Westwood Instruments – Novella Origin

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Features & Compatibility

A toolkit of cinema-fuelled instruments for modern scoring

Novella Origin is an award-winning, multi-instrument library of contemporary cinematic sounds for stories about people and music that feels human.

Made up of an expressive 9-piece string section with true legato, a folk-inspired alto choir, an understated electric guitar, a cotton-draped upright piano, a soul-filled analogue synth, and an orchestral-influenced drum kit.

A one-stop library for your next film score where the characters are flawed and the drama is real. And a perfect companion if you’re a songwriter or producer looking for a beautiful, film-inspired soundtrack to your next album.

Explore all the instruments

“Intimate, evocative, and full of delicious sonic detail. Lovely strings that are full of movement, a mellow mallet drum kit, and tasty dark pianos. For scoring sensitive or delicate scenes, NOVELLA ORIGIN is a first-call player, and I love the TransPitch feature which darkens up and slows down the sound beautifully. Nicely done!”

Charlie Clouser

Composer

SAW franchise

“I was immediately struck by the intimacy of the recordings. You really feel like you’re there in the room with the performers. There’s nothing quite like it.”

Stuart Michael Thomas

Composer

King Kong, Michael Clayton, Iron Man 3, The Dark Knight, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

Small but mighty

The heart of the library is a distinctive 9-piece string section. Small and intimate but mighty when you need it to be.

4 individual sections with legato and dozens of stunning articulations including our famed improvisations. Also includes an ensemble instrument with an amazing selection of pre-orchestrated chords.

Carefully recorded in place to give a naturally balanced stereo image, where everything sounds great out of the box.

Natural legato

All of the four sections have been recorded independently, with true legato over 3 octaves or more. We asked the string players to perform every single transition between notes in the most organic and spontaneous way they could. This way you get a natural sound and one that more closely represents a real performance.

On the cellos, violas and violins, there is also VIVID LEGATO created using the Vivid Improvisations, for a more naturally expressive sound that has a human and emotive performance built-in.

Improvisations

With the Violins, Violas and Cellos we captured 2 styles and 3 round robins of our famous Improvisations. Move in real-time between GENTLE and VIVID performances. With the players in their own sections improvising around each other, there’s a cohesive and fluid sound to each one, which feels alive and full of natural energy.

Ensemble chords

A selection of pre-orchestrated chords recorded with all the strings playing together. A beautifully balanced and natural sound. Use them to instantly sketch out your chord progression. They can also be used to create a larger, more symphonic sound in an existing composition.

There are 9 chord types for all notes; Major, Minor, Sus 2, Major/Minor 6, Major/Minor 7, Major/Minor 9. All performed in 3 different octave playing positions; low, high and wide. These positions can also be played all together to create a really rich and immersive string sound.

Other articulations

You also have plenty of other articulations. There is Arco, Flautando and Sul Pont as well as a Random Bow version for each of these. This is where each of the players purposefully accented their re-bows in a unmeasured way, and out of sync with each other. This is a dynamic sound and one that increases in speed and intensity using the mod wheel.

For the shorts there are Spiccato and Picks. Both are full of energy and performed quite loosely in order to hear the individual players. For the Picks, the players used guitar picks and is half-way between pizzicato and col legno. Lots of attack and intention. It’s inspired by the same technique Jonny Greenwood has used in his music.

Folk-inpired voices

Four beautiful alto voices, originating from a folk background. These voices are both elegant and fearless. Perfect for adding a very human element to your music.

The choir begins with a range of Improvised performances, where you can control the intensity of singing and the vowel sounds.

There are also 2 shorter percussive vocal performances and a technique we call Chatters. This has an unmeasured, Scandi vibe and carries a real sense of tension and motion.

The vocalists include Maddie Morris, who has won a BBC Young Folk award and Iona Lane, an amazing Scottish folk singer-songwriter whose recent album charted in the UK Official Folk Album chart.

Noun. Someone who contrasts the traits and actions of another character, often the protagonist.

ELECTRIC GUITAR

PICKUP SIX

The edge of breakup

An electric guitar tuned to Eb (if it’s good enough for Jimi), recorded through a vintage American, all-valve combo amp, cranked just to the edge of natural breakup.

A classic single-coil neck pickup sound, played with a variety of techniques. A great instrument for a leading melody, or simply adding accents and interest.

To compliment the same techniques in the other instruments there’s two unmeasured articulations, which stack multiple takes to create a thick and muddled soundscape.

A gentle giant

A Yamaha U3 upright piano that feels like a baby grand. We recorded it with a soft cotton sheet between the hammers and strings. A beautiful sound that feels big and open, but doesn’t overwhelm the other instruments. And unlike a fully felted piano, doesn’t disappear in a busy mix.

We had the piano tuned exactly 3 months before recording. To us this is the perfect length of time for the sound of the tuning to become really interesting. (In tune but a not quite, if you know what we mean!) The piano was recorded with separate pedal up and pedal down samples as well as individual controls for the piano noises.

Presented in the instrument are pedal down only samples for those that love this more resonant sound. There’s also a patch called Dust Piano. This is a noisier, atmospheric performance when you want something softer with a bit more vibe.

