Soundiron's Lamellophones is the most comprehensive collection of Bart Hopkin's experimental lamellophone instruments available in a single Kontakt library, covering 17 custom acoustic creations across 61,041 stereo samples for $199.
Picture this. You're scoring a short film. The director wants something that sounds acoustic and ancient but can't be placed geographically. You've burned two hours auditioning ethnically coded world libraries that all sound like someone else's culture on a stock cue. Nothing fits. That's exactly where this library exists.
Hopkin has been building instruments since 1974. The Hopkin Instrumentarium now runs to over 110 original creations. Soundiron have been sampling them systematically, and Lamellophones collects that entire run plus two brand-new exclusives, Cat's Face and CÍque, into one 32 GB download.
We'd buy this for a specific type of session. If that session isn't yours, we'll tell you where to go instead.
What's In The Box
Twenty-six master NKI instrument banks in Kontakt Player format. The instruments named on the product page are Tines & Echoes, Rattletines, Woodentines, Metaltines, Miago Trod, Rumba Boxes, The U, plus the two exclusives. All wood and steel construction. All recorded with multiple microphone positions.
Sample types cover plucks, bowed shorts, bowed sustains, glisses, and percussion. Audio is 24-bit, 48 kHz stereo lossless NCW, locked.
The GUI is a modular 4-layer design with an 18-module DSP FX rack across 10 assignable slots. Convolution reverb ships with 99 rooms, halls, chambers, and outdoor environments, plus 40 custom FX impulses. Over 100 custom FX presets are included, 20 of them specifically sound-designed.
Requires Kontakt Player 6.1 or later. That's free from Native Instruments. No paid Kontakt licence needed.
Where It Fits In Your Workflow
Load Lamellophones at the textural layer stage, after your harmonic and rhythmic foundations are locked. These instruments aren't your lead melody voice in most contexts. They're the thing underneath that makes a listener lean forward and wonder what they're hearing.
The modular 4-layer GUI means you can stack articulations. Put a bowed sustain under a pluck from the same instrument. Use the arpeggiator with step-sequencer table control to build movement without writing every note. The key and scale lock system is genuinely useful here: constrain everything to your project key and improvise freely without worrying about clashing notes.
For sound designers, the 40 custom FX impulses open a different path. Push the convolution reverb with one of those impulses and you're no longer dealing with a recognisable instrument at all. That's where the ambient soundscapes territory starts, and there are hundreds of those built from the source content already baked in.
The 32 GB installed size is the real workflow question. Make sure your session drive can handle it before you commit to a download.
Compatible with Komplete Kontrol and all S-Series hardware.
What It's Genuinely Good At
The instrument count is the headline. Seventeen experimental instruments, none of them found in any competing library. That's not a developer claim we're repeating uncritically. It's structurally true: Hopkin builds unique physical instruments, and Soundiron samples them. You cannot recreate this in another library because the objects don't exist anywhere else.
The articulation range is broader than you'd expect from an experimental instrument set. Plucks, bowed shorts, bowed sustains, glisses, percussion. That's not one trick per instrument. You get movement across the dynamic and timbral range of each one.
The FX architecture is clever. Eighteen DSP modules in 10 slots, assignable in any order. Being able to put distortion before the convolution reverb, or a rotator after compression, means the signal chain stays yours. The LFO system adds tempo-synced modulation with selectable shapes and assignable targets including aftertouch and key position. That's more modulation depth than most dedicated synth libraries offer.
At $199 for 61,041 samples across 26 NKI banks, the per-sample cost is close to negligible. The value argument is strong if you'll use more than a handful of these instruments.
The Rough Edges
The locked .ncw format is frustrating if you're the kind of producer who wants to pull samples into a sampler of your choice and build custom patches. You can't. What Soundiron gives you is what you get.
There are no independent user reviews to cross-reference. That doesn't mean the library underdelivers. It means we're working from developer descriptions and general Soundiron brand reputation, which is positive across their catalogue. But it's worth knowing the community signal is thin on this specific release.
Thirty-two gigabytes is not trivial. If you're on a laptop with a single internal drive, that's a real conversation with your storage situation before you download. And the dual-core CPU minimum is a floor, not a recommendation. Kontakt with multiple layers open will want more.
One honest question to settle in the trial: how many of the 17 instruments will you actually reach for repeatedly? Some of the rarer Hopkin instruments are brilliant curiosities. Others might sit unused. That ratio matters at $199.
