🚨 Free product included with qualifying orders πŸš¨β˜…πŸš¨ Free product included with qualifying orders πŸš¨β˜…πŸš¨ Free product included with qualifying orders πŸš¨β˜…πŸš¨ Free product included with qualifying orders πŸš¨β˜…πŸš¨ Free product included with qualifying orders πŸš¨β˜…πŸš¨ Free product included with qualifying orders πŸš¨β˜…πŸš¨ Free product included with qualifying orders πŸš¨β˜…πŸš¨ Free product included with qualifying orders πŸš¨β˜…πŸš¨ Free product included with qualifying orders πŸš¨β˜…πŸš¨ Free product included with qualifying orders πŸš¨β˜…
Theme

Forthcoming Events

No forthcoming events scheduled.


Expired Events

Summer Sale Ended: 14 Jul 2026
May 2026 Deals Ended: 31 May 2026

Live Event

Active

Heatwave Sale 2026

Feel The Heat! From industry-leading plugins and Kontakt instruments to essential sample packs and cinematic sound design libraries.

Ends In
17d 17h 02m 52s
VIEW ALL DEALS

0

0

Change country:

We use cookies

We and selected 3rd parties use cookies or similar technologies as specified in our Cookie Policy

You can consent to the use of such technologies by using the "Accept" button

Manage cookies

Essential
Essential cookies required for business process and to make the website usable by enabling basic functions. (always active)
Marketing
Marketing cookies are used to serve personalised ads and analyse performance.

Kontakt 6

Custom Libraries

Soundiron

Hopkin Instrumentarium: The U

A Glissy Steel Lamellophone

Soundiron - Hopkin Instrumentarium: The U Kontakt Instruments Software GUI Artwork
Soundiron - Hopkin Instrumentarium: The U Screenshot 2
Soundiron - Hopkin Instrumentarium: The U Screenshot 3
SAVE 40%
ENDS IN:

18

d

:

05

h

:

03

m

:

51

s

$23.40

$39.00

Earn 56

Digital Download

0

Note: This product is compatible with Kontakt Player

Instant Access Direct download
100% Genuine Official license
Flexible Payments PayPal, Card or Wallet
Support Here to help
Guaranteed Safe & Secure Checkout
Visa Mastercard American Express Apple Pay Google Pay Klarna

Product Overview

The U is a glissy steel lamellophone created by master instrument inventor Bart Hopkin. Rather than having one tine per note, this creation has 14 closely spaced tines per note. Each group of tines is tuned in octaves and fifths across a range of three or four octaves. The sound is produced by stroking with a glissing action across the array of tines for the chosen note, using a thin stick-like plectrum. There are twelve such groups forming a chromatic scale. Since each group spans several octaves, melodies can be played creatively by accenting specific tines. The tines are made of narrow stainless steel machine screws, tuned by adjusting the length using the hex nuts at the base. In addition, most of the screws are overtone-tuned by means of additional hex nuts serving as adjustable weights along the length. The final result is a fascinatingly liquid and metallic timbre, ideal for your next composition that requires a truly unique tone.

To start, we recorded The U up close in wide stereo. For our second mic position, we used a tetrahedral binaural microphone to give you a first-person experience of playing the instrument, with an intimate and enveloping sound. We've included a range of playable tuned and untuned articulations to give you complete freedom. And in classic Soundiron tradition, we've also included sound-designed textures, pads and tones that take the concept beyond its material source and into the realm of pure imagination. They can be played, layered, modulated and blended along with the natural acoustic articulations to achieve and endless array of new sonic combinations. The U offers you a broad, flexible palette of musical colors and comes equipped with easy-to-use layer mixing, performance tools and special effects to spark your creativity.

Features

  • 2 Master presets and 20 Custom Sound-Designed FX and Ambient presets
  • 1 Unique Hand-crafted steel lamellophone
  • Plucks, Bowed Shorts, Bowed Sustains, Glisses, Percussion, FX
  • 24-bit, 48 kHz Stereo Lossless NCW Format.
  • 7,694 Stereo Samples
  • 5.04 GB Installed (8.89 GB Uncompressed)
  • Made for the free Kontakt Player (version 6.1+), Komplete Kontrol, all S-Series Keyboards and NKS software and hardware by Native Instruments
  • Works with the Kontakt "Libraries" browser and Native Access.

CONTENTS

Soundiron - Hopkin Instrumentarium: The U - CONTENTS

The Kontakt interface includes a suite of automation-ready sound-shaping controls to give you total creative flexibility. You have control over swell, attack, release, offset, vibrato, filter, pitch (coarse & fine), articulation switching, cross-fading and layering, and so much more. We've also included 20 unique sound-designed custom FX presets to give you lots of creative options.

This library comes with an adaptable LFO system, with selectable LFO shape, modulation target parameter, speed, intensity, tempo-syncing and fade-in time. You can also apply your choice of 12 lowpass, high-pass and FX filters, with assignable modulation targets such as velocity, modwheel, expression, after-touch, key position and step-sequencer table control. Our customizable arpeggiator offers a velocity table and control over arp direction, timing, swing, randomization and duration. We’ve included a key and scale lock system to constrain your notes to common scales and keys for easy melodic composition and live performance.

The interface is rounded-out by our modular FX rack panel, with 18 different DSP effect modules that you can assign in any of 10 available slots, in any order that you wish. You’ll find classic phaser, flanger, delay, distortion, amp and cab simulators, compressors, EQ, rotator and so much more. The Reverb effect includes our favorite convolution reverb impulse responses, including 99 different rooms, halls, chambers and outdoor environments, plus another 40 custom FX impulses to radically transform the sound and open up whole new worlds of musical possibility. We’ve added a great bank of FX rack chain factory presets to get you started!

THE ARTIST: BART HOPKIN

Soundiron - Hopkin Instrumentarium: The U - THE ARTIST: BART HOPKIN

Bart Hopkin has been active in many facets of music-making, including instrument building, performing and recording, composition, arrangement, education, and ethnomusicological research. Bart is also an established author, with ten books published on the subjects of instrument design and optimization.

Since 1974, Bart has been designing and constructing all the far-flung musical instruments he could dream up, with an emphasis on unusual and inventive acoustic art. The Hopkin Instrumentarium now has over 110 original creations and continues to grow every year. Soundiron is proud to bring you this inspiring and distinctive series of bespoke instruments not found anywhere else on earth.

Additional Information

Kontakt Player 6.1 or later
Windows 7 or higher
Mac OSX 10.12 or higher
VST, AU, AAX
Dual Core CPU
3GB RAM or more

Categories:

Kontakt Player

Formats:

Kontakt

Genres:

Ambient Cinematic

Tags:

FX Kontakt Percussion Plucks

Discover More

View All Events

BROWSE ALL

Happening Now

View Heatwave Sale 2026

SHOP LIVE EVENT
Your Playlist CLEAR
Your playlist is currently empty. Visit a product page and add some tracks to your playlist
Audio Player

0:00
0:00