MNTRA Tenebrae

Exhumed Synthetic Textures from Snakes of Russia

LA-based artist Joseph Holiday creates apocalyptic electronic visions (affectionately described as 'Death Beats') under the moniker Snakes of Russia.

His singular sound weaves together textured modular synth patches with gritty drum samples, all slammed through destructive chains of unobtanium outboard and tape to create a unique world of darkness.

In Tenebrae, our first Artist Series instrument, Snakes Of Russia opens his personal Pandora’s Box, offering you a deep collection that has been curated from his distinctive sonic palette, yet through our advanced MNDALA 2 engine gives you limitless options to create your own sound.

Mntra conceptualized Tenebrae as an exhumed creature, buried for over a century and now resurfaced - bringing the dark dust from the depths of the earth.

Transmuted through analog processing and tape; modular and analog synths, obscure bowed instruments and gritty percussion come together to bring the darkness in Tenebrae.

Features

Proprietary Engine - AAX/VST/AU Plugin included. No additional software required.

3-Axis Universal Controls - Simply map your favorite controller once for all plugin instances.

Intuitive Performance GUI - Custom animation-driven performance interface & mouse hover interactions.

Industry Leading Audio Quality - 384khz/32-bit extended ultrasonic range sample sources

CPU-Efficient In-Engine Playback - industry-leading 24-bit 96kHz resolution

Patches

Lead

Black Blood - Synth lead with tape saturation and a slow filter envelope.

CTPAX - Detuned synth through guitar cabinets and room mics. Sounds great with octaves.

Entity - Modern polysynth through room mics.

Dungeons - Dirty synth lead with filter modulation.

Nihil Waves - Synth lead with tape saturation and a slow attack.

No Shores - Synth lead with high resonant short filter sweep, re-amped through PA cabinets.

Rapture - Filtered synth lead with tons of room tone.

Slasher - Bandpassed synth lead through bucket brigade delay.

Spun Room - Dirty synth lead played through PA cabinets and captured through 2 sets of room mics.

Veins - Tape saturated short synth lead.

Bass

Bat Teeth - Dirty monosynth with a slight bucket brigade delay.

Bent Night - Short mono bass with tape saturation. Perfect for arps and sequences.

D Tape Sub - Basic sub with tape saturation.

D Tape Sub Layered - Layered sub with tape saturation.

Dirt Room - Detuned vintage monosynth played through cabinets, captured through room mics.

Fuzz Control - Vintage synth bass played through a fuzz pedal.

Shallow Shallow - Detuned synth bass shorts through cabinets.

Proper Grit - Dirty synth bass patch. Evolves from direct signal to room mics.

Pad

Gods Cab - Processed vintage polysynth through PA cabinets with room mics.

Last Magic - Polysynth with granular processing through hardware compression and a generous amount of tape saturation.

Skull Biz - Granular processed pad with a short bucket brigade delay and saturation.

The Chemist - Vintage polysynth layered with white noise evolving from direct to room mic signal, with extra bucket brigade delay.

Tides - Noisy vintage pad with filter movement through PA speakers.

Abraxas - Slow, filtered drone with tons of bucket brigade delay.

Cave Walls - Texture made from scraping wood against a huge silo wall, processed through modular synth and a long BBD.

Dust Grains - Granular processed re amped polysynth.

Ghost Drone - A few layers of bowed instruments through granular processing.

Sigil - Filtered, saturated bowed texture.

Silo Sting - Short swell made from silo foley and granular processing.

Dark Beast - Polysynth through hardware compression, saturation and a long bucket brigade delay.

Keys

Dust Poly - Vintage polysynth with dirty chorus chips, tracked to tape.

FM Springs - FM plucks through distortion and spring reverb.

Fang Plucks - Saturated polysynth plucks through room mics.

No No Echo - Bandpassed monosynth through vintage tape echo and spring reverb.

Slow Digs - Short swell made with foley and granular processing.

Tunnel Scrape - Long swell made from scraping the inside of a huge silo with wood, capturing its natural reverb and processing through modular synths.

Wrecking Pulse - Monosynth through a short bucket brigade delay and vintage tape echo.

Waits - Melodic FM percussion hit. Great for pulses.

Hybrid

Witch - A homemade gut string resonator for evoking dark, ancient magic, re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Cuatro - A unique Cuban Cuatro, played with a bow for a screech-like sound, then modified by Snakes Of Russia using custom processing signal paths. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Double String - A shamanic snake-themed arco instrument from the Amazon, with double resonant strings, bowed for unique sounds and re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Kabak Short - A Turkish Kabak Kemane, strung with baroque violin gut strings and played spiccato, and re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Kabak Long - A Turkish Kabak Kemane strung with baroque violin gut strings, for playing long notes, re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Ravanatha 1 - An ancient 200-year-old Ravanatha from Rajasthan, played by bowing its resonant strings, and re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Ravanatha 2 - Similar to Bowed Ravanatha 1, this ancient instrument from Rajasthan has unique resonant strings, re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Metal - A custom-built mini Waterphone, bowed with moving water inside and re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Vietbowl - A rare Vietnamese temple bowl that resonates uniquely when bowed, re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Percussion

Percussion - Various foley, FM synthesis, modular synthesis, and granular bits all processed to tape and back.