Predecessor Instruments

A thread over on KVR about baroque instruments got me thinking about all the instruments that have gone before our modern orchestral and band instruments. So being me I thought I would try to make a post with some little instruments and links to a simpler day when more people ate mud and played harpsichords. Here are a few Kontakt instruments. If I can find any other samples I'll try to make more.

The Ghent Belfry Carillon 

This Carillon was sampled many years ago. The original site is now defunct, but Soni Musicae saved the original samples, along with making an instrument. So thanks to them we have this nice Carillon.

Soundcloud Demo.

I found some neat samples on FreeSound.org. These are very lightly sampled as these were generally folks just providing a couple samples for fun.

Fantom57 Oud

This Oud has 17 samples, one for almost every note. It is apparently the ancestor of the English Lute. Fantom57 seems to have done a lot of work to get these sounding really good. Please credit him if you use this.

Juskiddink Crumhorn

Just a little fun instrument with all of four samples, but a cool tone. Please credit Juskiddink if you use it on your million selling album. Check Sasje's Crumbhorn for a more fully sampled instrument.

Wuola Medieval Bells

Be a medieval bell ringer with these cool samples from Wuola. Please credit him.

For the admittedly too busy background, I used an illuminated manuscript from The British Library.

The brilliant gentlewoman Sasje has several instruments in this vein. The Viola Da Gamba seems incredibly hard to find even from commercial sources.

Sasje Simple Viola Da Gamba

Sasje Crumbhorn

Also old bigcat has a few pipe organs which are kind of the predecessor to lots of modern keyboard instruments. Bureu Organ, Saint Augustine's Organ and Burea Funeral Organ.

Soni Musicae is a great site. They have two free harpsichords and other cool stuff, including a brilliant piano in Giga that you can convert to Kontakt.

Apparitions

This instrument is from Brandon Clark. Let's let him describe it.
"Apparitions is my first excursion into the world of instrument development in Kontakt 5 using Joe Steven's generously made "B Pad." The sounds are dark and slightly cinematic in nature. Made from scratch, and free to use."

Apparitions for Kontakt 5

This instrument is Public Domain and free for any use.

B Pad

A long time ago I made a little Kontakt instrument called A Pad.  Its been improved a bit and called "B Pad". So clever I know. A number of my friends have helped me create it and then Matt McKay updated and overhauled everything. Thanks guys.

It still works the same way. Name any wave file "A Pad.wav" and drop it into the B Pad Samples directory replacing the public domain demo sound from OLPC. Kick up the B Pad Kontakt instrument and there is your new pad with fiddley EQ, Reverb and Envelope Knobs on. Any sound becomes an instrument (of sorts).
You can also change the picture with another one roughly 640 * 250 in png format. Just click the wrench on the upper left, go to "Instrument Options", "Instrument" and then "Browse" for your Instrument Wallpaper. Feel free to free name it anything you like. It's totally public domain and you don't need to credit anyone.

B Pad for Kontakt 5

If you want to mess about with the magnificent WIPs scripts from Robert D. Villwock, aka Big Bob. I've made a second B Pad that includes the WIPs scripts and resources and such. Big Bob is the creator of these excellent scripts and they are in no way modified, just included in the instrument.

B Pad + WIPs for Kontakt 5

Open Source Drumkit

Over at KVR, they have a thread.  It is about this Open Source Drumkit.

The readme says
"THE OPEN SOURCE DRUM KIT by Real Music Media - www.realmusicmedia.net
Mapped by BaardW (Tjuvdalen, Norway) v 1.0 feb 2010 - www.trelyd.org
Partially based on the mappings by SWTrex and herodotus
The samples and the mappings are completely in the public domain."

So I tried making a Kontakt 5 instrument out of it. Its pretty lightweight at about 120 megs. See what you think. OK cranked up the crash and ride. Take 2.

Open Source Drumkit - Kontakt 5

By downloading and using anything on this site you agree to this Limited Warranty & Liability.

Sin Night Analog Synth

Sin Night Analog Synth - Kontakt 5

Sin Night posted samples from his analog monosynth on KVR.  He kindly gave me permission to create Kontakt instruments using his samples. Here is the first one.  Script and Shell by Mickaël Ménager.

There are lots of squares and saws in the 12 presets. They are arranged with 3 squares first, then 3 saws, square + saw, saw + square, double squares and finally double saws. The are over 500 samples with every note sampled in one velocity layer.

You are allowed to use them in your music without restriction, but don't share the individual samples or make instruments out of them without permission from Sin Night.
Here is the original readme file text .

"These samples are free.
You can use them royalty-free for music production (including commercial music).
You’re not allowed to share these samples without prior written consent (so no derivative product, like sample libraries, without prior consent).
Sinusoidal Nightmare (aka sin night)"

272 Merry Orks

The endlessly amazing DSmolken has been very busy creating some cool and distinctive instruments. Check out his site. Recently he posted fun stuff on KVR.

Being me, I had to try Kontakting some of the samples of the nice lady. This is very experimental and a first attempt.

272 Merry Orks - Kontakt 5

Here are the keyswitches. Each sound is mapped across 4 octaves.

 

B - C1, C - C#1, Ch - D1, D - D#1, F - E1, G - F1, H - F#1, J - G1, L - G#1, M - A1, N - A#1, Ng - B1, P - C2, R - C#2, S - D2, Sh - D#2, T - E2, Th - F2, V - F#2, W - G2, Y - G#2, Z - A2

A - C3, a - C#3, ah - D3, ea - D#3, E - E3, ee - F3, e - F#3, i - G3, O - G#3, o - A3, oo - A#3, ou - B3, ow - C4, oy - C#4, OO - D4, u - D#4, y - E4

This library is a free download, open source and royalty-free for all commercial and non-commercial use. Creative Commons. Please credit DSmolkin.

SFX

As an old radio guy who loves old time radio, sound effects have always had a special place in my heart. I've done a few sound effects instruments in the past and Sarcyan's Musyng Kite soundfont collection has many more. However I have an itch to make a collection all in one place. I've collected the old sound effects and given some of them a facelift and started adding a few new ones. These are all for Kontakt 5.

Waves - SFX

Creative Commons Attribution to Luftrum

 

Gunshot SFX

Kontakt instrument based on The Free Firearm Sound Library, CC0 or Public Domain

Thunder.   CC Attribution 3.0 - Credit R Humphries

Helicopter. It has sounds like leaving, approaching, hovering and blowing up.
From Sound Bible. By Mike Koenig and Chester Barrett. CC Attribution 3.0

Jawharp Boing straight from cartoons. From Plingativator. Public Domain.

Basketball Bouncing. By Shakaharu. Public Domain.

Goose Sounds. From the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Public Domain.


A old sound effect instrument called The Doors.

Bell Can Bucket A tiny percussive instrument featuring the sounds of bell, can and bucket. Its Creative Commons Attribution, please credit OLPC.


You can find all the Sound Effects at the bottom of this GM Instrument List.