Whale Drum

The Whale Drum is a modern example of the ancient tongue or slit drum instrument family. These progenitors of the "idiophone" family were originally developed in Africa millennia ago. They were originally carved from hollow logs or wooden blocks and struck to produce percussive musical tones. It is one of the few instruments considered to possibly predate language itself. Over time, slit drums have evolved to allow more accurate intonation and wider key ranges. Soundiron's Whaledrum has a marimba-like warmth, atmospheric tone, gentle softly-rounded attack and subtly undulating decay, with deep richness on the low end.

This 14" 8-tongued vermilion tongue drum was recorded in a dry studio environment with mallets, wooden sticks and brushes. Each note was struck by mallet at both tongue center and edge positions, with an average of 10 dynamic velocity layers and 10 round-robin variations per note. The stick and brush articulations were played over various edges and surfaces around the drum. Soundiron then recorded a second session with the instrument in a large reverberant tile and stone hall from a slight distance with mallets and sticks. This "wet" hall sound is ideal for orchestral arrangements and more atmospheric song-writing.

The library also includes a smaller 3-note slit drum and a wooden toy xylophone, delicate atmospheric pads and evolving ambiences created from the original acoustic source material. All of these articulations and sound sets offer independent articulation layering, blending and switching right at your fingertips. Whale Drum contains 3,173 stereo samples at 1.14 GB Installed. It works in Kontakt version 5.5.2 and later.

Click here to listen to demos on SoundCloud