Soundiron has released the Angklung, a new multi-sample percussion library for Kontakt.

This traditional full-ranged tuned bamboo percussion instrument originates from Indonesia, dating back to roughly the 7th Century AD. Over the past thousand years, it has become popular throughout South East Asia and Polynesia and can be heard in a variety of traditional and modern music. It's usually seen as an array of individual tuned pitched instruments, each comprised of a pair of joined bamboo tubes matched as a higher/lower octave pair struck by a loose bamboo tongue. It is struck or shaken by hand to produce short and long single notes and sustaining rolls. The result is a unique, clear, woody rattled note.

The library includes a set of 18 Angklung, tuned over a major scale spanning nearly 3 full octaves. The instruments were captured in a dry studio and in a large open hall with 3 separate microphone positions (close, mid, far). Each up and down stroke was recorded separately, with a total of 48 distinct round-robin variations per-velocity/per-note for the dry set (24 up/24 down) and 16 round-robin variations per-velocity/per-note for each of the three hall mic sets (8 up/8 down). You can also adjust the ensemble "width" of the instrument to increase or decrease the stereo left-right spread of the individual angklungs relative to one another.

It also features natural hand-played sustaining roll loops at different speeds and intensities, with smooth dynamic cross-fading between layers and adjustable release samples. Finally, there is also a set of ambient soundscapes crafted from the source recordings to accompany the instruments.

Full ADSR, tightening/start offset, tuning, stage panning and custom convolution reverb room/FX impulse selectors and a 3-band parametric EQ are integrated into the custom GUI. This library is also equipped with an extended version of Soundiron's Uberpeggiator arp system. It allows the creation of realistic sustaining angklung rolls simultaneously and independently for each key when using dry and wet the multi-sample instruments. It also allows fluid speed/tempo and intensity controls and optional host tempo-syncing and velocity graphing per roll pulse. This provides complete control over the speed, intensity and rhythm of the roll and the ability to weave the instrument into just about any type of music, while preserving a completely life-like simulation of the instrument's actual sound and feel. Of course, when the Uberpeggiator is turned off, the instruments also work great as single-strike wooden mallet tuned bamboo percussion instruments.

• 6700 Samples.
• 7 flexible Kontakt .nki preset files (unlocked K4 format).
• 3.5 GB installed.
• 24-bit / 48kHz stereo.
• Available by Continuata Direct Download and DVD.
• Format(s): Kontakt 4.2.4 (or later) and stereo PCM .wav.

Price: $79

Note: The full retail version of Kontakt 4 or later is required to use the .nki instrument program presets included in this library. The free Kontakt "Player" can only load this instrument in demo mode for 15 minutes. An upgrade to the full version of Kontakt is required to remove this restriction.

Listen to audio demos on SoundCloud

This walk-through video by media composer Brad Halverson takes you through Soundiron's Angklung Library in detail: youtu.be/yGh-p40j7VY