Two kalimbas made of wood and coconut shell – the modernised form of the ancient African mbira, with a humble, melodious plucked sound and marimba-like warmth.

The kalimba is often paired with pianos and other tuned percussion to add a sharper attack and playfulness; the smaller of the two instruments spans about an octave and a half, the larger over two octaves. Plucks and strums were recorded close and dry in the studio, at medium distance in a small bright chamber and in a long underground First World War-era artillery bunker at close (1 metre) and far (15 metres) microphone distances, with a little wood scuffing and creaking deliberately left in. The samples were remastered and placed in a four-layer modular template, 86 ambience patches were created from the raw source and 20 FX presets were added. An LFO, 12 filters, arpeggiator, key and scale lock and an FX rack with convolution reverb are on hand for sound shaping.

Features

• Two kalimbas of wood and coconut shell with hammered steel tines
• Plucks and strums in studio, chamber and bunker
• Bunker recordings at 1 and 15 metre microphone distances
• 86 ambience patches and 20 FX and ambient presets
• LFO, 12 filters, arpeggiator, key and scale lock
• FX rack with 18 modules and convolution reverb

Technical details

• Type: Virtual instrument for Kontakt
• Operating systems: Windows, macOS
• Plug-in formats: VST2, VST3, Audio Unit (macOS only), AAX, Standalone (via Kontakt)
• Requirement: Full version of Native Instruments Kontakt (version 5.5 or higher); Kontakt Player is not sufficient
• Content: 2.25 GB, 1,131 stereo WAV files, 24-bit / 48 kHz

System requirements

• Mac OS X 10.9 or later
• Windows 7 or later
• RAM: 2 GB
• Disk space: 2 GB
• Full version of Native Instruments Kontakt (version 5.5 or higher); Kontakt Player is not sufficient

The licence is registered with the manufacturer at https://activate.soundiron.com/. You will receive your serial number and the download link by e-mail immediately after purchase.