Zithergeist

Zithergeist is a Kontakt library based on unconventional stringed instruments recorded in unconventional ways.

We have meticulously sampled note by note a number of atypical instruments like miniharps, mandolin of unknown origins and even an Apulian zither, known as ‘pasta-cutting guitar’, a guitar-resembling tool from the Southern province of Apulia (Italy), traditionally used to extrude pasta filaments from raw dough.

The recorded instruments feature multiple articulations, from finger plucks to hammered and muted effects, obtained experimenting with a variety of metallic objects applied to the strings. Moreover, each individual note can be mixed with 4 different layers of cinematic sound effects, derived from the same instrument and ‘tuned’ to the corresponding note. The result is an highly detailed, versatile instrument (up to 13 velocity levels per note/articulation and 4 round robins); you can play it as a realistic emulation of acoustic instruments and use it at the same time as a powerful, variegated tool to design your own sound effects.

Zithergeist is a unique instrument for cinematic composition: whether you want to create minimal dark melodies or heavenly arpeggios, piercing high frequency tones or emotional chord progressions , cinematic droning effects, eastern-reminiscent melodies or adrenalinic rhythmical sequences, Zithergeist offers you an arsenal of instruments and editing possibilities.

Zithergeist comes with an arpeggiator, a string editor, a sound effects editor and a convolution reverb with hundreds of impulse responses (IRs) to further colour and sculpt the sound: with dozens of presets for each instrument, you can take instant inspiration and make your own presets on the fly.

This library also features 3 Kontakt Instruments based on synthetic string sounds, created with a variety of physical modelling techniques, to blur the line between the acoustic and digital realm and offer further creative possibilities.

Zithergeist includes a separate set of Kontakt instruments purely focused on cinematic sound effects obtained by experimenting on the source instruments with bows and self-built mallets (500+ SFX 96 kHz – 24 bit)