ToneHammer has released a new freebie sample library that captures the world's oldest audio recordings.
The non-profit organization First Sounds has restored the earliest human audio recordings to a listenable state. Invented in the 1850s by French inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, these "Phonautograms" predate Thomas Edisons' earliest recordings by nearly two decades.
Tonehammer sampled one of these recordings to create Tonehammer Phonautogram:
In the spirit of celebrating the past and present day sonic pioneers who brought this piece of history to us, we converted one of the sets into a playable instrument. We chose the D Major scale recording titled "Gamme de la Voix – Vocal Scale (May 17, 1860)", since it made for the most direct and flexible instrument.
The 5MB download includes Kontakt, EXS24 and SFZ formats, as well as a set of synthetic drum sounds made from the same source material. In the Kontakt version, the modwheel controls subtle vibrato and tremolo effects.
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James Lewin
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