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• Chamber strings with legato
• Solo Violin with legato
• Harmonium
• Two Electric Guitars
• Steel & Nylon AcousticGuitars
• Mandola
• Trumpet
• Harmonica
• Hickory Piano
• Drums & Percussion
Made for Kontakt Player
Works in all major DAWs
See system requirements
Novella Blackwater is a complete toolkit of virtual instruments for scoring and songwriting. This is a mountainous range of sounds, taking inspiration from the homestead of Americana and contemporary Western cinema, with a modern approach and very versatile palette of sounds to suit multiple styles.
An outstanding string ensemble lead the band, surrounded by a remarkable selection of spirited solo instruments. Backing everything up is a rusty oil barrel and a medley of unconventional percussion.
A resilient force of ideas for film scores. An expansive plain of sounds for songwriting. We invite you to explore new horizons and prepare yourself for the wild.
Buy Novella Origin and Novella Blackwater together and save!
“This is so playable. With the string ensembles, harmonic Ideas pop into my head just because of the amazing textures. The raw quality of the low strings are my jam. The acoustic guitar, particularly the strummed patches, I will totally be using, and the gut violin is a nice touch. Fantastic work as usual, Westwood!”
A chamber string ensemble with an essential collection of inspiring and unique articulations for sketching ideas immediately. Introducing “Motion” a tempo-synced automated dynamics control to help you create realistic swells and movements without your hands leaving the keyboard.
The strings are broken out into two detailed string sections. The High Strings feature Violins and Violas and the Lows feature the Cellos and Basses performing a wide range of matched articulations including ‘Fire & Flint’ aimed at creating instant drama and tension using dynamic and timbre sliders. 3 tempo synced tremolos, Hairpins, Shorts and a range of other unique sounds.
These strings are small enough to feel detailed and alive when you need them to be, but with a quick change of mic positions and a splash of reverb, you can easily create cinema-filling sounds for the biggest scores.
A beautiful natural legato recorded independently on Violins, Violas, with Cello and Basses playing together. With a key switch to play a standard or marcato attack.
An 1800s violin made by John Betts with gut strings. Recorded with legato and 3 attack options; standard, marcato and a bluegrass-style bend. There’s also two drone articulations played using open strings.
For both love songs and laments, this is a very honest and unrefined sound with a vulnerable performance.
A harmonium recorded in its natural range but then stretched for a huge full-sized experience. As well as traditional sounding recordings we’ve experimented with a range of treatments for unconventional playing styles and textures.
A Danelectro electric guitar played with a classic twang and in a dozens styles through a Fender Reverb tube amp. Included is a mixture of versatile articulations and never before captured sounds, perfect for modern day scoring.
A Fender Telecaster recorded in Studio 2 at Nave Studio for a drier, more intimate sound. We’ve recorded western inspired slides, muted notes, chords, harmonics and gently wandering playing techniques for an amazing atmospheric feeling.
“NOVELLA BLACKWATER has dusty guitars, saloon harmonium, and campfire harmonicas that are perfect for scoring rattlesnakes and tumbleweeds… but it also has unusual and haunting strings articulations. The tempo-synced tremolo and edgy “Fire & Flint” patches will be going right into my scoring template. Unique and useful, A+ !!!
A beautifully warm example of the best vintage Gibson acoustic guitar we’ve ever heard. As well as sustains, muted styles, tremolos and drones, we’ve captured a handful of loose, human performed rhythms and chords, aimed at adding realism to your scores.
A gloriously aged nylon guitar. Rough around the edges with plenty of vibe. We’ve included a selection of unique rhythms, chords and sustains to create beautiful melodies. Also includes six ‘Wends’; lost and meandering finger-style playing to bring some mood and depth to your music.
Folk-inspired sounds that help cut through a busy mix, but can stand on their own too. This is a beautiful Sobel octave mandolin, tuned up to a Mandola. Recorded with a pick for a bright attack sound. We’ve captured a selection of articulations including shorts, tremolos and a set of ‘ready to go’ rhythms for scoring and songwriting.
