The Wheel of Strings is just the second Kontakt-based sample library (VSTi) from Tonsturm, following the successful release of Spiral Strings, which I reviewed for Waveinformer a few years ago. Known primarily for their audio processing plugins and sample packs, Tonsturm’s Kontakt instruments are produced with the same meticulous detail that have made all their products essential for professional sound designers. In this review. I’ll have a brief look at Wheel of Strings, a library of hurdy-gurdy sounds.
WHAT IS A HURDY-GURDY?
It’s a strange name that identifies an even stranger instrument. As described by the dedicated website, gurdyworld.com:
A hurdy-gurdy is a musical instrument that functions as a mechanical violin. Replacing the bow, there is a wheel attached to a crank. While cranking, the rosined wheel vibrates the strings that make contact with it.
The instrument is capable of textural drones and buzzing sounds that are unique and well-suited for sound design and harmonic content.
For this library, recordings were made oftwo different hurdy-gurdies (large and small)
THE WHEEL OF STRINGS GUI
The layout of Wheel of Strings is similar to Spiral Strings (mentioned above), with two sources (A & B) on the Main page that can be layered with independent mic choices, amp envelopes, and panning. The Slow Motion button lowers the pitch by an octave.
The color-coded keyboard layout described below allows for a variety of simultaneous sounds with infinite possibilities.
The eyeglass icon exposes the preset list organized in 11 tag categories:
- Pure
- Pad
- Synth
- Short
- Overtone
- Vibrato
- Tremolo
- Rattle
- Dissonant
- Distorted
- Rhythm
THE MOVEMENTS PAGE
The Movements page features three LFOs (synced or free) and two 32-step sequencers. The 3rd LFO is used to modulate the speed of LFO 1 and 2. Modulators can be independently mapped to parameters for sources A and B.
THE EFFECTS PAGE
Onboard effects include multimode filter (LP, BP, HP), distortion, and tape saturation for each source. There are IR reverb choices that include:
- Chapel
- Factory Hall
- Digital Huge
- Digital Short 1
- Digital Short 2
- Space Echo
- British Spring
- Forest
- Mountain
EXAMPLES AND VIDEO WALK-THROUGH
Hear some examples on the product page.
Below is a video walk-through from the developer.
And some contextual examples with imagery.
CONCLUSIONS
The layout of Wheel of Strings is intuitive and well-conceived, allowing the user get incredibly rich textures almost immediately. A few simple tweaks can easily customize a preset, resulting in unique sounds specific to your musical context or sound design needs. You’ll be surprised and delighted at what is possible with this instrument, with sounds that far exceed the capabilities of an acoustic hurdy-gurdy. There is an enormous range of sound here, both in terms of frequency and sonic palette. This is another incredible release from Tonsturm, and I can’t wait to see and hear what’s next!
EXTRAS
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