SampleTekk - Renaissance Flutes

A complete set of recorders, Bass, Alto, Tenor, Soprano and Sopranino, beautifully played by
one of Sweden’s top flutists and recorded at Fascination Street Studios in Orebro, Sweden.
This set of recorders gives you the possibility to perform classic recorder music, to explore
the wonderful tone of the recorders or use as a great mood setter in your music, (remember
“Stairway to heaven”?)

The recorders have been recorded(!) chromatically, that is, all notes within the instruments
natural range has been recorded.
There are no loops! Each tone is held for about 5 seconds, and that’s how long a musician
normally can hold a note without breathing.
This will “force” you to play the recorders in a natural manner. For example, playing a tone
for 30 seconds is impossible in real life.

The Instruments

Alto Recorder
Range F3 – G#5
Bass Recorder
Range F2 – F4
Sopranino Recorder
Range F4 – F6
Soprano Recorder
Range C4 – D#6
Tenor Recorder
Range C3 – D#5

As you can see, all flutes has relatively short range, but this is the way recorders play, and
rather then stretching it artificially, we kept it the way it is.
Each flute also has its own timbre, so when you choose flute, you should listen to it’s sound
and not only go after its range.
All flutes has only one velocity layer. Now, for an instrument coming from SampleTekk, that
might seem a bit strange.
The fact is that recorders are not an instrument that are depending that much on different
velocities. They are not meant to have different timbre when playing hard or soft.

The flutes have a difference in amplitude from the low end to the high end of the range.
The low notes are played softer and the high range louder. This is from the playing technique.
You have to blow harder to hit the higher notes and softer to get the lower ones.
These differences have been kept in the sampled instrument for realism.
The Patches
Each flute comes with 5 different patches. The Vibrato and Non Vibrato patches have release
samples that will trigger when you release the key. This gives you a very natural feel, even
when playing fast runs!

1. Vibrato – This is a parch where the recorders are played with a vibrato that kicks in
after about ½ of a second
2. Non Vibrato – Notes played without vibrato
3. Portato Vibrato– Ok, this one needs a bit of explanation! This is when you play a
note and then go to another note by covering another hole on the flute. The new note
then starts without any new attack. When, for instance, the note D where recorded for
the portato patches, the flutist played the note C, and then went to D just by covering a
new hole on the flute with his finger. The samples where then edited so that it starts
exactly when D starts. If you use these patches, you can emulate runs and thrills. This
patch has vibrato in it in the same way as the Vibrato patch has.
4. Portato Non Vibrato – You guessed it!
5. Staccato – Staccato notes, you can try this on faster runs, but the release samples in the
Vibrato and Non Vibrato patches does a pretty good job on faster runs!