A solo trumpet, recorded in a non-traditional way to give you new creative sounds in your brass writing. As well as moody, wandering sustains we’ve thrown in some classic western inspired motifs for when you need to mark that moment and conjure nostalgia.
A classic harmonica instrument. The sound synonymous with Western films. Recorded across multiple scales of harmonicas for a full range performance. A specially crafted selection of unusual sustains and bends that will add a distinct flavour to anything you create.
Using a hickory drum stick, this is our homage to the genre’s classic sound. Designed to give you a different option for when it comes to the piano. We’ve included octave and some non-rhythmical ‘tapping’ patches for added inspiration.
Our largest untuned ensemble to date, a huge selection of drums and percussion. We’ve recorded an old, rusty oil drum in various ways to give you a bespoke take on metallic hits. 2 snares including a highly tuned military snare with flams, drags and rolls. A brass snare with tambourine ring, vintage toms, a very old hand drum and an interesting selection of cymbal stacks. To top the instrument off we’ve included jaw harp, claves, cowbell, plus thunder and seed shakers to give you some very useful sound designing elements.
Recorded with plenty of dynamic layers and round robins to keep everything alive.
“The tone throughout is absolutely spot-on. Ennio Morricone would’ve been proud to have this at his fingertips”
“Wow this is absolutely incredible!!! Top notch Quality!!! Thanks!!! Game-changer!!”
deeppc
YouTube
“Every time I thought “I wonder if it includes….”, YES…YES it does and then some! What a great achievement. Absolutely knocked it out of the park.”
stevesutube
YouTube
“This entire collection sounds so wonderful and inspiring! So well thought out, from a creative and functional approach. Westwood just continues to deliver with Novella Origin!”
“This is absolutely incredible! Such a fantastic collection of beautiful and intimate sounds. Just like with the other Westwood libraries I love how raw and lively everything sounds. This would definitely be a great desert island library since it contains everything you need to write all kinds of emotional, dramatic and cinematic music. Phenomenal achievement! :)”
“One of THE best releases of 2023, by anyone. Price point is amazing considering what you get. Nothing in this toolkit is below par. Congrats to the Westwood team. Gold star time.”
guyjackson2100
YouTube
“Holy moly Rob and co. just never miss, do they? One of the few companies where I just need to continuously make room in my budget for whatever they announce next.
Sounds absolutely stunning and effortlessly musical as always, so happy it’s recorded in the same space as my beloved Untamed series”
chrisav
VI Control
PLAINVIEW ENSEMBLE
All Strings
• Frontiers
• Fires
• Flint
• Dust Devils
• Short Hairpins
• Shorts
LEGATO STRINGS
Includes 2 key-switchable styles of attack; Regular and Marcato.
• Violins Legato
• Violas Legato
• Low Strings Legato
• Violins Longs
• Violas Longs
• Low Strings Longs
HIGH STRINGS
Violins & Violas
• Fire & Flint
• Stutters
• Dust Devils
• Drifting Tremolo 85bpm
• Tremolo 110bpm
• Tremolo 150 bpm
• Longs
• Short Hairpins
• Long Hairpins
• Long Hairpins Sync
• Shorts
• Back Bow
LOW STRINGS
Cellos & Basses
• Fire & Flint
• Stutters
• Dust Devils
• Drifting Tremolo 85bpm
• Tremolo 110bpm
• Tremolo 150 bpm
• Longs
• Short Hairpins
• Long Hairpins
• Long Hairpins Sync
• Shorts
• Back Bow
DEADWOOD
Gut Violin
The Legato and long articulations include 3 styles of attack; Regular, Marcato and a bluegrass style bend.
