Rating: **** 4/5 Stars
Hosted by the full version of Kontakt 4 or later, Sound Dust’s Felt Dulcitone is a rather oddball instrument created by abusing a dulcitone portable keyboard, a type of acoustic travel piano that uses U‑shaped vibrating tuned forks or tines rather than strings. Its nearest relative is probably the Fender Rhodes piano, though the dulcitone, designed and manufactured in Scotland back in the 1800s, doesn’t need electricity. It produces a woody sound reminiscent of a glockenspiel, but for this library, a layer of felt carpet was squeezed under the hammer mechanism.
The library is relatively small at 1.6GB and the GUI provides a very straightforward set of controls. There are 24 snapshots, which must be installed according to the accompanying instructions, and creating new ones of your own is very easy as there are relatively few controls. There’s control over the sample start position, a level slider and an octave slider for adding an octave‑up version of the pitched sound. Note Off volume is also provided along with a fader for adding vinyl crackle, though as I was brought up in an era when vinyl crackle was the very incarnation of evil, I always turned this down.
You also get basic attack and release controls, a three‑band EQ, effects labelled Pedal (drive and tone) and Thump (a resonant filter to beef up the lows), plus a sequencer that controls the level of each step and which has several sequencing modes. Separate controls add transient enhancement with attack and decay adjustment plus tape saturation.
All those woody thunks make this instrument sound extremely organic and, thanks to the level sequencer, it is possible to create some novel rhythmic effects too.
The Sample Start Transient slider is a very important control as this determines how much of the initial ‘clunk’ makes it into the final sound. The tonal part of the sound is fairly pure and can be used with a slow attack and a long release to create pad‑like effects, or be used with a more natural piano‑like envelope. Bringing in some of that woody clunk produces an effect not unlike a giant music box, which can be further enhanced by dialling in a little of the Note Off sound so that you get a sound not unlike releasing a piano damper pedal when releasing a key. All those woody thunks make this instrument sound extremely organic and, thanks to the level sequencer, it is possible to create some novel rhythmic effects too. It is important to audition the sounds in context with the rest of your mix as it is easy to bury the tonal part leaving the thumps to dominate. Other than that there are some very evocative sounds to be had that would slot nicely into soundtrack and ambient work.
£25
£25