Sonica Instruments – SHAKUHACHI

Being a wind instrument, the shakuhachi is played by varying techniques from moment to moment while maintaining a single sound: for example, from a straight tone to yuri (vibrato) and then from yuri to a violent and loud burst of air. We designed the Key Trigger Connection mechanism from scratch to reproduce this quintessential shakuhachi performing approach.

Key Trigger Connection lets you string articulations together smoothly just by hitting the assigned keys while playing. Connectable articulations include various yuri techniques, sforzando, muraiki (breath) effects, uchi & oshi fingering, and tamae (tongue trill). You can connect as many articulations as you like while holding down the base note, for the feel of a live instrument.

This mechanism lets the performer, using a controller, manipulate the duration from the initial breath noise before any sound is produced until the note’s full power is reached. Blow control makes playing a keyboard feel like a wind controller, giving you access to smooth, dynamic breath expressions despite being sample based.

The library contains nearly every possible shakuhachi articulation, including vertical yuri, horizontal yuri, and other vibrato techniques, sforzando,
many muraiki breath expressions, tamae trills, korokoro, karakara, and other sound-effect techniques, and short scale-based improvisations.