8Dio – Bazantar (KONTAKT)

The Bazantar is a custom five-string acoustic bass equipped with an additional twenty-nine sympathetic and four drone strings. Its melodic range is more than five octaves, and its sympathetic range is four octaves. The resulting interaction of melodic, sympathetic and drone strings creates an unexpected resonant landscape that is characterized by a surprising richness of textures.

The Bazantar contains over 2,700 samples divided into two main categories: Multi-samples and phrase-samples. The multi-samples consist of plucked and bowed representations, with and without vibrato, with up to 10 round robins per note, as well as dynamic sustains/swells. We phrase-sampled Mark Deutsch playing the bass traditionally and with the backside of the bow (Col Legno).

We added a variety of controls (ex. pedal volume, release volume, noise reduction, EQ) a visual velocity editor, and a great selection of convolution reverbs and convolution effects. The instrument was recorded in a rich church environment with two sets of microphones (close/internal and ambient/player), so users can adjust the sound to their liking.

MICROPHONES AND OPTIONS

The Bazantar was recorded in a lush church environment with multiple microphone positions. We combined dozens of different microphones into two main mic stems. The first one is a close, dry perspective. The other is a Far stem, which gives you a more ambient and traditional orchestral perspective. You can use them individually or dial them together.

ADVANCED ARTICULATIONS

The Bazanatar also features a wealth of advanced articulations, including four types of expressive arcs, plucked (jazz-inspired) pizzicato, multi-sampled taps, sustains with both vibrato and non-vibrato, and a massive collection of additional phrase material. So, you get the best of both worlds with multi-samples and phrases.

FRONT-FACED FX AND CHAOS FX

The Bazantar contains two parallel FX systems. The first is our new Front-Faced FX, which allows you to control the most fundamental effects (ex. Step Based Filtering, Pitch, Delay, and our new Textural Delay). You can also go deeper with our Chaos FX system, which includes Phase Modulation, EQ, Bit-Crusher, Distortion, Dual Delays, and more!