Celeste

Celestial Magic

Named after the heavens themselves, the Celeste has always been the most ethereal of sounds. In orchestras and cinema it plays the parts where a sense of the magical is required. Built by Schiedmayer since 1890, they are magnificient pieces of engineering, related to a piano but with metal tines in place of the strings. Soniccouture's Celeste features 32 velocity layers for an expressive, liquid response to the touch.

Schiedmayer Celesta GmbH has been producing celestas since 1890 and since 1975 is the sole manufacturer to build celestas according to the inventor’s original specifications since 1975. Soniccouture collaborated closely with Schiedmayer to produce Celeste.

Knut Schiedmayer selected their very best instrument, fully tuned and serviced to a ‘perfect’ condition before shipping it to the Soniccouture studio. The 5.5 octave ‘Studio’ model represents the pinnacle of Celesta building, and Soniccouture thanks Schiedmayer for their support.

The Kontakt Instrument

• Main Panel: Two mic arrays allow to you mix your sound with precision.

• Edit Panel: Celeste can be taken further than a conventional sound if you desire. Use envelopes, LFOs and filters, allowing you to create varying sound textures and shapes.

• Set Up Panel: Fine tune the response and performance of Celeste - make the timing looser, randomise the keystrikes, and tweak instrument noise details.

• Weaver: Create unique rhythmic patterns for each note you play. A bit like a delay effect but evolves differently according to what you play - strands of sound weave in and out of each other.

• Jammer: The latest evolution of the generative arpeggiator - Hold a chord, and let it evolve - or loop a section and jam between 12 sequences. 

• FX Panel: Celeste features a comprehensive effects page, with a configurable insert chain featuring Replika, Phasis and other cutting-edge NI effects. The Space Reverb module features Soniccouture's custom impulse library built up over many years and recording sessions.

Library Specifications

• 6.5GB Library with NCW compression

• 24/48khz stereo sampling

• 6352 samples

• 2 microphone arrays : Top - Schoeps XY + Neumann spaced pair. Back - Violet Black Finger pair

• 32 velocity layers

• Pedal, Key-off samples

• Weaver : custom KSP sequence generator

• Jammer: custom KSP generative arpeggiator

• 40 presets (natural + sound design)

Requires KONTAKT 6 or KONTAKT 6 PLAYER version 6.2 or later

This product requires the free Native Instruments Kontakt Player, the latest version can be downloaded through Native Access, Native Instrument’s download manager!

The minimum required Kontakt version for this product is stated in the product description or can be found on the manufacturers website.

System Requirements:

Mac:

• macOS 10.14 or higher
• 64 bit
• Intel Core i5 or Apple M1 (native)
• RAM: 4GB (6GB recommended)

Windows:

• Windows 10 or higher
• 64 bit
• Intel Core i5 or similar CPU
• RAM: 4GB (6GB recommended)

Supported Interfaces:

• Mac (64-bit only): Stand-alone, VST, VST3, AU, AAX
• Windows (64-bit): Stand-alone, VST, VST3, AAX

Legacy Versions:

If you require legacy installers of Kontakt Player please refer to this Knowledge Base Article.