Spitfire Audio Ólafur Arnalds Stratus KONTAKT-0daytown

KONTAKT – 19,67 GB

The piano, reimagined
Fusing the power of technology with the organic beauty and emotion of the piano, Stratus is a vast, dynamic new instrument that will add depth, movement and colour to your music. Made in collaboration with BAFTA-winning Icelandic composer and producer Ólafur Arnalds, this versatile, multidimensional tool bends space and time through an intricate network of polyrhythmic piano performances. Awe-inspiring patterns and atmospheric clouds of harmonic refractions swell and die away at your fingertips, unfolding based on what you play and instantly sparking new ideas.

Instantly playable and easy-to-use, Stratus is presented in a bespoke interface made up of eight multi-layered piano and synthesizer matrixes, each offering a unique sonic experience — plus detailed customisation options and mind-blowing warped sounds, offering a full spectrum of emotion.

A spectrum of emotion
In our fourth collaboration with renowned composer Ólafur Arnalds, we bring you a brand new, multidimensional instrument, based on his acclaimed software: sophisticated midi algorithms programmed to trigger a mix of straight and syncopated rhythmic patterns of notes, on two identical self-playing pianos. Spitfire has used this model to create a highly intuitive and interactive tool enhanced with unique features, while recording full performances to capture the profoundly emotional, organic nature of the pianos themselves — instantly adding echoes of movement to anything you play, and pushing you to explore new possibilities.

Instant musicality
Stratus makes it easy to create nuanced piano-based music from the most simplistic of arrangements. Designed to help you write music or finish that track or score, hold down a note or a chord and lose yourself in unique, inspiring clouds of harmonic refractions and rhythmic performances as they swell, evolve and die away at your fingertips. Whatever the mood you are trying to create, it offers a whole spectrum of emotion, derived from user input — from intimate loops, swells and textures to intricate rhythms falling like rain, and dreamy, expansive soundscapes.

Detailed customisation
While specially curated by Ólafur, you control how these combinations of harmonic elements develop — both by what you play, and with extensive built-in customisation options, as well as a comprehensive range of effects. The four piano-based matrixes capture the stunning organic sounds of Ólafur’s pianos, panned across the stereo field to give a true representation of the pianos in their space, seamlessly blended into one, while the four synthesiser matrixes employ the same technology to create similar patterns, with stunning tempo-locked rhythmic loops made using Olafur’s Korg PS-3100, and dreamy swarm-like textures from his Juno-60. The Randomise bar features experimental controls to further randomise Stratus’ behaviour, taking advantage of the library’s generative nature. Stratus’ versatility lends itself to solo compositions, as well as adding texture and unpredictable elements to orchestral libraries, and complementing the libraries in our acclaimed Ólafur Arnalds series.

Bespoke interface featuring eight 8×8 matrixes complete with five Z-axis layers
– Rhythmic waves: tempo-synced rhythms with a gradual attack/swell
– Rhythmic attacks: tempo-synced rhythms with a strong attack
– Looped rhythms: tempo-synced loops
– Swarms: non tempo-synced swarm-like textures
– Synth matrix: looped rhythms
– Synth matrix: swarms
– Synth matrix: swarms
– Synth matrix – looped rhythms shorts 1
– Synth matrix – loaded rhythms shorts 2

Extensive built-in customisation options
– Tempo-sync
– Quantise on input
– Polyphony – select how many voices are triggered at once
– Straight piano overplay – play straight piano on top of evolving patterns
– Low note priority, for added stability to bass lines
– ADSR and a comprehensive range of effects
– Randomise and evolve functions
– Three straight piano presets with left, centre and right signal options
– Warped synth content, presented in our mercury synth engine
– NKS ready

Stratus works by taking a single note and repeating it according to a curated rhythm, splitting the rhythm between the two self-playing pianos while at the same time relocating the note up or down the octave based on a curated level of randomness, that chooses whether or not the octave should jump. Where our Evo Grid technology is triggered by note range, the Stratus matrix works by voice groups — dependent on the order in which you play the notes, and how many you play.

The latest in an acclaimed series
Discover our bestseller libraries created in collaboration with the celebrated Icelandic composer: Evolutions — unique string quartet textures and long evolving phrases; Chamber Evolutions — introducing his signature ‘Waves’ strings samples which evolve beneath your fingers; and the intimate Composer Toolkit — recorded on a characterful ‘felted’ grand piano. A must-have for musicians and composers influenced by the Scandi Noir movement, looking to create beautiful, progressive, hybrid ensemble music.

Mercury synth
This ingenious user interface features a range of organic sounds and specially curated warped sounds. All of the controls are assignable to your control surface, giving you the ability to instantly make our sounds your own.

New update – November 2020
Our November 2020 update brings with it 9 new synth matrices giving users an extra compliment to the synth side of the library’s palette. Olafur curated all nine matrices himself, using all analogue synths, recorded through analogue processing (tape echos and delays) via Olafur’s Studer desk and all made using the pseudo-random curated sequencer that feeds the piano and the existing synths in the library. All synths represent a different rhythm, all curated by Olafur to fit perfectly with each other, and able to be randomised in the matrices for endless possibilities. The 9 new synth matrices are made up of 3 Looped Rhythms matrices, 1 waves matrix and 5 swarms matrices.