• Legato
• Longs
• Drones
• Sul Pont Drones
MORGAN
Harmonium
• Longs
• Yonder
• Yonder Reverse
• Windpipes
• Exhale
• Exile
OUTLAW
Electric Guitar
• Longs
• Longs Pitch Shifted
• Palm Mutes
• Palm Mutes Pitch Shifted
• Chords
• Tremolo
• Coil Tremolo
• Coin Tremolo Thirds
• Coin Tremolo 4ths/5ths
• Railheads Knuckle
• Railheads Ring
• Smokebox
RAILS
Electric Guitar
• Fingerstyle Longs
• Pitched Fingerstyle Longs
• Woolen Mutes
• Pitched Woolen Mutes
• Splangs
• Slide
• Fret Hover
• Harmonics
• Promontory
• Promontory Reverse
• Hangfire
• Hangfire Reverse
FLAT TOP
Steel Acoustic
• Longs
• Shifted Longs
• Mutes
• Pitched Mutes
• Tremolo
• Unison Drones
• Unison Drones Reversed
• Rhythm – Homestead
• Rhythm – Stourbridge
• Rhythm – Creekside
• Rhythm – Byways
NOMAD
Nylon Acoustic
• Longs
• Chords (Maj/Min)
• Rhythms – Highplains
• Rhythms – Chitlins
• Rhythms – Outrider
• Rhythms – Cavallard
• Wends – Chords
• Wends – Chuparosa
• Wends – Brittlebrush
• Wends – Desert Sage
• Wends – Saguaro
• Wends – Feverfew
JUNIPER
Mandola
• Pick
• Tremolo
• Tremolo Storm
• Chords
• Rhythm – Cottonwood
• Rhythm – Barnum
• Rhythm – Gadabout
• Rhythm – Sagebrush
HERALD
Trumpet
• The Gambler
• The Drinkers
• The Rustler
• Short Sustains
• Short Swells
• Long Swells
• Motif – Maverick
• Motif – Bittersweet
• Motif – Forward
• Motif – Forward Minor
• Motif – Forward Major
• Motif – Charge
BRONSON
Harmonica
• Wild & Moody Longs
• Moody Longs
• Wild Longs
• Slow Bends
• Fast Bends
• Swells
• Chords
• Longs
HICKORY
Upright Piano
• Hickory Piano
• Octave Hickory Piano
• Reverse Piano
• Tapping
• Reverse Tapping
• Stacked Tapping
OIL FIELDS
Drums & Percussion
• Oil Drum – 10 unique sounds
• Military Snare including Flams, Drags, Roll, Rimshot and Splash Stack
• Brass Snare
• Broken Crash
• Cymbal Stack
• Stick Ride
• Cymbal Scrapes
• Old Bass Drum
• Dead Old Bass Drum
• Hand Drum
• Jawharp
• High Cowbell
• Low Cowbell
• Claves
• Thunder Shaker
• Seed Shakers
Production-ready Mix
All instruments in the library include a production-ready mix. A beautifully balanced and natural image that’s good to go straight out the box. Sweetened EQ, some gentle compression and a light dusting of tape saturation to add some tasteful harmonic colour.
Close Mic
A stereo position for detail, clarity and revealing the nuances of the performances.
All instruments
Room Mic
An XY stereo pair with plenty of life from the studio acoustics. The most balanced and natural sound of all the signals. Can easily collapse to mono if needed.
All instruments
Gallery Mic
A stereo position, high up in the gallery of Studio 1. Diffuse and open capturing the full bloom of the studio.
Strings, Gut Violin, Trumpet, Harmonica, Drums
Overhead Mic
An additional stereo mic position on the drums and percussion.
Drums
Copperphone Mic
A mono mic with a limited frequency response and natural compression, sounding much like the earliest radio transmissions. Wonderful on its own for a nostalgic feel, or mix in gently for interest and character.
All instruments except Piano and Strings.
Uses the free KONTAKT PLAYER
Version 6.6.1 or higher
All major DAWs supported
NKS compatible
Native Access required for activation
Mac OS 10.13 High Sierra or higher
Windows 10 or higher
8GB RAM minimum
~32.6GB download size
Downloads using the free Pulse app
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