MNTRA Instruments is a Canadian audio software developer known for its deeply immersive, culturally inspired virtual instruments — from ancient Aztec death whistles and sacred healing bells to cinematic dark strings, experimental reverb, and distortion. All MNTRA instruments run on the proprietary MNDALA 2 engine (no Kontakt required). Currently, Caprakan and Orakle X are on sale until April 20, 2026.
Installation & Activation
All MNTRA Instruments products use the MNDALA 2 engine, which handles download, authorization, and playback in a single unified environment. To install a product: (1) Download and install the MNDALA 2 engine from the official MNTRA website. (2) Launch MNDALA 2 as a plugin inside your DAW and log in with your MNTRA Instruments account. (3) In the Library panel, click ADD FROM SERIAL and enter your serial number. (4) The product will install automatically and become available for playback.
Current Sale — Until April 20, 2026
Caprakan and Orakle X are currently discounted on Plugin Boutique until April 20, 2026.
1. Atma
Atma is a collection of sacred and ceremonial acoustic instruments gathered by MNTRA founder and award-winning composer Brian D’Oliveira during pilgrimages to sacred sites around the world. The instruments include ritual healing bells, Aztec volcanic rock instruments, and a variety of ceremonial sound tools that were used across different spiritual traditions. These rare sources were recorded using MNTRA’s proprietary ultrasonic sampling process, which captures the full harmonic complexity of each instrument at resolutions beyond the audible range. This allows for pitch shifting and processing that reveals overtone structures previously impossible to explore in conventional sample libraries. Atma excels at generating healing textures, ritual ambiences, and non-linear sound design through the MNDALA engine’s three-dimensional control system.
2. Nagual
Nagual is a polyphonic virtual instrument built around indigenous instruments used in ancient Mesoamerican ritual practices. The instrument was developed with the participation of Ramiro Ramirez, a renowned indigenous Mexican musician whose decades of research and ritual performance practice informed the collection and recording methodology. The instruments include clay water flutes, conch shell trumpets, sacred drums, and ocarinas — instruments that were historically used to induce trance states and spiritual experiences. Recordings were made in a Mexico City studio with multiple microphone configurations including ambisonic capture, preserving spatial resonance and subtle harmonic details at the highest possible fidelity.
3. Onde
Onde is a modern reimagining of the legendary Ondes Martenot — one of the earliest electronic instruments ever invented, developed in 1928 and later used in orchestral works by Messiaen and others. Developed with award-winning video game audio composers Bigano (Vincent Gagnon and Fabien Noel) and performed by virtuoso Daniel Áñez, Onde uses physical resonators — gongs and custom amplifiers — to generate its sound, with recordings captured at ultrasonic resolution. The content is organized into six acoustic families: Chords, Drones, Glissando, Gongs, and others, each combining analog warmth with experimental timbral quality. Onde runs on the MNDALA 2 engine and requires no Kontakt license.
4. BRUITAGE
BRUITAGE is a reactive, playable, living distortion multi-effect — designed not merely to add distortion to a signal, but to create an interactive dialogue between the performer and the sound. Its engine includes six hand-tuned distortion algorithms covering overdrive, wavefolding, bitcrushing, and tape wobble, all capable of responding in real time to input signal dynamics. It also incorporates mastering-quality compression and limiting derived from the BOREALIS FX engine, ensuring that even extreme distortion settings sit well in a mix. BRUITAGE is particularly suited to sound design contexts where noise and distortion are treated as musical elements rather than problems to be solved.
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5. The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower is a virtual instrument built from recordings made inside an abandoned multi-story grain silo. The massive concrete structure with its metal floors, staircases, ventilation shafts, and steel infrastructure generates an enormous natural reverb and complex resonance that cannot be artificially synthesized. Brian D’Oliveira struck, scraped, and bowed the building’s internal structures — large iron plates, stairways, and metal framework — to produce deep percussive impacts and haunting resonant tones. These recordings were then processed through MNDALA 2’s synthesis and modulation capabilities, making The Dark Tower an ideal sound design tool for cinematic tension, trailer music, industrial electronic music, and experimental compositions.
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6. El Jaguar
El Jaguar is a virtual instrument that embodies the underground music culture of Barranquilla, Colombia — specifically its Afro-Caribbean percussion, marimba, vintage drum machines, and modular synthesizers, all processed through the iconic Picó sound system. The Picó is a massive, custom-built speaker rig deeply embedded in the musical culture of Colombia’s Caribbean coast, known for adding a distinctive distortion and presence to any sound run through it. El Jaguar captures this raw, vibrant energy by using the Picó’s reamping characteristics to color and saturate the original recordings, resulting in a rhythmically and sonically intense instrument well suited to world music production, cinematic percussion, and experimental beat making.
