$59 *ex.tax
VST / AU / AAX / Standalone (works without Kontakt)
$88 $108*
Click here to learn more about Destruktor+Preparist
Destruktor: Prepared Cello Percussion
An inspiring boutique plugin built entirely from a prepared cello – sawn, drilled, chopped and bowed into brutal, organic, cinematic sounds you won’t find anywhere else.
🎻 A dead cello, brought back to life
This library started with a cello. A terrible cello, the worst one we could find. Cracked, worn out, unfit for a single note of music – the kind of instrument most people would throw away. But… we gave it a second life instead. If it couldn’t sing anymore, it could still be struck, bowed, sawn and drilled into something entirely new.
Destruktor is what came out: a full palette of organic, unmistakably real sounds, built from that one prepared cello. It’s the same boutique philosophy as our prepared piano Preparist – take a real acoustic instrument, push it far past what it was built for, and record every gorgeous detail. This time it’s a prepared cello instrument (VST / AU / AAX / Standalone / Sample Pack) carved out of wood, strings and steel. Much more brutal than Preparist. And much more… intimate and chamber (it has only 4 strings!). Yes, it’s brutal and intimate…
Nothing here is synthetic or recycled. Every hit breathes. Every round robin breathes. You hear the the wood, the metal, the player, the tension – the character of an instrument that got one last, very loud encore. 88 articulations spread over the keyboard. 88 unusual articulations.
🔨 We had to destroy a cello (respectfully)
We attacked it with everything we could find: a handsaw, a chainsaw, a power drill, a vice, a chisel, a hammer and nails, rags, an axe – and, occasionally, an actual bow.
The result is a wide vocabulary of articulations – sounds plucked, knocked, cut, sawn, chopped, tapped, struck and bowed. Deep body thumps, sharp metallic strikes, splintering wood, screeching bowed textures, muted taps and brutal chopped hits. Cinematic one moment, rhythmic and gritty the next. It’s percussion with a real acoustic body behind it, not a stock sample with a name slapped on.
Inspirations? The same world Preparist lives in – John Cage, Krzysztof Penderecki, George Crumb, sonorists, minimalists and avant-gardists.
💥 How far did the destruction go?
At first, I wanted to record the sounds of a cello being utterly annihilated – my instrument was so poor it was barely playable anyway. I pictured taking a chainsaw to it, blowing it up with dynamite, throwing it off a roof. But I quickly realized you can only destroy an instrument that thoroughly once – and I needed several samples for every single “articulation”! Besides, something about the idea of destroying an instrument felt wrong, no matter how bad the instrument was.
So I started asking myself a different question: just how much could I destroy the cello? I ended up mapping the whole instrument – the parts I could torture, and the ones better left untouched. Wreck the body or the strings and you lose the very thing that makes a cello sound like a cello; what’s left is just a piece of wood. And it’s exactly that resonant body and those strings that give the sound its organic aura.
The final tally? The thickest wooden parts took the worst of it – a few even had to be replaced (that axe…). But my cello is still the same terrible instrument it always was, and it still plays exactly as it did before its preparation: strings intact, body more or less unpunctured (though it has A LOT OF signs of torture). The preparation was brutal, but it honored the essence of the instrument – one whose fresh, inspiring samples are bound to turn up in soundtrack after soundtrack. Nothing better could have happened to it. It literally got a new life.
🎙️ Recorded up close, brutally organic
Every sound was captured with a close stereo pair of Sennheiser MKH8020 mics – the same studio, the same obsessive approach behind our prepared piano libraries. These mics have an incredibly low noise floor and a frequency response up to 60 kHz, so the fastest, sharpest transients survive intact: the bite of the saw, the crack of splitting wood, the snap of a plucked string, the thud of a fist on the body.
Because we recorded so close, the samples stay acoustic and almost unprocessed. You get the raw physicality of the instrument – immediate, detailed, “in the room with you.” Drop a hit into your track and it already sounds real. No layering ten libraries to fake life that was there in the first place.
🎛️ Several playing modes
Destruktor isn’t a single static kit. Each of the 88 keys holds 5 round robins, and you can shape how they behave through several playing modes – from strict, repeatable hits to a quasi-random, evolving feel where repeating a note never sounds quite the same twice. It’s the difference between a sample and a living instrument, and it keeps your rhythms from ever sounding mechanical.
And when you want to break out of your habits entirely, hit the dice: one click shuffles the sounds across the keyboard into a brand-new layout. Roll until something surprises you – it’s the fastest way to stumble onto a groove you’d never have played on purpose.
Oh, did I mentioned single note pitch shift? It’s our newest feature which multiplies the possibilities of Destruktor. Create your own sound palette and save it. That’s really inspiring!
🎬 Who is it for:
- Game, film & TV composers who need real, unusual percussion
- Beatmakers and producers hunting for textures nobody else has
- Sound designers after organic, brutal, characterful hits
- Experimenters and anyone tired of the same recycled percussion libraries
🎹 Part of the family – meet Preparist
Destruktor is the string-based sibling of our top-selling prepared piano, Preparist: Piano Percussion. Same boutique approach, same studio, same mics – a different instrument given a second life. And good news: Preparist is now also available as a VST / AU / AAX / Standalone, a Kontakt-free alternative that runs anywhere, just like Destruktor. Two instruments, two acoustic sources brought back from the dead, one consistent organic character – yet they sound surprisingly different. Preparist, born from a grand piano, is the big one: massive hits, rich resonance, natural room and width, plus its signature cluster kit. Destruktor, carved from a cello, is the close one: intimate, chamber-like but… more brutal, aggressive, right in your face. Four brutal strings versus eighty-eight mass – and that gap runs through every single sample. They don’t overlap; they complete each other.
