Soundiron Rattletines is a set of unique hand-crafted tuned percussion instruments created by instrument designer and sound sculptor Bart Hopkin. These one-of-a-kind instruments each produce their own special flavour of rattle or buzz, with every note having its own warmly resonant flavour. Rattletine includes two rows of tines. The upper tines hammer against “anvils” as they vibrate. The lower row is clean, for a clearer tone quality. Mahogany and Hacksaw Blades both feature tongues with holes and small pieces of metal wrapped through. When plucked, the metal wrappings rattle as the tongue vibrates, producing a unique buzzing sound. Aptly named, Hacksaw Blades uses actual hacksaw blades for the tongues.
Soundiron have faithfully sampled tine plucks and percussive hand slaps on the instrument bodies, with two stereo mic positions. Also included is a wide selection of custom FX presets and plenty of our signature sound designed ambient content, crafted from the raw acoustic source to give you complete creative freedom.
The Kontakt interface includes a suite of automation-ready sound-shaping controls to give you total creative flexibility. You have control over swell, attack, release, offset, vibrato, filter, pitch (coarse & fine), articulation switching, cross-fading and layering, and so much more. Soundiron have also included 20 unique sound-designed custom FX presets to give you lots of creative options.
This library comes with an adaptable LFO system, with selectable LFO shape, modulation target parameter, speed, intensity, tempo-syncing and fade-in time. You can also apply your choice of 12 lowpass, high-pass and FX filters, with assignable modulation targets such as velocity, modwheel, expression, after-touch, key position and step-sequencer table control. The customizable arpeggiator offers a velocity table and control over arp direction, timing, swing, randomization and duration. A key and scale lock system is also included to constrain your notes to common scales and keys for easy melodic composition and live performance.
The interface is rounded-out by Soundiron's modular FX rack panel, 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 phaser, flanger, delay, distortion, amp and cab simulators, compressors, EQ, rotator and so much more. The Reverb effect includes Soundiron's favorite convolution reverb impulse responses, including 99 different rooms, halls, chambers and outdoor environments, plus another 40 custom FX impulses to radically transform the sound and open up whole new worlds of musical possibility. Soundiron have added a great bank of FX rack chain factory presets to get you started!
Bart Hopkin has been active in many facets of music-making, including instrument building, performing and recording, composition, arrangement, education, and ethnomusicological research. Bart is also an established author, with ten books published on the subjects of instrument design and optimization.
Since 1974, Bart has been designing and constructing all the far-flung musical instruments he could dream up, with an emphasis on unusual and inventive acoustic art. The Hopkin Instrumentarium now has over 110 original creations and continues to grow every year. Soundiron is proud to bring you this inspiring and distinctive series of bespoke instruments not found anywhere else on earth.