disclaimer: okay, I made up the bit about the 12,000 years and the Megatherium; if you really need it to be, like, real - well maybe you shouldn't be playing a sampler....)

Sopila

A Sopila for Kontakt - an ancient, traditional, double-reed woodwind from Croatia (see http://www.gajde.com/index.php/en/sopile.html). This instrument is also known as the rozenice in Istria, and is very similar to the sopile from the island Krk. The samples are courtesy of Sameul Sacher (see http://www.samuelsacher.org). The samples are long and not looped. In addition to round-robin alternate samples, there special note-off breath samples as well as a trill sample. The sopile is a difficult instrument to play, and we have included a "flub" note, which can can be triggered at will to add character to your playing. The custom Kontakt interface has a button to make the instrument play monophonically - which makes legato notes sound more natural - as well as for the amount of pitch humanization, breath and wind noise, and for a built-in delay effect.

Wide Beam Stun

To achieve this big, way-stoned sound, this Kontakt instrument uses multiple phasers running at three different speeds: There is an instrument-level phaser but in addition, each voice has two different per-voice phasers. The Kontakt Interface has a control for the phaser-speed which simultaneously changes the speed of the three different LFO's that control the swirly madness. The low end can be turned into an analogue-bass, also with controls on the interface. The mod-wheel fades from the full phaser to a crunched, band-pass filtered sound, and pitch-bend control does double duty to pitch-bend bass notes and low-pass filter the rest (listen to the Soundcloud demo, which involves only a single track, for examples).

Bulbul Tarang

Waves of Nightingales, my man! That is the literal meaning of Bulbul Tarang, which is the name of this Kontakt instrument. Also known as the Indian Banjo, it is a common folk instrument from India. The Bulbul Tarang has a two sets of strings, one for melody and one for drones. The melody strings are all tuned in unison and are fretted by keys, and played with a plectrum. This extensive sampleset has multiple-velocity samples with round-robin alternates, along with note-off samples, and separate samples for the drone strings. All samples decay naturally - no looping. It has a custom Kontakt script which reproduces the the monophonic response of the real instrument where lifting a key can cause the note to continue to ring at the root note produced by the open strings, with a selectable root-note. The script also allows you to choose a polyphonic mode.

KPR77

KPR77 - what the bleep is a KPR77? It was Korg's answer to the TR808. We've all heard lots of 808's - the KPR77 is for when you want that analogue drum machine sound but want something different! Tight analogue drum sounds, a little rawer and nastier than the 808. But its more than just a KPR77 sampleset: this Kontakt instrument samples each of the sounds of the KPR77 and then uses the Kontakt time-machine to let you stretch out the sounds using the mod-wheel. As there is even more: an analogue bass, which is made from the KPR77 kick sound, that you can use to add a bass-line under your beats. Also included - a built-in convolution reverb with a custom impulse of a spring reverb, sampled direct from a Roland Space Echo, but as always there's a little extra from the original: its in stereo. The custom Kontakt interface has knobs for volume and pan for the most important sounds, as well as for the level of the spring reverb.

Jenni's Wineglass

Jenni's Wineglass: this Kontakt instrument is a slow, atmospheric, deep-crystal pad made from the sounds of a single wineglass. The glass was played by the lovely Jenni Wren,and recorded in "macro-stereo". The body of each note is the very dreamy sound made as Jenni slides her moistened finger round and round the glass, and playing harder brings in a bell-like sound of the wineglass being struck. Alternate samples are triggered "round robin", so each note is slightly different. All rounded off by a nice convolution reverb. This patch is optimized for playability, allowing you to interactively shape the sound as you play. Channel pressure brings in vibrato, and the custom Kontakt interface has controls for the release time, reverb and decay.

Ring Mod

The ring-mod is what you pull out when you want your analog synth to get nasty. The Arp 2600, the EMS Synthi, the Korg MS-20 - they all had ring-mods - why not you? This ring-mod Kontakt instrument is optimized for playability - control your noize! Solo like the beast you are! The mod-wheel controls the filter cutoff, there is a two-octave pitch-bend and key-pressure brings in vibrato. What's more, there are four dedicated controls on the interface for the modulation frequency, glide (portamento), and for the built-in reverb and delay. Instead of the static, brute-force approach of sampling every note, this patch uses devious Kontakt programming to implement a ring modulator, (or two-quadrant multiplier for you pedants). Which means it will respond naturally to pitch-bends and glide, and the modulation frequency can be controlled in realtime for a very dynamic sound. And all this eats up only a scant 3 Kbytes of your memory.

