Quality samples a la carte: Microhammer

Tonehammer, the sample libraries company (winner of one of our Sonic Joy Awards 2009), has good news for those in need of high quality and yet affordable new sounds. The name says it all: Microhammer.
In their words Microhammer is “an outlet for even more focused and experimental content in a smaller package, with the same high quality you expect from Tonehammer. The Microhammer catalog is built around the philosophy of lower prices, greater accessibility and more choice, with SFZ support, a la carte items and fresh content arriving regularly.”

I think this a la carte approach is a win-win situation: customers get access to top quality and “fresh” stuff without breaking the bank, while companies can make their business more “sustainable” without losing the focus.
Microhammer catalog’s going to include new samples, as well as sub-sets of Tonehammer big libraries.
These small libraries are available both individually (starting from 19$) and, for a limited time, as a special bundle (89$, at least this is the price for the current bundle).

Let’s have a look at this month’s menu:

• The Iron Throne, a “eerie and dark collection of metallic percussive and semi-melodic effects”
• Water Percussion Vol. 1, “a variety of percussive elements purely made with water”, no extra reverb
• Epic Room Percussions, “punchy high, mid and low toms, dual octobans, triple roto-toms and metallic rims, recorded in a naturally wet studio environment”
• Music Boxes, one of my favorite musical tools, “sampled extensively in both dry, room/studio and hall like locations for maximum user flexibility”
• The Kazoo Solo and Ensemble, “created with the help of a world class kazoo ensemble, featuring some of the finest hand-crafted wax-paper and plastic wind instruments that money can buy”
• Gnomehammer vol.1, “a wide range of comedic sounds from authentic helium choir to drum kits from snow and ice sounds, from human beat box through PVC ensembles to manipulation of childrens balloons – from glockenspiel to a strange set of tonal dones”

Well, definitely some unique delicatessen in this menu, isn’t it? The Water Percussion and the Music Boxes would probably be my first choice, but as usual, de gustibus non disputandum est. These libraries are for download only and are all in standard Kontakt format, with accessible wav files. You’ll need a Kontakt license to use them (the free Kontakt Player won’t work). It’s good to see the SFZ open-source format is supported too (Camel Audio’s Alchemy, Wuzik’s Wuzik Station and Cakewalk’s Demension can use this format). I’d just like Tonehammer/Microhammer to support EXS24 too, at least with those libraries that do not need extensive scripting techniques.

Microhammer’s website