Versilian Studios has launched Musicmakers Volume 2, a Kontakt Full sample library developed in collaboration with Musicmakers, a maker of DIY instrument kits and music therapy instruments. The library contains 13 deep-sampled folk and world instruments, including lever harps, a lyre, kantele, hammered dulcimer, psalmodikon, zither, handpan, whistle, and pitched percussion.
Musicmakers Volume 2 expands on the first Musicmakers collection with additional velocity layers, round robins, articulations, and effects. The sampled instruments include Musicmakers-designed instruments such as the Epic Harp, Ballad Harp, Jolie Harp, Reverie Harp, Hammered Dulcimer, Kantele, Old World Lyre, and Psalmodikon, alongside instruments including handpan, whistle, and Freenotes mallet instruments.
Versilian Studios recorded the collection during a week of studio sessions using six consistent stereo microphone positions. Each instrument includes close, mid, main, and room perspectives, with individual controls for volume, pan, stereo width, solo, mute, sample purge, and routing.
The microphone configuration includes an AEA N28 stereo ribbon microphone and Neumann TLM170 microphones for close positions. Two mid positions use Gefell M221 omni measurement microphones and M310 supercardioid small-diaphragm condensers. The library’s VISAGE engine allows users to blend these two mid positions continuously to create intermediate tonal and directional characteristics. Main and room positions use Microtech Gefell UM930 and Gefell M950 microphone pairs, respectively.
Each instrument was sampled across its available range with multiple playing techniques. Many instruments include around five velocity layers, recorded at consistent level intervals and normalized for smoother transitions. Plucked notes include two to four round robins, with an optional neighbor-borrowing round-robin function.
The library also includes recorded replucks, designed to reproduce the sound of repeatedly plucking a note while its previous resonance remains active. Replucks are available across dynamic levels with two to four round robins, and their timing window can be configured or disabled. Soft and hard note-stopping behaviours have also been sampled.
Extended articulations include col legno on the psalmodikon and vibrato-plucked hammered dulcimer performances. The harp instruments include sampled glissandi as well as individual gliss plucks performed with felt and fingers, allowing users to construct custom glissandi with velocity control.
Musicmakers Volume 2 uses Versilian Studios’ VISAGE engine and provides controls for velocity curves, dynamic range, keyswitch placement, transposition, playable-range adjustment, reverb, tuning, and temperaments. The whistle includes true legato, while mono aftertouch can be assigned to trigger note-off behaviour. The library also supports NKS integration with Native Instruments keyboards.
The included MIRAGE FX panel provides access to Kontakt’s internal effects processing, preset exchange with other VISAGE 3 products, and a modular structure intended to allow separate updates to the VISAGE and MIRAGE FX components.
Musicmakers Volume 2 is available for $249. Versilian Studios is offering an early-bird discount of $50 through October with the code MM2Promo. A Musicmakers Volume 1 and 2 bundle is available for $299, and most Volume 2 instruments are also available individually.
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