The Mbira is a folk instrument originally from Africa. Sometimes called a Thumb Piano, Sanza, or Kalimba, they are generally home-made and consist of metal tines attached to a piece of wood, which are plucked with the thumbs. They are mostly small, with a handful of notes.
Array Instruments, started by Bill Wesley and Patrick Hadley, have taken the concept of this ancient African idiophone to a whole new level, not only in terms of instrument design but also in purity of sound, and range of pitch.
The Array Mbira is no toy, it’s a highly advanced musical instrument built to exacting specifications.
THE INSTRUMENT PANEL
The Mix page allows control of the separate mic and pickup channel levels, as well as the Strummer module, where you can strum the Mbira using the mod-wheel or controller of your choice.
EDIT PANEL
The expanded controls feature thumb transient, Damping and Key-off setup, the Strummer, and detailed channel controls. The other edit tabs feature ADSR envelopes, filters, micro-tuning and LFOs.
- MICROTUNING
- ADSR + FILTER + LFO CONTROLS
- VELOCITY CURVES, DAMPING CONTROL
GEN TOOLS: JAMMER
The latest evolution of our generative arpeggiator – Hold a chord, and let it evolve – or loop a section and jam between 12 sequences using the Jam wheel.
- SCALE FILTER
- AUTOMATION READY PRESET SLIDER
GEN TOOLS: WEAVER
Create unique rhythmic patterns for each note you play. A bit like a delay effect but evolves differently according to what you play – strands of sound weave in and out of each other.
- RHYTHMIC TRAIL GENERATOR
- UP TO 8 LANES
- CREATE YOUR OWN PRESETS
THE FX PANEL
Array Mbira features a comprehensive effects page, with a configurable insert chain featuring Replika, Phasis and other cutting-edge NI effects. The Space Reverb module features Soniccouture’s custom impulse library built up over many years and recording sessions.
- 3 USER CONFIGURABLE INSERT FX
- 4 BAND EQUALISER
- SPACE MODULE WITH ALL SAINTS REVERB

- Download Soniccouture – Array Mbira 1.5.0 (Kontakt)
- Original Publisher: Soniccouture
- Version: 1.5.0
- Category: Kontakt Library, Sound Libraries
- Require: Kontakt (7.10.2+)
- License type: Full
- Download Size: 4.36 GB