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Exhumed synthetic textures from SNAKES OF RUSSIA

MNTRA Instruments Tenebrae is a collection of dark, synthetic textures inspired by the idea of an exhumed, long-dead creature, that has now resurfaced.

LA-based artist Joseph Holiday creates apocalyptic electronic visions (affectionately described as ‘Death Beats’) under the moniker SNAKES OF RUSSIA. His singular sound weaves together textured modular synth patches with gritty drum samples, all slammed through destructive chains of unobtanium outboard and tape to create a unique world of darkness.

In Tenebrae, our first Artist Series instrument, SNAKES OF RUSSIA opens his personal Pandora’s Box, offering you a deep collection that has been curated from his distinctive sonic palette, yet through our advanced MNDALA 2 engine gives you limitless options to create your own sound. We conceptualized Tenebrae as an exhumed creature, buried for over a century and now resurfaced – bringing the dark dust from the depths of the earth. Transmuted through analog processing and tape; modular and analog synths, obscure bowed instruments and gritty percussion come together to bring the darkness in Tenebrae.

Get a taste of what Tenebrae has to offer in Tenebrae-LE, the limited FREE version.

Inside Tenebrae

170+ Presets
79 Presets crafted by SNAKES OF RUSSIA
70 Instrument Sound Sources
Up to 13 Round Robins

MNTRA Instruments · Extol – SNAKES OF RUSSIA

The Story of Tenebrae

Enveloped in the essence of deep sonic exploration, Tenebrae, our collaboration with LA-based artist Joseph Holiday, alias SNAKES OF RUSSIA, delves into his dark, apocalyptic sound. In these texturally rich playable soundscapes, complex modular synth patches, heavy analog subs, and gritty drum samples converge, all intricately processed through chains of unobtanium outboard and tape, unleashing a unique world of dirt and darkness.

This inaugural entry into our Artist Series is a chasm into the depths of his distinctive sonic palette. Together we imagined Tenebrae not just as an instrument; but as an exhumed creature, buried for over a century and now resurfaced, bringing the dark mystery of the depths of the earth. Analog outboard processing and gritty tape infuse instant textural vibe into modular and analog synths, screeching bowed instruments, and noisy percussion, bringing forth the unique sonic darkness encapsulated within Tenebrae.

With the transformative power of MNDALA 2, our ever-evolving acoustic synthesis engine, SNAKES OF RUSSIA has brought his sound sculpting expertise to design a inspiring set of 79 bespoke artist presets, alongside our collection of 70 Elements presets, and 27 Atelier presets to get you started. With creative processing being an essential part of the SNAKES OF RUSSIA sound, we also worked with Joseph to create two exclusive effect processors modelling his signature signal chains: BESTIAE (destructive Filters, Drive and Compression in either parallel or series), and DIRTY BUCKETS (a series of gritty Bucket Brigade Delay based reverbs), allowing you to shape the sound dynamically in real time.

First-time user of Mntra Instruments?

Make sure to download the free MNDALA 2 Engine AAX/VST3/AU plugin.

Simply install once and you will be able to run all of our instruments.

Download Mndala 2 Free

What’s inside Tenebrae

Lead

Black Blood
Synth lead with tape saturation and a slow filter envelope.

CTPAX
Detuned synth through guitar cabinets and room mics. Sounds great with octaves.

Entity
Modern polysynth through room mics.

Dungeons
Dirty synth lead with filter modulation.

Nihil Waves
Synth lead with tape saturation and a slow attack.

No Shores
Synth lead with high resonant short filter sweep, re-amped through PA cabinets.

Rapture
Filtered synth lead with tons of room tone.

Slasher
Bandpassed synth lead through bucket brigade delay.

Spun Room
Dirty synth lead played through PA cabinets and captured through 2 sets of room mics.

Veins
Tape saturated short synth lead.

Bass

Bat Teeth
Dirty monosynth with a slight bucket brigade delay.

Bent Night
Short mono bass with tape saturation. Perfect for arps and sequences.

D Tape Sub
Basic sub with tape saturation.

