Crocus Soundware has introduced Liminal: HandPan Explorations – a library of a deeply sampled steel Handpan instrument, also known as a Hang or Hang Drum – playable using the full version of Kontakt 6.8+.

The instrument was mic’d in stereo in order to capture both the tonality and natural inherent reverberance of the instrument, as well as the subtle characteristics of the performer impacting the instrument with their hand or mallet.

Here’s the video intro for Liminal:

In addition to phrase-like Polyrhythmic samples, the library includes samples of more aleatoric and textured performances called ‘clusters’. These are intended to be used as naturalistic pads, which are well-suited to add unpredictability and creative imperfection to your composition. These add humanistic details not found in something derived from a synthetic source.

The library also includes six one-shot strike articulations, where the performer uses their hands, fingers and mallets. Each of these articulations have 42 velocity layers, capturing minute timbral variations between softer and more forceful strikes.

The user-interface allows articulations to be layered, mixed and reversed. The ‘crossfade gizmo’ allows artful blending of sound layers with intuitive color-coded controls. LFO controls can also be enabled, allowing your DAW’s tempo to dictate the modulation of an individual layer’s volume. This opens the door for tempo-synced swells and unleashes even more creative possibilities for evolving texture.

Features:

• VST3, VST2, AU and AAX compatible host
• 3.8 GB of samples uncompressed, Stereo samples(1.7GB using lossless compression)
• 45 Polyrhythmic Articulations
• 6 Basic Strikes with 42 Velocity layers
• 7 Clusters
• 5 Tempo-synced Clusters
• 6 Pads derived from processing Cluster samples.

Note: Made for the full version of Kontakt 6.8 or higher (Not intended for Kontakt Player)

Pricing and Availability:

Liminal is available now with an intro price of $42 USD (normally $70).