Crank from Rhythmic Robot takes over six hundred samples of an Eastern European stringed folk instrument – the wonderfully erratic Hurdy-Gurdy – and welds them into a four-oscillator analogue synthesiser framework capable of creating strange, eerie, evolving patches. This is what a polysynth would sound like it it was built by medieval gypsies out of old planks and lengths of twine...

The Hurdy-Gurdy produces its sounds by rubbing a rosined wooden wheel over a series of violin-style strings: the sound is half violin, half hand-cranked barrel organ. It's uniquely strange and can be both plaintive and raw-sounding. We've sampled a Hurdy-Gurdy extensively to create the DNA for Crank, and have named the instrument after the handle that the player cranks round to make the Hurdy-Gurdy play.



The twin Crank oscillators are independently controllable, with dual filters, envelopes, pitch control, LFOs and so on; they also run in tandem with twin Analogue Oscillators, adding some classic analogue waves to the tonal palette. The characteristic attack "squeal" of the acoustic hurdy-gurdy can be turned on or off individually, and the sound sources mixed and blended to create haunting and evocative instruments that sound "almost real"

Crank is a great way to get the sound of strings from parallel universes into your mix.

Features include:

- Twin Crank oscillators drawn from extensive samples of the hurdy-gurdy
- Twin Analogue oscillators sampled from the Roland SH7 flagship analogue synth
- Over 60 factory patches
- Twin flavors of noise: classic white noise, plus vinyl-style crackle
- Extensive LFO modulation of pitch, amplitude and filter cutoff, independently for both Cranks
- The famous Rhythmic Robot GLITCH button to randomize the instrument in musically inspiring ways!

All the information you need, and of course some audio demos and patch demos, are here:

Rhythmic Robot: Crank



Crank is available now from Rhythmic Robot, at an introductory special-offer price of £19.95 (normal price £24.95)
It requires Kontakt v.4.2.3 or later to run (including all versions of Kontakt 5). Kontakt Player is not supported.

We're also intending to bring out a meticulous recreation of the folk Hurdy-Gurdy itself, without any of the synth elements: less aimed at sound designers and more at alt-folk / alt-rock and soundtrack composers. It'll be out sometime soon, and we're mentioning it here because anyone who buys Crank will be entitled to a special lower price on Hurdy Gurdy once it ships.



Rhythmic Robot...pumping fresh voltage into old technology

 

surprised that you did not put the audio demo in the post. i was not expecting much from this thing. most of rhythmic robot's stuff leaves me cold. but i am really impressed by this one.

[media]https://soundcloud.com/theprofessor-4/crank-patch-demo[/media]

 

My sincere apologies. I'm glad you were able to find it via the links to the dev's product page in my post. Thanks for adding it to the thread!

 

Thanks, you gotta love this!