Waterharp

The Soundiron Waterharp is a deeply multi-sampled percussion and effects instrument library that captures the heart and soul of the water-phone. This unique instrument concept was originally developed by Richard Waters in the late 1960s. Water-phones — also commonly known as Water Harps — are found in all shapes and sizes, but they generally follow the same basic design: a brass vessel with a hollow brass water chamber and a long neck. The top side of the chamber is adorned with vertical brass tines or bars. It is played by strumming, striking and bowing these tines, which resonate together creating darkly harmonic or dissonant tones and textures. The tines are cut to specific lengths and arranged to create scales as they wind around the body of the water-phone. Adding water to the chamber and changing the position of the water-phone drastically changes the pitch and harmonics that are produced when the instrument is played. The water chamber itself can also be played as a percussion instrument. Overall, the water-phone can be considered as both a tuned and un-tuned percussion instrument, but is most often used in suspense and horror soundtracks and sound design as a dramatic sound effect tool.

We played it with lots of different mallets, sticks, metal rods, fingers and palms, bows and even voices to explore every nuance and hidden musical potential of this instrument. We recorded it both empty and full of water. We even recorded it from the inside out using hydrophones (underwater microphones), while being cooked over open flame and while filled with machine screws. And finally, we created a wide selection of ambient soundscapes, pads, drones, ambiences and atmospheres using the recordings and all manner of creative sound design techniques to take this library to the next level.

Waterharp 2.0 has been completely redesigned from the ground up for Kontakt 5.1. The brand new UI includes automatable Attack, Release, Edge, Filter, Vibrato and Convolution reverb with 30+ custom halls, rooms and special FX impulses. We’ve optimized presets to put each category right at your fingertips, with easy articulation menu loading. We’ve also rolled our Arpeggiator system into every tuned and strike percussion preset, with plenty of mode, sequencing and time signature options. The effects presets now feature dynamic waveform display, with real-time playback and offset cursor. Hear the library like never before, with fully remastered and restored 24-bit / 48kHz sample resolution. We've also added a new range of deep ambiences, synths and sound-designed atmospheres, all hand-crafted from the original instrument source.

Key Features:

• Multi-sampled Instrument: 7.86 GB installed with 2,927 Samples
• Kontakt Presets: 18 Kontakt 5.1 .nki instrument presets
• High-Quality Audio: 24 bit / 48kHz uncompressed PCM wav audio
• Customization: Unlocked Kontakt presets and wav samples to allow user customization
• Additional Content: Bonus Pads, Soundscapes and Atmospheres
• Convolution Reverb: Variety of different room, hall and special effect acoustic environments