CUD

Miniature Kalimba

A small kalimba from a box of forgotten toys, recorded so close you can hear the metal breathe. Soviet ribbon microphones captured every whisper of its sound — the soft click of a finger, the slow fade of a note disappearing into silence. This is not a concert instrument. This is a quiet thing, remembered

DAR is only available with the purchase of any bundle.

Three Soviet-era microphones were placed inches from the kalimba. Ribbon 1 catches the initial attack — the bright, brittle moment when finger meets metal. Ribbon 2 sits slightly off-axis, picking up the body of the sound: overtones, resonance, the slow exhale of each note. A stereo mic adds the third dimension — the air around the instrument, the room responding to each note.

The X-slider crossfades between the raw kalimba and four additional sound layers built from the original signal — stretched, softened, turned into something weightless. At the left end, you hear every imperfection. At the right end, the kalimba forgets it was ever a physical thing.

INSIDE THE

INSTRUMENT

SOURCE

All microphones of the core sound are blended into a single slider with its own panning control. The instrument features one patch with four additional sound layers mixed in via the X-slider. Two extra sliders expand the palette: Sine — a Soviet synthesizer sine wave tuned one octave below the kalimba, adding weight and depth — and st.tube, a tube-saturated version of the kalimba run through a cassette recorder and vintage tube amplifiers for color and grit.

Type I is the pure recorded sound — you hear everything, including fingers brushing the tines. Type II sends the same signal through a chain of filters and tube preamps, transforming the kalimba into something that sounds remarkably close to a muted electric piano.

FX

The FX section complements the vintage character of CUD with a suite of classic effects. Vibrato introduces subtle pitch variations, while the Warm effect adds rich, nonlinear distortion for a raw, edgy sound. The Shimmer effect merges the lush depth of plate reverb with pitch shifting and chorus for an otherworldly atmosphere. Echo and Reverb create expansive, immersive soundscapes.

Movement

Master

WALKTHROUGH:

INSTRUMENT

PROFILE

FEAUTURES

• 2 main sounds
• Custom tape designed and eurorack style patches
• Up to 4 velocity per note and 5 RR
• VST3/AU plugin for macOS (10.11+) and Windows
• NOT compatible with Pro Tools and any other DAWs that do not support VST3/AU formats.
• 2 GB compressed
• 2.4 GB uncompressed

INSTALATION

Use the PULSE app for the installation. It's free and has the fastest speed for downloading. You'll have your own watermarked copy of the instrument. The whole process is described in the Manual.

 Support & Updates