The Mbira is originally a folk instrument from Africa. Sometimes called a Thumb Piano, Sanza, or Kalimba, they are generally home-made and consist of several metal tines attached to a gourd or piece of wood, which are then plucked with the thumbs. They are mostly small, with a handful of notes.

A far cry from the small, hand held African Mbira, Array Instruments, a U.S. company started by Bill Wesley and Patrick Hadley, have taken the concept to a whole new level, not only in terms of instrument design but also in purity of sound, and range of pitch. The Array Mbira is no toy, it's a highly advanced musical instrument built to exacting specifications.

The Virtual instrument created by Soniccouture features a 5 Octave Mbira, constructed especially for the company. Over 4000 samples make up the library, which includes separate Microphone and Pickup samples which can be mixed by the user. 8 velocity layers and 3 round robin alternate samples per note mean that the expressive and dynamic sound is this instrument is beautifully reproduced. A KSP Strummer module and note-off damping samples are also included.

Features:

• 9 GB Library (4 GB compressed).
• 24 bit 44.1 kHZ Stereo Sampling.
• Mic and Pickup Stereo Channels.
• Multiple Round Robins, 8 Velocity layers.
• Note off (Damped) samples.
• KSP Strummer Processor.
• 5 octave range.