Orchestral Tools Releases Splinter: Hidden Chamber Ensemble
Orchestral Tools has released Splinter – Hidden Chamber Ensemble, an avant-garde virtual instrument for contemporary scoring. It combines a small string section with Ondes Martenot, piano, band instruments, percussion and sound design. The library is built around experimental technique and the character of sonic imperfection, with a tone the developer describes as introspective and unsettling.
The instrument keeps the physicality of performance in the sound, treating imperfections, incidental noises and unexpected details as part of the material. Orchestral Tools positions it as a meeting point of introspective rock and contemporary scoring, offering an off-center toolset and a foundation for further sound design, with players’ idiosyncrasies left under the user’s control.
The contents include experimental chamber strings (two violins, two violas, two celli, bass and tutti) and an Ondes Martenot with palm speaker, SFX and a choice of legato styles. A detuned upright piano, a drum kit with assorted, toy and scrapyard percussion, and electric guitar, bass and banjo played with bowing and other non-standard techniques complete the ensemble. Fifty multi-layered sound design patches are also included.
Recording took place in Saal3 at Funkhaus Nalepastrasse in Berlin, a room designed in the 1950s for chamber ensembles and currently used by pianist and composer Nils Frahm. Up to 11 microphone positions are available to blend in as much or as little of the room as desired. A separate reverb chamber mic position, where all sounds were reamped, uses the studio’s vintage echo chamber.
Splinter is aimed at composers and producers looking for unconventional chamber textures, from experimental strings and Ondes Martenot to detuned piano and scrapyard percussion. Orchestral Tools lists it as a contemporary scoring ensemble virtual instrument, and the introductory offer runs until October 7.
Splinter is available now at the introductory price of €199 (regular price €299) until October 7 – for all details visit Orchestral Tools
