Cinematique Instruments Autoharp v3.5 KONTAKT

THE POP HARP FOR EVERYONE
We built the Autoharp from scratch.

So, we have here a newly designed Autoharp with many new articulations and vast possibilities. It’s a perfect instrument to give your music a subtle highlighted shape.

WHAT IS AN AUTOHARP?
The Autoharp was invented at the end of the 19th century by Charles F. Zimmermann, a German immigrant in Philadelphia. It is a stringed instrument and, despite its name, the Autoharp is not a harp. In fact, this instrument is a chorded zither with 36 steel strings stretched over a soundbox. It has a series of chord bars that, when pushed down, mute all the strings other than those that form the desired chord. By doing so, you can easily play chords. It’s a perfect instrument to give your music a subtle highlighted shape.

THE VERSION 3
Our latest version, Autoharp version 3, is more than just an update of the old version. Instead, we’ve re-recorded almost everything, replaced old sounds, and implemented a whole host of new features in Autoharp 3. So now you can sound even more realistic and achieve more complex results.

We recorded each of the 36 strings of the Autoharp in five different articulations to create various sound combinations. There are four plucked articulations (finger, hammer, muted, vintage), and we bowed the Autoharp with a violin bow. The bowed articulation creates a special and unique sound, and you can, for example, add the muted sounds to the bowed one.

A primary goal was to simulate the typical strumming of the Autoharp. For this, we have specially developed a new strumming engine. In a step sequencer, you can decide per step if you want to play a note or not or if you want to play the Autoharp with dead notes. Of course, all this can be programmed dynamically. But to achieve this typical autoharp strumming feeling, we included a strumming speed control that decides at what tempo the individual strumming should occur: From fully quantized to almost glissando. And this is precisely what creates a very realistic impression of an autoharp accompaniment.

Furthermore, we have also applied the unique glissando function of our Grand Harp and the tremolo known to Cinematique Instruments.

THIS IS WHAT YOU GET
Organic Sound
We focused on capturing the notes in a very realistic and organic way. We recorded all main articulations with a cool condenser in four round robins and three velocity layers.

Glissando
The given glissando mode is unique and perfectly fits the sound of an Autoharp.

Strumming Engine
This very realistic strumming companion provides strumming notes and dead notes. A unique feature is the Strumming Speed Slider, which simulates the speed of the hand.

Eight Reverb Types
Besides several different reverb sizes, you get special types such as “Infinite” and “Ghost”.

Many Articulations
We recorded many different and unique articulations to give you a broad spectrum of sound possibilities. Each of them is useful for a different kind of musical style:
– Finger: Plucking the strings with fingers
– Hammer: Played with a Piano Hammer
– Vintage: Heritage from previous versions of the Autoharp
– Muted: Muting the strings – very cool and pizzicato alike
– Bowed: Bowing the Autoharp with a violin bow
– Strummed/Dead Notes: Specially recorded to get the feel of strumming the Autoharp

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