Electric sounds with soul

36 original sounds crafted from a Sequential Prophet 5. An analogue synth designed in the 70s, it has an unrivalled organic sound. Used on countless amazing records by artists like Kraftwork, Radiohead and Aphex Twin.

These are the ideal electronic moods to match the feel of the rest of the library. As ever here at Westwood, some of the sounds were put through guitar pedals and other methods to push the sounds even further.

Wrapped up in a synth specific version of our Evergreen framework, you can craft and change the sounds to make them yours. But we think they sound great, just as they are.

Brand and artist names used for informative purposes only.
No affiliation or endorsement implied.

Bamboo & Beaters

A big, open drum kit recorded twice for two distinct vibes. One played with bamboo broomsticks for a tighter, jazzier sound. The other with felt beaters and the snare-wire off for a more orchestral influenced sound.

A drum sound that takes its inspiration from a handful of alternative soundtracks from the 70s through to the modern day. A beautiful Ludwig kit tuned really loosely with big washy Istanbul Agop cymbals.

There’s separate left and right handed snare samples, and don’t worry; there’s plenty of velocity layers and round robins to keep everything feeling alive. There’s also a useful section of natural cymbal swells using the felt beaters.

“Finding authentic life-like strings and convincing musical intimacy is so rare. This will become a staple for anyone looking to score with emotion and raw beauty. You can tell these instruments are made by people that understand the needs of modern composers. Absolutely brilliant.”

Kieran Scragg – Fort Nowhere

Composer

Trailers: The Crown, The Witcher, Death on the Nile

Behind the recording

Recorded at The Nave, one England’s finest recording studios; a converted church with the most beautiful sounding live room. A fairly dry and controlled space, but one that feels warm, lively and full of energy. This is the same studio as our entire UNTAMED range of instruments, so will fit in perfectly to those libraries.

Engineer Tom Orrell used a set of classic microphones and vintage outboard to tailor the perfect sound for every single instrument and section.

All instruments* have been recorded with Close, Room and Gallery positions. Everything recorded in place and pre-panned to achieve a completely organic stereo image. A very cohesive and natural sound stage, that feels like everything belongs together, and is easy to mix.

Recorded through through Neve and API preamps, an AMEK Rembrandt desk and captured using world-class Apogee AD16X analogue to digital convertors.

For songwriters

We created Origin for more than just scoring. It’s perfect for singer-songwriters and producers who need some cinema-inspired instruments behind their next track.

What’s included

Instruments & Articulations

Willow Ensemble – Strings
Ensemble Chords
Improvisations
Arco
Flautando
Sul Pont
Spiccato

Violins (3)
Legato
Vivid Legato
Improvisations
Molte
Arco
Arco Random Rebow
Flautando
Flautando Random Rebow
Sul Pont
Sul Pont Random Rebow
Flautando to Sul Pont
Spiccato
Picks

The Improvisations in each section are also provided in a variety of additional layouts.

Violas (3)
Legato
Vivid Legato
Improvisations
Molte
Arco
Arco Random Rebow
Flautando
Flautando Random Rebow
Sul Pont
Sul Pont Random Rebow
Flautando to Sul Pont
Spiccato
Picks

Cellos (2)
Legato
Vivid Legato
Improvisations
Molte
Arco
Arco Random Rebow
Flautando
Flautando Random Rebow
Sul Pont
Sul Pont Random Rebow
Flautando to Sul Pont
Spiccato
Picks

Double Bass (1)
Legato
Arco
Arco Random Rebow
Flautando
Sul Pont
Flautando to Sul Pont
Spiccato
Picks

The Foils
Choir
Improvisations Aah to Ooh
Improvisations Mmm to Aah
Improvisations Mmm to Ooh
Chatters
Short – Nah
Short – Oh
Improvisations Aah – Velocity
Improvisations Mms – Velocity
Improvisations Ooh – Velocity

Cotton Upright
Piano
Cotton Piano
Pedal Down Piano
Dust Piano

Pickup Six
Electric Guitar
Sustains
Muted Thumb
Unmeasured Pick
Unmeasured Thumb
Harmonics
Noises

Daybreak
Drum Kit
Bamboo Broomsticks
Felt Beaters
Beater Cymbal Swells

Wanderlust
Analogue Synth
36 unique sounds

Mixes & Microphones

Mix
A production-ready mix that provides a beautifully balanced sound suitable for all purposes.

Close Mic
Close mics that capture the detail of each section. The close mics on the strings are pre-panned to achieve a completely natural stereo field.

Room Mic
A balanced tree-style position kept in an identical placement for all instruments for a truly cohesive sound.

Gallery Mic
A diffuse and airy position recorded in the ceiling of The Nave. Add this to the mix for natural depth and space.

Piano Mic
The piano has all the mics above but also adds a set of rear close mics on the soundboard and separate signals for the keys and sustain pedal.

Drum Mics
The drums have all the mics above as well as individual channels for Snare, Toms, Overheads and Kick. There is also a Parallel Compression mix which has been made using some analogue hardware to add some extra punch when you need it.

Tech Specs

Kontakt

Uses the free KONTAKT PLAYER
Version 6.6.1 or higher
All major DAWs supported
NKS compatible
Native Access required for activation

System Requirements

Mac OS 10.13 High Sierra or higher
Windows 10 or higher

8GB RAM minimum

Additional information

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