INTIMATE CELLO
“IREMIA”
SOFT SOLO TEXTURES
$59 Intro price (reg. $99)
INTO PRICE ENDS SEPTEMBER 20
Please note: requires the full version of NI Kontakt 6 or later.
Owners of Intimate Viola are entitled to a loyalty discount during the intro sale. Please reach out if you didn’t get the email.
Iremia (Greek): tranquility, peace, serenity. quietness.
The Iremia cello is dedicated to exploring the most intimate and quiet side of a solo cello, captured in stunning detail with a unique set of microphone positions. We captured a great cellist playing extremely softly and recorded very, very close, to give you a virtual instrument of incredible intimacy, beauty and humanity. With a wide selection of airy sustains, beautiful moving textures and natural, organic swells, Iremia instantly gives you that contemporary, Scandinavian string sound, perfect for scoring Scandi Noir dramas or indeed for any time you need an instrument that quietly pulls your listener in and whispers all its secrets.
The Iremia solo strings series is based on the idea that it is the tiny, barely audible details and imperfections in the sound that creates a deep sense of intimacy and humanity in a sound – and the softer you play, the more these imperfections stand out.
It has a sister instrument in Intimate Viola “Iremia”, which is identical in concept, articulations, microphones and GUI. Intimate Viola and Cello are available in an attractively priced bundle together, and is perhaps the ultimate combination to get that contemporary Scandi Noir string sound.
SHORT VIDEOS AND TRAILER
FULL WALKTHROUGH
Audio demos
Whisper (naked)
Gossamer (contextual)
Blankets of Moss (naked)
Emergence (contextual)
What users are saying
“So this cello is just stunningly beautiful. She sound fragile yet powerful. She has a unique voice, oozes character and – much like her cousing the harmonium – is in a league of her own. Iremia is her name and she is a keeper. This is an instrument that you use for chords, weaving those pianissimo harmonies. I gather pro composers can’t really afford the risk to not have this in their templates. And for people like myself who just enjoy composing and playing casually, I can only say: do yourself a favour and listen to those demos. And then purchase the entire Iremia series.”
“I absolutely love Intimate Cello “Iremia”! It’s exactly the soft and fragile string sound I’ve been looking for. All of the textures are gorgeous and the swells are incredibly useful and emotional!”
“The textures and controllable spontaneity of this instrument is amazing! Gone are the days of a string pad just sitting in the background; with the Intimate strings you can sculpt and shape the aural canvas to be just as dynamic as the melodies and more front-facing elements of a piece. These instruments are breathing life into my compositions, you’d be a fool to pass this plugin up!”
Engaging sustains
You get three different dynamic intensities, from a whisper quiet ppp to a more robust p, each in three different flavours: un-muted, muted and the incredibly fragile and soft super-mute. Each has a different emotional intensity, so you can always find a sustain that suits your need.
Despite the focus on quiet sounds, Iremia is highly playable, designed to express your musical ideas with ease, thanks to extended controls of the dynamic response of the instrument.
Moving textures
The textures in Iremia are soft, but always living, breathing and moving, making them perfect for cinematic underscore. Some are frenetic while others are make-me-cry beautiful, and they are all performed in a rhythmically random, improvised manner, so the texture is never static.
Of course all the textures come in both con sordino and normale variations, and you even have the option of smoothly crossfading between the two, something that would be impossible to do in real life, but is highly expressive.
Organic swells
Starting from barely audible, crescendoing to a peak, before fading to silence, the swells in Iremia opens up endless creative possibilities. You get three different variations: normale, con sordino and con sordino tremolo. All of them come in 4,3,2 and 1 seconds length, and with the Time Machine Pro patch you can even change the length of these.
All the swells where performed in a single bow stroke, so they are completely smooth.
HOW CLOSE CAN YOU GET?
When you play really soft on a cello, it really brings out the details and human imperfections in the sound even more, but you need to get very close to capture these incredibly soft sounds. That’s why we recorded Iremia with 5 different mic positions, and 3 of are close:
- Inside: A small omnidirectional microphone floated inside the body of the instrument itself. Adds body and a surprising amount of detail.
