Soniccouture has introduced a new sound library for Kontakt, featuring the sounds of Imogen Heap, Box Of Tricks.
Box Of Tricks is a selection of virtual instruments, sampled in detail and with custom scripts, effects, and tools; all designed the way she wanted to use them. Soniccouture says that Box Of Tricks has already been beta-tested in Imogen’s live performances and studio projects: a process that helped generate ideas and refine the instruments.
Here’s an overview of the instruments in Box Of Tricks:
- Array Mbira: 9 Velocity layers, 5 octaves, 24/96 stereo sampling
Performance: Split Key mode, Strum Module, Jammer, Harmoniser - Boom Whackers: 32 velocity layers, 24/96 stereo sampling
Peformance: Carpet & Wooden beaters, Jammer, Harmoniser - Cello: 16 velocity layers (Pizzi), 3 round robin layers. 24/96 stereo sampling.
Performance: pizzicato, harmonic slides, soft bowing, reverse pizz. Volume modulation fader, Jammer, Harmoniser - Cocktail Kit with Nibbles: up to 64 velocity layers, direct + room mics, 24/96 stereo sampling
Performance: sticks, brushes, mallets. FOCUS mode, Euclidean Beats drum sequencer. - Glockenspiel: 11 velocity layers, 3 round robin layers, 24/96 stereo sampling
Performance: Jammer, Harmoniser - Marxophone: 9 velocity layers, bounced + single notes with key-off samples
Performance: Strum, Chord and Keysplit mode, Jammer, Harmoniser - Shruti Box: Spectral modelling overtone crossfading, 24/96 stereo sampling
Performance: Pressure & drift, Jammer, Harmoniser - Tongue Drum: 10 Velocity layers, 3 round robin layers, 24/96 stereo sampling
Performance: Jammer, Harmoniser - Vibraphone: 9 velocity layers, fingernails, bowed (looped), bowed (decay), 24/96 stereo sampling.
Performance: Fan modelling, Jammer, Harmoniser - Vocal Pad: Dry, Ghost, Reverse articulations, 24/96 mono sampling
Peformance: Jammer, Harmoniser - Vocal & Body Percussion Kit: 61 unique Imogen sounds, 24/48 stereo sampling
Performance: Euclidean Beats drum sequencer, FOCUS mode - Waterphone: 128 waterphone sounds performed by Imogen, 24/96 stereo sampling
Performance: FOCUS MODE, Jammer - Whirly Tubes: Full chromatic range of Whirly tube samples, performed by Imogen, 24/96 stereo sampling
Performance: Harmonic mode, Jammer, Harmoniser
Box Of Tricks is available now for US $179 via the Soniccouture site.
So a bunch of percussion, but not the one sound that Imogen Heap is known for, the the balanced vocoder.
I’ve been a fan of Imogen Heap for quite a while now. She adds lots of beautiful textures to solid song-writing. Great crafts-person-ship.
And, andrew593, the sound she famously uses on Hide & Seek is NOT a vocoder. It is a harmonizer– She’s singing a part and playing the chords that her voice is harmonized to on a keyboard. So technically it is pitch-shifting. (I was able to get a pretty decent facsimile using VirSyn’s Voxel).
Awesome nerd
Nice to see her do all that, but I can easily manufacture equally blizzard sounds in my own studio too. Maybe I need to start selling stuff to get a studio like that..
Winning a grammy helps get a studio like that too 🙂
You could create it on your own tools like this, but the Euclidian rhythm section is a really cool way to inspire rhythms or grooves I know I would most likely not create in any other method or tool. Soniccouture is pretty cool for taking this beyond mere samples (you could use your own samples with Euclidian rhythm section if you wanted to do so).
You really think she would legit give away her secrets.