Kora is a 21-string African harp. The Kora is a beautiful and mesmerizing African instrument. It is difficult to classify. With 21 strings and a cowhide resonator, it is a type of bridge harp, but with a touch of lute or guitar. Native to Gambia, it is widely used in Mali, Senegal and throughout Africa.
The instrument sounds like a harp, but when played in the traditional style it also resembles a guitar, played using flamenco or delta blues techniques, with polyrhythmic patterns strummed with both hands.
This Soniccouture virtual instrument is designed to be very comfortable and versatile, and features a MIDI pattern player for authentic accompaniment and micro-tuning for authentic scales.
The Kora is made from a gourd that is cut in half and covered with cowhide. This forms the resonator of the instrument. It has 21 strings suspended from a double-notched bridge – 10 on one side, 11 on the other. This is typical of a double harp, and it is classified as such. However, since the strings originate from the fingerboard and pass over the bridge into the resonator, this also makes it a lute.
- 40 velocity layers with circular repeats
- 25 release decay sample layers
- 25 detero mute sample layers
- MIDI pattern player
- Stereo microphone channel, stereo contact microphone channel
- Sound design presets