Darbuka

Darbuka: an aluminium hand-drum, also called a goblet-drum. Since Arabic, Armenian, Assyrian, Azeri, Balkan, Greek, Persian and Turkish musicians can't all be wrong, you're obviously missing something if you haven't got one of these. The sample-set has separate samples for different strike-styles, with multiple-velocity and round-robin variations of each one for an expressive and varied sound. Each sample was recorded with two mics, one for the head and one for the body. The custom Kontakt interface provides a control for mixing the head and body mic samples. In addition to the regular drum, the instrument has a separate bass version of the sound with a tuning control. Finally, there is the choice of a long or a short convolution reverb and a control for the reverb amount

Milk Bottle

A Vintage Milk Bottle: for that wide-mouth breathy down-home whoosh. I found this vintage example in the bushes behind my house outside of Johannesburg - the modern ones just don't sound like this anymore. Sampled with various levels of water in for different notes. There are three playing modes - normal, normal with attack and staccato. All, of course with multiple velocities and round-robin alternate samples. Lots of extra control: The mod wheel brings in a tremolo. The dedicated Kontakt interface provides a host of further controls: you can choose the playing mode (normal, attack or staccato) manually or have the three modes keyswitched (pick 88 or 61-key keyboard layout), there is a control for the tremolo speed which goes from tremolo to rapid burr, and finally, you can choose between two different built-in convolution reverbs.

DX Fretless

A very responsive fretless bass sound sampled from a DX7 (for Kontakt). If Howard Jones were on ECM he would have played this sound! It's sampled at multiple velocities to accurately capture the great non-linear velocity response that was the brilliant thing about the DX7. The dedicated Kontakt interface has a wealth of controls: You can choose polyphonic or a monophonic mode with controllable glide-time. You can control the volume of the "attack" that comes in when you hit it hard. You can select whether to include a chorus and/or some dirt, i.e., characteristic DX7 aliasing: Yes, these samples were made direct from a custom-programmed sound played on my own real, vintage 12-bit DX7 with all its warts (sonic ones and a case held together with the judicious application of a little 5-minute epoxy). Finally, you can also select between two sets of samples which simulate playing near the neck or near the bridge. Additional performance controls include after-touch mapped to vibrato, and the mod-wheel brings in a subtle "wow" as you let the note ring.

Wooden Frog

This particular wooden frog, hand carved in Peru, was the very one used in "Across the Andes by Frog". Recorded in situ in the steamy jungle of my music room, in macro-stereo with a matched pair of studio condensers in an x-y pattern. A wide selection of sounds were recorded at different velocity levels, with alternate sounds triggered in round-robin fashion, for a very expressive instrument (over 40 samples), going all the way from the frog's natural range to a pitched-down bass thud. The Kontakt script has knobs for tuning the sounds, and the mod-wheel brings in an impulse reverb which echoes away like the seven thousand rock islands of Lake Quequeña. The reverb is based on an impulse made by my very own acoustic-space modelling program, and is not available anywhere else - the impulse alone is worth the price of the whole kit!

Windy

Windy - a pure-wave analog-style sound with controllable random pitch modulation using custom Kontakt scripting. It goes from a sine-wave to an almost noise-like whistling sound to sample-and-hold textures - don't make me dance about architecture, just listen to the Soundcloud demo! It's very controllable, designed for real-time playing. The mod wheel controls the amount of pitch modulation, and there is a dedicated control for the modulation speed. The custom Kontakt script provides a host of further controls: You can select from monophonic response with two different glide (portamento) modes or polyphonic response. There is a control allowing a mix of pure sine and quasi-square waveshapes. A button controls the presence of an attack. There are separately modulated "oscillators" routed to the right and left channels for a wide stereo sound. The custom interface is rounded out with controls for a built-in delay and reverb. If someone had given Claude Debussy a modular synth, he would probably have come up with this sound!

Mondo Linn

This started off as a sampleset of the classic Linn drum-machine. If you had $4995 in 1980, you could have got one of these! But: you don't come to me for a straight up Linn sampleset - grab your mod-wheel and pitchbend, and the full Kontakt effects chain gets medieval on your ass, and we go off into a mondo bit-crushed, convoluted garbled sound. Imagine a one-eyed madman, living since the early 1980ies inside a missile silo with only a Linn LM1, a jerrycan of LSD and a speaker with a ripped cone. The original Linn LM1 was used by pretty much everyone - Falco (der Kommissar), Gary Numan (Dance), Michael Jackson (Thriller) .... So you can have that sound or you can descend into the maelstrom! Kontakt interface has controls for bypassing the individual effects, as well as for reverb and delay levels.

