Tonehammer Circle Bells

Tonehammer releases Circle Bells, a new sample library for Kontakt.

Essentially we managed to get our hands on a unique tuned percussion instrument, which is made by an artisan in the San Francisco Bay Area and can only be found in a handful of local music shops. The maker makes one at the time, so there are very few of them in the world.

The instrument is known as a “Circle Bell” and sounds somewhere between a Gamela, Waterbowl, Prayer Bowl and extraterrestrial. The instrument is made of an array of 6 steel bells, ranging from 2″ to 3 1/2″ in diameter and about 10″ long.

Circle Bells features

  • Articulation list:
    • Cloth mallet strikes: an average of 12 velocity layers with our standard 10 round-robins.
    • Cloth mallet rolls: modwheel controlled loops with 3+ velocity layers and 2+ round robins with release triggers.
    • Twin metal guitar pick strikes: an average of 12 velocity layers and 10x round-robin.
    • Twin metal guitar pick scratch effects: 8 layers and 8 round robins per layer.
    • Twin metal guitar pick scratch “rolls”: modwheel controlled loops with 3+ velocity layers and 2+ round robins with release triggers.
    • Bowing sustains on all bells (fundamental notes and harmonics): 2+ velocity layers and 2+ round robin with release triggers.
    • Bowing staccatos on all bells (fundamental notes and harmonics): 2+ velocity layers and 2+ round robin.
    • Custom sculptable ambient drones, created using only the circle bells as source material.
  • Extensive read me install, patch and hint documentation (.pdf).
  • Interview w/ Mike Peaslee / Troels Folmann.
  • Sample resolution: 44.1Khz /24 bit and stereo .wav format.
  • Format(s): Kontakt 2 and .wav.
  • Bonus: Ambient Circle Bell Glitch Bank with 53 Glitched Loops (Kontakt 3 only) by Steven Tavaglione.

Circle Bells is available for Kontakt 2.2.4 and higher, for the introductory price of $49 USD (regular price $59 USD).

Visit Tonehammer for more information and audio demos.