Versilian Studios has released Fretless Zither, a free virtual instrument plug-in.
The fretless zither is a simple “parlor instrument” consisting of a sound box with strings going across the top and a soundhole in the middle. To the left is generally a section of “chord” strings, which, when a set of these is strummed with the finger, will play a certain chord. To the right is a chormatic scale, generally two octaves, which consist of the “melody” half.
A friend showed me this one while I was visiting and I was instantly enthralled by the instrument despite its poor shape and complete lack of tuning. I spent a day tuning it and afterwards ended up recording some samples of the notes in a semi-studio setup. I compiled the samples I made into this basic fretless zither virtual instrument, using the Maize Sampler software.
The Fretless Zither is available to download for Windows (VST).
More information: Versilian Studios / Fretless Zither
