MODWHEEL releases "Autoharp and Taishogoto" for Kontakt

MODWHEEL has announced the release of Autoharp and Taishogoto, a pair of idiosyncratic folk harps for Kontakt. Steve Roche says: These two instruments have been in the works for quite some time — several years, in fact. We've had an Autoharp in our collection for a while and were thinking of eventually building a library around it. Then we came into possession of the Taishogoto and it occurred to us that it would be a good companion to the Autoharp given their similarities and mechanical nature.' So making space between other projects and MODWHEEL releases they eventually arrived at what they are now able to share. He continues 'When developing a library it can be tricky to know how best to present the instrument. It's relatively easy to sample an instrument and lay it out across the keyboard so you get the sound right enough but it's obviously quite a different thing to playing the actual instrument. When an instrument is laid out like a standard piano it's natural, as a player, to fall into those habits and patterns that you instinctively play on a keyboard. So our idea was to design the instrument in such a way as to approximate the performance of the real instrument on a keyboard thus encouraging a different approach to music making. Suffice it to say it took a while to figure it out but we think it's kind of a novel approach. The Autoharp was recorded in the Stella Maris Chapel, using three microphone positions which can be controlled from the main GUI: Near, Mid, and Far. To conserve CPU, mic positions can be toggled off when not in use, which also unloads the associated samples. The instrument was recorded twice with the two versions having different characters, sounds and slightly different performance styles. They felt that offering both options would be useful. An FX tab gives access to the Rhythm Step-mod and Scatter Box. The Rhythm Step-mod works on volume and can be used to create effects from a simple tremolo through to more complex rhythms. Scatter Box is MODWHEEL's convolution IR effect. The Autoharp has 8 patches including different performance articulation/strum key switch modes plus single string plucked and muted as well as a dischord patch. The Taishogoto has 7 patches with similar performance modes as the Autoharp as well as Bowed and Extended patches. Library format and contents: Audio recording format: stereo, 48 kHz / 24-bit. Size of recorded sample pool: ca. 13.47 GB ncw compressed. File format of samples: 10741 samples in.ncw / lossless compression format. File format of instruments:.nki (built with Kontakt 6.7.1). Pricing & Availability Autoharp and Taishogoto is available for a limited time intro price of $48 (Reg. $69). Please note Autoharp and Taishogoto requires a full version of Kontakt 6.7.1 or above. Read More