Tonehammer releases Forgotten Voices: "Francesca" and Lakeside Organ for Kontakt

5th March 2009 - KVR Audio News

Tonehammer has announced the release of two new Kontakt sample libraries: Forgotten Voices: "Francesca" and Lakeside Organ.

Forgotten Voices: "Francesca"

This vocal library is made from over a thousand different vocal phrases covering over 10 hours of material. The phrases were designed for maximum user flexibility through logical categories (ex. Slow Chanting, Playful Chanting, Flute Singing, Lullaby, Powerful/Forte, Slow/Dark, etc.) and by sophisticated editing and programming. The programming allows user to sculpt and morph phrases by adjusting the mod-wheel and pitch bender. The mod-wheel controls the sample starting point, so users can trigger off-set anywhere they want in the phrases. The pitch bender allows you to time-stretch/compress the phrase. The combination between sample off-set control and time-stretch/compression allows users to seamlessly morph different phrases together, which brings endless possibilities for creating new phrases.

In addition Francesca contains a bonus set of vocal ambiences made by Steven Tavaglione (Instrumentalist and Sound Designer; Wall-E, American Beauty, CSI, Supernatural and 100s other movies/shows/games).

Forgotten Voices: "Francesca" details:

Logical categories for all phrase types, including:
- Chanting 1 & 2 (Dark, one note Gregorian types of chanting).
- Playful Chanting 1 & 2 (Lighter type of chanting with more variation).
- Slow Playful Chanting (Slower, yet lighter type of chanting).
- Flute Singing 1 (Airy whistle and singing combined. Human flute).
- Lonely Lullaby 1 (Dark, beautiful and eerie).
- Powerful 1 & 2(Epic/Ethnic, otherworldly type of vocals).
- Singing Beats (Non-tune based whistle beats).
- Slow, Dark and evocative 1 & 2 (Dark, Slow, Haunting type of vocals).
- Whispers and FX.
Intelligent editing and programming (off-set and time-stretch control).
Extensive read me install, patch and hint documentation (.pdf).
Listen exclusive interview w/ Francesca Genco / Singer.
17 instrument patches, 825 samples, 840 MB installed, 531 MB .rar download.
Sample resolution: 44.1Khz/16Bit mono- and stereo .wav format.
Format(s): Kontakt 2 and .wav (note: Kontakt 3 requirement for bonus content).

Lakeside Organ

The Lakeside Pipe Organ is partial analogue and electronic pipe organ that produces its sound by venting mechanically compressed air (wind) through resonant pipes. Each pipe produces sound of one fixed pitch, so they are provided in sets with one pipe or more per note, each set or stop having a common timbre and loudness throughout. The Lakeside Organ has multiple sets of pipes of differing timbre, pitch and loudness which the player can employ singly or in combination. The actual organ is made from three keyboards, played by the hands, and a pedal board for bass notes, played by the feet, each of which controls its own group of stops.

Tonehammer carefully recorded the organ at a variety of different settings, which allows the user to control the timbre of the organ. They recorded five different settings comparably from PP to FF. All settings recorded at two microphone positions (close/far), so user have ultimately flexibility between 10 different organ settings. Additionally they realized that many other organ sample libraries use noise reduction, which gives a more polished/clinical sound to the organ. They decided to take the opposite approach and allow all the air sounds in the library, since a variety of the "noise" is the air produced by the pipes. This means that the organ has a more full and airy sound (especially in softer settings), which gives a more emotional expression.

Lakeside Organ details: