Tonal Matter Säve River: Kontakt Instrument from Swedish Field Recordings

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Tonal Matter AB has released Säve River, a sample-based instrument for Native Instruments Kontakt 8 and the free Kontakt Player. It is the debut release in the company’s Instrumental Places series and is available now for €89, delivered through Native Access.

Field Recordings from One River

The instrument is built from recordings captured at five places along a one-kilometre stretch of the Säveån river in western Sweden. Each location was recorded in three conditions: spring flood, under snow, and August low water. As a result, the source material reflects how the river changes with seasons, light, and temperature.

The target audience is film, television, and game composers working in ambient and cinematic styles. Moreover, part of the pitched material was extracted directly from the field recordings, meaning some notes are literally the river, tuned.

XY Pads Instead of Preset Lists

Instead of conventional menus, Säve River uses five XY pads. The main pad blends between the five recording locations using bilinear interpolation. Because the pads blend rather than switch, every position is a unique mixture that exists only there. In addition, monophonic true legato is applied to the water layer, while a polyphonic tonal layer is mixed alongside it.

Features

  • One kilometre of the Säveån river, recorded in spring flood, under snow, and in August low water
  • Main XY pad blending five places continuously, water and tone together
  • Four effect pads: Darkness & Light, Shimmer & Surface, Water & Tone, Flow & Pulse
  • Water Legato sustains the water layer unbroken while a key is held
  • Nightly Detune via mod wheel adds pitch drift to sustained notes
  • Pitched material extracted from the river recordings themselves
  • Fifteen automatable parameters for DAW recording of pad movements
  • Thirty presets as starting points
  • NKS certified; runs in the free Kontakt Player

Price and System Requirements

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Price
€89.00 (incl. VAT)

Säve River requires Kontakt 8 or Kontakt 8 Player, macOS 14 or 15, or Windows 10 or 11. It supports VST3, Audio Unit, and AAX formats. The installed size is 0.5 GB, using NCW-compressed 24-bit/48 kHz audio.

Pros

  • Unique concept blending field recordings continuously via XY pads
  • True legato on the water layer with unbroken sustains
  • Runs in the free Kontakt Player and is NKS certified

Cons

  • Limited to one geographic sound source, reducing versatility
  • Only thirty presets and a small 0.5 GB library
  • Requires Kontakt 8, which may exclude users on older versions

More info: Tonal Matter AB | Säve River