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Pure Psaltery - Sample Pack Demo

by Alex Cottrell

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Pure Psaltery Demo 01:16

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To download the pack visit: alex-cottrell.com/pure-psaltery/

This is a demo track for my 'Pure Psaltery' collection of samples. Everything you hear in this recording is using samples in the pack - no extra instruments have been added.

- What is a Psaltery? -

The Psaltery is a stringed lap harp instrument in the zither family. The one you hear in this sample pack is a modern build of a medieval Psaltery which is designed to be plucked with the fingers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek ψαλτήριον (psaltḗrion), "stringed instrument, psaltery, harp" and that from the verb ψάλλω (psállō), "to touch sharply, to pluck, pull, twitch". It also derives from Christian literature in 3rd Century B.C, and a book of Psalms bound with additional devotional material has become known as a ‘Psalter’ from the hymns sung with this harp. The tuning of the Psaltery varies from instrument to instrument, but the one recorded for this pack is 3 octaves in F Lydian (F, G, A, B, C, D, E).


- What does this sample pack contain? -

The pack consists of 101 unique samples, ranging from individual chords (straight and rolled) to sounds that were recorded and manipulated to create some weird and wonderful noises. There are also ‘accents’ or short ideas that have been tempo matched to 80, 100, 120 and 140 bpm - these can be looped, cut up or rearranged to form full compositions if desired.


- How was it recorded/produced? -

Samples were recorded using a Fishman SBT-HP Harp and Piano Pickup, placed 2 inches from the centre of the main sound hole. With the exception of samples 85-101, all the sounds have been processed as little as possible to give natural tone and dynamics - however a very small amount of reverb has been added to compliment the resonance and sustain of the instrument. The general idea was to have the whole pack be as malleable as possible.

credits

released January 31, 2016

Created by Alex Cottrell. Special thanks to The Liverpool Players, to whom the Psaltery belongs.

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Alex Cottrell Liverpool, UK

Music for media, atmosphere & performance.

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