Cinesamples Sew What

About Sew What

Here is one of the most unique percussion libraries you'll hear. We sampled nearly every sewing item you can imagine - pitched and non-pitched, from sewing machines and knitting needles to buttons, cloth, and scissors. Play them as single shots or custom defined arpeggiations. The sewing machines are tempo-synched.

Description

SEW WHAT is a combo of single shot pitched and non-pitched percussion with the option of a built-in arppegiator and effects rack.  

We were approached by composer Christopher Lennertz to build a custom library for a recent animated film.  His request - all sounds related to sewing.  So, off we went to the craft shop to get our materials.

We got funny looks in Michael's Craft Shop while we "played" all of their merchandise, but they were happy when we walked out with full carts of everything sewing related!

• Thread
• Elastic
• Shoelaces
• Cardboard
• Fabric
• Cloth
• Embroidery Hoops
• Scissors
• Buttons
• Beads
• Knitting Needles
• Tape measure
• Velcro
• Zippers

We ripped cloth and velcro.  We dropped buttons and beads, put them in jars and shook them.  We suspended knitting needles and hit them.  We plucked thread and elastic.  We even found out that our 3 pairs of scissors have very different sounds.  

From the cloth and embroidery hoops, we made awesome frame drums.  From the shoelaces and a guitar frame, we made a custom guitar.  We stretched a long suede shoelace across a shovel handle to make a shoelace bass.  

Then came the sewing machines!  Everyone brought in their family sewing machine – from a vintage 1930 crank model to an ultra modern programmable electronic machine and everything in between.  We recorded them at different speeds (when possible) and programmed them to tempo-sync to your DAW.  

We included an arpeggiation section in which you can design your own tempo-synced rhythms and an effects page to further customise each sound.