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7. BOREALIS
BOREALIS is MNTRA’s unique reverb plugin — described as an “animist performance reverb” that dynamically responds to your playing rather than applying a static reverb tail. It features 14 reverb algorithms covering a wide range of time-based effects, including multi-dimensional convolution reverbs sampled in unique acoustic environments (inside a church, inside a piano, and other unusual spaces). The X, Y, and Z axis performance animation controls on the main screen function as the primary interface for shaping the reverb in real time, making BOREALIS as much a performance instrument as a reverb processor. It is designed to inspire improvisation and create a dialogue between the player and the acoustic environment.
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8. Pyramids
Pyramids is the first release in MNTRA’s Elemental series, inspired by ancient Egyptian pyramids and built around pure quartz crystal instruments. Crystal singing bowls, when struck or played with a bow, produce extraordinarily pure and sustaining tones with a fundamental frequency and rich harmonic overtone series that interacts with other vibrating sources in complex ways. MNTRA’s ultrasonic sampling captures the full harmonic structure of these instruments with unusual depth and transparency. Pyramids is designed to produce crystalline, meditative, and otherworldly sounds, and its integration with MNDALA 2 allows for extensive multidimensional sound shaping beyond what the source instruments alone could produce.
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9. Vespera (Standard & Pro)
Vespera is a hybrid electro-acoustic synthesizer built around the concept of acoustic synthesis — using tube-driven circuitry and physical object resonance as the sound source rather than electronic oscillators. The raw signals from distorted modular synthesizer sources were run through vibrating speaker transducers placed against a variety of physical resonators: leather drums, metal springs, an enormous Indian esraj, and a Swedish nyckelharpa. Each vibration was completely transformed by its resonating medium, producing a diverse palette of organic textures and tones that merge the hardness of distorted modular synthesis with entirely new timbral qualities. Vespera Pro extends the range to 6 octaves (vs. 4 in Standard) and includes up to 13 round-robin samples per note for natural variation.
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10. Ultrasonic Death Whistle
The Ultrasonic Death Whistle is based on a collection of pre-Columbian ceramic skull-shaped instruments that were used by the Mexica people in spiritual rituals and on the battlefield to terrify enemies. These instruments produce extremely disturbing, human-like screaming tones and are considered among the most unsettling acoustic instruments ever created. MNTRA’s ultrasonic recording process captures the full harmonic depth of these rare, handmade instruments, enabling pitch shifting and processing with unprecedented timbral transparency. Several of these death whistle sounds have been used in award-winning AAA video game soundtracks. A free LE version with a curated subset of sample maps is occasionally distributed during promotional periods.
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11. Tenebrae
Tenebrae was created in collaboration with Los Angeles-based artist Joseph Holliday (known as SNAKES OF RUSSIA), who creates apocalyptic electronic music described as “death beats.” His distinctive sound combines textured modular synth patches with hard drum samples, all processed through custom outboard equipment and tape to produce a unique dark, underground aesthetic. Tenebrae was conceived around the idea of creatures buried underground for over a century being excavated and bringing dark dust from the depths. The resulting content blends modular and analog synthesizers, indistinct strings, and hard percussion — all processed through analog outboard gear and tape — to create a deeply dark, organic textural sound design library.
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12. Naada
Naada (from Sanskrit, meaning sound or primordial vibration) is a virtual instrument that reimagines Indian classical sounds as cinematic instruments and textures for modern music production. It seamlessly merges the depth of ancient ragas with contemporary aesthetics, providing musicians, producers, and sound healers with a highly flexible palette that crosses genre boundaries. The source sounds are drawn from Indian classical instruments and vocal traditions, reconstructed as playable sound sculptures through MNDALA 2’s non-linear control system, offering a wide range of melodic, textural, and rhythmic material rooted in India’s rich musical heritage.
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13. Ultrasonic Death Whistle X
Ultrasonic Death Whistle X is the expanded edition of the original Death Whistle instrument, featuring more than twice the samples of the standard version along with the full advanced capabilities of the MNDALA 2 engine. UDW X draws from MNTRA’s extensive research collection of rare, handmade death whistles crafted over many years of archaeological and artisan study. These unique instruments — ceramic skull-shaped resonators — have been documented producing sounds that resemble human screaming and are considered some of the most acoustically unusual instruments ever created in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. UDW X provides dramatically expanded creative possibilities through its deeper sample content and more advanced MNDALA 2 modulation and effects architecture.
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14. Pripyat
Pripyat is a collection of electronic textures inspired by the abandoned city of Pripyat, Ukraine — the city evacuated after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, whose name evokes post-industrial decay and haunting stillness. The content includes electromagnetic radiation sounds (ordinarily inaudible to humans) reamped through various acoustic resonators, vintage analog synthesizers processed through guitar pedals and Eurorack modular effects, rare marimbaphone and bombo drum recordings, and percussive dry ice ultrasonic recordings. The result is a deeply unsettling yet artistically compelling collection of industrial and experimental electronic textures for dark ambient, cinematic, and experimental music production.
