Steelpan

Sonokinetic Steelpan is our take on the Steel Drum or Steelpan popularized by the people of Trinidad and Tobago. A tropical joy emanates from every touch of this beautiful instrument. Steelpans are handcrafted from the wealth of oil barrels that proliferate the Island State. They are a low-tech by-product of big industry and a testament to the creativity of whoever it first was that heard the music in these barrels and started to tune and cultivate them into the musical instrument of today.

The unique sound that is produced by striking the tuned parts of the instrument is very rich in overtones, especially on louder hits, where the whole instrument oscillates and resonates with the actual tine hit.

We decided to capture that sound using our proven methods, with two different types of sticks and additionally with our fingers. The finger-tapped sound not normally common to Steeldrum playing but we really loved the timbre when we experimented with the instrument and felt we needed to share it with you for inspiration outside of the usual use of the instrument.

Steelpan is captured using five microphones, a stereo set up on the balcony, another stereo set at about a meter and a half distance slanted above the instrument, and a close mic below the instrument, giving you ample opportunity to mix the sound to your liking.

To easily accommodate the distinctive playing method of this instrument we also included an automatic tremolo setting that will alternate between two notes when two or more notes are held together. Rapid tremolos are made easy for those of you with less nimble fingers.

With a beautifully crafted themed user interface designed by Ryo Ishido, we are very proud and pleased to present to you the next step in our traditional music cultural heritage, "Steelpan"

{See video at top of page}
https://soundcloud.com/sonokinetic/sets/Steelpan

Available from https://www.sonokinetic.net/products/ethnic/steelpan/

Compatible with the free Kontakt Player version 5.7.1 and above. Also compatible with Native Instruments NKS.