Toontrack’s Hybrid Harp is the most unusual EZkeys instrument yet

EZKeys Hybrid Harp is the latest in Toontrack’s EZKeys range, now making the collection fourteen instruments strong. The virtual instrument brings together five individual instruments with a Style 23 harp as the centrepiece.

The harp is accompanied by four unusual instruments, which have all been layered, textures and saturated in different ways to create unique sound palettes. The instruments include a traditional Swedish nyckelharpa (or ‘keyed fiddle’), two harmoniums, a bowed glockenspiel and a set of ocarinas, all of which have been sampled. You’d be forgiven for thinking this is an unconventional set of instruments to bring together, but the plucking, percussive and dissonant result is rather intriguing. Sound designers creating soundscapes, scores and sound effects might find this of particular interest.

Five categories of presets are on board to make it less of a chore to hone in on a specific sound. These are organised into Atmospheric, Distorted, Organic, Percussive and Raw Tweaks folders. There are over 40 mix-ready presets to choose from. As with other EZKeys instruments, you can drag and drop MIDI, humanise melodies and grooves, intuitive chord creation and more.

Of the release, Toontrack’s head of sound design and hybrid harps ‘inventor’ Mattias Eklund said “I wanted it to feel unpredictable – like each preset was its own out-of-this-world sound that came when you pressed an invisible button on this weird steampunk-looking machine. I hope these sounds give birth to boatloads of new songs around the world!”

Toontrack EZkeys is available now with a price of £129. Existing EZkeys users can get the sound library for just £47 until 31st August by purchasing the EZkeys Sound Expansion. It’s available as a 32- and 64-bit AAX, VST, AU and RTAS instrument, as well as a low latency standalone application

Listen to more sound previews and download EZKeys Hybrid Harp at timespace.com

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