In this post, I wanted to share a few updates on new sample libraries, Rhapsody, and the results of the poll I recently sent out.

New Release: Nuno Silva’s Hammered Dulcimer

I’m please to announce the release of a new Rhapsody library, Nuno Silva’s Hammered Dulcimer.

It’s a deeply sampled dulcimer with 24GB of uncompressed samples. As with the Persian Santur library, it was performed and recorded by Nuno Silva.

Nuno and I started working on this library all the way back in 2023. We took our time to get it just right, with several additional recording sessions, plenty of internal iterations, and extensive testing by beta users.

One feature we particularly wanted for this library was time-stretching, allowing tremolo loops to follow the DAW tempo. This was something we worked hard to implement, and I think you’ll find it really useful.

The library is available for the next two weeks at a 25% discount. If you purchase it alongside the Persian Santur, you’ll also save 15% on the Santur library.

Read more about it here.

Upcoming Libraries

The next release will be a Concert Harp library. This is one I recorded several years ago with Four For Music in Bulgaria. We recorded it in their hall using three microphone positions: Close, Decca Tree, and Hall.

I’m also in the early stages of developing a Saxophone library. I’ve had a number of requests for this, and I think it’ll be a nice complement to Bell & Bone. I’m hoping to begin recording sessions early next year, if not sooner.

Rhapsody v3.3.0

A new version of Rhapsody is now available.

The main change in this release is support for the legacy LWZ package format. When I initially released v3, I hadn’t appreciated just how many people were still using LWZ, or how many third-party libraries relied on the format and weren’t likely to be updated any time soon. So supporting the legacy format wasn’t a priority at the time.

However, enough people requested it that I’ve now integrated support into the latest release.

I’ve also made a few additional changes to improve backwards compatibility with older libraries. If you encounter any issues when using them, please let me know.

With this release, I’m officially retiring the Rhapsody v2.x branch.

Per-Articulation Envelopes

I recently sent out a poll to find out how many people use the per-articulation envelope settings in my Rhapsody libraries, as I was considering removing the feature. Thanks to everyone who responded. The feedback gave me some useful insight into how it’s being used.

From the comments I received I realised there was a slight misunderstanding, with some people thinking I was referring to removing the entire AHDSR envelope system, rather than just the individual settings for each articulation.

The main reason I was considering removing the feature is that it contains a significant bug: changing articulation during a sustained note causes that note to adopt the new articulation’s release settings. There are other issues as well, but this is the main one you’re likely to encounter. The feature also adds considerable complexity to maintaining and implementing each instrument.

Around 20% of respondents said they use the feature, so I spent a few more days trying to fix the bug. Unfortunately, I concluded that fixing it properly would require significant changes to the internal structure of the instruments. This would make them more complicated to maintain and increase CPU and RAM usage, particularly for instruments with many articulations.

I’ve decided to prioritise keeping the system simpler. This doesn’t mean losing the ability to control envelopes dynamically though. All envelope parameters can still be adjusted using MIDI CC or host automation, as has always been the case.

The feature will be removed gradually as each library is updated.

Rhapsodist Framework

My Rhapsody libraries are built using a custom toolkit called Rhapsodist, which I’ve been using and developing for several years.

I’m currently working on documenting the framework to make it easier for third-party developers to use.

I’ll make a proper announcement once that’s ready, but if this is something you’re interested in, leave a comment below or send me an email.