Ilya Efimov Sound Production has released Russian Balalaika for Kontakt.

Balalaika, the renowned symbol of Russian culture beloved for generations, is a stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular body and three strings.

Three convenient modes of playing have been provided - Solo, Strum and Harmony.

Solo Mode: In Solo Mode the user can play using single notes, intervals and triads. Balalaika includes all of the most commonly used articulations: strumming, pizzicato, tremolo, vibrato, flageolets, staccato and glissando. Special attention has been paid to the creation of the tremolo articulation.

Strum Mode: In this mode, there is a zone of the keyboard that recognizes chords, where the user can play chord shapes with their left hand while they press articulation keys in the right.

Harmony Mode: The new Harmonizer is designed to provide a fast and easy way to play chords intuitively. When a chord is played in the chord recognition zone with the user's left hand, a melody line can be played with the right hand. Each successive note in the melody line will change the chord stroke direction (up to down, down to up) automatically. Playing positions will also change automatically. This feature can also harmonize the tremolo articulation.

Features:

• 2111 samples, 44.1 kHz \ 24-bit, stereo.
• 8 velocity layers for each note \ Round-Robin.
• 14 different articulations.
• Strumming, Solo and Harmony Modes.
• Speed and realistic dynamic tremolo control.
• Automatic harmonizer.
• Strumming keys, Repetition keys.
• String select.
• Natural glissando for pizzicato and tremolo articulations.
• Natural and LFO vibrato.

Price: €49.