Thephonoloop's themkI

video uploads by THEPHONOLOOP

Playlist:

1. themkI | An exploration of a 70s classic
2. themkI | Overview
3. themkI | Presets playthrough

Press release follows:


Thephonoloop tweaks themkI as deeply-sampled, expressive VI exploring electromechanical keyboard classic’s imperfections with colourful Version 1.1 update


KATOWICE, POLAND: Thephonoloop is proud to announce that it has tweaked themkI — already available as a deeply-sampled, expressive VI (virtual instrument) for Native Instruments’ KONTAKT PLAYER platform housed in an MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) compatible engine built for discovery and experimentation, exploring the beautiful imperfections of a Seventies-vintage electromechanical keyboard classic — with a colourful Version 1.1 update introducing sharper contrast for better visibility alongside new GUI (Graphical User Interface) colour options for customising its look, as of October 7…

Acclaimed as Thephonoloop’s second deeply-sampled VI, themkI builds upon the engine initially introduced in its Tapes.01 predecessor — itself focusing on synth sounds and sound synthesis in general courtesy of sound sources created using various hardware and software synthesizers and effects with everything recorded either on tape, cassette, micro-cassette, or cassette tape loops, so every sound already has a nice texture before users start working with it — albeit taking things in a different direction, one which is better suited to the sampled material involved. In fact, the Polish sound design duo behind Thephonoloop had long wanted to capture the essence of the Seventies-vintage electromechanical keyboard classic concerned — essence, in this case, meaning all the mechanical clicks, noises, and beautiful imperfections of a machine that is over 50 years old.

Thephonoloop’s themkI was initially viewed by its creators as a natural progression of the company’s keenly-priced Cassette… series of ‘lite’ VIs, with various versions available for Native Instruments’ full-blown KONTAKT — not compatible with KONTAKT PLAYER, Ableton’s Live, Apple’s Logic Pro, and any SFZ sample player, such as Plogue’s free sforzando, for instance. Indeed, taking things several steps further resulted in 16 dynamic layers, release and mechanical samples — all still passed through tape. Then, out of curiosity, the resulting raw samples were loaded into the Tapes.01 engine and, having played around with them, it quickly became clear how things should be shaped in their final form — effectively ending up as a canvas for exploring the beautiful imperfections of that Seventies-vintage electromechanical keyboard classic with two independent granular engines at anyone’s creative disposal.

An ANIMATED playing mode — known as SWARM in Tapes.01 — features polyphonic modulation, with each layer running on its own independent engine, making themkI MPE compatible. Ultimately, users can combine standard polyphonic playback with granular/sequenced capabilities when running in SINGLE mode, two SINGLE modes, or two granular/sequenced affairs. Also, Thephonoloop has introduced 16 different instrument modes, designed to keep things simple while still encouraging deep sound exploration.

Each layer has its own 16-step sequencer available in both ANIMATED and SINGLE modes, where it can act as a voice-specific modifier. It is possible, for example, to set it to play one sound source on notes 1-3, another on notes 4-6, shift every third note up an octave, reverse every fifth note, detune the last few notes, or set a unique sample start position per note… the list goes on. As another example, the first layer might play single notes with a classic Seventies-sounding soul vibe, while the second is faded in via a keyboard controller’s mod wheel or an MPE controller, scanning through the waveform in a granular fashion or playing micro-loops with duration and position set by the VOICE / SEQ modifier.

“What we really like about themkI is that, on one hand, you have a deeply-sampled classic instrument — something we spent a lot of time and effort on to make it feel as alive as possible, and, on the other, you get all the sound design patches and a powerful sound engine, which lets you mix and explore different combinations of sounds to create soundscapes that can take you to unexpected places.” So says the co- founder of Thephonoloop, Roman Chmurak, concluding: “We think it really excels at producing unconventional tones and surprising you along the way, so viewing it as just an electric piano library with some additional patches really doesn’t do it justice.”

Thankfully, though, Thephonoloop has continued to do justice to themkI with its colourful Version 1.1 update introducing sharper contrast for better visibility alongside new GUI colour options for customising its look. And anyone looking to mix and explore different combinations of sounds to create soundscapes drawing from the beautiful imperfections of a Seventies-vintage electromechanical keyboard classic should surely consider adding themkI — clearly capable of taking them to unexpected places as a deeply-sampled, expressive VI for Native Instruments’ KONTAKT PLAYER platform housed in an MPE compatible engine — to their toolbox.


Priced at €149.99 EUR (excluding VAT), themkI is available to purchase as a KONTAKT PLAYER-compatible/NKS (NATIVE KONTROL STANDARD®)-ready AAX-, AU-, and VST-formatted virtual instrument plug-in featuring 10.5 GB of (NCW compressed) samples — spanning main instrument sources captured clean (DI’d through a Universal Audio tube preamp into an Apogee Symphony audio interface) plus two recorded on different cassette decks (Deck A being an old cassette desk used in schools, adding noticeable noise and a little bit of saturation; Deck B being a malfunctioning old Polish Unitra cassette recorder, introducing a healthy dose of wow and flutter, along with other tape imperfections), with 16 dynamic layers, and 16 dynamic layers release samples; mechanical samples with six dynamic layers, six dynamic layers release samples, 4x round robins, and additional pedal noise samples with 4x round robins; 60 sound sources in seven categories with up to five dynamic layers; and 126 noise samples in five categories — that works with all major DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) running on macOS 12 or above (natively compatible with Apple Silicon) and Windows 10/11 (latest Service Pack) directly from the dedicated product webpage here: https://thephonoloop.com/collections/instruments/products/themki (Owners of Tapes.01 qualify for a 20% discount — using the code: TTBUNDLE.)

themkI is also available bundled with Tapes.01 for €215.00 EUR (excluding VAT) — representing a substantial saving over purchasing both products separately for €269.99 EUR (excluding VAT) — directly from the dedicated product webpage here: https://thephonoloop.com/collections/bundles/products/themki-tapes

To function, themkI needs Native Instruments KONTAKT PLAYER 7.10.7 or higher, available from here: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/samplers/kontakt-8-player/