Soniccouture have released Kora, a 21 string African harp, available at the intro price of £79.00, increasing to £119.00 after the promotion. The offer ends May 15th. Register now to receive 25% off your first order.
A beautiful & fascinating African instrument, the Kora is hard to classify. With 21 strings and a cow-hide resonator, it’s a type of bridge harp, but with some lute or guitar DNA in the mix.
Sonically it is similar to the harp, but when played in the traditional style it also bears resemblance to a guitar played using the flamenco or Delta blues technique of plucking polyrhythmic patterns with both hands.
Originally from Gambia, it is widely played in Mali, Senegal and across Africa.
The kora is made from a gourd, which is cut in half and covered with cow hide. This forms the resonator of the instrument. There are 21 strings, suspended by a double notched bridge – 10 on one side, 11 on the other. This is typical of a double harp and it is classified as such. However, because the strings originate from a ‘neck’ and cross a bridge into a resonator, this also makes it a lute.
Kora is played with two hands, one each side of the bridge – 10 strings on one side, 11 on the other. The thumbs of both hands play the ‘kumbego’ – the bassline accompaniment.
Soniccouture Kora features a custom pattern player to provide this accompaniment. Featuring 20 authentic base patterns which can be tweaked and shaped: speed, velocity, swing.
Your final MIDI can then be easily drag’n’dropped into your DAW.
Features include:
- 6 GB Library (2.8GB compressed)
- 24 Bit, 96khz Stereo Sampling
- 40 Velocity layers with Round Robin Anti-Repeat
- Release damping samples 25 layers
- Mute detero samples 25 layers
- Custom MIDI Pattern Player
- Stereo Mic Channel, Stereo Contact Mic Channel
- Sound Design Presets
Kora requires a free or full version of Kontakt 7.8 or later.
For more information on Kora click here:
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