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Artillery Shell Cello is a Kontakt library from Soundiron, and its Black Friday deal runs at $29.50, 50% off, until Dec 6, 2026. It samples a hand-made cello with an empty metal artillery shell for a body, built by Dust Bowl Guitars.
The instrument starts from the idea of a traditional cello. Its hollow metal shell body produces a ghostly, glistening ring, with an ordinary cello bridge and tailpiece fixed directly to it and the top left uncovered so the tone can project freely. A curved metal rod runs from the open end, carrying a traditional cello fingerboard.
The pole continues past the fingerboard and ends in a combat helmet, with a contact mic pickup fixed to its underside.
It was recorded acoustically with large diaphragm condenser microphones, plus that contact pickup. The mixer offers two mic position mixes: Close Cardioid Microphones and Contact Pickup.
The Main preset holds the chromatic multi-sampled articulations, everything except true legato. The Legato preset covers that with dynamic fingered legato and a slower mezzo-forte gliss legato.
Soundiron says the fingered and glissando styles can be switched instantly, with transition speed that adapts to how you play or stays under manual control.
A Performance articulation switches between sustains and short notes as you play. Dynamic expressions include crescendos, decrescendos, sforzandos and swells.
The short articulations include long and dotted 8th-note staccatos, 16th and 32nd-note staccatos, 32nd and 64th-note spiccatos, loose and tight pizzicatos, Bartok pizzicato snaps and Col Legno taps. Depending on the articulation, you get up to 8 round-robins per note, with optional velocity or swell control and automatic time-based switching.
The Phrases preset has over 380 live phrases in every key, plus a sequencer. Each step has its own start, stop and pitch controls, and a sequence can run up to 32 steps. Playback can loop, play single shot, run forward or reverse, or go random.
Other tools include A-B articulation assignment with cross-fade, an Arpeggio system and a Play-Assist key/mode locking panel. Key-switch assignment is quick, and articulation maps can be saved and loaded. Each panel has its own preset save and recall menu.
The Effects and Space panels handle tone, body, dynamic response, sound-stage positioning and acoustic environment.
The library needs Windows 7 or higher, or Mac OSX 10.12 or higher. Soundiron lists a dual-core CPU and 2 GB of RAM, and recommends a SATA or SSD drive.
The full version of Kontakt 6.2.2 or newer is required. The free Kontakt Player leaves it stuck in demo mode.
Yes. The Artillery Shell Cello Black Friday deal is 50% off, bringing the Soundiron Kontakt library to $29.50. The offer ends Dec 6, 2026.
The body is an empty metal artillery shell, which gives the instrument a shimmering metallic resonance. A standard cello tailpiece and bridge sit on the shell, a metal rod carries a cello fingerboard, and a combat helmet on top holds a contact mic pickup.
You get three Kontakt.nki presets: Main, Legato and Phrases. The library holds about 7,000 stereo 24-bit / 48 kHz WAV samples at 17.6 GB installed, with sustains, shorts, trills, effects, dynamic expressions, true legato and over 380 live phrases.
No. The full version of Kontakt 6.2.2 or newer is required. In the free Kontakt Player the instrument is stuck in demo mode. It runs on Windows 7 or higher and Mac OSX 10.12 or higher.
Prices and end dates are checked at publishing time and can change, so confirm them at the store before you buy.