Founded in 2023 by composer Christian Henson (formerly of Spitfire Audio) The Crow Hill Company is an Edinburgh-based developer of software instruments and sample libraries.
Launched in 2024, Crow Hill's Vaults collection is an ongoing series of free sample libraries and virtual instruments. At any one time, six Vaults instruments are available to download: each month, a new instrument is dropped and one is archived. Archived instruments can still be accessed in return for a small charity donation.
The latest addition to the Vaults series is Lo-fi Strings, a string library with a nostalgic sonic palette. In developing Lo-fi Strings, Crow Hill processed clean string recordings through a vintage cassette deck in an attempt to bring the the characteristic sonic imperfections of magnetic tape – compression, saturation, pitch instability and tape hiss – into the orchestral world.
Lo-fi Strings shares the same basic interface as the other Vaults plugins. Two central dials control two main parameters: Timbre is a subtle volume and filter control while Dropout introduces additional imperfections to the sound, mimicking the dropouts that can occur in cassette recording. Four additional controls along the bottom of the interface can be used to tweak a high-pass filter, saturation circuit, reverb and stereo ping-pong delay.
Check out the demo video above to get a flavour of how Lo-Fi Strings sounds – it's a gorgeous instrument with oodles of vintage charm that could come in useful across a variety of musical contexts. (If you're scoring an indie rom-com and don't have the budget for a real orchestra, it's your lucky day.)
While you're over at Crow Hill's website, there are five other free instruments currently available, including a TB-303 acid synth, mallet piano, rubber bridge guitar and bodhrán, a traditional Celtic percussion instrument.
Lo-fi Strings is compatible with macOS and Windows and available in VST/VST3/AU/AAX formats.
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