ARRAY MBIRA

FIVE OCTAVE THUMB PIANO

Gen Tools
Mic + Pick-up Channels
8 x 3 Layers
Micro Tuning
Kontakt Player NKS

The Mbira is a folk instrument originally from Africa. Sometimes called a Thumb Piano, Sanza, or Kalimba, they are generally home-made and consist of metal tines attached to a piece of wood, which are plucked with the thumbs. They are mostly small, with a handful of notes.

Array Instruments, started by Bill Wesley and Patrick Hadley, have taken the concept of this ancient African idiophone to a whole new level, not only in terms of instrument design but also in purity of sound, and range of pitch.

The Array Mbira is no toy, it’s a highly advanced musical instrument built to exacting specifications.

"Array Mbira blows away the restrictions of a traditional kalimba"

Sound On Sound Review

THE KONTAKT INSTRUMENT

THE INSTRUMENT PANEL

The Mix page allows control of the separate mic and pickup channel levels, as well as the Strummer module, where you can strum the Mbira using the mod-wheel or controller of your choice.

EDIT PANEL

MICROTUNING
ADSR + FILTER + LFO CONTROLS
VELOCITY CURVES, DAMPING CONTROL

The expanded controls feature thumb transient, Damping and Key-off setup, the Strummer, and detailed channel controls. The other edit tabs feature ADSR envelopes, filters, micro-tuning and LFOs.

GEN TOOLS: JAMMER

The latest evolution of our generative arpeggiator - Hold a chord, and let it evolve - or loop a section and jam between 12 sequences using the Jam wheel.

SCALE FILTER
AUTOMATION READY PRESET SLIDER

GEN TOOLS: WEAVER

RHYTHMIC TRAIL GENERATOR
UP TO 8 LANES
CREATE YOUR OWN PRESETS

Create unique rhythmic patterns for each note you play. A bit like a delay effect but evolves differently according to what you play - strands of sound weave in and out of each other.

THE FX PANEL

3 USER CONFIGURABLE INSERT FX
4 BAND EQUALISER
SPACE MODULE WITH ALL SAINTS REVERB

Array Mbira features a comprehensive effects page, with a configurable insert chain featuring Replika, Phasis and other cutting-edge NI effects. The Space Reverb module features Soniccouture's custom impulse library built up over many years and recording sessions.

ABOUT THE MBIRA

Array Mbiras have a stereo pickup output, shown here.

A shot showing the twin sound holes, straight through the body of the Mbira.

The Array note system marked on the mounting plates.

An overhead view of the mbira.

The Mbira sampling session, showing overhead XY pair and sound hole micing.

VERY LOW BASS

The Mbira's large sound box (this model is about 77 cm across ) allows for much deeper pitches to be heard acoustically: the lowest fundamental on our mbira is in the region of 33 Hz.

All Array Mbiras come equipped with a 2-channel piezo pickup system, allowing for easy amplification and line-out recording. The low end from the pickups alone is surprisingly smooth and deep; combine it with mics and it's booming.

KONTAKT PLAYER COMPATIBLE

This is a Kontakt Player instrument. This means that you do not need to own the full version of NI Kontakt to use it. It will run as a plug-in instrument in any VST/AU/RTAS/AAX/WASAPI,compatible host program or DAW eg: Cubase, Logic, Ableton Live, DP, Reaper, Pro-Tools. No extra purchase necessary.

System Requirements:

Windows 7 or higher (latest Service Pack, 32/64 Bit), Intel Core Duo or AMD AthlonTM 64 X2, 4 GB RAM (6 GB RAM recommended)

Mac: OS X 10.9 or higher, Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM

Requires KONTAKT 7 or KONTAKT 7 PLAYER version 7.9 or later