A quick comparison of Destruktor and Preparist:
Destruktor:
Prepared Cello Percussion
$59 ex.tax
● prepared cello
● close, chamber sound
● brutal, aggressive
● includes more tonal elements
● extremely close recordings
● VST / AU / AAX / Standalone + sample pack
Preparist:
Piano Percussion
$49 ex.tax
● prepared piano percussion
● big, massive sound
● organic, complex, resonant
● includes signature cluster kit
● extremely close recordings
● VST / AU / AAX / Standalone + sample pack
Destruktor+Preparist
pack
$88 $108 ex.tax
● 2 prepared instruments
● 2 unsual sound palletes
● piano goes big, cello cuts close
● same studio, same mics, same obsession
● both VST / AU / AAX / Standalone
+ 2 sample packs
⁉️ What’s included: the prepared cello plugin & samples
Formats included:
1. Plugin – VST3 / AU / AAX + Standalone
● Runs in any modern DAW (PC/MAC)
● Also as standalone – no DAW needed
● 88 keys, 5 round robins each in a single ready-to-play preset
● Full of brutal hits, drills, sawing, extreme bowing, hammering, axing, deep thuds, metallic clangs, dry taps, wooden cracks and outright smashes…
● Dirty tonal notes like: violently plucked and hit strings, dirty muting and harmonics…
● Built-in effects: randomiser, pitch shift, compressor, distortion, lo-fi, wow, bitcrusher, rotary, ASR, filters, stereo mode, tempo-synced delay and reverb
2. Sample pack (bonus)
● 440 WAV files (88 one-shots x 5 variations each)
● No additional software required
● Just drag and drop into your DAW or sampler
⚙️ Specs & requirements
- Windows: Windows 10 or later (64-bit)
- macOS: macOS 10.13 or later
- VST3 / AU: every modern DAW
- AAX: Pro Tools 11 or later
- Disk space: about 130 MB (plugin)
- Sample pack: WAV 44.1 kHz / 16-bit (516 mb)
❓ Frequently asked questions
What is Destruktor?
Destruktor is a boutique prepared cello percussion instrument by Pssst Instruments. It’s built from a real, unplayable cello that was prepared and played with tools – saws, drills, hammers, a bow and more – to create brutal, organic, cinematic sounds. It ships as a VST3 / AU / AAX / standalone plugin plus a raw sample pack.
Is Destruktor a plugin?
Yes. Destruktor is a native VST3, AU, AAX plugin for Mac and PC. It runs in any modern DAW and does not require Kontakt or Kontakt Player.
Do I need Kontakt to use Destruktor?
No. Destruktor is a self-contained VST3 / AU / AAX / standalone plugin – no Kontakt, no Kontakt Player and no extra sampler. A raw sample pack is included too, for anyone who prefers to drop one-shots straight into their DAW.
Is Destruktor a VST or a sample pack?
Both. Destruktor is a prepared cello plugin (VST3 / AU / AAX and standalone) that also comes with a raw sample pack – one purchase covers both, so it fits whatever way you like to work.
What does Destruktor sound like?
Brutal prepared-cello percussion: wood sawn, drilled and chopped, strings plucked and cut, the body struck, knocked and hammered. Expect deep body thumps, sharp metallic strikes, splintering wood, screeching bowed textures, muted taps and violent chopped hits. Recorded up close, it’s raw, physical and cinematic – equally at home in scoring, beats and sound design.
How was Destruktor recorded?
We took an unplayable cello and destroyed it on purpose – sawing, drilling, hammering and bowing it – capturing every hit with a close stereo pair of Sennheiser MKH8020 mics (frequency response up to 60 kHz). The cello was recorded acoustically and almost unprocessed, so the samples keep their raw detail and “in the room” physicality.
Who is Destruktor for?
Film, TV and game composers, beatmakers and producers, sound designers, and experimental musicians looking for real, characterful percussion instead of another recycled sample library.
What’s the difference between Destruktor and Preparist?
Both are boutique prepared-percussion instruments from Pssst Instruments, recorded in the same studio with the same mics – but they sound surprisingly different. Preparist is made from a prepared piano: bigger, more massive, with more resonance, natural reverb and width, plus its own cluster kit. Destruktor is made from a prepared cello: more in-your-face, intimate and chamber-like with more tonal elements. It’s four strings versus eighty-eight – and that gap translates into two genuinely distinct sonic characters. They complement each other rather than overlap, and both are available as native VST / AU /Standalone.
If I buy the Destruktor + Preparist bundle, will both run as VST?
Yes. Both instruments in the bundle are native plugins: VST3 / AU / AAX + standalone for Mac and PC – no Kontakt needed for either. Each also comes with its own raw sample pack.
Are all of your instruments available as VST?
Not yet. Destruktor and Preparist are available as VST3 / AU / AAX / standalone plugins. Our other instruments, like Avant-Gardist, currently run in the full version of Kontakt – but we’re working on bringing them to VST too.
They say about us:
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“This is the most fun I’ve had with a piano in years…”
“I really love the hard work you put into your libraries and I will also be a fan. I have Sticks and this piano and I’m looking forward to getting Shhh the next time it’s on sale.”
“We did a quick run thru and it’s just fantastic! So cool, so dramatic, just perfect for our music. Thanks for your great sounds! Look forward to hearing your future creations!”
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