Who This Is Really For
- ✅ Buy if you score to picture and need acoustic textures that can't be identified as culturally specific
- ✅ Buy if you design sound for games, trailers, or installations and want organic source material that doesn't exist anywhere else
- ✅ Buy if you already own one of the individual Hopkin Instrumentarium libraries and loved it. This is the complete set.
- ❌ Skip if you want a traditional world music library with recognisable ethnic instruments and playing styles
- ❌ Skip if 32 GB of storage is a hard constraint right now
- ❌ Skip if your productions rarely need ambient or textural layers. These aren't workhorse chord instruments.
Specs & Technical Details
| Developer | Soundiron |
| Price | $199 |
| Plugin Format | VST / AU / AAX (via Kontakt Player) |
| OS Support | Mac OSX 10.12+ / Windows 7+ |
| Activation | Native Access (NI account required) |
| CPU Usage | Medium to heavy depending on layer count |
| Trial Available | N/A |
| Version Reviewed | Kontakt Player 6.1+ compatible |
Score Breakdown
| Category | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sound Quality | 4.5/5 | 24-bit 48 kHz stereo from genuinely unique acoustic sources |
| Value for Money | 4.0/5 | 61,041 samples across 26 banks is strong at this price point |
| Ease of Use | 4.0/5 | Modular GUI and 100+ presets lower the entry barrier considerably |
| Features | 4.5/5 | 18 DSP modules, 99 convolution IRs, arpeggiator, LFO, scale lock |
| CPU Efficiency | 3.5/5 | Multi-layer Kontakt use on 32 GB library will push lighter systems |
| Overall | 4.2/5 | A genuinely singular library with a niche that it owns completely |
Alternatives to Consider
The honest comparison here is narrow because nothing samples Hopkin's instruments except Soundiron. But two libraries operate in adjacent territory and are worth knowing about.
| Library | Strongest Point | Weakest Point | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lamellophones (Soundiron) | 17 physically unique instruments, no equivalents anywhere | 32 GB, locked format, thin community feedback | Unplaceable organic texture, sound design |
| Native Instruments Atlantis | Deep atmospheric pads and world-adjacent textures in a streamlined interface | Synthesised rather than sampled acoustic sources | Producers who want atmosphere without acoustic specificity |
| Spitfire Audio LABS (various) | Free rotating releases including genuine experimental instruments | No single cohesive collection, shallower sampling depth per instrument | Composers testing the experimental instrument space at zero cost |
Spitfire Audio LABS review
If you're on the fence about experimental Kontakt instruments generally, LABS is the honest starting point. Free, no commitment. Load a few on a sparse arrangement and see if this timbral world is actually yours.
If you know you want acoustic depth and you're past the "is this for me" question, Lamellophones at $199 is the most complete version of this specific thing that exists. Atlantis won't give you the acoustic truth of a physical object being struck or bowed. LABS won't give you 17 instruments in one organised library. Lamellophones wins on specificity. That's the whole argument.
We're sceptical of libraries that promise to solve every problem. This one doesn't try. It does one thing: captures instruments that shouldn't exist, recorded properly, and gives you the tools to make them useful in modern production. That narrow ambition is exactly why we love it for the right session and wouldn't recommend it for the wrong one.
Related reviews: Can Mercury Symphonic Boyschoir Replace a Real Choir?
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to buy the full version of Kontakt to use Lamellophones?
No. Lamellophones runs on Kontakt Player 6.1 or later, which Native Instruments provides free. You'll install and activate it through Native Access. No paid Kontakt licence is needed.
What exactly is a lamellophone?
A lamellophone is any instrument that produces sound by plucking thin strips or tines, typically attached to a resonating body. The mbira and kalimba are the most recognised examples. Bart Hopkin's instruments in this library are original designs that extend the concept into territory that doesn't map onto any traditional instrument category.
Is the 32 GB download the same as the installed size?
The installed size is 32 GB. Download size before extraction may differ depending on compression. A broadband connection is listed as a requirement, and Soundiron delivers the library digitally. Check your available drive space before you start.
Can I use these samples outside of Kontakt in my own sampler?
No. The 61,041 stereo samples are in locked .ncw format. They're only accessible through the Kontakt Player environment. If you need samples you can export and manipulate freely in other tools, this library won't give you that option.
