Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

The Interface

On the left is the main interface for Berimbau. On the left side you’ll find a 3-Band EQ to control the sound character of both instruments globally. In the top-center there’s a global microphone position setting and on the right side a dual-knob controlled impulse response reverb. At the top right there’s a tune control slider which allows you to tune the Berimbau to your preference.

Controls & General Playing

Berimbau is mapped for two-handed playing. Blue zones for the left hand, green zones for the right hand.

Herewith a listing of articulations and playback controls on your Kontakt Keyboard.

Round Robin Control

The recording of each instrument articulation includes many round robin samples. In normal playback these will cycle through, each time they are played. If you want to, you may exclude certain round robin variations from the cycle using the upper MIDI keys from C1 to F1 an up. Each key represents an individual round robin sample. Play a key with low velocity to turn that variation off, high velocity to turn it on. The MIDI key at A0 will reset the round robin cycle to the beginning.

EQ Controls

The EQ section, shown here, allows you to quickly and simply tweak the levels of the low, mid and high frequency levels. Simply click and drag. Cmd / ctrl click to reset.

Impulse Response

Berimbau comes preloaded with a convolution reverb sampled from an actual space to simulate a realistic ensemble percussion environment. This control makes it easy to quickly dial in some realistic reverb without too much fuss. Adjust the wetness and size of the reverb by click-dragging on the dials shown here. Ctrl / cmd click to reset the levels to default.

From the Kontakt configuration window (shown below) you can adjust many other aspects of the reverb including wet/dry levels, pre-delay, dampening and width. You can also swap out the preloaded impulse response for one of your own.

Microphone Positions

The instruments of Berimbau were sampled with three different mic positions: Close, Overhead and Far. This section of the interface gives you control over the mixing and panning of those positions. Use the left / right arrows to select the Close or Far mic controls. Ctrl / cmd click to reset the knobs to default.