Tonehammer releases Tablas V.1: Loops for Kontakt and EXS

Tonehammer has announced the release of Tablas Volume 1: Loops for Native Instruments' Kontakt and Apple's EXS.

Tonehammer worked with tabla master and jazz percussionist Sameer Gupta to capture a range of tabla rhythm, melody and soul. Sameer has been a student and practitioner in the art of percussion for nearly 25 years, traveling the world to study and perform in some of the world's most prestigious institutions and venues. To call tabla a mere percussion instrument alone would be a vast understatement of its musical range, as one of the most revered of all classical Indian musical instruments.

This library contains over 1300 unique phrases, divided into 27 banks by BPM. It includes over 2 hours of live tabla phrases, exploring complex poly-rhythms and deep grooves, both traditional and contemporary. Tonehammer recorded close and dry, in wide-stereo. Tonehammer covered a wide range of tempos: 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 160, 170, 180, 190 and 200. All instruments are tuned to Middle C, with key-switch pitch control to allow shifting by up to +/- 7 semitones. The library includes both Kontakt and EXS instrument programs, and open wav directories to allow direct sample use in any sequencer or sampler that supports 24 bit .wav format.

Note: This library does not auto-synch to host tempo and BPM values are approximate, allowing for natural poly-rhythms and groove drift. Tablas are carefully tuned and long-sustaining tonal instruments. Tonehammer found that pitch-shifting or time-stretching the tabla phrases produced very unnatural-sounding results. While all samples loop seamlessly, it's important to keep in mind that they are often best used much like Tonehammer's vocal phrase libraries. Each phrase naturally evolves into the next, allowing the sequence of tones and grooves to rise and fall in intensity, complexity and musicality. Tabla is traditionally the force that drives the pulse in classical Indian music, so Tonehammer felt that it was vital to preserve natural tonal character, groove and flow.

Tonehammer will also be exploring the instrument further with a deep tabla multi-sample instrument arriving later this month.

Pricing & Availability

Tonehammer Tablas Vol. 1: Loops is available for download now for a special intro price of $69 ($79 after December 25th).

Note: Native Instruments Kontakt 2+ full retail version or EXS compatible sampler required. The free Kontakt Player is not supported.