The Whale Drum is a modern example of one of the world’s oldest known instrument families: the tongue or slit drum. These progenitors of the “idiophone” family were originally developed in Africa thousands of years ago. They were originally carved from hollow logs or wooden blocks and struck to produce percussive musical tones. It is one of the few instruments considered to possibly predate language itself. Over the ages, slit drums have been substantially refined to allow more accurate intonation and wider key ranges. We selected our whaledrum for its marimba-like warmth, dreamy tone, gentle softly-rounded attack and subtly undulating decay. The lower notes have an especially deep richness to them.
We recorded our 14” 8-tongued vermilion tongue drum in a dry studio environment with mallets, wooden sticks and brushes. We recorded each mallet struck note at both tongue center and edge positions, with an average of 10 dynamic velocity layers and 10 round-robin variations per note. The stick and brush articulations were played over various edges and surfaces around the drum. We then recorded a second session with the instrument in a large reverberant tile and stone hall from a slight distance with mallets and sticks. This “wet” hall sound is ideal for orchestral arrangements and more atmospheric songwriting.
As a bonus, we also recorded a smaller 3-note slit drum and a wooden toy xylophone. There is also a great bonus selection of delicate atmospheric pads and evolving ambiences sculpted from the original acoustic source material. All of these articulations and sound sets offer independent articulation layering, blending and switching right at your fingertips.
CONTENTS
The UI comes packed with lots of great sound-shaping controls like swell, attack, release, offset, vibrato, filter, pitch (coarse & fine), articulation switching, cross-fading and layering, and so much more. The Advanced Control window adds additional options like an LFO with shape, target, speed, intensity, tempo-syncing and fade-in control. You can also choose from 12 low-pass, high-pass and FX filters, with assignable modulation targets such as velocity, modwheel, expression, key position and step-sequencer table control. The ARP system features a velocity sequencer and controls for arp direction, note timing, swing, randomization and duration. The new key and scale lock system allows for easy melodic composition and live performance. It’s all rounded out by our modular FX rack window, with 18 different DSP effect modules that you can assign in any of 10 available slots, in any order that you wish. You’ll find classic phase, flanger, delay, distortion, amp and cab simulators, compressors, EQ, rotator and so much more.
- Full 10×10 Round Robin
- Expressive dynamic layering
- Dry Whale Drum Mallets, Sticks, Brushes and Effects
- Wet Hall Whale Drum Mallets and Sticks
- Baby Whale Drum
- Toy Xylophone
- Sound-designed ambiences and atmospheric synth pads
- Stick and Brush PErcussion Effects
