FI-04

Helenko

Name: Helenko
Brand: Felt Instruments
SKU: FI-04
Price: 69 GBP
Availability: InStock

A 1930s tabletop celeste with all its quirks left in.

VST3, AU, AAX plugin

A close-up of the vintage Jenco celeste mechanism behind the Helenko celeste plugin.

Playing the Jenco celeste by wiggling its lid over the resonators for a tremolo effect, an articulation sampled for the Helenko celeste plugin.

A close-up of the mechanism inside a 1930s Jenco tabletop celeste, sampled for the Helenko celeste plugin.

story

A celeste small enough to carry, and too small to behave.

A celeste that folds into a suitcase. Jenco built it in the USA in the 1930s so a bell-like keyboard could travel anywhere. There's a quiet rule with old instruments: the smaller they are, the more character they hold. This one is about as small as a celeste gets, and it took me a few years to find a good one.

It came with ninety years of quirks: keys that ring unevenly, a lid that squeaks, a few notes that sound faintly haunted. All of it is in the plugin. I recorded it up close, the way you'd record Tom Waits, not a concert hall.

Kept as played

Multiple takes of every note, deeply sampled down to the mechanical noises - nothing cleaned up or evened out afterwards.

No plugins in the recording chain

Ribbon microphones into 1950s tube preamps. Everything you hear happened before the computer.

Two instruments in one

The celeste as it stands, and five patches that push it past recognition.

every update is free

Buy it once, and you get all future versions and improvements.

in the room

A 1930s Jenco tabletop celeste, the folding suitcase instrument sampled for the Helenko celeste plugin.

A Publison DHM-89 B2 stereo digital pitch shifter and a rack of vintage hardware effects, used in the Helenko celeste sampling sessions.

see how it was recorded

“Simply the best sounding celeste plug-in out there.”

Trentemøller

Acoustic

The celeste itself, sampled up close with the mechanics clearly audible. This is the sound you picture when you think celeste, a little uneven. Close the lid and the bells ring from behind the wood, or set it moving for a slow tremolo. On the Lid Tremolo patch I wiggle the lid by hand: play a chord and it swirls and squeaks, a ninety-year-old lid doing something it was never built to do.

Sustains

Lid Tremolo

Afterglow

The other half leaves the celeste behind. Hold a note and it keeps shifting, swelling and folding in on itself, run through tape, vintage synths, vocals and musique concrète techniques. What's left are ghosts of the celeste, dusty and half-remembered, sometimes the instrument and sometimes something else entirely. Some are beautiful, some are frightening.

Arrival

Days Of Our Lives

Dancing With Devils

Rosemary Was Right

Lighthouse

pricing

Helenko
A 1930s tabletop celeste with all its quirks left in.
Alternatives Bundle
Helenko bundled with Blisko Viola, a dark, rich sound - beautiful at the extremes of its range. Four microphone positions and Jasno, a rare 1960s Guitaret, plucked, struck and granulated.

There are no sales at Felt. This is the price today and the price in December, for everyone.

try it free

Play a few notes. A celeste this small has no business sounding like this. There's no time limit on the trial, though the sound mutes now and then.

details

formats: VST3, AU, AAX · macOS 10.13+, Windows 10+ (64-bit). No Kontakt required: the plugin loads in your DAW like other plugins.
acoustic articulations: Sustains and Lid Tremolo, close-miked with the mechanical imperfections left in.
Afterglow articulations: Five formless textures from tape, vintage synths, vocals and musique concrète. Most are MPE-ready.
range: C3–C7. Five round-robins and multiple dynamic layers.
manual: The Helenko manual covers every control.
size: 2.3 GB
licence: One licence per user, install on as many machines as you personally use. All future updates are free.

Jenco is a trademark of its respective owner. Felt Instruments is not affiliated with Jenco.

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