Ólafur Arnalds Composer Toolkit
Ólafur Arnalds Composer Toolkit is an intimate set of tools centred around a felted grand piano with inspiring sonic manipulations and progressive synth sounds.
Intimate piano based writing tools
Designed for composers, songwriters and producers, this is an intimate and deeply personal set of tools, curated by BAFTA-winning composer Ólafur Arnalds, recorded at his studio in Reykjavik, Iceland.
It centres around a characterful 'felted' grand piano, as well as a comprehensive set of inspiring sonic manipulations and progressive synth sounds, designed with the writer in mind.
In this page:
- Hard drive delivery available at checkout
- You can buy now and download any time
Spitfire Audio App required
Felted grand piano
2 mics / 2 mixes
Kontakt Player
Listen to Ólafur Arnalds Composer Toolkit
Ólafur Composer Toolkit is centred around a 'felted' antique 1904 Bechstein grand which was customised by Ólafur after several tests using various strips of felt. This was sampled in meticulous detail over several days to capture the subtle nuances of the softest layers. Fed through Ólafur's vintage outboard, it was recorded ultra quiet — the levels of recording were so hyped that everyone in the room had to hold their breaths for the duration of every sound. The felt piano is presented with 4 unique signals; KM84, Coles, Processed and Spaced. The KM84 signal is the pure sound of the small condensers, giving you a tight crisp sound. The Coles is a mono signal below the soundboard, processed through a Roland Space Echo as a LoFi tape simulation for a gritty low end. The processed signal is a mix of the KM84s with a pair of C12s, mixed by Ólafur into a pair of Pultec EQs, then slammed through a 1178 stereo compressor to give you the distinctive Arnalds sound. This processed sound has been paired with a ‘Spaced’ sound in a ‘Mixed’ patch that Ólafur has further processed creating a unique take on his signature piano.
Overview panel
This is the main interface for melodic instruments. Its default view displays all available playing techniques, has a simple microphone mixer and includes the main feature controllers.
General controls panel
This view allows further in-depth control of the instrument, showing all available signals and feature controllers, as well as the ability to purge techniques from memory to reduce system usage.
Mercury synth
This ingenious user interface features a range of organic sounds and specially curated warped sounds. All of the controls are assignable to your control surface, giving you the ability to instantly make our sounds your own.
What's included
Felt grand piano
Individual mics and mix
- Felt Grand Piano - Coles
- Felt Grand Piano - KM84
- Felt Grand Piano - Mix
- Felt Grand Piano - Mics
- Felt Grand Piano - Mixed
Composer Toolkit
Organics warps
- Evo Ambience
- Olafurs Kalimba
- Plate Space Piano
- Prime Crusher
Synth embellishments
- Basic 60
- Big 60
- Big Open 60
- Big Pad
- Dark Angel
- Detuned 60
- Detuned Tape
- Hi Jen
- High Thrills
- Init 60
- Jen Distortion
- Low Thrills
- MonoLead
- Noise Stab
- P6LFO
- SoftEntrance
- Sonar Rhodes
- Sub 60
- Wild Resonance
Tempo locked
- Less Resonant Synth TM
- Resonant Synth TM
- Rhythm 1 TM
- Slow Attack Perc Rhythm TM
- Timed Delay Stab TM
Sonic warps
- A Flickering Start
- A Soft Entrance
- Arrival Pad
- Becomes Granular
- Bevelled Ice
- Bowed Waves
- Celestial Pad
- Chorus Pad
- Closing
- Cool EP
- Dark Hold
- Deep Broodings
- Detuned Glass
- Dirty Pipe Piano
- Distant Voices
- Dream Sequence
- Dreams
- Dreamscape
- Dusk Pad
- Dusk To Dawn
- Encapsulated Pad
- End Credits Pad
- Enter Noises
- Excited String
- Filtered Noise
- Flatland Pad
- Ghost Bowls
- Head In The Clouds
- High Noise Mellow
- Hill Organ Fuzz
- Hill Organ
- Holar Falls
- Holding On
- Hollow Wind
- Hope Pad
- Hopes And Dreams Pad
- Horizon Pad
- Innnes Piano
- Is it Simple
- Jarring Music Box
- Kopasker Wind High
- Light Noise
- Longing Pad
- Lost In Thought Pad
- Meditate Pad
- Moving Filters
- Opportunistic Moment
- Past Ride Piano
- Pure Contact
- Realisation Pad
- Resonant Glass
- Reversed Fun
- Reversed Pad
- Soft Bowls
- Soft Chords
- Sombre Waves
- State Of Mind
- Sub Organ
- Submerged Hopes
- Sunken Heaven
- Sunrise Pad
- Taking Time
- Tasty Round Bottom
- Underorgan
- Underwater Panic
- Vertical Lead
- Voices in the Machine
- Was It Right
- Wave Swept Pad
- Whale Song
Mics & mixes
Felt grand piano
- KM84
- Coles
- Processed
- Spaced
Composer toolkit/sonic warps
- Single signal
Tech specs
Mac system requirements
Mac OS 11, 12 or 13
Both Intel and Apple Silicon/ARM are supported
Minimum: 2.8GHz i5 minimum (quad-core), 8GB RAM
Recommended: 2.8GHz I7 (six-core), 16GB RAM
32-bit systems are not supported.
PC system requirements
Windows 10 or Windows 11 - (Latest Service Pack, 64-bit)
Minimum: Intel 2.8 GHz i5 (quad-core) or AMD Ryzen 5, 8GB RAM
Recommended: Intel Core i7 6th gen and later or AMD Ryzen 7, 16GB RAM
32-bit systems are not supported.
File size
~4691 samples
15.2 GB download size
16.00 GB disk space required during install
Too large to download? Choose hard drive delivery at checkout
Kontakt player
Kontakt Full or Kontakt Player 5.6.8 or higher required