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Arctic Strings: Kontakt
$44.10 USD (including tax)
Arctic Strings is a lush cinematic strings library designed from the ground up for easy to use ambient sustained strings. It features flexible scripted legato and portamento/glissando. The interface is built around the northern lights, as you play the strings, the aurora swells and flows to the sound. The library is quite unlike anything else, it offers an unique inspiration experience and is perfect for atmospheric and ambient strings.
This product requires the paid version of Kontakt. See Arctic Strings: Mirage for a VST/AU version.
KEY FEATURES
- Scripted Legato, Portamento/Glissando
- Basses, Cellos, Violas and Violins all in 1 patch
- Dynamics slider (default CC1)
- 8 Presets
- 13 Effects including delay, sequencer, chorus, reverb
- Automatic harmonise controls – lock to thirds, octaves, chords and more
- Attack and release controls
- Convolution reverb with ambient effect impulses
- Beautiful and unique GUI
- Change legato and glissando speed
- Comprehensive manual
- Advanced modulation matrix allows for setting keyswitches, velocity/CC modulation and much more
PRODUCT DETAILS
Like many FrozenPlain libraries, Arctic Strings features a strong link between visuals and sounds. Strings can have an incredibly emotive sound that swells and flows. I began to draw a link between this and the real life spectacle of the northern lights. I imagined the strings swell and move in time to the aurora, this idea inspired the graphical interface.
The samples are wide and lush stereo recordings from a medium sized string ensemble recorded in a church. It is not a deep sampled and technical concert hall type library, instead this library excels at strings for ambience and atmosphere. They are incredibly easy to use and fill that gap between detailed realism and smooth rich pads. In fact, they tend to work very well together with real strings recordings. Their smooth and atmospheric nature leaves plenty of room for real string recordings on top to shine.
The second page of the Arctic Strings GUI is the FrozenPlain Effects engine. It features a whole rack of FX such as reverb, delay and distortion. These can be used for creative sound design, and turn these strings into something quite different.
Download Arctic Strings Manual (PDF)
Download Effects Engine Manual (PDF)
 | Dynamics and VolumeControl the dynamics and volume with the dynamics slider. This slider crossfades between different recordings of the strings: played softly, and played hard. This control is essential for creating swells and movement in your performances. As well as the crossfade this slider controls the volume to a certain extent, the intensity of the volume can be edited within the mod matrix. |
 | Automatic HarmonyYou can automatically harmonise your strings - turning a single keypress into a major triad chord for example. There are a variety of chord and interval presets to choose from. The harmony can be constrained to a key and scale to fit your music. |
 | Scripted Legato and PortamentoThe legato and portamento is completely customisable. The length of the transition is controlled by 2 sliders, one for legato and one for portamento. Long glissando slides can be created or short slurs. Using the mod matrix it's easy to set up these controls to dynamically change to your playing. The script will detect your playing speed, velocity and interval and can change the legato controls on the fly. |
 | Customise with the Mod MatrixThe mod matrix is an incredibly powerful system that allows you to set up the instrument to play how you like. Arctic Strings will sound great out of the box and there are plenty of presets to choose from. However, if you are someone who likes to tweak then the mod matrix is easy and powerful to use. This is the place to set up keyswitches and CCs. It can also be used to dynamically change the legato to your playing. For example, set the legato transition to be faster when you play notes quickly. |
 | 13 Effects - Filters, Sequencer, Reverb, EchoArctic Strings comes with the powerful FrozenPlain Effects Engine. It features 13 effects built into an easy to use interface. These have the power to drastically change the sound and are a useful for sound design. Each effect has 5 presets and a selection of controls. In total there are: LP & HP filters, 2 band EQ, Atomise, Strums, Scatter, Sequencer/LFO, Arpeggiator, Distortion, Chorus, Phaser, Rotator, Tempo Synced Delay and Reverb. |
TECHNICAL DETAILS
- This library requires the full version of Kontakt 5 to work. It will only work in demo mode if you have the free Kontakt Player.
- Arctic Strings requires the full version of Kontakt version 5.1 or above.
- Because this product is not for Kontakt Player, it cannot be added with the ‘add library’ function, you must instead load the .nki files through the file browser, or by dragging and dropping.
- 136 samples in NCW file format
- 390 MB installed
- 366 MB download
KONTAKT OR MIRAGE
This product is also available for Mirage, our free sample-based-synth VST/AU engine. The 2 versions are different interpretations of the same samples. Primarily, the Mirage version was created to offer the strings to people who do not have Kontakt.
While Mirage has many powerful features and houses the strings instrument with grace, it was not custom-made for strings, while this Kontakt version is. If you purchase this version you can get the Mirage version for free at any time. You also get these features that the Mirage version does not:
- Custom northern lights themed GUI
- Built-in chord harmoniser
- Scripted legato and portamento
- Mod matrix for advanced control of dynamics or note transitions
- An alternate rack of effects for sound design such as the sequencer
3 reviews for Arctic Strings: Kontakt
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
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Cédric MIALARET (verified owner) –
Legato is not working for me at all.
Apart from that, I absolutely love the sound of these Arctic Strings!
I find they are a soothing inspiration, an invitation to meditate, or simply a joy to hear.
It’s a great combo with Obelisk too for those who prefer to play chords that way.
admin (verified owner) –
Really pleased you like it! Feel free to shoot me a message if you’d like help with the legato setup. https://frozenplain.com/contact
Michael Johnson (verified owner) –
This is a beautiful and creative string Library. The patches have a very beautiful tone/vibe and can work alone or combined w/ other string libraries. Definitely a source of inspiration for new ideas or moods.
conquerator2 (verified owner) –
The string have a beautiful, ethereal and delicate feeling. I wish there were more presets / patches to experiment with. But for the money I am very pleased with it, given it can stand on its own or add a unique layer when layered with other instruments.