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15. Kymera
Kymera is a horror-focused sound effects instrument developed from years of MNTRA’s custom instrument research for award-winning horror video games and films. The MNTRA team spent weeks in the studio experimenting with unconventional sound objects and techniques — developing a toolkit that delivers genuinely disturbing, highly original horror sound design material. Kymera is the first release in a new instrument series based on Musique concrète principles developed by French composer Pierre Schaeffer in the 1940s. All sounds were recorded at ultrasonic resolution, preserving the full harmonic complexity of each source material and allowing radical pitch shifting and processing without loss of transparency or introducing conventional pitch-shifting artifacts.
16. Orakle X ★ On Sale Until April 20
Orakle X is MNTRA’s largest Sound Sculpture Instrument, providing everything needed to create modern cinematic music inspired by ancient sounds. Its content includes experimental string articulations, thunderous horns, flute clusters, harmonic vocal textures, and unique percussion — all drawn from a vast collection of one-of-a-kind instruments gathered by Brian D’Oliveira during travels around the world. Unlike conventional orchestral libraries, Orakle X focuses on extended techniques and the unique acoustic character of rare instruments rather than standard orchestral playability. Pressing a single note reveals a sound that continues to evolve and transform over time.
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17. Orakle
Orakle is the original, more compact version of Orakle X — a collection of esoteric instruments and techniques drawing inspiration from medieval, Nordic, and pan-Asian musical cultures. Performed by Brian D’Oliveira and informed by decades of experience in award-winning film and video game production, Orakle focuses on unusual playing techniques and extended articulations on rare instruments, creating sounds that feel simultaneously ancient and cinematic. It serves as a more accessible entry point into the Orakle sound world and can be used alongside Orakle X for a combined collection of MNTRA’s most striking ancient-inspired sound design material.
18. Arca
Arca is a collection of dark and archaic string textures recorded at the legendary RCA Victor Studio in Montreal — one of Canada’s most historically significant recording spaces. The source material was creatively processed and warped to produce a range of expressive, otherworldly sounds spanning dystopian clusters to dark, ethereal textural pads. The library includes 50 presets created by MNTRA’s award-winning sound designers, 35 instrument sample maps, and the MNDALA 2 three-axis animated control system. Some of the material blends 1820s baroque cello with supernatural granular shimmer, Mongolian morin khuur with radioactive saturation, and nyckelharpa with spacing glitch — creating genuinely unique hybrid timbres.
19. Galactron
Galactron is a collection of electronic sounds with a neo-psychedelic aesthetic, drawing inspiration from FM synthesis, bold stereo movement, massive reverb, and ambient pad explosions from the 1980s digital synthesizer era. MNTRA sampled a collection of 80s digital and digitally-controlled synthesizers, then ran those already distinctive sounds through MNDALA 2’s deep effects and modulation network, transforming them into a constantly colorful, ever-changing kaleidoscope of electronic textures. Galactron complements MNTRA’s growing catalog of acoustic instruments with a retro-modern approach to keyboard pads, atmospheric sounds, and otherworldly ambiences rooted in the golden era of digital synthesis.
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20. HA NOI
HA NOI is a virtual instrument that captures the sound world of Hanoi, Vietnam — a city renowned for its dramatic contrasts, vibrant music, and rich history. MNTRA worked with local elite Vietnamese musicians to record instruments from both ancient tradition and contemporary innovation, combining distinctive sounds and expressive performances that reflect the unique musical heritage of the city. The project aims to capture not just the acoustic character of Vietnam’s instruments but also the cultural soul and musical identity of Hanoi as a living, breathing musical environment.
21. Caprakan ★ On Sale Until April 20
Caprakan reconstructs the ancient sounds of the earth, containing over 50 rare instruments from Andean and Mesoamerican cultures. It fuses the traditional instruments of these indigenous civilizations with electronically excited vibrating materials, creating a bridge between ancient acoustic heritage and experimental sound design. The collection includes deep, resonant percussion, expressive wind instruments, intricate string instruments, and organic noise-like sound sources — providing a richly colored foundation for composing and designing music rooted in the pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas.
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22. Huracan
Huracan is a wind instrument and percussion virtual instrument inspired by Mesoamerican and Andean cultures, featuring 11 rare and unique wind instruments alongside 5 richly textured percussion sounds. The combination provides a complete palette for creating breathtaking music with an authentic pre-Columbian character. MNTRA founder Brian D’Oliveira has a deep personal connection to South and Central American cultures and instruments, having grown up in the Venezuelan Andes and spent his career studying and researching these ancient musical traditions — a depth of cultural knowledge that informs every aspect of how Huracan’s sounds were selected, recorded, and organized.
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Sale Details
Currently on Sale: Caprakan, Orakle X
Sale Period: Through April 20, 2026
Engine: MNDALA 2 (no Kontakt required)
Where to Buy: Plugin Boutique