DARK INSTRUMENT COLLECTION
The Dark Instrument Collection is a growing series of five original sound design packs (plus expansion packs) featuring roughly 427 unique sounds, created from real instruments, real performances and original recordings.
Built through bowing, scraping, striking, plucking, detuning, friction, resonance and creative processing, these instruments are pushed beyond their traditional musical roles into haunting textures, dissonant cues, dark percussion, eerie transitions, unstable melodies, atmospheric movement and cinematic tension.
The Dark Instrument Collection currently includes Percussive Dissonance (plus expansion pack), Dark Guitar, Bowed Bass, Psaltery De-Tuned and Broken Kalimba. Each pack explores a different acoustic character, from bowed metal and resonant percussion to damaged strings, deep bass friction and fragile detuned tones. Percussive Dissonance alone contains 200 processed elements created from 5 cymbal categories and 13 percussion instruments.
Created for filmmakers, game developers, video editors, sound designers, composers, music producers and content creators working in horror, suspense, psychological thrillers, dark fantasy, trailers, games and cinematic storytelling.
From subtle unease and intimate tension to aggressive impacts and overwhelming darkness, the collection is designed to provide sounds with character, emotion and room to build, whether used individually, layered together or processed into something entirely new.
Every sound begins with a real physical source and human performance. No stock recordings. No AI-generated audio.
A growing collection with more instruments, sounds and sonic territory to come.
5 Sound Packs | 300 Unique Sounds | Original Recordings | Real Instruments | Real Performances | Royalty-Free | No AI-Generated Audio
Psaltery De-Tuned
32 processed sound-design elements created by detuning and physically exploring a real psaltery through plucking, bowing, scraping and unconventional string techniques.
Its naturally delicate sound becomes unstable and unfamiliar as altered tuning and creative processing introduce dissonant cues, fragile melodies, eerie resonance, scraping textures, atmospheric movement and cinematic transitions.
The exposed strings retain their organic detail while producing sounds that can move from quiet unease to more pronounced tonal tension. Psaltery De-Tuned works especially well for psychological horror, dark fantasy, suspense, experimental scoring and scenes that need an unusual acoustic identity without relying on conventional orchestral textures.
Dark Guitar
25 processed sound-design elements created from real electric guitar performances using unconventional techniques rather than traditional guitar playing.
Bowed strings, scrapes, unusual sliding tones, above-and-below-bridge plucks, sul ponticello tremolo, glissando and resonant gestures form the acoustic foundation of the pack. Reverb, delay and granular processing extend those performances into dissonant melodic cues, haunting textures, atmospheric resonance, tension layers and cinematic transitions.
Dark Guitar retains the physical detail and imperfections of the original instrument while pushing its strings into unfamiliar territory suited to horror, suspense, psychological scenes, trailers and experimental cinematic work.
Bowed Bass
20 processed sound-design elements created from the deep resonance, string friction and physical movement of a real bowed bass guitar.
Bowed gestures, scrapes, hits, plucks, dissonant cues and sustained resonances explore the instrument beyond its conventional musical role. The resulting sounds move through low-frequency tension, dark textures, uneasy tonal movement, resonant frequencies and cinematic transitions, with enough space to work individually or underneath other layers.
Bowed Bass is particularly effective for adding organic weight, subtle menace and low-end instability to horror, suspense, psychological storytelling, trailers, games and larger cinematic soundscapes.
Percussive Dissonance
200 processed sound-design elements created from 17 real percussion instruments: 22" Buffalo Drum, Ride, China, Crash, Splash and Bell Cymbals, Rainstick, Djembe, Mini Djembe, Mini Tongue Drum, Tambourine, Mini Singing Bowl, Chimes, Egg Shaker, Frog Drum, Claves and Finger Bell.
Bowing, scraping, striking, rubbing and shaking transform these acoustic sources into bowed cymbals, dark friction, metallic resonance, dissonant cues, unusual frequencies, haunting textures and cinematic transitions.
Built for horror, suspense and experimental sound design, the pack ranges from delicate tension and resonant movement to aggressive percussion and unstable metallic tones.
(Grab the EXPANSION PACK and add-on 125 additional sound design elements!)
Broken Kalimba
25 processed sound-design elements created from the imperfect metallic tones and resonant body of a real warped kalimba.
Plucking, tapping, pitch shifting, bowing and unconventional performance techniques push the instrument beyond its familiar melodic role and into darker sound-design territory. The resulting palette includes dissonant cues, uneasy plucks, delicate impacts, metallic resonance, strange tonal movement and intimate atmospheric textures.
Its smaller acoustic scale gives the sounds a fragile, close-up quality that contrasts naturally with the heavier instruments in the collection, making Broken Kalimba useful for psychological tension, subtle horror, suspense, dark melodic details and layered cinematic environments.