Rhythmic Robot has released Elektrik Kalimba, a sample library for Native Instruments Kontakt
This is, basically, a three-octave African thumb-piano sonically welded onto a traditional Rhodes EP. It sounds like the kind of keyboard a Zulu teenager might hotrod up in his spare time when he’d got tired of the tribal rain dances and wanted to get his groove on. It’s organic, funky, a bit dusty and clunky at times, and can run the gamut from almost-EP tones (though with a strange and unique originality to them) through bell-like, almost steel drum sounds, to African percussion clicks and clacks, depending on which settings you dial in.
We sampled multiple tine scratches, thunks, clicks, ticks and finger noises, and these can be introduced as additional attack noises beyond the kalimba’s own tone. We also sampled release thuds, thumps and mutes, and these can again be dialled in separately. This allows you to go from a kind of warmly rattly Roots Rhodes through to a full-on world music machine with a couple of mouse clicks.
Elektrik Kalimba features
- Character of a Kalimba, body of an EP.
- Separately adjustable thumb attack and tine release noises.
- Multiple round-robins and randomised samples for organic authenticity.
- Overdrive and Tremolo controls to add movement and drive to the sound.
- Equally capable in a traditional EP role, or in a more world-music setting, or as a unique sound-design instrument.
Elektrik Kalimba is available to purchase for the introductory price of £9.95 GBP until the end of March, 2013 (regular £14.95 GBP).
More information: Rhythmic Robot / Elektrik Kalimba
