# Soundiron releases "Elysium Harp" - Grand Concert Harp for Kontakt Player/Komplete Kontrol



## SoundironAudio (Nov 8, 2016)

*Soundiron releases "Elysium Harp" - Grand Concert Harp for Kontakt Player/Komplete Kontrol*

A 47 string, grand concert harp for the free Kontakt Player.

Teaser:



We recorded standard Finger Plucks, with 6 dynamic layers and 8 round-robin variations per velocity, on every string. Next, we recorded with Fingernails for a sharper quality. Then we recorded Harmonics for all strings with full round-robin. Next, we gathered piano and forte Xylophonics — plucking while finger damping where the string meets the soundboard. We also captured unique Bass Buzzes, created by shifting the pedals after plucking the string. The pedal-driven tuning wheels disengage the brass-wound low strings and then reengage again at a higher or lower semitone, producing a hauntingly dissonant growling effect.

You have 3 Stereo Microphone Positions: Front sound board, rear sound ports and studio overheads. Each mic pair captures it’s own distinctive tonal flavors and details that can be further shaped and personalized with our full suite of performance controls. The Mixer module gives you total control over body, presence, level, output routing and pan for each stereo channel.

Here's a first overview of the library:



*Specs*:
• 9 Kontakt .nki instruments and 69 factory snapshot presets
• 12,145 Samples
• 30.6 GB uncompressed / 14.7 GB Installed with lossless ncw compression
• 24bit / 48kHz stereo .ncw audio
• Multisampled Plucks, Harmonics, Xylophonics, Fingernails and Bass-Buzz Shift Effects
• 194 Glisses, in 19 scales and styles (recorded with Harpist Jennifer Ellis)
• Soundboard, Sound Hole and Overhead stereo microphone positions for a warm, full sound
• Instant scale tuning with our Pedal system
• Adaptive, real-time Gliss and Arpeggiator systems
• Modular DSP FX Rack
*• $99 Intro Special - Ends December 1st*

Check out this first demo by composer Gareth Coker, known for his beautiful score for "Ori and the Blind Forest":


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## C.R. Rivera (Nov 8, 2016)

Wow, you SI guys must drink a lot of coffee to stay awake all of the time. 
Very nice.


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## SoNowWhat? (Nov 8, 2016)

Excellent! Been looking for a harp library. Maybe this is it. Waiting with expectation for more info.
Some nice features in there that I don't think I've seen before. 





(Will there be another demon/satan intro video for this harp?)


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## elpedro (Nov 8, 2016)

Just when i thought it was safe.....


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## playz123 (Nov 8, 2016)

Sounds lovely, Mike. Definitely looking forward to this release and additional information. Nice to see it's also NKS compatible.


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## SoundironAudio (Nov 9, 2016)

Added specs and the full demo playlist is now live as well:


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## Mike Fox (Nov 9, 2016)

I think I'm in love.


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## benmrx (Nov 9, 2016)

Nice!!! Sounds great!!!


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## WindcryMusic (Nov 10, 2016)

I'm interested in this, at least once they get a few more videos online to show the rest of the features.

One thing: a few hours ago the web page said this would be released on the 10th, i.e., today. Now the website has changed to say "Coming Soon". I wonder if this means "its coming any moment now", or "we hit a last minute issue with it so we are no longer certain of what day it will be released"?


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## SoundironAudio (Nov 10, 2016)

WindcryMusic said:


> I'm interested in this, at least once they get a few more videos online to show the rest of the features.
> 
> One thing: a few hours ago the web page said this would be released on the 10th, i.e., today. Now the website has changed to say "Coming Soon". I wonder if this means "its coming any moment now", or "we hit a last minute issue with it so we are no longer certain of what day it will be released"?



Just a very short delay. NI needs to re-encode to deal with some last minute changes.  We'll keep you guys posted!


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## WindcryMusic (Nov 10, 2016)

SoundironAudio said:


> Just a very short delay. NI needs to re-encode to deal with some last minute changes.  We'll keep you guys posted!



Thank you for the quick response! Maybe you can get some additional walkthrough videos online while we wait!


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## elpedro (Nov 10, 2016)

Can't wait,been waiting for a decent version of a harp library for ages. Congrats to Soundiron!


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## elpedro (Nov 11, 2016)

Just went through the cart and downloading now,looking forward to having a play later on today!


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## SoNowWhat? (Nov 11, 2016)

elpedro said:


> Just went through the cart and downloading now,looking forward to having a play later on today!


Love to hear your thoughts.


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## elpedro (Nov 11, 2016)

SoNowWhat? said:


> Love to hear your thoughts.


