Description of the project:

I’m thrilled to kick off this exciting new project! My idea is to explore fascinating locations around the world and transform them into VST instruments. The aim is to create an immersive experience and sonic reflection of these places.

The first location is the old wooden church of St. Jan Nepomucen, which has a rich history spanning over 500 years. Throughout its existence, the church traveled a lot, residing in various towns in Upper and Lower Silesia, until it finally found its permanent home in Wroclaw, Poland. Interestingly, at one point, it served as a secret hideaway for thieves who concealed stolen paintings from the National Museum before being transformed into The Open Space of Culture (Otwarta Przestrzeń Kultury).

The unique physicality of this building inspired me to craft the first instrument by simulating the sound of a bow rubbing against strings. To achieve this effect, I scrubbed a rope against the wooden surface, resulting in the creation of an instrument I called the Wooden Harpa of St. Nepomucen. It reminded me of a Slavic tagelharpa, which many of us remember from The Witcher soundtrack.

Furthermore, my imagination conjures sonic images of choirs. As a result, the second instrument consists of a single note recorded within the church’s walls. During the research on St. Jan Nepomucen, the patron of this old building, we found his attributes, one of which is water and key – these findings sparked the idea for the next set of instruments.

Created for free virtual sampler – Decent Sampler and Logic Sampler.

What’s inside:

The Free Edition package contains:

1. Wooden Harpa of St. Nepomucen Rebowed (EXS only) – rhythmical sound similar to Slavic tagelharpa made from scrubbing the rope against the wood and one vocal note recorded in this historic wooden church.

2. Choir of St. Nepomucen (DS/EXS) – vocal pad sound made from one vocal note recorded in the church halls with broad ways of modulating the sound.

3. Keys of St. Nepomucen (DS/EXS) – an instrument made from the recording of a bunch of keys shaken and resonating tone.

4. Water of St. Nepomucen (DS/EXS) – an instrument made from the recording of flowing water and resonating tone.

You can download The Free Edition on this page!

The Full Edition package additionally contains:

1. Detuned Choir of St. Nepomucen (DS/EXS) – made with 34 high-quality 192kHz vocal samples, which were detuned creating a slightly unsettling yet beautiful vibe.

2. Wooden Harpa of St. Nepomucen Flautando (DS/EXS) – a long version of Wooden Harpa without re-bowings and containing two high-quality IR reverbs.

3. The new version of instruments: Keys and Water (DS/EXS) without tone – for sound design purposes.

You can buy The Full Edition package here!
https://pawellewicki.gumroad.com/l/wooden-church

Note:

My plan was to make Decent Sampler instruments only, unfortunately the first instrument (Wooden Harpa of St. Nepomucen) would need a time-stretching feature and it doesn’t support it as far as I know. Feel free to let me know if you’d like to make a Kontakt version of this instrument! I’m gonna add DS version of this instrument right after this feature will appear in Decent Sampler capabilities!

It’s strongly recommended to use the Decent Sampler version if possible to get the best results and be able to use high-quality impulse responses baked into Decent Sampler!

More info in Read Me!

Here’s a demo track:

Contributors

Lev Instruments

Responsible for recordings, editing, post-processing and overall creation of this instrument