Pot Lid

Another one from the kitchen. This is a multi-sampled pot-lid, which makes a beautiful and unique tubular-bell like instrument. Recorded in macro stereo with a matched pair of studio condensers in an x-y pattern, played by none other than the pot-lid percussion wunderkind Jenni. There are round-robin alternating hits, multiple velocity samples, note-off samples, and two different strike-styles which are keyswitched. Extra controls: the mod-wheel brings in a subtle, cyclical panning, while the Kontakt interface has has dedicated controls for the panning speed and the level of the note-off noises.

The DX7

The mighty Yamaha DX7: It was my first real keyboard! I have unearthed it from beneath the layers of archeological detritus left by subsequent civilizations to bring you this massive sample set. First there are two different bass sounds: Hollowbass and skankbass. So wonderfully non-analogue. Sampled at multiple velocity levels of course. The modwheel fades between the two sounds. Then there is a truly monstrous set of wierd and wonderful DX7 noises. Kicks, snares, bells, klanks, tinks, and just wierdness. 80 samples! Most sounds are sampled at multiple velocity levels. The great thing about the DX7 was how organically the sounds responded to velocity. Many of these sounds are my original DX-7 patches and are not available anywhere else.

Very Large Array

The sound of a real radio telescope at work!

All the samples in this Kontakt instrument are from my own unique field-recordings of the noise made as the Very Large Array radio telescopes track a distant quasar across the sky.

Jodie Foster has nothing on this: it is way beyond atmospheric! Use whenever you wish to invoke the sounds of spiral density waves sloshing around in the interstellar medium, triggering another wave of star formation.

It's a spooky, atmospheric, almost pitched sort of sound, with a trailing creaky echo (listen to the soundcloud demo). As ever, the Kontakt instrument has a few dedicated controls which change the volume of the creaky tail, bring in a subtle sine-wave and adjust the amount of reverb.

Overtone

The sound of the subtonic monks in the cathedral caves of Cerulean 4 (well that's my theory anyway).

This is a vocal patch comprising a number of different samples. The goal is not an ultimately realistic patch, but rather one that is playable and expressive, hence there is fairly deep programming.

The main samples are long, so the notes evolve as long as the key is held down. There is also seamless looping for extra sustain. The patch responds to velocity, key-pressure (vibrato) and the mod-wheel (formant filter) in addition to having some dedicated controls in the custom Kontakt script. No two notes are identical due to subtle random variations in the sounds and different attack samples triggered in a "round robin" fashion.

All topped off with a choice of two great convolution reverbs, ice-cave or hall.

Resonator

The Resonator is a unique sound, reminiscent of pioneering, pre-1950, electronic instruments like the Ondioline and the Theremin.

Unlike those strictly monophonic instruments, this Kontakt Kit has, in addition to the melody oscillator, a set of "resonators", which produce an ever-shifting set of drone voices, sort of like the oscillator version of sympathetic resonator strings on a sitar or a viola d'amore.

It works like this: You play a melody with the right hand, and hold down a chord with the left. As you are playing the melody, different notes of the chord will be brought out as they resonate with whatever melody notes you are holding in the left hand. All this is accomplished with a custom script for Kontakt, not available anywhere else - its like a dedicated VST instrument.

The result is a rich texture that constantly shifts with different notes coming to the fore, all in a gorgeous space provided by the Kontakt convolution reverb. There are extensive real-time controls: The control panel allows you to tailor the sound to taste, with controls for the vibrato, resonator volume, the glide-time, the keyboard split and more.

The mod wheel fades between two classic waveforms (pulse and sine). Portamento (glide) is provided with variable glide time and a full-time or a legato-only mode.

Cedarbass

Cedarbass is a woody, acoustic-sounding bass. If Rickenbacker made an acoustic bass guitar, it might sound something like this. Multi-sampled, with different velocity-levels and articulations, round-robin triggering of alternate samples, note-off noises etc. You want dirt! I'll give you dirt! Turn the knob and the amp simulation kicks in.

Even better, there is a Kontakt script to do intelligent legato - you can simultaneously tie legato notes together and play polyphonic bass-lines. Yes, you too can be Jaco.

There is lots more control: after-touch (key-pressure) for vibrato, the mod-wheel for distortion. The custom Kontakt interface has a "tone" knob which controls the mic position, and a knob to control the note-off volume.

Grainy

A granular synthesis pad machine: A texture that can go from sonar-ping blippy to the Russian red army chorus to a desert wind howling in the night - listen to the Soundcloud demo!

Instead of playing a looped sound, this patch uses Kontakt scripting to implement granular synthesis, by firing thousands of tiny sound blips at your ears at random. This unique K2 script is not available anywhere else!

The mod-wheel controls the grain frequency, and the custom Kontakt panel has additional controls for release-time, choral layer volume, distortion and reverb.

