Hoarfell: drums, bass and a choir pad for demos and pre-production
Hoarfell is a VST3 instrument with three engines: a drum kit on the General MIDI map that keeps up with blast beats, a modelled electric bass, and a choir, organ, strings, bell and keys section with a long hall. Like its sister plugin Frostfret it is modelled, with no samples inside, and it comes from Tim Borchert, who masters at Polished. It is the quickest way to turn a riff and a drum MIDI file into a song the whole band can hear.
Hear it: Hoarfell
Hoarfell alone: choir and bell intro, a mid-tempo groove, then a blast, 150 BPM, E phrygian (29 s)
- Intro: Choir Ah - Frozen Hall and Cold Bell, a tom swell at the end
- Groove: Studio Kit, Bass Finger Amp, Winter Strings Pad
- Blast: Raw Blast Kit, Bass Tremolo Gallop, Choir Oh - Monastery
Full black metal mix: Hoarfell drums, bass and choir with double-tracked Frostfret guitars, 180 BPM (37 s)
- Intro: tremolo guitar on E with the choir, snare build-up
- Riff A over a blast (Raw Blast Kit)
- Half-time with a palm-muted gallop
- Riff B, an octave higher, over a blast
- Outro: one ringing chord
Rendered from MIDI by the plugin code, no external effects. In the full mix the guitars come from Frostfret through its built-in amp, and the choir sits low, as a pad behind the guitars.
Drums for demos and pre-production
Hoarfell reads the General MIDI drum map: kick on 36, snare on 38, hats on 42, 44 and 46, toms, two crashes, two rides, bell and china. A groove programmed in any DAW, played on an e-kit or taken from the 30 MIDI grooves of the Black Metal Drum Kit plays right away.
- One engine per instance. Drums, bass and atmosphere each get their own track. That keeps the demo mixable and gives you clean stems if you want to send stems to mastering.
- Close mics, overheads and room per kit, with each drum placed in the overhead pair. Six kits from studio to lo-fi rehearsal tape.
- Keep the tempo map. When the real drums are recorded later, the drummer can play to the same tempo and arrangement the band rehearsed with.
Hoarfell is built for writing, demos and pre-production. For a release, recorded drums or a dedicated drum production are usually the better choice, and that is how the plugin is meant: as the drummer who is always available while the songs take shape.
Built for blast beats
Fast sixteenths are where many drum plugins start to click or smear. In Hoarfell a re-triggered drum fades its previous hit over 3 ms, so 250 BPM sixteenths stay click-free in the automated tests. Round Robin varies every hit, and velocity changes contact time and brightness, so a blast does not sound like the same sample fired 16 times per bar.
One thing to set in the mix, not in the master: the Cymbals control balances crashes, rides, china and bell against kick, snare, toms and hats. A cymbal wash that covers the guitars is one of the most common findings in black metal premasters, and mastering EQ cannot lower the cymbals without dulling everything else.
The choir belongs behind the mix
The atmosphere engine has a modelled choir of up to eight singers per note, each with its own voice, pitch, vibrato and entry. It sings vowels only (Ah, Oh, Uh), no words. On sustained chords, Ah and Oh come close to a recorded choir; the low Uh drone less so. Use it as a pad behind guitars and drums, not as a lead choir.
Long pads and halls fill every gap in a mix, and a limiter in mastering brings quiet parts up. If the choir already sounds present in the rough mix, it will sound louder after mastering. Keep it a little lower than feels right, as in the full mix above, and check the song in mono: below 160 Hz, Hoarfell keeps its output mono so the low end cannot cancel. The section also has a drawbar organ, a strings pad, a cold bell, celesta and lo-fi keys.
At a glance
| Detail | Hoarfell |
|---|---|
| Price | €17 on Gumroad, free demo available |
| Format | VST3 instrument + Standalone, one engine (Drums, Bass or Atmos / Keys) per instance |
| Windows | Windows 10/11: VST3 + Standalone |
| macOS | Apple Silicon (arm64) only, no Intel build. VST3 + Standalone, not signed or notarized: macOS blocks it at first, allow it under System Settings → Privacy & Security. |
| AU / Logic Pro | No AU version, so Logic Pro is not supported. |
| Copy protection | No licence server, no login, no online check. |
| Drums | General MIDI map: kick, two snares, rim, six toms, closed / pedal / open hat with choke, two crashes, two rides, bell, china |
| Kits and mics | 6 kits from studio to lo-fi rehearsal; close mics, overhead pair, room, lo-fi control |
| Blast speed | 250 BPM sixteenths click-free in the automated tests |
| Bass | Modelled electric bass, finger, pick or light slap, tremolo picking synced to the host, Gravesaw amp DSP with three bass cabs, or DI |
| Atmos / Keys | Choir (Ah, Oh, Uh, up to 8 singers per note, vowels only), drawbar organ, strings pad, cold bell, celesta, lo-fi keys, long hall |
| Sound source | Modelled, no samples. Drum hits are shaped after averaged measurements of real drums; no recorded audio is stored. |
| Presets | 20: 6 drum kits, 6 bass, 8 atmos |
| Latency | 61 samples (1.4 ms at 44.1 kHz), reported to the DAW |
| Testing | Automated checks on every preset at 44.1, 48 and 96 kHz, including a 250 BPM blast and a mono check. Not tried in every DAW yet. |
| Demo | The free demo is the complete plugin; it plays a short noise burst every 45 seconds. |
Checkout, payment and any applicable taxes are handled by Gumroad. Polished only links to it.
Tool, mix or master?
Hoarfell gives a demo drums, bass and atmosphere in one evening. When the album is recorded and mixed, the master decides how it holds up on earbuds, in the car and after streaming normalisation. Polished starts every master with a written audio audit of your mix, including cymbal harshness, low end and mono. See black metal mastering and doom & gothic mastering.
Mastering at Polished starts at €79 per track, all prices incl. 19% VAT, pay after delivery if you like. Request an audio audit.
Cheaper in a bundle
Hoarfell is part of the Code Chaos Black Metal Suite. It is included in the Complete bundle:
- Black Metal Suite Complete: €69 instead of €105 (save €36). Contains Frostfret, Hoarfell, Gravesaw, Rimehall, Black Metal Tone Kit, Black Metal Drum Kit.
Compare the bundles. Bought separately, Hoarfell costs €17.
Hoarfell FAQ
Can I use my own drum MIDI with Hoarfell?
Does Hoarfell replace a drummer or a drum library for the album?
Can the choir sing lyrics?
Do I need Frostfret as well?
Does it run on a Mac?
Is there a free trial?
More tools
Try Hoarfell free.
The free demo is the complete plugin; it plays a short noise burst every 45 seconds. Buying and downloading happens on Gumroad, under Code Chaos Audio.