Pros
- Stunning and realistic sound
- Cool and useful Tremolo function
- Interesting Glissando feature using the Mod Wheel to play up or down glissandos
- You can create strumming patterns by using the Companion feature
Cons
- No Keyswitches available
Autoharp 3 is Cinematique Instruments’ version of the Autoharp, a string instrument invented at the end of the 19th century by a German immigrant in Philadelphia. This version is not just an update of the Autoharp 2, indeed almost everything was re-recorded, replacing old sounds and implementing the overall library.
This library comes with only one NKI Instrument, that weighs just a few less than 60 MB on the RAM memory. The GUI is excellent looking and easy to navigate, with just one main window where you can select and control any parameter and preset available.
On the right side, you can find the Articulations; each of the 36 strings has been recorded in five different articulations. We have Hammer, Thumb, Rough, Muted and Bowed. In the first articulation, the strings were hit by a piano hammer. The result is a very intimate, warm and mellow sound. As the name suggests, the second articulation is based on the recording of the strings hit by the fleshy side of a thumb, so the result is a less restrained sound than the previous one but still intimate. It’s definitely more metallic but not invasive, and you cannot reach loud dynamics. The Rough articulation descends from the previous version of the Autoharp: its sound is more aggressive and metallic. The fourth articulation was recorded after muting the strings with the palm of the hand. The sound is very beautiful, similar to the Hammer one in some ways but more aggressive and less resonant. The Bowed articulation was recorded using a Violin bow, which gives you a totally different sound than the previous ones. I would have expected the ModWheel to be able to control dynamics though, but it doesn’t seem to affect them.
You can also activate two or more articulations to play together, being able to create a warmer and resonant sound out of them. No key switches are available, nor apparently, a way to assign the articulations to Control Changes, which makes it difficult to jump from one articulation to another one for composers who prefer working with one instrument per track.
Moving to the left, you can see the Behaviour section, where you can choose the way the selected articulation(s) will play. Glissando, Tremolo, Shorten and Pad behaviours are available. The Glissando technique is particularly interesting: after pressing one or more keys on your keyboard you can perform an up or down glissando by moving the ModWheel in the direction you want the glissando to play. The Pad behaviour will create a pad sound out of the selected articulation, extending the attack and the release of each note. The Shorten feature shortens the attack and release of each note. It’s not easy to understand at first how the Tremolo function works, but it’s useful to create realistic tremolos on the same note: basically, when you release the key, the second note is triggered, so you don’t have a prefixed tremolo but you can decide the speed and even to speed it up or slow it down in realtime.
Another cool feature is the Companion tool.
It basically allows you to create strumming patterns working on its engine, adjusting the volume of each of its eight steps, and increasing or decreasing the overall speed and volume by using the knobs at the right side of the strumming engine. You can also make some steps sound like dead notes by clicking on the button below the volume fader of each step.
On the top, you can see two more areas: the Shaping section includes some effects to “shape” the sound, like Rotary, Drive and Octaver. The FX section includes a Delay and a Reverb. By clicking on their names, you can switch between different Reverbs and Delays.
Finally, in the lower central part, there are five different presets you can use to experiment with new sounds or as a starting point to build your own.
The quality of the samples is very good in my opinion, and it sounds quite realistic in all the articulations. The strumming engine is definitely a positive bonus: it lets you use this instrument also to build realistic rhythmic parts. The glissando and tremolo features are also very useful and the way of playing them adds more realism to the performance. The Shaping and FX sections let you modify the sound, even more, creating new interesting textures and turning this library also into a powerful sound designing tool rather than being just an acoustic instrument.
It basically allows you to create strumming patterns working on its engine, adjusting the volume of each of its eight steps, and increasing or decreasing the overall speed and volume by using the knobs on the right side.
Original Source: Sample Library Review.com
