SOLO WINDS UNTAMED

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Beautifully bold woodwinds

A woodwind sample library for Kontakt including Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Baritone Saxophone and Bassoon which perfectly compliments our successful Solo Strings and Solo Brass Untamed.

Pushing the boundaries of what you believe woodwinds can sound like, you’ll begin to want these instruments as the highlight of your music and not just a layer buried in the rest of the orchestra. Both elegant and beautiful or furious and turbulent.

The Improvisations are the life and soul behind each instrument. They are performed notes with real human energy and movement. You’ll hear that each of the 5 winds have their own completely individual personality.

Solo Winds Untamed is right at home with alternative scores and is also ideal for layering over bigger orchestral music to add an intimate and human touch.

Highlights

5 solo woodwinds
Over 2300 improvised notes
4 mic positions
‘Storms’ articualtion
Kontakt FULL 5.6.8 or higher

2022
VIRTUAL
INSTRUMENT
AWARDS
BEST WOODWIND LIBRARY

WALKTHROUGH

See it in action

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MUSIC DEMOS

Listen to Solo Winds Untamed

Jenny Dyson

Flute

Reviews

“These are going straight into a feature film I’m about to work on.”

The Unfinished
YouTube

“This is the last woodwind library I’ll ever really need.”

Daniel Willett
YouTube

“So inspiring! Wonderful instrument just like the whole Untamed series.”

Wahey73
VI Control

“Thanks ever so much for releasing this. I had to do a sort of scoring marathon the last few days, and I used it for every piece I wrote. What an absolute jewel this is.”

FR. Hugo
VI Control

“The Improvisations give so much life to these instruments.”

Simeon Amburgey
YouTube

What are Improvisations?

The Improvisations aren’t melodic phrases or pre-written music. They are individual notes performed with intention, human energy and natural movement inside them. Never static, always alive.

Every single semitone across the recorded range of the instruments have 3 distinct dynamic layers triggered via keyboard velocity.

There’s 4 different variations of each layer too, giving 12 completely unique performances for every note. In total across the 5 instruments there are over 2300 unique improvisations, the most of all the Untamed series.

Calm

Quiet, soft and gently flowing. Unnerving and fragile at times, but with beautiful and subtle changes in timbre.

Lively

Spirited and passionate playing with swells in dynamics and vibrato. A naturally emotive sound that works equally well with both poignant and uplifting music.

Wild

Loud and very energetic. Furious, chaotic and definitely where the name ‘Untamed’ comes from. Use sparingly to add accents to your music, or use liberally for an intense and vigorous sonic experience.

Extreme

Whilst recording the Baritone Saxophone, we knew we could push the instrument and go one step above Wild. These are presented as their own separate articulation on the interface. Be brave and get ready to push your limit . . . 

Josh Hall

Oboe

STORMS

Using the Improvisations as the foundation, the Storms articulation fades from a single fragile performance to a tirade of raging players. A unique sonic experience and one that can’t be replicated.

Distinctive sounds

In addition to the Improvisations and Storms, there are dozens of other articulations. Some more unconventional than others.

Our favourites are the Thirds, Fifths and Octaves. These weave and flow between different intervals, creating a aleatoric musical journey of interesting directions that you would never have taken without them.

The Swells will start appearing in everything you do. They are beautiful short notes which gently rise and fall. The Stutters and Splutters on the Bassoon showcase just how animated it can be.

An inspiring and expressive array of techniques that each on their own sound wonderful, or combined together will provide you with some extraordinary characters and moods.

"My favourite of the Untamed series, this will push the winds into the front and centre of everything you write."

Rob Hill

Founder, Westwood

Behind the recording

Recorded at The Nave, one England’s finest recording studios; a converted church with the most beautiful sounding live room. Engineer Tom Orrell used a set of classic microphones and vintage outboard to tailor the perfect sound for the winds.

For the spot position, a single Brauner VMA Valve mic and RE20 mic does a great job of providing a very detailed, dry and hyped sound. Neumann KM184s capture a close stereo perspective; lively but still intimate. For the room position, we used a pair of AKG C414s, creating a more typical tree-style position and will give you a well balanced and open sound. Lastly, high up in the gallery were a pair of omnidirectional Oktava MK-12s. The secret weapon among engineers for their excellent detail, these will give you the full natural studio sound and allow you to hear the beautiful decay of The Nave. 