Still downloading on my wonderful Australian 3rd world network....6 gig to go....


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## elpedro (Nov 11, 2016)

SoNowWhat? said:


> Love to hear your thoughts.


In one word? Gorgeous!Plays well, sounds great! love the features and the clean interface.It is so playable and responsive with both my NI kontrol keys and my launchpad (with j74 running it as a note controller, have to give a shout out to Fabrizio Pocce for developing that!), and my ableton push.So few reviews actually deal with responsiveness and playability, and yet, I find that the most make/break feature on any VSTI...I'm a happy camper!


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## SoNowWhat? (Nov 11, 2016)

elpedro said:


> Still downloading on my wonderful Australian 3rd world network....6 gig to go....


Snap! I share your pain. Telstra cable here (which isn't too bad for Aus if I'm honest).


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## SoNowWhat? (Nov 11, 2016)

elpedro said:


> In one word? Gorgeous!Plays well, sounds great! love the features and the clean interface.It is so playable and responsive with both my NI kontrol keys and my launchpad (with j74 running it as a note controller, have to give a shout out to Fabrizio Pocce for developing that!), and my ableton push.So few reviews actually deal with responsiveness and playability, and yet, I find that the most make/break feature on any VSTI...I'm a happy camper!


Awesome!

Are you playing "free form" or using arpeggiator (or both)?


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## elpedro (Nov 11, 2016)

SoNowWhat? said:


> Awesome!
> 
> Are you playing "free form" or using arpeggiator (or both)?


I have tried both the free form is nice, some vst's just really feel like you are touching an instrument, some feel like you are turning a big ship at sea.This one is very close to that playing the instrument feel.The sound sculpting possibilities are a nice feature. I think the arp section could be improved, it's just the standard arp you get from N.I with Soundiron's twist., nothing wrong with it. I find most arps could do with a bit more imagination A la squaredheadz Norah.Still very happy after an hour of jamming.Sitting an instrument like that in a mix is always going to be challenging, it is so rich and full by itself, but this is very workable and a cut above a few other harp libraries i have tried..


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## elpedro (Nov 12, 2016)

Quick test run of my new VST instrument Elysium Harp by SoundIron.
Just a quick jam-piece, nothing fancy. Done in an hour and mixed with minimal tweaks of Izotope Neutron's track assistant (o.k. I was in a hurry!).
All tracks except drums are done with the Elysium Harp.
Congratulations to Soundiron for creating a fantastic instrument!


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## SoNowWhat? (Nov 12, 2016)

elpedro said:


> Quick test run of my new VST instrument Elysium Harp by SoundIron.
> Just a quick jam-piece, nothing fancy. Done in an hour and mixed with minimal tweaks of Izotope Neutron's track assistant (o.k. I was in a hurry!).
> All tracks except drums are done with the Elysium Harp.
> Congratulations to Soundiron for creating a fantastic instrument!



Kewl. Feeling so mellow right now.


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## quantum7 (Nov 14, 2016)

VERY NICE!!!!! I really thought I would have no further need to buy any more harps, especially after I bought 8dio's AGE Harps, but I have to say that Elysium Harps is definitely going up on my MUST BUY list. Congrats on a great release!


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## quantum7 (Nov 14, 2016)

Hell with it, even though I am in the middle of a new studio build and all my equipment is taken apart, I couldn't resist and bought Elysium Harps anyway. At least I can listen to it via my DAW and headphones.


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## Rob Elliott (Nov 14, 2016)

hmmm. A nice add to a VERY CROWDED sampled instrument. Love that the resonance freq build up issue with so many sampled harps does NOT seem to be present. Worth considering. Question remains - do I 'need' or 'want' an 10th harp?


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## reddognoyz (Nov 14, 2016)

bought it. It's really good. very flexible sound and placement, very consistent response, homespun glisses sound great.


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## quantum7 (Nov 14, 2016)

Rob Elliott said:


> hmmm. A nice add to a VERY CROWDED sampled instrument. Love that the resonance freq build up issue with so many sampled harps does NOT seem to be present. Worth considering. Question remains - do I 'need' or 'want' an 10th harp?



YES, you NEED a 10th Harp....if it's Elysium. After over 2 hours playing with Elysium and comparing it to all 8 of my other harps, I've officially dumped them all because I will only be using this one from now on. As a New Age music artist, the harp is VERY important to my work, and Elysium delivers IMO. Really fantastic job, Soundiron!


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## Baron Greuner (Nov 15, 2016)

This isn't just an arpeggio device is it?


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## khollister (Nov 15, 2016)

Baron Greuner said:


> This isn't just an arpeggio device is it?