- Super Close: Two Aston mics pointed directly at the bow contact point for incredible detail.
- Close: A more traditional close perspective a bit further away, made up of a Neumann U87 and two MK184. A very warm and balanced sound.
- Mid: A pair of AKG 414s in the middle of the room for depth and cohesion.
- Far: Two Telefunken M60 at the back of the room for even more spaciousness and width.
To further explore the softest end of the dynamic spectrum, every sound in Iremia was recorded both with and without mute, and with the crossfade patch you can even seamlessly crossfade between muted and normal, something which of course is not possible in real life, but makes for an incredibly expressive virtual instrument.
The Iremia series also features a viola library identical in concept, microphones and articulations – the perfect companion to the cello.
Easy to use
Spend your time writing music, not trying to figure out what all the knobs and sliders do. The interface of Intimate Cello is simple to use, but hides advanced features under the surface.
The excellent Replika delay and a convolution reverb is built in, and you can send individual amounts to the FX from each microphone channel. Great for adding a background sheen, while keeping one of the close mics dry and up front.
You can also align all sample starts to that of the inside mic for instantly darker and fuller sound, and the dynamics slider has full controls for simulated dynamics, range and velocity control built in.
The Iremia bundle
The Intimate Viola and Cello are identical in concept, articulations, microphone perspectives and GUI, so they fit together and complement each other perfectly. The dark and somewhat melancholic sonority and incredibly detailed recordings of both instruments makes this bundle especially useful for achieving that fragile Scandi Noir string sound popularised by artists such as Olafur Arnalds, Johan Jóhann Jóhannsson and Max Richter.
Good to know
- 3465 samples
- 14.2 GB uncompressed size
- 8.33 Lossless compressed size (installed size)
- 8.18 GB download size
- 48 total articulations
- 5 patches
- REQUIRES THE FULL VERSION OF KONTAKT 6.7.1 OR LATER – NOT THE FREE KONTAKT PLAYER.
Additional features
- Align sample start – phase aligns all mic perspectives to the inside mic for a darker tone without the need for EQ.
- Extended simulated dynamics.
- Full control over the dynamic range – make the instrumnet react the way you want it to.
- Fully adjustable velocity control.
- Per mic stereo width and pan controls.
- Per mic Delay and Reverb sends.
- Route each mic directly to Kontakt’s discrete outputs, so you can process them individually in your DAW.
Core articulations
Sustains
- Sustains Normale ppp
- Sustains Normale pp
- Sustains Normale p
- Sustains CS ppp
- Sustains CS pp
- Sustains CS p
- Sustains Super CS ppp
- Sustains Super CS pp
- Sustains Super CS p
- Harmonics CS
- Harmonics Normale
TEXTURES
- Bow pulses CS
- Bow pulses Normale
- Vibrato pulses CS
- Vibrato pulses Normale
- Random Rebow CS
- Random Rebow Normale
- Tremolo bursts CS
- Tremolo bursts Normale
- Tremolo fluctuations CS
- Tremolo fluctuations Normale
SWELLS
- Swells Normale 4sec
- Swells CS 4sec
- Swells Trem CS 4sec
- Swells Normale 3sec
- Swells CS 3sec
- Swells Trem CS 3sec
- Swells Normale 2sec
- Swells CS 2sec
- Swells Trem CS 2sec
- Swells Normale 1sec
- Swells CS 1sec
- Swells Trem CS 1sec
*) All swells included as Time Machine Pro patches as well, which can be time stretched.
Crossfade articulations
Sustains
- Dynamic Sustains Normale (X-fade ppp-pp-p)
- Dynamic Sustains CS (X-fade ppp-pp-p)
- Dynamic Sustains Super CS (X-fade ppp-pp-p)
- Sustains ppp CS into Normale
- Sustains pp CS into Normale
- Sustains p Con Sordino into Normale
- Sustains ppp Super CS into CS
- Sustains pp Super CS into CS
- Sustains p Super CS into CS
- Harmonics CS into Normale
TEXTURES
- Bow pulses CS into Normale
- Vibrato pulses CS into Normale
- Random Rebow CS into Normale
- Tremolo bursts CS into Normale
- Tremolo fluctuations CS into Normale