We collected this really wide range of perspectives for you to mix exactly the sound you need. Everything was recorded through through Neve and API preamps, an AMEK Rembrandt desk and captured using world-class Apogee AD16X analogue to digital convertors.

Andrew Cox

Clarinet

SOUNDS & SIGNALS

What's included?

Articulations

Flute

Improvisations A
Improvisations B
Improvisations C
Improvisations D
Storms
Long
Soft Air
Surges – Soft
Surges – Loud
Vibrato – Slow
Vibrato – Fast
Flutter Tonguing
Thirds
Fifths
Octaves
Timbral Trills
Bends
Short
Swells – Long
Pops

Oboe

Improvisations A
Improvisations B
Improvisations C
Improvisations D
Storms
Long
Soft Air
Surges – Soft
Surges – Loud
Flutter Tonguing
Thirds
Fifths
Octaves
Short
Short – Stopped
Swells – Long

Clarinet

Improvisations A
Improvisations B
Improvisations C
Improvisations D
Storms
Long
Soft Air
Surges – Soft
Surges – Loud
Vibrato – Slow
Vibrato – Fast
Semitone Flicks – Soft
Semitone Flicks – Loud
Thirds
Fifths
Octaves
Short
Short – Stopped
Swells – Short
Swells – Long

Baritone Sax

Improvisations A
Improvisations B
Improvisations C
Improvisations D
Storms
Improv Extreme A
Improv Extreme B
Long
Soft Air
Surges – Soft
Surges – Loud
Thirds
Fifths
Octaves
Growling – Slow
Growling – Fast
Harmonics
Short
Swells – Short
Swells – Long
Slap Tongue

Bassoon

Improvisations A
Improvisations B
Improvisations C
Improvisations D
Storms
Long
Soft Air
Surges – Soft
Surges – Loud
Vibrato – Slow
Flutter Tonguing
Thirds
Fifths
Octaves
Alt Fingering
Stutters
Splutters
Short
Swells – Short
Swells – Long

Signals

Spot

A mono position that’s super dry, super hyped and super detailed.

Close

This stereo pair is intimate but lively, allowing the sound to breathe just enough.

Room

A typical tree-style position, plenty of real room ambience and nicely balanced.

Gallery

High up and widely spaced to get the full natural reverb tail of the studio.

Multis

There are 30 Multis created from multiple instruments loaded into one Kontakt instance. Grouped into 5 categories they’ve been created for immediate gratification and perfect for quickly getting your ideas down. There’ll also show you some combinations and sounds you won’t have thought of and spark off an idea.

Improvs

Different versions of the Improvisations and Storms.

Classics

Conventional combinations for a classic sound.

Shorts

Combinations of short sounds.

Textures

Interesting textures and pads using the softer articulations.

Experimental

Hyped and unreal. We’re not in Kansas anymore.

Anna Chandler

Baritone Sax

TECH SPECS

Good to know

System Requirements

Kontakt FULL
Mac OS 10.9 or higher
Windows 10 or higher
All major DAWs supported
38 GB download size
Downloads using the free Pulse app

Kontakt

This instrument is compatible with the full version of Kontakt PLAYER 5.6.8 and above.

It will not work with the free Kontakt Player.

Watermarking

Every copy of Solo Winds Untamed is automatically watermarked for each customer with unique identifying information which we use to track piracy.

Any questions?

I'm trying to create a mock-up of Clarinet Concerto in A Major, will this library be suitable?

Wolfgang probably won’t have had this sample library in mind when writing his concertos. Solo Winds Untamed does have some more traditional articulations, but is much better suited for more contemporary scores and music.

Will this work in the free version of Kontakt?

You need the full version of Kontakt 5.6.8 or above. It will NOT work in the free Player version of Kontakt.

Please make sure you have the correct version before purchasing. If you need help, we have a fully-loaded guide to Kontakt which you can read here.

Can I use this in commercial releases?

Yes! What you can’t do is repackage the individual samples or re-release them as another sample library, but you can absolutely use them to make the next score to a film about a grieving family haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences.

Laurence Mason

Bassoon