Soniccouture has announced the release of Clav, a sound library for Native Instruments featuring the sounds of the Hohner D6 clavinet.

Soniccouture Clav

Featuring 31 velocity layers (14,880 samples – 9GB), Soniccoutures’ new intelligent round-robin system, release samples and a fully modelled pickup / preamp section, Soniccouture Clav brings the Hohner D6 Clavinet to your DAW like never before.

Few instruments get fans of funk grooves drooling like the Hohner D6 clavinet. Originally intended for classical harpsichord-esque duties, but really sonically closer to an electric guitar than a piano, its twangy, spanking timbres add a melodic tension to a groove like nothing else. To achieve the iconic funk sound it is paired with a wah-wah pedal – one of the earliest examples of this was on Up On Cripple Creek by The Band in 1969.

The D6 contained 60 strings that are amplified by two active pickups, one above the strings close to the bridge (Upper Pickup), and one below the strings (Lower Pickup). The instrument is played from a keyboard, which launches little hammers that strike and hold the strings in place. When the hammer is released, the dampers at the end of the string stop the sound. The D6 also has a Mute slider, which brings a felt damper over the resonant part of the strings to create a different timbre and shorter decay time.

Clav features

  • 9.6GB Library (5GB on disc).
  • 24 bit 48 khz sampling.
  • 31 Velocity layers + intelligent round robin.
  • Modelled Preamp switching.
  • Seperate Pickup sampling.
  • Kontakt Player Compatible.

The Clav library costs 99 EUR/£89 GBP/$119 USD.

More information: Soniccouture / Clav