King Key

Name: King Key
Price: 1.19 USD
Author: Caelum Audio

by Caelum Audio · Instrument · Mechanical keyboard sample instrument

Not rated yet

King Key is a joke sampler instrument that plays the sounds of computer keyboards, a MIDI keyboard and a vintage typewriter from your MIDI keyboard.

Released for International Joke Day 2024, it still offers nine instruments, drive, crushing and spatial effects, and modulation for percussive, clicky textures.

Best for: Sound Design, Drums. Genres: Lo-Fi, Electronic & EDM, Hip-Hop & Trap.

Keywords: sample-based, lo-fi, vintage, post-production, evolving, heavy, sound design, textures.

What it does

King Key is Caelum Audio's first sampler, released for International Joke Day 2024, that lets you "play your keyboard with your keyboard."

Sources: samples of a vintage Imperial typewriter, a Modal Cobalt8X MIDI keyboard and a generic USB computer keyboard.
Instruments: 9 instruments, including 4 produced kits, and 11 presets.
Effects: drive, bit reduction and spatial spreading to transform the sounds.
Modulation: LFOs, envelopes and modulators for moving, evolving patches.

It was free for a limited time at launch.

Source: Caelum Audio product page

When to use it

King Key is a novelty percussion source rather than a general sampler. TAL-Sampler or Serato Sample let you load your own sounds, and Kontakt libraries cover foley in depth, but King Key gives ready-made typewriter and keyboard clicks for about a dollar. Pick it for clicky, mechanical percussion layers.

Best for: lo-fi percussion layers, foley-style clicks and typewriter effects.
Genres: lo-fi, hip-hop and electronic.
Look elsewhere if: you want to sample your own material or need a real keyboard instrument.
Standout: playable typewriter and keyboard kits with effects and modulation.

What producers say

Coverage noted it is a joke release with more control than expected.

Bedroom Producers Blog (2024) called it "essentially a joke plugin" but said it is "a lot of control for a free instrument" with "a huge range of sounds."

Caelum Audio King Key - Bedroom Producers Blog

Where to buy

Caelum Audio: $1.19

Tutorials and reviews

King Key | International Joke Day 2024 (Caelum Audio)
FREE! Caelum Audio King Key | Great App for Typewriter & Computer Keyboard Sounds (AUv3 AAX VST3 AU) (Gavinski’s Tutorials)
King Key by @CaelumAudio

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