VSL released Synchron Harp

The harp is a supremely beautiful instrument, that is also very complex. Even some of the greatest classical composers often found it difficult to write for the harp and its multi-faceted possibilities. The instrument is equally challenging to play. It’s almost impossible to master a demanding piece just by sight-reading, requiring adequate time to prepare and work out the pedaling. On the other hand, a harp can achieve sounds no other instrument can approach, particularly in the hands of a master player in an ideal acoustic environment.

With Tina Žerdin, long-time harpist of the Synchron Stage Orchestra, a wonderful Lyon & Healy Style 30 Concert Grand harp placed in the large hall of Synchron Stage Vienna, and the talent of Chief Recording Engineer Bernd Mazagg, we knew we had all of the elements put in place to create the best possible recordings.

But the idea was also to help you, composers and music creators, to write for this instrument and to play it authentically on the keyboard. Our goal was to create a software instrument with a user interface that lets you play sophisticated harp pieces, even with average keyboard skills.

Enter the Synchron Harp Player. In Chromatic Mode you can play the harp just like any other keyed instrument. In Pedal Mode the software recreates the pedaling mechanism and the scale possibilities of a real harp. The harp’s seven strings of each octave are represented by the white keys of the keyboard. Thus, playing a glissando is as easy as gliding your fingers over the white keys as you would on a real harp’s strings.

Pedal Mode
To control the seven harp pedals in Pedal Mode, there are seven function keys (key switches), with key velocity determining the top, middle and bottom position of each pedal. There are also several additional ways to select pedalizations. You can use separate key switches to access pre-configured tonalities (C, C#, D, etc.), specify the scale family (major/minor, 7th chord, whole tone, pentatonic) and the scale variant (major, melodic minor, harmonic major, harmonic minor). A Pedal Matrix that holds 144 pre-configured scales and their pedalizations can also be accessed using key switches. You can also create your own pedalizations and use a stepper when playing live, similar to the stepper of an organ for switching through registrations, one after the other.

Price:
$213 – $377

More info here: VSL | Synchron Harp