You’ve Heard Of Felt Piano, Meet Our ‘Felt’ Guitar…
An unconventional, cinematic guitar library inspired by the delicate warmth of the felted piano, Softstruck is the third addition to our Select series and our most unusual instrument yet.
The idea for Softstruck was born during a felt piano recording session – a technique where felt is placed between the hammer and strings to produce a soft, muted sound often heard in film scores and ambient music. It got us thinking – could we bring the concept of the felt piano to guitar?
We started by placing felt on the guitar bridge, which created a sound like palm muting – interesting but not quite what we were striving for. Then came the lightbulb moment - what if we muted the stroke instead of the guitar?
By using ultra-soft, felt guitar picks – typically meant for nylon instruments like the ukulele – we captured a brushed, blurred guitar tone that felt instantly nostalgic, dark, and intimately textured. We’d found our answer to the ‘felt guitar’!
The Instruments
Taking our new-found technique, we sampled three distinctive guitars…
Guitar 1 (‘Butterscotch’) - a classic guitar with an added middle pick-up that offers an iconic scooped clean tone which is very bright to begin with and darkened considerably with the felt.
Guitar 2 (‘Flatwounds’) – a fantastic, chambered guitar with a p90-style pickup – a much darker guitar made even darker by fitting flatwound strings.
Guitar 3 (‘Singlecut’) – a classic model renowned for its bassy sound at the neck pickup.
Four Distinct Signals
The guitars were recorded through four signals: two different amps for each guitar for some tonal variation and two different pedalboard chains, one ambient and lush, the other more experimental.
Softstruck also features the Double Track switch found in Nocturne. This is a quick and easy one-click way to create a beautiful, rich organic stereo image by using different round robins on the left and right channels.
Choose Your Mood
Softstruck features our signature atmospheric FX, tweaked specially for guitar...
WHITE CLOUD - a high quality lush studio reverb.
BLUE ATMOS – a dreamy, diffused cinematic ambience with a huge tail.
PINK ATMOS – a slowly modulated reverb with some granular-like processing.
Sounds For Storytelling
Across 51 curated presets, Softstruck’s beautifully muted, brushed tones offer an expressive, organic softness that’s both familiar and refreshingly original.
Whether you're composing a cinematic score, crafting ambient soundscapes, shaping emotional cues, or writing delicate, heartfelt songs, Softstruck provides a deeply inspiring palette. Its understated character makes it equally suited for introspective solo pieces or layered textures in complex arrangements.
Sonora Cinematic Softstruck works with the free Kontakt Player 8.3+ (available for download here).
Total Library Size: 2.4GB
THE SELECT SERIES
Discover Sonora Cinematic Select — a curated series of inspiring, great-sounding, and budget-friendly sample libraries designed for Kontakt Player. Perfect for creators at any level, each title combines ease of use with professional-quality sound.
Softstruck marks the third release in the series, joining the best-selling Emma Legato — a deeply expressive true legato vocal instrument — and the hauntingly beautiful Nocturne, our cinematic electric piano with a moody, atmospheric edge.
Already own a Select title? Loyal customers can take advantage of extra savings with our upgrade pricing available on each product — our way of saying thanks for being part of the journey.