Toontrack EKX: Hybrid Harp

Even though the laws of thermodynamics long ago ruled out the possibility of a perpetual motion machine, EZkeys Hybrid Harp comes very close. The laws of physics may still apply, but fact remains that this peculiar ‘machine’ has an inherent mojo that seems to make sure you’re never short of ideas. It literally runs and feeds off of you and your own imagination.

EZkeys Hybrid Harp presents five individual instruments, all layered, textured, and saturated in various capacities to form unique and never-before-heard hybrids of sounds. The undisputed star of the group is an iconic Style 23 harp. In addition to this, a traditional Swedish nyckelharpa (or "keyed fiddle"), two harmoniums, a bowed glockenspiel, and a set of ocarinas were sampled. Combined, this seemingly odd group of instruments – that in logical terms have no earthly business sharing the same sonic space – culminate in what must be described as a vastly puzzling audio universe of plucking, percussive, soaring, airy, beautiful and ever-so-slightly dissonant sounds.

Hybrid Harp is one of the most multifaceted EZkeys titles yet – one that will trigger parts of your creative mind you didn’t know existed. These are sounds ideal for anything you can imagine.

Features

• Five types of individually captured instrument types: a harp, a nyckelharpa, two harmoniums, ocarinas and a bowed glockenspiel
• Each instrument can be called up individually using the ‘Raw Tweaks’ presets
• In excess of 40 mix-ready presets, offering creative instrument blends of never-before-heard hybrids of sounds
• For any type of music or production – ideally ambient soundscapes, scores and sound design

The Components

Although the overall idea and inherent strength of the Hybrid Harp lies in how the different audio components are layered in the presets, you can call up unprocessed versions of the instruments by selecting one of the ‘Raw Tweaks’ presets.

The Harp

The harp is a Style 23 by Lyon & Healy, a classic brand out of Chicago, with more than 130 years of harp making history to its name. This specific instrument model, which dates back to the late 1800s, has become iconic and is likely the most recognized harp in the world. It was sampled by harpist Pia Rosengren, who, on a side note, named her instrument Inez!

The Harmoniums

EZkeys Hybrid Harp includes two different harmoniums. These instruments are pump, or free-reed, organs that generate sound as one pushes its pedals up and down and air is allowed to flow past vibrating pieces of thin metal in a frame. They are possibly best described as portable pipe organs. Harmoniums have a long history and became very popular for use in smaller churches, chapels, and schools all through the 20th century. In addition to the instruments themselves, organic sounds like squeaking wood and other textures were recorded. These are seamlessly added onto the samples for an extra rustic feel.

The Nyckelharpa

The nyckelharpa (or "keyed fiddle") is a traditional Swedish string instrument with a long history. It’s played with a bow and has its keys attached to buttons which serve as frets to change the pitch of the string. In many ways, it can easily be described as a mix between a violin and an accordion. This specific nyckelharpa was built by Swedish craftsman Enar Magnusson and sampled by Torbjörn Näsbom.

The Ocarinas

Ocarinas, which are a type of vessel flutes, belong to a family of instruments that are believed to date back at least 12,000 years. Although many variations exist, the typical ocarina is ceramic and has four to twelve finger holes. For the Hybrid Harp, three different ocarinas were captured.

The Glockenspiel

Although this classic tonal percussion instrument traditionally is played with mallets, a soaring and very rich tone can be produced by striking the edges of each of its metal plates with a bow. This is the method that was used for the Hybrid Harp.

The Presets

To make it easy for you to navigate your way to the type of sound you’re looking for, the presets are organized in five different folders: ‘Atmospheric,’ ‘Distorted,’ ‘Organic,’ ‘Percussive’ and ‘Raw Tweaks.’

