In collaboration with The Birmingham Conservatoire, Soniccouture has released The Conservatoire Collection, an original collection of 10 different Baroque, Renaissance, and early musical instruments for Native Instruments Kontakt. Specifically, the collection centers around two reproductions of harpsichords, along with guitars, theorbos, and a hurdy gurdy.

These instruments, Soniccouture says, bring the soundscape of our musical past to life, showing us how incredibly diverse our modern instruments’ predecessors were. "We are now able to enter into our musical heritage more faithfully, and the new palette of sounds available offers fresh inspiration for composers today."

The Conservatoire Collection is massive in size, offering 23 GB of core samples, a Custom Convolution Reverb Impulse response library, plus 10 complete Kontakt Player instruments: French Harpsichord, Flemish Harpsichord, Theorbo, English Theorbo, Baroque Guitar, Psaltery, Baroque Timpani, Renaissance Side Drums, Nakers, and Hurdy Gurdy.

Crafted to sound as realistic and authentic as possible for the period music at hand, the instruments feature up to 10 velocity layers, 3 alternate Round Robin layers, key-off samples, and multiple articulations. The guitar instruments feature real-time hand position control, and all pitched instruments offer user-selectable scales and tuning control.

Full features of The Conservatoire Collection:

• 23 GB core sample library (9 GB on disc with NCW lossless compression)
• 24-Bit, 96 kHz stereo sampling
• 10 Kontakt Player instruments: French Harpsichord, Flemish Harpsichord, Theorbo, English Theorbo, Baroque Guitar, Psaltery, Baroque Timpani, Renaissance Side Drums, Nakers, and Hurdy Gurdy
• Up to 10 velocity layers, 3 alternate Round Robin layers
• Key-off samples and multiple articulations according to instrument
• Real-time hand postion control for guitar instruments
• Custom Convolution Reverb Impulse response library
• User-selectable scales and tuning control for all pitched instruments

Until Sept 16, 2011, Soniccouture's The Conservatoire Collection will be available at the introductory price of $219 with coupon code OVD069KVPK. For more information on The Conservatoire Collection, visit soniccouture.com.