No - very complete set of articulations and some cool processed sounds as well. I looked at all the harps recently and this seemed a no brainer.


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## reddognoyz (Nov 15, 2016)

I don't know why the video SI put up is so arpeggiocentric : ) this is first and formost an standard harp library. If I were to differentiate it from the other harp libs I have, I'd say this harp focuses on the closer mic's, whereas the SAM, OT, Spitfire, Hollywood, Cinesamples harps are more focused on an inroom tone. Not to say that any of the above mentioned don't cover the opposite bases, it just seems that soundiron put a lot of effort into getting some excellent close mic options. I had no problem getting it to sit in an orchestral setting. I'm VERY happy with this harp and am going to get it into my template for my next project.


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## Lode_Runner (Nov 15, 2016)

reddognoyz said:


> I don't know why the video SI put up is so arpeggiocentric : ) this is first and formost an standard harp library.



Thanks Stuart - with all the new releases and deals lately, I didn't look too closely at this, precisely because of the arpeggiocentric video. I will look a bit deeper into it now.


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## adamsample (Nov 15, 2016)

Wow the walkthrough makes it look so easy to play! just what I need


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## Quasar (Nov 15, 2016)

reddognoyz said:


> I don't know why the video SI put up is so arpeggiocentric : ) this is first and formost an standard harp library. If I were to differentiate it from the other harp libs I have, I'd say this harp focuses on the closer mic's, whereas the SAM, OT, Spitfire, Hollywood, Cinesamples harps are more focused on an inroom tone. Not to say that any of the above mentioned don't cover the opposite bases, it just seems that soundiron put a lot of effort into getting some excellent close mic options. I had no problem getting it to sit in an orchestral setting. I'm VERY happy with this harp and am going to get it into my template for my next project.



In fairness, Mike did say at the very beginning that because he is "a terrible keyboard player" (whether true or no lol) he was going to let the arp "do the work for him", and it's pretty clear looking at the UI that this is a choice that can be turned off.

Bought this today, tried it out, love it. Another 5 star library from Soundiron.


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## SoNowWhat? (Nov 15, 2016)

Rob Elliott said:


> hmmm. A nice add to a VERY CROWDED sampled instrument. Love that the resonance freq build up issue with so many sampled harps does NOT seem to be present. Worth considering. Question remains - do I 'need' or 'want' an 10th harp?


What is this "need" of which speak? I am struggling with the concept.


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## Peaslee (Nov 15, 2016)

reddognoyz said:


> I don't know why the video SI put up is so arpeggiocentric : ) this is first and formost an standard harp library. If I were to differentiate it from the other harp libs I have, I'd say this harp focuses on the closer mic's, whereas the SAM, OT, Spitfire, Hollywood, Cinesamples harps are more focused on an inroom tone. Not to say that any of the above mentioned don't cover the opposite bases, it just seems that soundiron put a lot of effort into getting some excellent close mic options. I had no problem getting it to sit in an orchestral setting. I'm VERY happy with this harp and am going to get it into my template for my next project.



I'm really glad to hear that you guys are enjoying Elysium Harp!

The arp-centric first video is just because I'm a pretty meh keyboard player and I wanted to show off all the cools stuff it can do no matter your skill level when playing live. I just improvised the whole thing in one take while cruising through the controls  

We'll be releasing more videos as we go, including a tutorial on the auto-gliss system and a walk-through of some of the other specialized articulations like the Xylohponics. We'll also show off the pre-recorded gliss collection as well. But really, you can just play glisses live with your hands so easily when using the Pedal system. It seriously sounds just like the real thing. We love this instrument!

We're all about the close mics and getting that real "in-your-hands" sound whenever we can with our instruments. Our upcoming symphonic string library goes very deeply into close mic position options, but it's still a couple of months away.


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## SoNowWhat? (Nov 15, 2016)

khollister said:


> No - very complete set of articulations and some cool processed sounds as well. I looked at all the harps recently and this seemed a no brainer.


I too have been reviewing the current crop of harp libraries and had decided that I would just make do with the Kontakt Factory offering...until now. 
MWUHAHAHAHHAAAAHAHHAAA! 





*lightning and thunder etc etc*


OK. Back to work everybody.


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## leon chevalier (Nov 16, 2016)

Peaslee said:


> Our upcoming symphonic string library goes very deeply into close mic position options, but it's still a couple of months away.


What ???????? Am I the only who did not know ?? Why anybody react to this bomb ?


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## Lassi Tani (Nov 16, 2016)

leon chevalier said:


> What ???????? Am I the only who did not know ?? Why anybody react to this bomb ?