• Harp Space - A warm, big sound which combines the harp with the harmonics from the harp. Effects include chorus, tape delays and plate reverb.
• Nyckelharpa Space - A big sound focused around the amazing Nyckelharpa with some low pass filter fed into a chorus, plate reverb and delay.
• Flowing - The strings from the harp evolves into a flowing emotional soundscape with the help of the ocarina, glockenspiel and nyckelharpa – all with awesome surrounding space.
• A Little Strange - A soft smaller type of ambience made up of harps and ocarina with wah-wahs, vibrato, pitch shifters, distortion, hall reverb and reversed tape delays.
• Bigger Space - Harps with bowed and staccato nyckelharpas through filters, saturation, distortion, vibratos, delays and big hall reverbs – making this beautiful preset sound almost like a moving picture.
• String Echoes - Bouncing fast and warm delays coming from the strings of the harp with the combination of an ocarina, making it sing with the help of a vintage tape echo, chorus and hall reverbs.
• Slow Mood - The harmonics from the harp blended with what sounds like whispering wind from the ocarina and the dark vibes from one of the harmoniums creates an eerie and melancholic vibe. Reversed reverbs vibrato effects, hall reverbs, vintage tape echo, spring reverb, room reverb and chorus, a very powerful sound.
• Reversed Time - A small but effective ambient sound derived from the harmonics of the harp as well as the ocarinas run through a chain of reversed reverb and vibrato into a small room.
• Harp Harmonics with Swells - A medieval distant choir-like sound with a harmonics of the harp in the focal point blended with the ambience of the nyckelharpa, ocarina and the bowed glockenspiel – all saturated with vintage tape echoes, chorus and big reverbs.
• Harmonics and Movement - The close proximity of a squeaking chair and the harmonics from the harp blended with the bowed glockenspiel distance as well as the nyckelharpa run through filters, pitch shifters, chorus, tape delays and a hall reverb.
• Lights In the Sky - This is what happens when a harmonium meets an ocarina and bowed glockenspiel and the tone is run through a chain of bit-crushed and distorted filters and pitch shifters, tape delays and hall reverbs.
• Melancholy Pads - A lo-fi and almost whistling-like sound from the ocarinas blended with the harp, harmonium and bowed glockenspiel into a bit-crusher, filters, delays and flanger.
• Northern Pads - Ocarina and bowed glockenspiel through tube saturation, pitch shifter, vibrato, tape delays and hall reverbs. This one has an obvious lo-fi vibe and is amazing to play soft chords in the low register with. Suits any grainy documentary footage!
• Sinner Pads - Exciter, hall reverb, a vintage chorus modulation, distortion through a room and a panner effect from the sounds of a harmonium, nyckelharpa, ocarina and bowed glockenspiel.
• The Breath - A breath-like and truly open sound. Use the controls to seamlessly add in the ocarinas and bowed glockenspiel to give it even more texture.
• Walking Pads - This preset features the perfect marriage of a harmonium and a nyckelharpa. The tone is run through tube saturation, room reverb and tape delays and finally passing through some delicate filters.
• Distorted Melody - This one sounds almost like a horn, making it great for a melodic instrument – especially if played softly. It contains a chain of distortion, compression, chorus, room reverb, and a hall reverb.
• Distorted Nyckelharpa Echoes - The nyckelharpa running through some distortion, chorus, vintage tape echo, hall reverb and compression is the foundation of this eerie sound.
• Extreme Bass - Harmonium and nyckelharpa running into very, very heavy distortion.
• Bass String and Harmonium - A warm filtered harmonium and the nyckelharpa running through a room reverb and some compression. Simple but very effective.
• Cabin Feel - A squeaking chair and the sound of a combined instrument featuring nyckelharpa, ocarina and bowed glockenspiel accompanied by the key noise of a harmonium. A confined and kind of creepy cabin fever feel.
• Soothing Bells - By allowing the delays to be in the focal point, this preset – featuring the harp harmonics, ocarina, bowed glockenspiel and harmonium key noise – is the perfect choice for long and swelling chords.
• Smooth String Filters - This preset uses an LFO controlling a low-pass filter, hall reverbs, pitch filters, tape delays, inverse reverbs and a plate reverb.
• Second Home Harmonium - Named after the studio in which it was recorded. The preset, which has some ambience from the studio room, makes it feel like your truly right there in the studio. Very close and intimate.
• Second Home Octave Harmonium - A harmonium with all pipes turned on. Same as the above – the goal was to transport you to that very room.
