It's done! I'm pretty sure we've captured the Waterphone library to end all Waterphone libraries. And here's everything you may or may not need to know about it: Wikipedia defines this thing as:

Quote:"a unique type of atonal acoustic musical instrument constructed largely of a stainless steel resonator "bowl" with a cylindrical "neck", containing a small amount of water, and with brass rods around the rim of the bowl. The waterphone produces a vibrant ethereal type of music sometimes classified as "ambient music. [...]it's played by bowing or drumming and movement so as to affect the water inside, and thus the resonant characteristics of the bowl and rods. The waterphone is recognized as a true musical instrument and appears in movie sound tracks, record albums, and is used in live performance. [...]The waterphone is a modern invention inspired by the "Tibetan Water Drum, a round, slightly flattened, bronze, drum with an aperture in the center top," according to the inventor of the waterphone, Richard A. Waters."

Previously, there really wasn't much out there. If you wanted to use this classic piece of sound design/cinematic scoring legend, then you really had to go out and buy one. Until now, the biggest Waterphone library on the market contained approximately 180-200 samples, which is less then 1/15 of the new Tonehammer library. Ours contains 2,903 samples and dozens of different articulations, divided into two main categories: Bowed & Mallets. The articulations include a variety of bows, a huge set of different mallets, metal devices, hands and other contraptions. The library also contains a variety of more experimental patches, including boiled water at four different temperature levels, hydrophone recordings (underwater microphones in the waterphone), magnets on waterphone tines and filling waterphone with metal screws and other goodies. This sample library pretty much covers just about every thinkable and unthinkable way you'd want to use/abuse a waterphone. We can proudly state we sampled the living soul out of the waterphone. All playable mallet programs contain between 5-10 velocity layers - and 6-10 round robin variations for maximum playability. In addition Waterphone contains a bonus set of waterphone ambiences, including a large collection of unique patches (Kontakt 3 only) made by Steven Tavaglione (Instrumentalist and Sound Designer; Wall-E, American Beauty, CSI, Supernatural and 100s other movies/shows/games). Pricing & Availability: Waterphone is available for download now and has an introductory offer of $89. The price goes up to $99 on 3/22/09. Native Instruments Kontakt 2.2.4+/3 full retail version required. * $89 (introductory offer - goes $99 on 3/22/09) * Bowing (no water) Slow, Medium, Fast FX * Bowing sweep (water) Slow, Medium, Fast FX * Bowing 2-note legato * Bowing Sustain (with and without water) * Bowing Staccato * Bowing FX grinding w/ tine buzz (with and without water) * Bowing FX w/ magnets * Bowing FX w/ hydrophone (underwater mic) * Bowing FX w/vocals * Bowing FX boiling at four different temperature levels * Mallet Rubber (6-7 velocity layers - 6 round robin) at +16 tines * Mallet Metal (6-7 velocity layers - 6 round robin) at +8 tines * Hand Played "Metal Tabla" (10 velocity layers - 10 round robin) bottom and top * Wooden Mallet (6-7 velocity layers - 6 round robin) at +20 tines * Hydro Mallets (6 round robin) at +20 tines * Rubber, Metal and Wooden Mallet Sweeps (Slow, Medium, Fast) * Waterphone Ambiences (Kontakt 3 only) by Steven Tavaglione * Hydro-Vocal drones, phrases and more… * 57 instrument patches, 2.903 samples, 4.3 GB installed, 1.25 GB .rar download * 22 Ambient Patches by Steven Tavaglione (Ambient music on Wall-E, American Beauty etc) * Sample resolution: 44.1Khz/16Bit stereo .wav format * Format(s): Kontakt 2 and .wav (note: Kontakt 3 requirement for bonus content) * Note: Native Instruments Kontakt 2.2.4 / 3 full stand-alone retail versions required

">Here's a little video we threw together to give you a taste of what this beast is all about. Here are a few demo tracks which highlight what you can do with the library. Please note that the first two tracks feature nothing but content included in this library. The second two tracks include only minimal outside additions in order to contextualize the library with other composition elements you might use. Demo1 Featuring: Tonehammer Waterphone (including ambiences/percussion) Demo2 Featuring: Tonehammer Waterphone (including ambiences/percussion) Demo by Mike Peaslee Demo3 Featuring: Tonehammer Waterphone (including ambiences/percussion) and added strings Demo by Rhian Sheehan Demo4 Featuring: Tonehammer Waterphone (including ambiences/percussion) Demo by Troels Folmann and vocal ambiences by: Steven Tavaglione Here's a little discussion with Troels and I about the making of our waterphone library, in mp3 form. Here's an extensive read me install, patch and hint documentation (.pdf) Go here for more information and stuff. http://www.tonehammer.com/?p=1564

Sick! I'll have to check this out further...