D Tape Sub Layered
Layered sub with tape saturation.

Dirt Room
Detuned vintage monosynth played through cabinets, captured through room mics.

Fuzz Control
Vintage synth bass played through a fuzz pedal.

Shallow Shallow
Detuned synth bass shorts through cabinets.

Proper Grit
Dirty synth bass patch. Evolves from direct signal to room mics.

Pad

Gods Cab
Processed vintage polysynth through PA cabinets with room mics.

Last Magic
Polysynth with granular processing through hardware compression and a generous amount of tape saturation.

Skull Biz
Granular processed pad with a short bucket brigade delay and saturation.

The Chemist
Vintage polysynth layered with white noise evolving from direct to room mic signal, with extra bucket brigade delay.

Tides
Noisy vintage pad with filter movement through PA speakers.

Abraxas
Slow, filtered drone with tons of bucket brigade delay.

Cave Walls
Texture made from scraping wood against a huge silo wall, processed through modular synth and a long BBD.

Dust Grains
Granular processed re amped polysynth.

Ghost Drone
A few layers of bowed instruments through granular processing.

Sigil
Filtered, saturated bowed texture.

Silo Sting
Short swell made from silo foley and granular processing.

Dark Beast
Polysynth through hardware compression, saturation and a long bucket brigade delay.

Keys

Dust Poly
Vintage polysynth with dirty chorus chips, tracked to tape.

FM Springs
FM plucks through distortion and spring reverb.

Fang Plucks
Saturated polysynth plucks through room mics.

No No Echo
Bandpassed monosynth through vintage tape echo and spring reverb.

Slow Digs
Short swell made with foley and granular processing.

Tunnel Scrape
Long swell made from scraping the inside of a huge silo with wood, capturing its natural reverb and processing through modular synths.

Wrecking Pulse
Monosynth through a short bucket brigade delay and vintage tape echo.

Waits
Melodic FM percussion hit. Great for pulses.

Hybrid

Witch
A homemade gut string resonator for evoking dark, ancient magic, re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Cuatro
A unique Cuban Cuatro, played with a bow for a screech-like sound, then modified by Snakes Of Russia using custom processing signal paths. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Double String
A shamanic snake-themed arco instrument from the Amazon, with double resonant strings, bowed for unique sounds and re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Kabak Short

A Turkish Kabak Kemane, strung with baroque violin gut strings and played spiccato, and re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Kabak Long

A Turkish Kabak Kemane strung with baroque violin gut strings, for playing long notes, re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Ravanatha 1
An ancient 200-year-old Ravanatha from Rajasthan, played by bowing its resonant strings, and re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Ravanatha 2

Similar to Bowed Ravanatha 1, this ancient instrument from Rajasthan has unique resonant strings, re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Metal

A custom-built mini Waterphone, bowed with moving water inside and re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Bowed Vietbowl

A rare Vietnamese temple bowl that resonates uniquely when bowed, re-processed by Snakes Of Russia. These samples are SSM enabled and ultrasonically recorded for extended pitch range playability.

Percussion

Percussion
Various foley, FM synthesis, modular synthesis, and granular bits all processed to tape and back.

Technical Specifications

Requires MNDALA 2 Free Engine

Samples

70 sound sources
Up to 14 Round Robins
Recorded at 24-bit, up to 96 kHz

Engine

AAX/VST3/AU plugin for Windows & Mac OS (10.11+) Including M1 Chip
No fuss copy protection, simply install and the instrument is uniquely encrypted to be used within your system
Seamless downloads, updates, and installation within MNDALA with a registered Mntra account

File Size

70 sampled Instruments
12 GB installed, 24 GB recommended for setup

System Requirements

Minimum 8GB of RAM and an i5 or better CPU required
Supported by all 64-bitAAX/VST3/AU compatible DAW’s

* Mixcraft 9 Pro is not supported

MNTRA MNDALA Engine Walkthrough

Learn how to use the MNDALA Engine and its features to facilitate your exploration of MNTRA's sound sculptures, with this tutorial from composer Jeff Tremblett.

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MNTRA Instruments Tenebrae