Soniccouture – Kora 1.0.1

The Kora is a beautiful and fascinating African instrument. It is difficult to classify. With 21 strings and a cowhide resonator, it is a type of bridge harp, but with a touch of lute or guitar. Originating from Gambia, it is widely used in Mali, Senegal and throughout Africa.

The instrument sounds like a harp, but when played in the traditional style it also resembles a guitar, played using flamenco or delta blues techniques, with polyrhythmic patterns strummed with both hands.

This Soniccouture virtual instrument is designed to be extremely user-friendly and versatile, featuring a MIDI pattern player for authentic accompaniment and micro tuning for authentic scales.

The kora is made from a pumpkin that is cut in half and covered with cowhide. It forms the soundboard of the instrument. It has 21 strings suspended from a double-notched bridge – 10 on one side, 11 on the other. This is typical of a double harp, and it is classified as such. However, since the strings originate from the fingerboard and pass over the bridge into the soundboard, this also makes it a lute.

Features

• 40 velocity layers with circular repeats
• 25 release decay sample layers
• 25 detero mute sample layers
• MIDI pattern player
• Stereo microphone channel, stereo contact microphone channel
• Sound design presets