Following on from their recent releases for Audiomodern’s Soundbox platform, Sonora Cinematic have announced the launch of their latest Select-series Kontakt instrument. Said to be one of their most unconventional offerings to date, Softstruck takes the concept behind the ‘felt piano’ sound — where a piano’s strings are dampened with fabric to achieve a softer tone — and applies it to the guitar.
The company say that the idea behind their latest creation emerged during a felt piano recording session, with the team left wondering whether the same “emotional softness” offered by the technique could be achieved with a guitar. After experimenting with adding felt to the instrument itself and not being satisfied with the results, they decided instead to use ultra-soft felt plectrums designed for nylon-strung instruments such as the ukulele.
The Guitars
Softstruck includes samples of three distinctive guitars, each played with the new-found technique.
- Guitar 1: Butterscotch — A classic guitar with an added middle pick-up that offers an iconic scooped clean tone which is very bright to begin with and darkened considerably with the felt.
- Guitar 2: Flatwounds — A fantastic chambered guitar with a P90-style pickup. a much darker instrument made even darker by fitting flatwound strings.
- Guitar 3: Singlecut — A classic model renowned for its bassy sound at the neck pickup.
All three guitars were recorded through four different signal chains: two amps for each guitar, and two contrasting pedalboard chains — one “ambient and lush”, and another loaded with more experimental effects. The instrument also features a selection of additional effects including a diffused, ambient reverb and a modulated reverb with granular-like processing. There’s also a Double Track switch that hard-pans different round robins to create an interesting stereo image.
Compatibility
Softstruck runs in Native Instruments’ free Kontakt Player version 8.3 or above, which is supported on PCs running Windows 10 or higher, and Macs running macOS 12 and above. VST3, AU and AAX plug-in versions are available, along with a standalone application.
Pricing & Availability
Softstruck is available now, and is being offered at an introductory price of £34.80 until 31 August 2025, when it will increase to its full cost of £46.80. Existing Select series customers are eligible for a discounted price of £27.60.