• Panned Harps - The harp to the left and the harmonics of the harp to the right – both running through some chorus, room reverb and tape delay. Simple but big and truly stunning.
• Ocarina Dirt - Some squeaky ambience noise with an ocarina through distortion, compression, widener and inverse reverb.
• Harmonium Environment - A little bit of everything – a blend of a harmonium, harp, nyckelharpa, ocarina and bowed glockenspiel into a small room reverb.
• Farkosten Harmonium - The harmonium recorded at Farkosten Studio. Some squeaky ambience from that room was added, making you feel like you’re right there at the keys.
• Glockenbow Harmonium Pad - Harp, harmonium, ocarina and bowed glockenspiel through some filters, vintage modulation, vintage tape echo, hall reverb, plate reverb, more chorus and a saturated tube into a vintage compressor. The sound is close yet distant.
• Melancholy Pads 2 - A soft and warm filtered sound from a harp, harmonium, ocarina and bowed glockenspiel running into a pitch shifter, vintage compressor, room reverb, vibrato and a 12-bit bit crusher with some additional saturation.
• Glockenbow Harmonium - A harp, harmonium, ocarina and bowed glockenspiel through some saturated tube effects.
• Sadder Strings - Nyckelharpa into a tape simulator running at 15 inch/sec and a lot of drive, then into a stereo widener and some vintage compression exciters and finally a room reverb.
• Vinyl Strings - Nyckelharpa through a chain of EQ, compression, room reverb, stereo widener, hall reverb and tape delay. And some vinyl noise to top it off!
• Percussive Notes - The main instrument here is the harp, but if you keep your notes hanging you will hear some nyckelharpa in the background. The chain is built of some filters, pitch shifters, chorus, tape delay and plate reverb.
• Chord Harp - Harps, nyckelharpa and ocarina is the base of this beautiful sound. The instrument mix goes through a vibrato, filter, tape delay and a hall reverb. Optimal to strum some chords with this one!
• Nature - Harps, nyckelharpa and delays are what make this one truly sing. The instrument blend goes through chorus, panner, plate reverb and tape delays.
• Thin Space - A low-pass filtered sound through some high frequency reverbs and ambiences. Harp, nyckelharpa and bowed glockenspiel through filters, chorus, compression, pitch shifter, tape delays and hall reverb.
• Staccato Blend - A combination of sounds that have a fast attack, mainly nyckelharpa but the subtle use of harmonium, ocarina and bowed glockenspiel make the decay very intriguing. The blend goes through compression, EQs, chorus, room reverb and digital delay.
• Soothing Percussive - Harps and a little nyckelharpa through some panner effect, chorus, plate reverb and filter delays.
• Solely Percussion - This is the percussive part of the nyckelharpa making its way through some 14-bit bit crusher and saturation through a digital ‘80s delay.
• Small Symphony - Harps, harmonium, nyckelharpa and ocarina through some vintage modulation, tape delay, phaser, vintage tape echo and an ‘80s reverb.
• Distorted Verb Staccato - A staccato sound built on of a combination of harps and nyckelharpa through compressor, EQ, tube saturation, ‘80s reverb, vintage Otto compression and a tape simulator.
• Percussive Harp - A warm-sounding harp blended with a little nyckelharpa and key noise of a harmonium into chorus, room reverb, plate reverb and a tape delay.
• 12bit - A harp, nyckelharpa and some harmonium key noise through filters, ‘80s reverb, chorus, stereo widener, tape delays, room reverb and a 12-bit bit crusher with some saturation.
• Nyckelharpa Harmonium Blend - A nice ambient sound where the harp meets the nyckelharpa and a harmonium with some added ambient noise through a chain of filters, tape delays and plate reverb.
• Emotional Staccato - Harps and nyckelharpa through a chain of compression, EQ, vintage modulation, ‘80s reverb, vintage Otto compression, tape simulator and a stereo widener.

Raw Tweaks Presets

• Harp - Control over volumes and panning of the unprocessed harp as well as the harmonic harp.
• Nyckelharpa - Control over volume of the bowed long notes, percussive elements, staccato, key noise and environment of the nyckelharpa.
• Ocarina and Glockenbow - Control over volume and panning of Ocarina and bowed glockenspiel.
• Farkosten Harmonium - Control over volume of harmonium, ambience noise and key noise of the harmonium recorded at Farkosten.
• Second Home Harmonium - Control over volume of harmonium, ambience noise and key noise of the harmonium recorded at Second Home.
• Second Home Octave Harmonium - Control over volume of Harmonium, ambience noise and key noise of the harmonium recorded at Second Home.