Fracture Sounds releases Blueprint: Dream Zither, a FREE ethereal plucks library for Kontakt Player

Fracture Sounds is back with the next addition to the free Blueprint series, Dream Zither.

Even though these Blueprint instruments are free, I feel like a salesman because I go on about how good they are so often.

But if you haven’t tried them yet, please do, they are epic.

Dream Zither is the 25th addition, so go back and check out previous releases like Brass Ensemble, Textural Cello, and Church Organ.

Dream Zither is free to download and compatible with the free Kontakt Player.

I have to admit, as much as I love Fracture Sounds, I wasn’t as excited about Dream Zither as I have been with other instruments.

The Zither sound is beautiful in the right context, and it’s a genuine sound of Asia, which is great for composition, but you have to be careful with virtual versions; they can easily sound too harsh.

However, one of the things that Fracture Sounds does best is knowing when to stay true to the source and when to give you a bit of flexibility.

In this case, you start with a very authentic Zither sound, with a slight pitch bend when you dig in, adding more realistic articulation control.

But you also have elements like the Shimmer reverb, Glissando Controller, and Atmospheres.

You can stay close to the classic sound while adding some Shimmer to soften harshness, smoothing the percussive/plucky character.

It extends what you can do with the sound; too much is never good, but just a little goes a long way.

The Glissando Controller allows you to create glissandos by holding down notes (a chord) and triggering the sound via MIDI cc (slider, etc). The most impressive thing about this feature is that you can press each note with different velocities, and the glissando will reflect that.

There’s also a Double Octave switch that repeats any notes you hold down an octave higher, extending the glissando.

The Atmospheres are my favorite thing about the entire instrument. They create a nice bed for the Zither, or you can solo them for use as ethereal pads (something between synth, voice, and strings).

When I said Fracture Sounds know when to give you more flexibility, I’m referring to features like these atmospheres.  It’s taking a beautiful, but perhaps limited sound, and making it so much more without being disrespectful to the source.

It takes impeccable taste, and Fracture Sounds gets it right time and time again with the free Blueprint series.