DULCITONE PRO — An elderly, introverted celesta.

DULCITONE PRO • An elderly, introverted celesta.

The most compelling scores aren't the loudest. Invented in Scotland in the 1860s, the Dulcitone is a keyboard instrument that bypasses strings entirely. Instead, a simplified piano action drops felt hammers onto a series of tuned steel tuning forks, coupled to a wooden soundboard. It is quiet. It is round. It sounds like a clonky, woody glockenspiel that has seen better days.

Originally marketed to Victorian missionaries who needed a portable keyboard that wouldn't fall out of tune in tropical climates, the Dulcitone was (supposedly) rejected by Tchaikovsky for The Nutcracker because it wasn't loud enough.

For Dulcitone Pro, we tracked down two distinct instruments. Before recording a single note, we had a master piano restorer overhaul them, equipping them with fresh piano-felt hammers and rubber-ball mallets. We recorded everything in a dry scoring stage using high-end Neumann and Coles microphones. Key releases, mechanical chassis squeaks, and pedal thuds were all captured on separate faders so you can dial in as much old-world friction as your track demands.

It's a rare acoustic keyboard instrument with a sound somewhere between a piano, celesta and vibraphone.

Explore Dulcitone Pro: https://wrongtools.com/kontakt-instruments/dulcitone-pro

THE SPECIFICATIONS:

• 3.3 GB of deep-sampled data (Version 2.1).

• 1,500 individual samples.

• 44 Main Patches + 25 Sound-Designed Variations.

• Multiple velocity layers and round-robins.

• Recorded with custom piano-felt hammers and rubber mallets.

• Dedicated faders for key mechanics, pedal sounds, and chassis quirks.

• Custom adjustable impulse response (IR) reverbs included.

• Optional self-playing [FX] patches (like sliding your hands through a curtain of bells).

This library requires the Full Retail Version of Native Instruments Kontakt 6.4.2 or later. It will NOT work in the free Kontakt Player.

We make samples. You play.

Wrongtools A/S.