Steel Tones

Steel Tones is a multi-sampled metallic tuned percussion instrument library for Kontakt that captures the essence of a Hapi Drum. Built by Hapi Tones, the Hapi Drum is a hollow steel-chambered acoustic instrument measuring 12 inches wide and 8 inches deep (30cm x 20cm). It’s in the family of steel tongue drums, also known as tank drums or hank drums. The concept was originally pioneered by Dennis Havlena in 2007 and has evolved into various forms by numerous instrument makers.

Our particular model has 8 tongues tuned to a D-major pentatonic scale. Each note has a strong fundamental tone wrapped in a haze of complex overtones and harmonics and a long, very mellow sustain. We recorded it with a close stereo pair of Neumann studio mics for a dry and very present sound, as well as a second stereo pair captured in a hall at 15 feet for an open, spacious sound. We sampled it deeply with 7 round robins and up to 9 velocity layers per note, using soft rubber mallets and hard metal mallets.

You can chromatically solo, combine or layer the different articulations, tongues and mic positions to create your own unique sonic blends. You can control each layer’s volume with the swell control, adjust attack, sample start offset, release, semi-tone pitch-stepping and define playable midi key range. These easy-to-use main parameter controls give you truly endless creative possibilities. We also include dozens of expertly sound-designed ambiences, textures, soundscapes, organic synth pads and custom presets, drawn from the acoustic source to provide excellent accompaniment and underscoring tools.

Our robust ARP system provides dynamic arpeggiation and step-sequencing options. The FX Rack page provides chorus, phaser, flanger, compressor, several distortion types, amp and speaker simulation, EQ, resonant filter, delay and convolution reverb. The reverb includes dozens of our custom cathedrals, churches, halls, bunkers, garages, tunnels, chambers, rooms and plenty of special FX impulses to explore.

This 2.9 GB library includes 1161 samples and a beautifully designed user interface for the full version of Kontakt 5.5 and later (OSX 10.8 or later / Windows 7 or later required).

Features

This standard open-format Kontakt library is a powerful tuned percussion design tool that stretches far beyond the limits of the acoustic instrument it was recorded with.

We’ve included 50 sound designed ambiences, atmospheres, and sustaining pads to provide tonal leads and background textures. Each one has been hard-crafted by our team, using the raw organ recordings and are an ideal accompaniment to this library.

The library comes fully equipped with flexible control features, like attack, release, sample start offset, dynamic swell, independent later transposition, key switching, independent layer control and a robust Arpeggiator system that provides lots of dynamic arpeggiation modes and step sequencer pattern creation options. There’s also a complete DSP effects rack, including convolution reverb with dozens of unique spaces, such as cathedrals, churches, halls, bunkers, garages, tunnels, chambers, rooms and plenty of special FX impulses to fully explore and endless variety of strange and unexpected sonic manipulations.

• A fully multi-sampled 8-tongue Hapi Drum (D-major pentatonic) steel "tank" tuned percussion instrument.
• Soft Rubbber Mallets
• Hard Metal Mallets
• Close Dry microphone position, using a stereo pair of large diaphragm Neumann studio mics.
• Far Wet microphone position, using a wide stereo pair of large diaphragm Neumann studio mics.
• Dual sound layers with fully independent controls that let you mix and match articulations and mic positions to create your own custom blends
• 50 Sound-designed ambiences, pads, atmospheres and synth soundscapes hand-crafted from the raw acoustic source.
• Waveform pad utility with vibrato control and several common wave shapes for layering, custom instrument creation and accompaniment.
• 14 NKI instrument presets and 6 NMK multi-instrument banks.
• Beautifully-rendered user interface.
• Custom sound-designed FX and ambient presets in a variety of categories and styles.
• Multi-mode Arpeggiation with step-sequencer.
• Convolution Reverb with 70 different cathedrals, churches, chambers, rooms, halls and special effect impulses.
• A full multi-effects rack, with EQ, filter, phaser, flanger, delay, distortion, amp & speaker simulation and more.

Kontakt Format

This library is designed for the full retail version of Native Instruments Kontakt 5.5 or later. Kontakt 5.5 requires OSX version 10.8 and later for Mac, or Windows & and later for PC. Kontakt is an industry-standard advanced virtual instrument / software sampler platform. 

Check out screenshots of our custom graphical user interface for Kontakt in the image gallery above. They provide a wide range of sound shaping parameter controls, each one totally automation-ready in your host environment or Kontakt's stand-alone mode.

This is a standard Kontakt open-format library, so the free Kontakt Player doesn't support this open-format Kontakt library. However, the sample directories are fully accessible to allow user customization, import and mapping into other wav-compatible software, sampler and synth formats.

The special Libraries tab doesn't support this open-format Kontakt library, but you can use the standard File browser tab, or import this library into the Kontakt database and Quickload tools for easy navigation, loading and organization.

Product Specificatons

• 2.9 GB Installed
• 1,161 Samples
• 20 Kontakt 5.5 .nki preset banks
• 24 bit / 48kHz uncompressed stereo PCM wav audio
• Unlocked Kontakt presets and wav samples to allow user customization

System Requirements

• Windows XP or higher.
• Mac OSX 10.6 or higher.
• Dual-Core CPU, 2 GB System RAM, SATA or SSD hard drive recommended for this library. 

Important Notes: 

• The Full version of Native Instruments Kontakt 4.5 or above is required to run this software.
• This software will not function in full within the FREE Kontakt Player engine and will only be available in DEMO mode.