Kalimba is a modernized version of the ancient African Mbira, also often referred to as the thumb piano. It has a simple, melodic percussion-stringed sound with a tonal body, reminiscent of a marimba.
It is often used in combination with pianos and other percussion instruments to add a sharper attack and playfulness to the sound. Our instruments were made from wood and coconut shells, with hammered steel prongs suspended over their sound holes. The notes cover approximately one and a half octaves for the smaller of our two instruments and over two octaves for the larger kalimba.
We recorded kalimba in three different environments: Close and Dry in our studio; at medium distance in a small cell; and in a large, long linear hall, both at close (1 meter) and far (15 meters) microphone distances.
We call our long hall “The Bunker” because that’s exactly what it really is – deep underground, a WWI artillery bunker. This is one of our favorite secret places and has been used for parts of the Rust 2 library and some of the other tools in our collection.
The dry recording was done with a stereo pair of large diaphragm condensers 2 inches apart in a very dry location. You will hear a slight crackle and squeak of wood. We think these elements help give instruments a more natural sound and feel.
The Kontakt interface includes a set of automation-ready sound shaping controls for complete creative flexibility. You have control over fade, attack, release, offset, vibrato, filter, pitch (coarse and fine), articulation switching, crossfading, layering, and more. We’ve also included 20 unique sound effect presets to give you tons of creative options.
This library comes with an adaptable LFO system with selectable LFO shape, modulation target, rate, intensity, tempo sync and rise time. You can also apply 12 low-pass, high-pass and FX filters of your choice with assignable modulation targets such as velocity, mod wheel, expression, aftertouch, key position, and step sequencer table control. Our customizable arpeggiator offers a velocity table and controls for direction, timing, swing, randomization and arpeggio duration. We have included a key and scale lock system to limit your notes to specific scales and keys to make it easier for melodic composition or live performance.
The interface is complemented by our modular FX rack panel with 18 different DSP effect modules that you can assign to any of the 10 available slots in any order. You’ll find classic phaser, flanger, delay, distortion, amp and cabinet simulators, compressors, EQ, rotator, and more. The Reverb effect includes our favorite convolutional impulses, including 99 different rooms, halls, cameras and outdoor environments, as well as 40 more customizable FX impulses to radically transform sound and open up whole new worlds of musical possibilities. For starters, we’ve added a great bank of factory presets for the FX chain!
Features
• One master NKI instrument bank in open Kontakt format
• Kalimba plucks and strums in dry, chamber, and bunker environments
• 86 Ambience patches created from the source content
• 24 bit / 48 kHz uncompressed PCM wav samples
• 20 Custom Sound-Designed FX and Ambient presets
• 1,131 Stereo WAV files
• 2.25 GB installed
• Flexible and intuitive multi-layer user interface controls, with LFO, filter, glide, and arpeggiator
• Full FX rack with convolution reverb with custom rooms, halls, chambers & FX environments
For Kalimba 3.0, we remastered the samples, inserted them into our efficient four-layer modular template, and created completely new ambient pads and soundscapes from the raw source content. We’ve also designed 20 new custom effect presets to instantly inspire you to create a score, soundtrack, or music piece for your next movie / video game.