BACKGROUND!
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First there was the harp, then the harpsichord, now Spitfire are please to introduce the Cimbalom
to this family of definitive VIs.!
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Greg Knowles is a pre-eminent talent and a number one go-to instrumentalist for majority of AAA
composers who work and record in London. Coupled with Spitfire's ability to produce and curate,
samples that sparkle with life, whilst being able assemble and script an instrument that just works
"out of the box". Mr Knowles' cimbalom module is a must have for any respectable composer.!
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SPITFIRE PRESENTS THE DEFINITIVE CIMBALOM LIBRARY!
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Spitfire’s Definitive Range endeavours to offer the world a one-stop shop for classic and esoteric
instruments played by the greats. As all these instruments are recorded in situ, in the same room,
they’re designed to lock together sonically whether it be some timpani from the percussion range
coupled with your Sable libraries. Or indeed a more curious band made up of the HG20, a plucked
piano and a harp, it is designed to sound like they’re together in the same room. We provide a
series of fantastic mixing options that allow you to dry stuff up or make it more ambient should you
so wish, whilst preserving the acoustic integrity and perspective of a slavishly recalled microphone
set up and room configuration. The instruments are all deep sampled but designed to play easily
out-of-the-box, with easy integration into larger arrangements and templates without risk of
demanding too much from your system resources. Recorded by Jake Jackson at Lyndhurst Hall –
Air Studios, on one of the finest scoring stages in the world, through an array of priceless vintage
microphones via Neve “Montserrat” pre-amps, to a beautifully serviced Studer 2” tape machine and
then into digital at 96k via the best Prism AD converters: this is an unparalleled signal chain.!
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Spitfire is a collective of award winning composers and technologists. We don't just record and
build samples we go further than that. We produce with great pride every single note, ushering the
best out of the musician and curate each product with a set of articulations, sounds and
performances that we know will give you the definitive take of this wonderful harp. We engage our
specialists not only as performers, but as technical advisers to give us a consensus based on
experience of what most composers want out of them, what DEFINES the instrument.!
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FEATURES!
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The cimbalom is a concert hammered dulcimer: a type of chordophone composed of a large,
trapezoidal box with metal strings stretched across its top. It is a musical instrument popularised in
Hungary and commonly found throughout central and eastern Europe. The cimbalom is played by
striking two beaters against the strings. The steel treble strings are arranged in groups of 4 and are
tuned in unison. The bass strings which are over-spun with copper, are arranged in groups of 3
and are also tuned in unison.!
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The cimbalom has been used in many film scores over the years famously John Barry used it in
the title theme for the film The Ipcress File, as well as in the main theme of the 1971 TV series The
Persuaders!. But it's most famous, and coolest use was probably on the 1994 Portishead track
"Sour Times". An example of how the instrument can be used as a mournful exotic sound not just
it's often stereotypical use against East European backdrops, spy intrigue and cold war thrillers.
Aside from being an amazing featured or solo instrument. It is also great as a textural element;
doubling pianos and other tuned percussion instruments, it's particularly interesting in unison with
pizzicato passages. A fantastic new colour for your palette and with this level of deep sampling,
something that can sit proud and exposed in your mixes and honestly and realistically express the
emotion of your composition.!
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Spitfire are delighted to present Greg Knowles playing his Grand Cimbalom in the hall at Air
Studios, London, one of the greatest recording studios in the world. Sampled with 4 round robins
and 2 dynamics as single hits, and of course the characteristic tremolando. (Its not a massively
dynamic instrument but we have smoothly enabled you to make it as dynamic or not as you wish,
via front panel velocity map.) Options exist to use 'Piano' sustain pedal style, or the reverse
authentic 'Cimbalom' style (where pedal up is the ringing out sustained sound). Recorded through
the finest mics via exclusive Neve "Montserrat" Pre-Amps and Prism AD converters. The Spitfire
Cimbalom joins our Harpsichord and Harp as the definitive VI in its class.!
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The library is presented with numerous microphone positions which you can not only mix and
blend to fit the application you’re working on, but also automate for dramatic shifts in focus and
depth. They're also fully output assignable for surround and 5.1 use. As mentioned before the
definitive range is designed to fit in with Spitfire's entire orchestral canon, including Albion, BML
and some of the Signature Range as if they're in the same room together!