Human Touch Technology has introduced Sika Oriental Scale, a free collection of nine oriental instruments formatted for use with Native Instruments Kontakt 5.
The library contains a single NKI patch sporting a customized interface allowing the user to select one of the nine included multi-sampled instruments with the push of a button. Since all of the samples are accessed from a single patch, switching between different instruments is almost instantaneous. The sampled instruments (Alto Sax, Aud, Kanoun 1, Kanoun 2, Kanoun 3, Accordion, Trumpet, Nay and Duduk) sound rather good, however the fact that the library doesn’t include multiple velocity layers may lead to somewhat unnatural sounding results depending on the user’s playing style. Even so, the library is perfect for use in electronic music, hip hop and similar genres where a natural sounding performance isn’t the highest priority. All included instruments can be played in polyphonic and legato mode.
Sika Oriental Scale’s user interface also offers a simple accompaniment section, with three preset rhythms, a break trigger and the optional automatic Darbuka loop. It is also possible to control these parameters by using key switches, which is a great option for performing musicians. In addition, quarter note control support makes the instrument compatible with oriental scales.
The library requires the full version of NI Kontakt 5 in order to work without any limitations. It will only work for fifteen minutes in the free Kontakt Player. Individual WAV files are not included, meaning that the library is not compatible with any other sampler on the market apart from Kontakt.
The instrument can be downloaded directly from the Human Touch Technology website, completely free of charge. There is no need to sign up for a user account or provide your email address. The library is distributed as a simple ZIP archive containing the patch and compressed samples.
Audio Demo
Check out the Sika Oriental Scale audio demo:
Download
Sika Oriental Scale is available for free download via Human Touch Technology (44.3 MB download size, ZIP archive, contains 1 instrument patch in NKI file format for NI Kontakt).
