Nyckelharpas

Scandinavian Keyed Strings

Familiar yet somehow different, the sound of the Nyckelharpa walks a delicate line. Dating from the middle ages, Nyckelharpa translates as ‘keyed fiddle’ in Swedish. The pitch of the notes is altered by pressing a wooden key, which frets the string. There are also 12 sympathetic strings, added in the mid 1700s, possibly inspired by the viola d’amore. They serve to add resonance, volume and a general zing to the sound.

This product features two different harpas: the standard viola pitch instruments, and an 'octavharpa', a cello tuned model.

• Standard pitched nyckelharpa made by Sören Åhker: standard Swedish 3-row tuned (low to high) C G C A.   

• Cello pitched nyckelharpa, usually called an oktavharpa, made by Olle Plahn with the key box by Annette Osann. Tuned an octave lower than the normal nyckelharpa. This particular instrument has all four melody strings keyed and is tuned exactly like a cello - C G D A.

The Kontakt Instrument

• The Instrument Panel - The Nyckelharpas instrument page features comprehensive control over the instrument sound. Mix Close or Room mics, tweak key-off, or key-down/up noises, add sympathetic string resonance, or play pizzicato mode.

• Effects Panel - A completely user configurable FX chain: choose from 16 different effects in 6 insert slots - in any order you like. The Space processor offers everything from straight rooms and halls to ambient convolution effects.

• The Jammer Panel - The latest evolution of the generative arpeggiator - Hold a chord, and let it evolve - or loop a section and jam between 12 sequences. 

Recording the Nyckelharpas

The UKs' 'nyckelmother' - Vicki has done a huge amount to bring Nyckeharpa music to the UK, and was invaluable in helping to create this product.

Presets Library & Sound Design

The detailed, multi-element control available in Nyckelharpas makes it an extremely flexible sound design tool. Completely natural, organic sound all the way through to abstract evolving drone-scapes. With noise control, sympathetic resonance, ensemble mode, filters, modulation and effects to experiment with, new hybrid soundscapes are a few tweaks away.

Library specifications

• 24 bit 96 kHz sampling.
• 7.7 GB library (4.5 GB with Kontakt NCW compression)
• Bowed, Pizzicato, key-off/up/down, sympathetic resonance samples
• Jammer - KSP generative arpeggiator
• Ensemble detune module
• Custom effects insert chain
• Custom IR reverb processor with Soniccouture IR library

Requires KONTAKT 5 or KONTAKT 5 PLAYER version 5.6.8 or later!