The Soundcloud demo is a single take, played live.

Dr Drum

Here's a Kontakt multi-instrument with an extensive set of drum-sounds from the DR 660 (played by, among others, Squarepusher, Orbital and the Electric Hellfire Club).

The samples are arranged so you get 8 different drum kits, all mapped the same way. So write your drum pattern, and you can instantly try it out with 8 different drum kits from standard to electronic by just soloing a different one of the 8 included instruments.

Or you can mix them, or play them all at the same time for a ridiculously huge drum sound. A great tool for roughing out your drum sounds, and it has some great non-standard sounds on it. The demo just repeats the same drum pattern with the 8 different kits. The kit contains 75 individual samples (mono + stereo), recorded directly to computer, all normalized and trimmed.

Kontakt (compatible with 2.2.4 and up) and Battery 3 patches included plus a full set of individual WAVs

Solina

Oh Solina, how I pine for you.

A few bits of wood, a few frequency divider circuits and a bucket-brigade delay line was all it took to make everyone from the Cure to Pink Floyd to Jean-Michel Jarre fall in love with you.....

A multi-sampled ARP Solina String Ensemble, with as always, a few tasty extras - and if you didn't want extras, you'd just go down to Ye Olde Vintage Keyboard Shoppe and buy the real thing, wouldn't you? So, unlike the vintage Solina, this Kontakt instrument is velocity sensitive and the mod-wheel brings slightly detuned samples for a tasty, per-note flanging effect, and after-touch brings in a bit of tremolo.

Stainless Kitchen Vibes

This kit was born as a number of hits of a stainless steel cutlery holder by my lovely assistant Jenni. Its a clangy but melodic and bell-like foray into the joy of inharmonic overtones.

Recorded in macro-stereo with a pair of small-diaphragm condensers and ART mic-pre. Sampled at multiple velocity levels and with multiple hits for a very responsive, dynamic sound. The mod-wheel controls the amount the fundamental tone in the Kontakt Instrument.

Use whenever you need an Einstürzenden Lionel Hampton sort of feel.... what's that you say? Nonsense, of course your tunes need an Einstürzenden Lionel Hampton sort of feel.

Comes with patches for Kontakt, EXS24, Soundfont and individual WAVs.

Toy Piano

The lovely Jenni gave me this Straco "Grand Piano" toy piano, a beautiful piece of the toy-piano-maker's art, as you can see. I have sampled it extensively, as I wanted to retain the highest fidelity and authenticity!

Each note is sampled at two velocities, so you get the full effect of the differences between the keys, although I did extend the range a little bit, and unlike the real thing, there are black keys. The special note-off noises are also sampled (note-off volume is controllable).

As ever, I give you more - there is a sub-octave to add more depth which can be brought in with a midi-control or a dedicated knob in the Kontakt panel. In addition, the mod-wheel brings in a looped, sustaining sample also made from the toy-piano for a ghostly sort of choral drone.

Ideal for your Schroeder moments, and just whenever you get tired of your favourite multi-gigabyte Grand Piano sample, or when the innocent little blond child plays the toy-piano just as the Candarian demons .....

Shepard Tone Generator

A Shepard-tone generator. A Shepard tone (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_tone), for those that don't know, is sort of aural barber pole, a tone that never stops rising, but never actually gets higher. A Shepard tone was used on Smith & Selway's hit "Total Departure" and was also the sound of the Bat-Pod on "The Dark Knight".

Reach for this when you need to give your tune that "eternally lifting" feeling of a musical low-g environment.

This Kontakt-based Shepard-tone generator is fully polyphonic - each key you play produces its own independent Shepard tone, so you can build up huge sound textures by playing thick chords. The the mod-wheel controls the speed of rising or falling. The dedicated Kontakt interface provides a host of other controls: a choice of three different waveforms (3-octave sine, pulse, or 6-octave sine), "up", "down" or both at the same time. There are also attack and release controls for the envelope as well as controls for the amount of chorus and delay.

Achieve liftoff!

Leakysine

Imagine a cross between an old-school, lab-bench sine-wave generator and a Hammond B3.

It generates a sine-like waveform, but the waveform is imperfect, and each note has random leakage from other notes, which doesn't track the pitch of the main note. All blended and nicely re-fried with an overdrive and cabinet simulation for a warm and gritty sound.

As ever, there is tons of control: The mod-wheel controls the amount of leakage, while key-pressure brings in a tremolo.

The custom interface has controls for keyclick and a "tone" knob. You can choose between polyphonic and monophonic with a custom scripted glide (portamento). Further controls for saturation, choice of cabinet simulation, and built-in delay round out the sound.