halcyon Santoor

Coming soon

Listen

Physically modelled Indian santoor

Every string ringing,
tuned to your raga.

Halcyon Santoor plays like the hammered string instrument of Kashmir and Indian classical music: light walnut mallets on courses of shimmering steel and brass strings, every string free to ring and to sing along with the others. Choose your Sa and thaat, play from any MIDI keyboard, and hold a note with the mod wheel to roll it. It runs as an Audio Unit in Logic Pro, and as VST3 or CLAP in most other music software.

Coming soon macOS and Windows ยท Audio Unit, VST3 and CLAP

Hear it now: four short examples

ListenHear it played

Played from MIDI, straight out of the plugin with its own reverb, mastered for the web: no other instruments, no editing.

  1. Alaap in Yaman

    Slow and free, long notes rolled with the mod wheel. Sa on D.

    0:26

  2. Jhala in Kafi

    The melody between ringing Sa strokes, getting faster.

    0:22

  3. Bhairavi

    A morning melody on C sharp, softer mallets.

    0:20

  4. Arpeggios

    For your own productions: A minor, F, C, G in a wide room.

    0:24

The instrumentSit down and play

The Halcyon Santoor window: a walnut santoor with brass bridges and two mallets resting on the strings, above four knobs for tone, resonance, decay and reverb. The settings page: menus for Sa, thaat, intonation and off-raga notes, thirteen knobs for playing and sound, and a keyboard spanning G2 to D6.
See the pages:
Two walnut mallets resting across the strings of a santoor, beside a row of brass bridges.

Physical modellingPlayed, not replayed

Halcyon Santoor is physically modelled. Instead of playing back recordings, it simulates the instrument itself and computes every note as you play: the mallet's wooden tip meeting the wires, three strings per note tuned a hair apart so they shimmer and beat, the brass and steel ringing on, and the walnut box giving it its warm, hollow voice. Hit harder and the tone gets brighter, and the pitch rises for a moment, just as the real wires do.

A real santoor has no dampers, so every string rings and answers the others. Here too: play a note and the strings that share its overtones start to sing quietly along. No two strokes are the same, and repeated notes land on strings that are still moving, so fast passages and rolls sound alive.

The model was tuned by measuring real santoor recordings: how the strings stretch their overtones, how long each one rings, and the colour of the walnut box.

  • 0samples: fully physically modelled
  • 3strings to every note
  • 11thaats, just or equal
  • 11factory presets

The controlsFour knobs, and the raga

Tone, Resonance, Decay and Reverb sit under the instrument. The gear opens everything else: the tuning, how it responds to your playing, and the sound of the room. Drag a knob up and down to turn it; double-click to reset. The arrows at the top step through the presets.

The santoor

Tone
Soft mallets to bright, glassy ones.
Resonance
How much the free strings sing along.
Decay, Reverb
How long the strings ring, and the room around them.

Tuning

Sa and thaat
Bilawal, Kalyan, Khamaj, Bhairav, Poorvi, Marwa, Kafi, Asavari, Bhairavi, Todi, or every note.
Intonation
Just, tuned to the drone like a player would, or equal temperament.
Off-raga notes
Snap to the nearest string, or stay silent.

Playing

Mod wheel roll
Hold a note and push the wheel: alternating mallets roll it, faster as you go.
Pitch wheel
Strike, then bend, up to an octave: each note follows the wheel for a moment after the stroke, then rings on where you left it.
Stroke, Variation
The wooden knock of each stroke, and how different each one is.
Hand damping
Let every string ring, or mute notes as you release them.

Sound

Unison spread
From a tight unison to a wide, shimmering one.
Strike point, A4
Where the mallets land, and the concert pitch.
Width, Room, EQ
Stereo image, room size, a gentle tone balance.