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Soniccouture have released
The Skiddaw Stones, a
unique new sampled instrument for Kontakt, EXS24 and
Ableton Live. Here's what they have to say about it...
A Lithophone ( litho = stone, phone= voice ) dating from
1840,The Skiddaw Stones are composed of 61 tuned and
shaped rocks, made from the rare hornfels stone, found in
Cumbria, England. Created by Joseph Richardson, a
stonemason and musician, it took almost thirteen years to
collect and shape enough individual notes of hornfels to
make an eight-octave range. The massive task of
assembling this instrument consumed Joseph so
absolutely that he and his family were reduced to poverty. Once complete, Richardson and
his sons toured Europe as The Rock, Bell and Steel Band, and even performed at
Buckingham Palace, by command of Queen Victoria.
The Stones are a permanent exhibit at the Keswick Museum and Art gallery, who very
kindly agreed to let us record this rare instrument. The Stones were painstakingly
transported to Music Farm Studios, Cumbria, where two different sets of mallets were
used to laboriously capture large sets of velocity hits, then an extra articulation was
recorded - the sound of the head of the wooden mallet being scraped across the stone
surface - a surprisingly haunting and resonant sound.
The result is a truly bewitching instrument, one that sounds truly ancient, even older than
it is. Totally unique rock music.
Pricing and Availability:
The Skiddaw Stones is available now as Download (££49) or disc (£59).
The Skiddaw Stones are part of Soniccouture's Buy One Get One Free Offer - just use
enter the code belowat the checkout ( offer expires 9th Sept 09 and applies to downloads only ).
Enter Code : 4R0156JCM2
More information: