The Skiddaw Stones

ROCK. MUSIC.

A Lithophone dating from 1840, The Skiddaw Stones are composed of 61 tuned and shaped rocks, made from rare hornfels stone, found in Cumbria, England. Hornfels is said to have a superior tone and longer ring than the more commonly used slate. 

Two different sets of mallets were used to laboriously capture large sets of velocity hits, then an extra articulation was recorded - the sound of the head of the wooden mallet being scraped across the stone surface - a surprisingly haunting and resonant sound. The result is a truly bewitching instrument, one that sounds truly ancient, even older than it is. Totally unique rock music. 

The Skiddaw Stones were created by Joseph Richardson, a stonemason and musician, it took almost thirteen years to collect and shape enough individual notes of hornfels to make an eight-octave range. The stones were taken from Skiddaw, one of the highest mountains in Cumbria. The massive task of assembling this instrument consumed Joseph so absolutely that he and his family were reduced to poverty. Once complete, Richardson and his sons toured Europe as The Rock, Bell and Steel Band, and even performed at Buckingham Palace, by command of Queen Victoria.

THE KONTAKT INSTRUMENT

• THE INSTRUMENT PANEL - The instrument page features 3 articulation switches, envelope and filter controls for shaping the sound, as well as Tremolo and Humanise  modules.

• GENERATIVE TOOLS: CHORD MUTATION - Chord Mutate will take any input chord and slowly repeat and transform it over time..forever. - Inspired by Triadic Memories by Morton Feldman.

• GENERATIVE TOOLS: CALDER - Calder is a generative music device that creates repetitions (loops) that vary in length while a note is held down. You can have one or two loops active, and a loop will be created for every note you hold down. Playing simple sequences creates constantly moving, shifting patterns & soundscapes.

The Skiddaw Stones features a range of custom processors, sequencers and generators to create musical soundscapes and textures.

GENERATIVE TOOLS

• Calder: Drift notes in space like a ceiling mobile
• Jammer: Arperggiator that evolves it's own patterns
• Chord Mutate: Turn a single chord into an entire track
• Tremolo: route filters, pitch or volume to tremolo modulation
• Humanise: add natural variation to timing and velocity