The glass armonica, also known as the glass harmonica, bowl organ, hydrocrystalophone, or simply the armonica (derived from "harmonia", the Greek word for harmony), is a type of musical instrument that uses a series of glass bowls or goblets graduated in size to produce musical tones by means of friction - rubbing a wet finger along the edge of the glass, as one might with a wine glass.

The instrument was invented by Benjamin Franklin, who called his invention the "armonica" after the Italian word for harmony. On Franklin's treadle operated version 37 bowls were mounted horizontally on an iron spindle. The whole spindle turned by means of a foot pedal. The modern version uses a silent electric motor. Over time limescale build-up  gives the  instrument a frosted appearance, like a rare crystal or stalactite.

The Cristal Baschet or 'Le Cristal' was designed in 1952 by Bernard and François Baschet. It consists of about 4 octaves of chromatically tuned glass rods, which are rubbed with wet fingers. The vibration of the glass is passed to a heavy block of metal, which itself is tuned and in fact determines the final pitch. The entire mechanism is amplified by a large steel plate called the “flame”. There are also three small fiberglass cones that amplify the higher frequencies.

These pictures show the glass rods connected to the metal tines. Sound is produced by rubbing a wet finger on the glass - hence the bowl of water.
The Baschet brothers specialize in creating sculptures that can be played to produce music. They also invented the inflatable guitar and the aluminum piano, and created an educational instrumentarium for exposing young people to musical concepts.

The Cloud Chamber Bowls are Soniccoutures recreation of an instrument built in the 1950s by maverick American composer Harry Partch. It consists of hanging “bowls” which are sections of 12-gallon glass carboys. Both tops and bottoms of the carboys are used. Partch had 14 (later 13) bowls hanging from a large wooden frame he called a “tori”. The name “Cloud Chamber Bowls” arose from the fact that Partch found the original tops and bottoms at a Radiation Laboratory at UC Berkeley in 1950. The bowls were originally used for cloud chambers used in tracing paths of subatomic particles.

The original pitches of the bowls are basically random, as were Partch’s. For our Cloud Chamber Bowls kontakt instrument we have included a full chromatic tuning of the bowls, for convenience.Since we were unable to locate a set of Chamber bowls whose owner was willing to let us record them, and since most sets are 'home made' anyway, in the spirit of Partch we decided that we would make our own set. They are sampled with two different sets of mallets and a cello bow.

The Soniccouture Glass Armonica instrument features 3 alternate round-robin layers with expressive key-off samples. Use either the mod-wheel or velocity to add the sound of natural pressure to the sound.

The Soniccouture Cristal instrument uses 2.5GB of stereo samples spread over 4 octaves. 6 different articulations (with 3 alternate layers each) make the instrument burst with expression: sustain: soft & hard, Accent, percussion: hard & soft mallet, SFX.
The ‘Flame’ - the steel sheet that amplifies the sound - is modelled using convolution technology, so you can add as much or little of the effect as required.

The Cloud Chamber Bowls kontakt instrument contains 1.38 GB of stereo samples. 10 x 3 velocity layers ensure a seamless dynamic response. Switch between hard and soft mallets for a different timbre, and Bowed for a sustained pad-like sound. The tuning of the CCB can be switched from the original random tuning to a more usable chromatic (C1-C5) range.

• 3 USER CONFIGURABLE INSERT FX
• 4 BAND EQUALISER
• SPACE MODULE WITH ADDITIONAL FLAME IRS

Glass Works features a comprehensive effects page, with a configurable insert chain featuring Replika, Phasis and other cutting-edge NI effects. The Space Reverb module features Soniccouture's custom impulse library built up over many years and recording sessions.

• WEAVER:RHYTHMIC TRAIL GENERATOR
• JAMMER:GENERATIVE ARPEGGIATOR
• CREATE YOUR OWN PRESETS

Weaver creates unique rhythmic patterns for each note you play. A bit like a delay effect but evolves differently according to what you play - strands of sound weave in and out of each other.

Jammer is The latest evolution of our generative arpeggiator - Hold a chord, and let it evolve - or loop a section and jam between 12 sequences.