Soundiron has released a new Hopkin Instrumentarium series instrument library for Kontakt and the free Kontakt Player. The U is a glissy steel lamellophone created by master instrument inventor Bart Hopkin.

Rather than having one tine per note, this creation has 14 closely spaced tines per note. Each group of tines is tuned in octaves and fifths across a range of three or four octaves.

The sound is produced by stroking with a glissing action across the array of tines for the chosen note, using a thin stick-like plectrum. There are twelve such groups forming a chromatic scale. Since each group spans several octaves, melodies can be played creatively by accenting specific tines. The tines are made of narrow stainless steel machine screws, tuned by adjusting the length using the hex nuts at the base. In addition, most of the screws are overtone-tuned by means of additional hex nuts serving as adjustable weights along the length.

The final result is a fascinatingly liquid and metallic timbre, ideal for your next composition that requires a truly unique tone.

Soundiron The U GUI

Hopkin Instrumentarium: The U features

  • 2 Master presets and 20 Custom Sound-Designed FX and Ambient presets.
  • 1 Unique Hand-crafted steel lamellophone.
  • Plucks, Bowed Shorts, Bowed Sustains, Glisses, Percussion, FX.
  • 24-bit, 48 kHz Stereo Lossless NCW Format.
  • 7,694 Stereo Samples.
  • 5.04 GB Installed (8.89 GB Uncompressed).
  • Made for the free Kontakt Player (version 6.1+), Komplete Kontrol, all S-Series Keyboards and NKS software and hardware by Native Instruments.
  • Works with the Kontakt “Libraries” browser and Native Access.

The U is available from Plugin Boutique for the intro price of $29 USD until November 10th, 2020 (regular $39 USD).

More information: Soundiron