NI’s Stradivari Violin is a solo string instrument that’s been “almost 300 years in the making”

The chances of you ever owning a real Stradivarius violin are pretty slim, but Native Instruments is promising the next best thing in its new Kontakt instrument. Stradivari Violin samples the rare ‘Vesuvius’ violin that was built in 1727 by Antonio Stradivari, and all in painstaking detail.

The sampling took place in the Auditorium Giovanni Arvedi in Cremona, Italy - the town where the instrument was built. Traffic was blocked off around the hall and townspeople were asked to keep the noise down during recordings to ensure the best possible results.

Features include chromatically sampled notes, phase-aligned velocity crossfades, performance-captured vibrato, 20 articulations and mixable mic positions, the aim being to create something that will let you create truly realistic solo violin parts.

As well as the multi-mic version, Stradivari Violin also includes a stereo-only mix that’s lighter on CPU and RAM.

Created in collaboration with e-instruments and the Museo del Violino in Cremona, Stradivari Violin is available now for the introductory price of £129 (regular price will be £179). It runs in both the full version of Kontakt and the free Kontakt Player (version 6.2.2 or later) on PC and Mac.

Find out more on the Native Instruments website.