Isn't it this? http://vi-control.net/community/threads/well-what-do-we-have-here.55409/


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## leon chevalier (Nov 16, 2016)

sekkosiki said:


> Isn't it this? http://vi-control.net/community/threads/well-what-do-we-have-here.55409/


OK... I've read that thread... I should have taken my memory pills before posting


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## Lode_Runner (Nov 16, 2016)

leon chevalier said:


> OK... I've read that thread... I should have taken my memory pills before posting


Don't worry, you're not alone. I had the same "OMG Soundiron are doing a string library!" reaction, and then the same "oh yeah, now I remember that other thread" reaction.


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## Peaslee (Nov 16, 2016)

Lode_Runner said:


> Don't worry, you're not alone. I had the same "OMG Soundiron are doing a string library!" reaction, and then the same "oh yeah, now I remember that other thread" reaction.



We're deep into post-production for that now. 1st violins, 2nd violins, violas, cellos and basses. It's going to have a full range of mic position and placement options, but we're really giving our detailed close mics a great deal of focus. We want it to feel and sound like you're in it, almost as if you're conducting it yourself.


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## rottoy (Nov 16, 2016)

Peaslee said:


> We're deep into post-production for that now. 1st violins, 2nd violins, violas, cellos and basses. It's going to have a full range of mic position and placement options, but we're really giving our detailed close mics a great deal of focus. We want it to feel and sound like you're in it, almost as if you're conducting it yourself.


 PSYCHED to hear this!


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## Lode_Runner (Nov 18, 2016)

Just wondering - how long do I have to download after purchasing before the links expire?

Edit - nevermind, I just purchased and see it's a Continuata download. Yay. That means I can get Olympus Choirs as well and download after I've finished downloading everything else I get over Black Friday.


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## bryla (Nov 19, 2016)

quantum7 said:


> YES, you NEED a 10th Harp....if it's Elysium. After over 2 hours playing with Elysium and comparing it to all 8 of my other harps, I've officially dumped them all because I will only be using this one from now on. As a New Age music artist, the harp is VERY important to my work, and Elysium delivers IMO. Really fantastic job, Soundiron!


Does Elysium have any feature for dampening the strings? In the video when Mike is doing glisses it would've been nice to have a quick release.


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## quantum7 (Nov 23, 2016)

bryla said:


> Does Elysium have any feature for dampening the strings? In the video when Mike is doing glisses it would've been nice to have a quick release.



YES!!!


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## byzantium (Nov 28, 2016)

Thinking of buying Elysium before the intro offer runs out on Dec 1, however I'm not clear how some of the functionality works around glisses. Could anyone that has it, help?

Firstly, are the pre-recorded glasses only available in the small number keys and types that are visible in the drop-down in the 'glisses' video (C, F, Eb). I cannot find a full list of them (pre-recorded gliss scales/types) in the User Guide. It says there are 194 of them but are these the same patterns spread across all keys and scale types?). 

Also it looks like the speed of the pre-recorded glasses cannot be adjusted? If they are only available in a few keys and scales and are not tempo-adjustable, while they sound beautiful, it would make them not so usable....

Secondly, will one end up making ones own glisses by selecting the pedals / keys and runnings one's hand up and down the keys? Are the pedal positions assignable to keyswitches so that you can change the gliss key and scale type via midi (as not all scale types are available as presets) during DAW playback. One wouldn't want to have multiple harp instances per gliss type.

Many thanks, Paul.

EDIT: I see additionally one can use the Gliss page to make one's own gliss patterns, and save these patterns as files. I am guessing that this pattern then applies to the scale that is selected in the other window, and starts at the midi key that you play (both of which are midi-selectable). However, as the gliss pattern is saved as a file, then one would need multiple harp instances to play different gliss patterns in a DAW sequence? Or are the gliss controls also CC-assignable so that you could adjust the pattern speed/rate, no of notes, direction as the DAW plays back? (manual says direction can be CC-assigned but doesn't mention the other controls).


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## playz123 (Nov 29, 2016)

Balefire said:


> The library sounds very close and intimate. How does it stand up in a mix?


Depends on what you are mixing, and how you mix it. But yes, seems to fit in fine here in both orchestral and new age.


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## brett (Nov 30, 2016)

+1 to @byzantium 's question above....

Are articulations or gloss types or keys able to be switched by automation / CCs / key switching? I wouldn't want to have an harp instance for every articulation or key setting etc


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## brett (Nov 30, 2016)

Also, any comments from users on the noise floor? Especially with quieter harmonic / muted samples?

