VIOLA UNTAMED
Ready to tell a thousand stories.
Often described as the string instrument with the closest sound to the human voice, VIOLA UNTAMED is here to do the talking in your music. The 4th instalment of our Untamed series, we’ve recorded 3 octaves and 333 unique, individual improvised performances. From soulful and fragile murmurs to impassioned and feverish cries. Not for the traditionalist, and not for the faint of heart. This is for fans of alternative scores and inspired by composers like Jóhann Jóhannsson, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Jed Kurzel and Jonny Greenwood.
With the same unique feature-set as the rest of the Untamed series, including Storms; a powerful articulation which can creates crescendos, from a solo performance to a frenetic ensemble. As well as all of the this, there are 9 other classic long and short note articulations which complement the other instruments in the series.
It’s here to inspire your writing and is really at home with minimalist compositions where tone and sound do more talking than melody.
INSTRUMENT
Solo Viola
HIGHLIGHTS
333 unique and improvised notes
STORMS articulation
REQUIREMENTS
Kontakt FULL 5.6.8 or above
Will NOT work in the free Player
USER INTERFACE
Everything to hand
As with all our custom designed interfaces, we want you to have a logical and clear layout with everything to hand.
To help you easily understand the instrument, you can hover over any control and instructions appear in the info panel of the Kontakt window.
STORMS ARTICULATION
This isn't a swarm,it's a storm.
Storms allows you to fade from single fragile notes to a frenzy of Violas.
Great for creating tension before launching your score into a chaotic crescendo.
Listen now
SSD drive recommended as the Storm articulation uses multiple samples simultaneously within Kontakt.
DEMO MUSIC
Listen to some examples
“The viola is the closest string instrument to the human voice.”
VIOLIST FOR VIOLA UNTAMED
GLUE
Subwoofer not included
Included in the instrument is a trick we’ve been using for a long time with strings; sine waves. Adding a simple sine wave thickens up the natural sound of strings. We call this Glue as it fills in the gaps and cements the mix.
To give this the Westwood edge, we sampled every pitch of a sine wave across the 3 octaves of a viola through 1″ reel-to-reel tape. This takes away the sterile nature of a pure sine wave and makes it feel more organic. There’s two versions to use; one at the regular pitch and an “8vb” version, which pitch shifts the wave an entire octave down.
To add movement to an otherwise static signal, the Pulse section brings a sense of underlying motion.
You can control the intensity of the pulse and the rate which is synced to the tempo to your composition.
We’ve added a low pass filter which you can use to smooth off the top end for a deeper and more subtle sound.
Use the “Grit” control if you need to roughen up the sound.
Control the dynamics independently or with the expression so the level rides in tandem with the main performance.
There’s also a master volume control so you can precisely blend in the amount you need.
ARTICULATIONS
What's included
Improvisations A1
Improvisations A2 (Alternative start)
Improvisations B1
Improvisations B2 (Alternative start)
Improvisations C1
Improvisations C2 (Alternative start)
Storms
Glue
Glue 8vb
Normale
Flautando
Sul Pont
Tremolo
Circular Bowing
Spiccato (6 round robins, 3 velocity layers)
Pizzicato inc. Bartok (6 round robins, 4 velocity layers)
You can use the interface to easily combine any number of articulations to create interesting textures and some unusual combinations. We love the sound of several of the Improvisations together, which feels like a small chamber sized section of Violas all doing their own thing whilst flowing in and out of unison.
Instrument walkthrough
MICROPHONES
This is how we recorded it
Recorded at The Nave, one of the North of England’s finest recording studios; a converted church with the most beautiful sounding live room. Engineer Tom Orrell and Andy Hawkins used an impeccable set of classic microphones and vintage outboard to tailor the perfect sound for the viola.
A single Brauner VMA valve mic is at the heart of the mix, providing a really warm, full and very detailed sound. A stereo pair of Neumann KM184s captured a close stereo overhead perspective. A pair of Oktava MK-012s adds more depth to the room, and a second pair do a perfect job of capturing the natural reverb tail of the studio. We collected this really wide range of perspectives for you to mix exactly the sound you need.
Everything was recorded through through Neve and API preamps, an AMEK Rembrandt desk and captured at 96kHz using world-class Apogee AD16X analogue to digital convertors.
SOUND CONTROLS
Shape your sound
A wide 3-band equaliser, set for the sound of the viola. Very quickly scoop or boost the frequencies you need to without having to reach for another plugin. A little goes a long way.
A great sounding tape saturation plugin, ideal for thickening up the sound and adding some depth and subtle crunchiness. With gain and warmth controls.
6 curated reverb impulses that match our other instruments. From intimate rooms, to big epic halls, you’ll easily be able to find something that fits the mood and blend well with most mixes.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Good to know
- Full version of Kontakt 5.6.8 and above
- Over 5200 samples
- Over 12 GB uncompressed WAVs
- Downloads with Pulse download manager
- ~ 7 GB download size
- ~ 14 GB needed during installation
This instrument is only compatible with the full version of Kontakt 5.6.8 and above.
It will not work with the free Kontakt Player.
W A T E R M A R K I N G
VIOLA UNTAMED is automatically watermarked for each customer with unique identifying information which we use to track piracy.
FAQ
We think this viola is very versatile instrument for all sorts of music. The demo tracks should give you an idea that it can be used on anything from gentle modern classical genres, hybrid-scoring, horror movies, and contemporary alternative string quartets.
First of all, don’t try to re-create anything. You’re more original than that. But if you really want to reproduce Vivaldi’s finest accomplishment, this probably isn’t the right sound for you.
You need the full version of Kontakt 5.6.8 or above. It will NOT work in the free Player version of Kontakt. Please make sure you have the correct version before purchasing. If you need help, we have a fully-loaded guide to Kontakt which you can read here.
Yes! What you can’t do is repackage the individual samples or re-release them as another sample library, but you can absolutely use them to make the next score to a film about how to murder a king to take the throne yourself.