AMBIENT CLAVINETS

Ambient Clavinets is a highly acclaimed Kontakt instrument library by Wrongtools, widely recognized for its exceptional ability to create cinematic ambient music and evocative soundscapes. It transforms the classic Hohner Clavinet into a source of vast, evolving textures, from haunting drones to shimmering, ethereal pads. Its unique sound is achieved through extensive processing, effects stacks, and unusual playing techniques, making it a go-to tool for film composers and sound designers seeking distinctive atmospheric qualities.

The library contains cinematic colors, epic transitions, and ambient tones – formed from Hohner Clavinets through effects stacks and amps.

Clavinet strings were set in motion with the use of external objects. Like bow-hairs, ebows, rotating small fan, electrical toothbrush, needles, scrapes, clinkers and feedback.    We opened the lid, and played directly on the strings. As well as with the keys.

• Deep and Colorful Sustains: Long, evolving pad sounds with a unique organic character.

• Haunting Drones: Low, sustained textures perfect for creating tension, mystery, or desolation in your film scores.

• Shimmering Wildflies: Bright, fluttering, and highly textured sounds that add movement and sparkle to your soundscapes.

• Epic Transitions: Sounds that morph and evolve, ideal for building atmosphere and seamless scene changes.

• Unusual Textures: Sounds generated by setting Clavinet strings in motion with ebows, bow-hairs, and even rotating fans, resulting in truly original ambient pads and effects.

The sound of Ambient Clavinets originates from a deeply sampled Hohner Clavinet, treated almost like a massive guitar with 60 long strings. These strings were then set into motion using unconventional methods such as bow-hairs, ebows, and small rotating fans. The raw sounds were pushed through various effect stacks and amplifiers, creating a distinct sonic fingerprint of deep, sustained, and highly textural qualities.

Ambient notes and long flowing styles  can be great for establishing a scene’s emotional tone — tension, wonder, serenity, unease, desolation, or vastness. A low, rumbling drone can instantly create suspense, while a shimmering pad can evoke calm. Libraries like Ambient Clavinet (widely regarded as one of the best sample libraries for creating cinematic ambient music) excel at crafting these moods with rich, evolving textures that effortlessly support your narrative.

World-Building & Environment: Ambient layers help define the sonic character of a location, whether it’s the hum of a futuristic spaceship, the distant echoes of a forgotten ruin, the subtle creaks of an old house, or the alien winds of an unexplored world. With Ambient Clavinet, these environmental tones can be shaped organically to enhance your scene without overpowering it.

Underscore: Ambient sounds provide a subtle sonic bed beneath dialogue or melodic elements, adding subconscious emotional weight without distracting from the story. The nuanced textures in Ambient Clavinet make it an inspiring tool for building underscore layers that breathe with the scene while remaining invisible to the viewer.

The sound is inspired by the ECM catalogue and style. 

To use Ambient Clavinets, you will need the Full Retail Version of Kontakt 6.4.2 (or later) . It is not compatible with the free Kontakt Player. The library requires 3.8 GB of free disk space for installation.