Harmonium by Out There Instruments

Harmonium is an exclusive Ableton Live virtual instrument available only on Bandcamp. It can be found as an inclusion in the normal "album" download as an ALP file. It was made using Ableton Live 11.3. and built from recordings of an instrument I bought at a Hindu shop in KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. The Harmonium, which originated in Germany, is the go-to instrument for Hindu religious music and the Sufi-influenced Islamic poetry set to music and sung in a form known as the Ghazal.

I sampled each note using my ZOOM recorder and made two instruments. One is a straight Harmonium with drones and all 42 original notes without stops pulled out, and the other is a more experimental/atmospheric film usage instrument. It's not the world's most expensive or finely crafted instrument, and it has some characterfully wonky notes which give an authenticity rare in digital instruments these days.

I’ve included my "Drought Drums, " a drum instrument I made from large plastic water drums which we used during the drought of 2016-2018 when we had to collect rainwater and store it. These were likewise sampled and worked into a playable format compatible with Launchpad or Ableton’s Push.

If you want, you can go into the original samples and add more sounds. There may be stuff I didn’t use there, which you may find augments the instrument.

Warrick Sony
wrexony@gmail.com


More info on the Harmonium in India here:
https://www.india-instruments.com/encyclopedia-harmonium.html#:~:text=The%20harmonium%20was%20brought%20to,spread%20all%20over%20the%20country.

Ableton Instruments
built by Warrick Sony
sound designer
& Ableton Live specialist
in Kommetjie,
Cape Town
South Africa

Out There Instruments
warricksonicart.com