Frendo by Soundiron Kontakt instrument interface

Frendo: Experimental Acoustic Instrument for Kontakt by Soundiron

Rated 3.7/5 on Plugin Boutique (6 ratings)

Frendo is a Kontakt instrument from Soundiron, built from a custom acoustic instrument strung with bailing wire and recorded with mallets, bows and fingers. It produces percussive, string and ambient textures for scoring and sound design.

REQUIRESKontaktHost player sold separately

KontaktWindowsmacOS

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01Overview

Frendo is a Kontakt library from Soundiron based on a custom-built acoustic instrument made from knotty pine, steel bailing wire, eye bolts and an old bass drum. The developer describes it as a partly mallet and partly string instrument, recorded with wooden and rubber mallets, bows and finger plucks. The library covers strikes, creaks, scrapes, plucks, tremolos and vibratos, with a focus on horror-style and experimental textures for film, games and post production.

Best for

Horror score textures
Film and game sound design
Trailer stingers and reveals
Experimental percussion
Ambient soundscapes
Post production effects

Developer: Soundiron
Category: Kontakt Instruments
Requires: Kontakt
Store: Plugin Boutique

02Key features

What you get

One master NKI instrument bank in open Kontakt format
Mallets, plucks, scrapes, stabs, sustains and tremolo articulations
Slides and SFX sounds recorded from an experimental acoustic instrument
52 ambience patches built from the source content
25 custom sound-designed FX and ambient presets
Multi-layer interface with LFO, filter, glide and arpeggiator
Full FX rack with convolution reverb rooms and halls
About 1,227 stereo samples at 24-bit / 48 kHz

03In depth

Sound Character and Playing Techniques

Soundiron recorded Frendo with a range of tools, including a violin bow, screwdrivers, picks, rubber and wooden mallets, hands and fingers. The library includes mallets, plucks, scrapes, stabs, sustains, tremolo and slides, along with SFX-style sounds such as shrieks and dongs.

Because the source instrument is tuned but unconventional, the results sit between percussion and string timbres. The developer positions the instrument for disturbing, otherworldly textures rather than conventional orchestral sounds.

Controls, Effects and Ambient Presets

The instrument uses a multi-layer interface with LFO, filter, glide and arpeggiator controls, plus a full FX rack. The FX rack includes convolution reverb with custom rooms, halls, chambers and FX environments.

The library ships with 52 ambience patches built from the source recordings and 25 custom sound-designed FX and ambient presets. The samples are 24-bit / 48 kHz uncompressed WAV files, and the library takes up about 2.08 GB installed.

04Specs

Will it run?

Formats, systems and requirements as listed by Plugin Boutique. Missing details are left out, not guessed.

Developer	Soundiron
Type	Plugin
Category	Kontakt Instrument
Requires	Kontakt
Formats	Kontakt
Operating systems	Windows, macOS

05FAQ

Questions, answered

What do I need to use Frendo?

Frendo requires the full retail version of Native Instruments Kontakt 5.5 or later to load its .nki instrument presets. The free Kontakt Player and Add Library import processes do not support this open-format library.

Which operating systems does Frendo support?

Frendo is listed for Windows and macOS. The developer lists Windows 7 or higher and Mac OS X 10.9 or higher as system requirements.

What hardware is recommended for Frendo?

The developer recommends a dual-core CPU, 2 GB of system RAM and a SATA or SSD hard drive. The library installs at about 2.08 GB.

What kinds of sounds does Frendo produce?

Frendo produces strikes, creaks, scrapes, shrieks, plucks, dongs, tremolos and vibratos. The developer says it suits horror-style scores as well as stingers, trailers and sound design.