Hopkin Instrumentarium: Icicles & Pop Ice Kontakt instrument library artwork by Soundiron

Hopkin Instrumentarium: Icicles & Pop Ice – Kontakt Instrument Library by Soundiron

Hopkin Instrumentarium: Icicles & Pop Ice is a Kontakt instrument library from Soundiron built around two string instruments with bright, crystalline tones. It includes plucks, percussion, glisses and ambient pads.

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AVAILABLE ATPlugin Boutique

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01Overview

Icicles and Pop Ice are two string instruments that Soundiron captured for this Kontakt library. Both use short, highly tensioned strings over a rigid stainless-steel sheet soundboard, which gives a bright tone with a long shimmering tail. Pop Ice adds a thin Styrofoam sheet in contact with the strings, producing a sharp, percussive pop before the sustained resonance. The library covers plucked, percussive and gliss articulations recorded at two microphone positions, along with atmospheric pads and drones built from the same source material.

Best for

Bright plucked textures
Percussive string hits
Cinematic pads and drones
Glissando transitions
Sound design beds

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

02Key features

What you get

Plucks, percussion and gliss articulations across two mic positions
Close and Contact microphone perspectives for each instrument
Icicles: 26 short string segments vibrating with a stainless-steel sheet
Pop Ice: Styrofoam contact layer for a sharp percussive pop
21 Kontakt .nki instrument presets included
20 ambient pads and evolving drones
3,004 stereo samples in unlocked .WAV format
6.28 GB installed size

03In depth

Sound Character and Articulations

Icicles uses 26 short string segments that vibrate in unison with the stainless-steel sheet, producing a pure, shimmering sound that changes with each pluck. Pop Ice takes a different route: its Styrofoam contact layer adds a sharp, percussive attack ahead of the sustained metallic resonance.

The library organizes these sounds into three main articulations: plucked strings, percussive strikes and glisses. Each is recorded in Close and Contact microphone positions, so you can choose between a more direct sound and one with the instrument's sustain and shimmer more pronounced.

For sample-based work, the library includes 3,004 stereo samples in unlocked .WAV format alongside the Kontakt instruments.

Presets, Pads and Kontakt Workflow

The library includes 21 Kontakt .nki instrument presets and 20 ambient pads and evolving drones created from the source content. The pads extend the instruments into sound-design territory, which suits cinematic beds, textures and transitions.

The library requires the full retail version of Native Instruments Kontakt, version 6.2.2 or higher. The free Kontakt Player cannot load this open-format library, so producers without the full version should check compatibility before purchase.

The installed size is 6.28 GB. A SATA or SSD drive is recommended.

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 Hopkin Instrumentarium: Icicles & Pop Ice?

You need the full retail version of Native Instruments Kontakt, version 6.2.2 or higher. The free Kontakt Player does not support this open-format library.

Which operating systems and formats are supported?

The library is available in Kontakt format and runs on Windows 7 or higher and macOS 10.12 or higher.

What is the difference between Icicles and Pop Ice?

Icicles is a pure string instrument with a shimmering tone. Pop Ice adds a Styrofoam sheet in contact with the strings, producing a sharp percussive pop before the sustained resonance.