An Authentically Reproduced Alpine Concert Zither For Kontakt!
The “Alpine Concert Zither” is a very common instrument in Alpine Europe but rarely heard nowadays in modern music. A famous moment in the music history for the European Zither is the “Third Man Theme” by Anton Karas.
Alpine Concert Zither contains:
- 257 24-bit stereo and mono WAV files
- 1 program for Kontakt 3+ with scripted interface
- 3 programs for Kontakt 1+
- 4 programs for EXS24
- 3 programs for HALion
- 3 programs for SoundFont
The total size of the library compressed is 261MB. All formats are included when you buy “Alpine Concert Zither”.
75% off “Alpine Concert Zither” by Precisionsound
A Brief History Of The Zither
The word Zither is a German rendering of the Greek word cithara, from which the modern word “guitar” also derives. Historically, it has been applied to any instrument of the cittern family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat body – similar to a psaltery. The earliest known surviving instrument of the zither family is a Chinese guqin, a fretless instrument, found in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng dating from 433 BC.
Zithers are played by strumming or plucking the strings, either with the fingers (sometimes using an accessory called a plectrum or pick), sounding the strings with a bow, or, with varieties of the instrument like the santur or cimbalom, by beating the strings with specially shaped hammers. Like a guitar or lute, a zither’s body serves as a resonating chamber (sound box), but, unlike guitars and lutes, a zither lacks a distinctly separate neck assembly. The number of strings varies, from one to more than fifty.
Since the zither requires advanced technique to play anything more than simple tunes, the vast majority of the concert zithers sold never attained more than amateur or (mostly) ornamental use; the playing of Washington Phillips was a rare exception. While use of the concert zither itself has declined, zither music and technique continues to influence contemporary musicians. For example: Canadian musician Jeff Healey, featured in the film thriller Road House in 1989, used a zither technique to play electric guitar.
A Beautifully Playable Instrument With Multiple Articulations & Effects!
The “Alpine Concert Zither” comes in a variety of formats for flexibility including Kontakt, EXS24, HALion and Soundfonts. The Kontakt library Graphical User Interface presents 3 tabs which are used to control various aspects of the instrument’s performance.
Envelope + Tone Page
- Articulation: Pulldown menu with the available articulations, the name of the selected articulation and note for keyswitch are visible – C0 = String, C#0 = Fretboard, D0 = FX
- Envelope – Attack & Decay control knobs.
- EQ – Tone & Amount control knobs.
Reverb + Delay Page
- Reverb – IR Reverb FX with 6 presets “Church 1”, “Church 2”, “Hall 1”, “Hall 2”, “Room 1” , “Room 2” and amount control knob.
- Delay – Tempo synced delay effect with Level control knob and on/off button. Other knobs control the Rate of delay, Feedback of the delay signal, Tone (filter frequency character of the delay), and Spread (stereo width of delay signal, where 0%=mono)
Tremolo + Arp Page
- Tremolo + Arp Control – rate knob with different host tempo synced speeds from 1/4 to 1/64 and a Free mode that activates the Speed knob (on the right), so you can dial in a free tempo not dependent on the host.
- The Tremolo + Arp Menu – lets you activate either tremolo, or an arpeggio pattern. It can also be controlled by keyswitch, where D#0 =Off, E0=Tremolo, F0= Up, F#0= Down, G0=Up and Down, G#0=Down and Up. Note that arpeggio sounds the same as tremolo when only one note is held to take effect, the arpeggio requires at least two held notes.
- Tremolo + Arp On/Off – is also controllable by Sustain Pedal (CC64), which when pressed will activate the most recently used tremolo/arp mode.
- Accelerate/Decelerate Mode Button – also controllable by keyswitch A0 (accelerate) and A#0 (decelerate). The Accelerate/Decelerate effect determines the effect of the modwheel (CC1) on the tremolo and arpeggio. Therefore, it only works if the Tremolo + arp is on. When Tremolo + arp is off, raising the modwheel will introduce a vibrato effect
- Tremolo + Arp Humanize – Timing, Velocity & Tuning control knobs for a dead tight (0%) to more human randomization (100%) of these characteristics of the Tremolo and Arpeggio. If Tremolo + arp is off, these knobs have no effect.
Read more about these features in the Manual HERE.
75% off “Alpine Concert Zither” by Precisionsound
So What Exactly Can I Do With “Alpine Concert Zither”?
The “Alpine Concert Zither” is an authentic and highly detailed reproduction of an instrument that is rarely heard nowadays in modern music. It includes every feature of the original instrument together with all the flexibility and advantages of a modern DAW plugin. Here are just some of the possible uses for this fantastic and unique library:
- Traditional Acoustic Music
- Folk Music
- Film Underscore
Note: The Kontakt instruments require the Full Retail version of Kontakt (they are NOT compatible with the Free Kontakt Player).
"Alpine Concert Zither" by Precisionsound
75% off "Alpine Concert Zither" by Precisionsound
Deal ExpiredNormally €36 – get it at 75% off before it’s gone!
- 75% off the normal price (normally €36)!
- 261MB of Content (Compressed), 257 24-bit stereo and mono WAV files
- 1 program for Kontakt 3+ with scripted interface
- 3 programs for Kontakt 1+
- 4 programs for EXS24
- 3 programs for HALion
- 3 programs for SoundFont
- Envelope + Tone Page – control Articulations, Envelopes and EQ
- Reverb + Delay Page – IR Reverb FX with 6 presets, Tempo synced delay effect with Level control knob and on/off button.
- Tremolo + Arp Page – control various aspects of these performance controls including Rate, Accelerate/Decelerate and Humanize
- Note: The Kontakt instruments requires the Full Retail version of Kontakt 1 or higher (they are NOT compatible with the Free Kontakt Player)
- Perfect for Underscore, Acoustic and Folk music in traditional and contemporary styles alike!
Andrew – :
If you’re looking for an ancient/medieval/celtic sounding plucked/picked/strummed string instrument then this deal is a bargain. I have quite a few similar Kontakt stringed instruments but this has it’s own unique character and sound. I can see me using this extensively in some of my projects. The interface is bare-bones but it’s enough for what the instrument is and there’s always the option to create a new Kontakt interface for personal use if if you know how to make and code Kontakt UI .
For me, this has filled a gap in my plucked/picked/strummed string instruments, it plays nicely and sounds good so I am very happy with this purchase 😀
Leonie – :
I can second the Review by Andew:
This is great sounding zither! Besides the String-Articulation you get a fretboard-one plus one with fx – all can be reached from one instrument via keyswitches. You get a tremolo + arp function (controllable via modwheel), which takes a little practise to use it, which makes this really fun playing it.