The Bowed Psaltery is a stringed musical instrument of the zither family. It´s wooden soundbox has unstopped strings over it, which are playing with a bow. The Bowed Psaltery is triangular in shape, with each string extending a little farther than the one before, so that each can be individually bowed – allowing one note to sound at a time*.

We recorded every second string of the Bowed Psaltery using several different playing techniques: sustained notes as separate up and down bow strokes, short (approx. 3 sec.) as well as staccato bowed notes with 4 Round Robin variations, and tremolo notes. Beyond that, we recorded “slow – tremolo” loops, noises, and scratching effects produced with the bow. All these loops are tempo-synced. You might like to use these loops as ostinato backgrounds for your music. Several of the instrument patches are programmed to provide access to multiple articulations or dynamic layers using the modwheel, and other settings using the Kontakt interface.

Bowed Psaltery MW (Looping sustained notes as separate up and down bow strokes, with additional release samples. Modwheel controls dynamics)
Bowed Psaltery Shrt (Short notes with 4 Round Robin variations)
Bowed Psaltery Stacc MW (Staccato notes with 4 Round Robin variations, Modwheel affects the dynamic, from gentle to hard staccato)
Bowed Psaltery Stacc MW Arp (see above, arpeggiator script with 12 presets)
Bowed Psaltery Tremolo (Tremolo notes, looped, with additional release notes, Modwheel controls dynamic, further controling amount of reverb)
Bowed Psaltery FX (processed long notes, pad-like)
Bowed Psaltery KEY (Keyswitch patch containing sustained, short, and staccato notes)
Bowed Psaltery Loops (“slow – tremolo” (ostinato) loops, noises and scratches made with the bow, tempo-synced, controlling)

19 EUR (excl. VAT)

Bowed Psaltery-Demo “Room 378″

Musikvideo: Adobe Flash Player (Version 9 oder höher) wird benötigt um dieses Musikvideo abzuspielen. Die aktuellste Version steht hier zum herunterladen bereit. Außerdem muss JavaScript in Ihrem Browser aktiviert sein.

Additional Instruments: Downbeat Box

Demo by Eric van Gent

Bowed Psaltery-Demo “Bugstep”

Musikvideo: Adobe Flash Player (Version 9 oder höher) wird benötigt um dieses Musikvideo abzuspielen. Die aktuellste Version steht hier zum herunterladen bereit. Außerdem muss JavaScript in Ihrem Browser aktiviert sein.

Additional Instruments: Zeitter & Winkelmann

Demo by Eric van Gent

Bowed Psaltery-Demo “Leaving”

Musikvideo: Adobe Flash Player (Version 9 oder höher) wird benötigt um dieses Musikvideo abzuspielen. Die aktuellste Version steht hier zum herunterladen bereit. Außerdem muss JavaScript in Ihrem Browser aktiviert sein.

Demo by Eric van Gent