@Peaslee or @SoundironAudio for this and the above? !! (Yes I'm seeing the intro offer closing as I type this!  )


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## desert (Nov 30, 2016)

Balefire said:


> Thanks! Decided to buy it, and it does indeed sound great.
> 
> Found a bug though. Anyone else getting dropped notes with the arpeggiator? Hold down a few keys for a good 30 seconds or so with note length set to 1/16 and see what happens.
> 
> Edit: seems to be tempo related. if I set note lengths to 1/8 at 100 bpm it won't drop notes, but if I push the tempo up it will.


Are you able to answer some of the questions above for us?


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## D-Mott (Nov 30, 2016)

That was the most relaxing walkthrough I have ever seen.


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## byzantium (Nov 30, 2016)

Thanks very much Balefire. The dropped notes thing doesn't sound so good. I wonder - it's not related to the maximum voice count setting on the Kontakt instrument is it? (You know with the long release time of the harp notes plus multi-sampling on each note, you can probably hit very high voice counts pretty quickly). Just a guess/idea. Have a look at the no of voices used on the kontakt instrument and what the maximum is set to, and try increasing it. This happens me (i.e. dropped notes) on some kontakt pianos if I reduce the voice count to reduce the CPU clicking / workload. I think there is a Kontakt setting as well where you can choose how kontakt is to handle high cpu usage (e.g. via dropping notes).
Actually as I write this I think, if kontakt were dropping voices, it would be dropping old notes and not new notes, so maybe this isn't it...

So the pre-recorded glisses only come in a few keys, mmmm not very useful despite there being 194 of them... Regarding not being able to make glisses with hands running up and down the white keys, I presume you mean that you cannot store those patterns as glisses in a file, but I presume you can play them in live (in 'record') a bit easier if you 'only' have to run up and down on the white keys.

Sounds like all articulations and (predefined) keys/scales are key-switchable so that sounds ok.

I've been trying to buy this thing but soundiron's shopify system is bouncing me back and providing no error message for some reason....

Shame there are a few question marks around it because I do love the tone and apparent flexibility of this thing.


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## byzantium (Nov 30, 2016)

Good to hear! glad to be of some help, as you were to me.

I'm gonna go ahead and buy this I think while the intro offer is there, and just trust that the soundiron guys have got it right in terms of functionality / usage. I don't think the videos explain the product well enough / in enough detail. I've read the user guide, and still have one or two questions, so I hope I don't regret it.


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## SoundironAudio (Nov 30, 2016)

We got a couple more walkthrough videos for you all!


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## byzantium (Dec 1, 2016)

@SoundironAudio Thanks for this, these videos are not so new however, and don't address the questions above, which arose after watching them (and reading the manual) e.g. for what functionality/usage will you need more than one Elysium instance in your DAW, e.g. are pedal positions midi-switchable, how many keys are represented in the pre-recorded glisses? Would be good if you could help out if possible. Thanks.


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## SoundironAudio (Dec 1, 2016)

byzantium said:


> @SoundironAudio Thanks for this, these videos are not so new however, and don't address the questions above, which arose after watching them (and reading the manual) e.g. for what functionality/usage will you need more than one Elysium instance in your DAW, e.g. are pedal positions midi-switchable, how many keys are represented in the pre-recorded glisses? Would be good if you could help out if possible. Thanks.



Of course! In the Elysium Harp you can assign 12 pedal presets to keyswitches. And there are a total of 19 gliss categories, each representing a different key or mode: 

C Major 7
C Major 7 Cs
C Major Pentatonic Hard
C Major Pentatonic Hard Cs
C Major Pentatonic Nails
C Major Pentatonic Soft
C Major Pentatonic Soft Cs
C Minor Pentatonic
Eb Minor Pentatonic
F Major 7
F Major 7 Cs
F# Diminished
F# Major
F# Major 7
F# Major 7 Cs
F# Major Cs
F# Minor
F# Minor Pentatonic
F# Minor Pentatonic Cs


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## byzantium (Dec 1, 2016)

Thanks @SoundironAudio

My understanding is as follows then, is this correct:

(1) The 194 pre-recorded glisses are formed by different pattern variations but they are all playing in one of the C, Eb, F, and F# keys/modes listed above? So to use a pre-recorded gliss in a key / mode other than those listed above, you'd have to up/down-tune the whole kontakt instance with the tune knob.

(2) You would need more than one Elysium instance in a project if you needed more than 12 gliss types (probably rare enough but still...) - whether those glisses come from elysium presets or user pedal combinations - and you'd have to assign the ones you wanted to those 12 keyswitches in advance.

(I haven't looked at the arps but perhaps the 12 assignable keyswitches are also shared between the glisses and the arps).


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