EXPLORE Transmuted Ceremonial Instruments from Mexico
Nagual — ritualistic pre-Hispanic ceremonial instrument plugin — MNTRA

Inside Nagual

Presets: 134 (Elements, Atelier and Artist)
Atelier Presets: 64
Artist Presets: 13
Sample Maps: 44
Size: 1.41 GB
Round Robins: Up to 10 RR
SSM™ powered samples: 44 (all sample maps)
Range: C1 – C5
Recording format: 384 kHz, 32-bit
Sample Format: .mntra Format / E.R.A (Extended Resolution Audio)
Multimic: Up to stereo 4 streams 

 

Nagual

Transmuted Ceremonial Instruments from Mexico

Nagual is a reactive polyphonic instrument built from rare Pre-Hispanic ceremonial sources. Collaborating with Ramiro Ramírez, one of Mexico’s most revered musicians in these traditions, we captured clay flutes, conch trumpets, wooden drums, ocarinas, and ritual whistles, then transmuted them into a living instrument where sources merge, morph, and respond to your touch in real time. Sources originally limited to single tones—now reactive, blendable, and fully performable.

$59

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Proprietary Engine

VST/AU Plugin included. No additional software required.

3-Axis Universal Controls

Simply map your favourite controller once for all plugin instances.

Intuitive Performance GUI

Custom animation driven performance interface & mouse hover interactions.

Industry Leading Audio Quality

Up to 384khz/32-bit extended ultrasonic range sample sources

Nagual — ritualistic pre-Hispanic ceremonial instrument plugin — MNTRA

Nagual

$59

NAGUAL: Transmuted Ceremonial Instruments from Mexico | Trailer
NAGUAL: Transmuted Ceremonial Instruments from Mexico | Trailer
NAGUAL | Demo: &#039Homenaje A Los Ancestros&#039 - Brian D Oliveira
NAGUAL | Demo: &#039Homenaje A Los Ancestros&#039 - Brian D Oliveira
Nagual | Preset Exploration with Brian D Oliveira
Nagual | Preset Exploration with Brian D Oliveira
NAGUAL: Transmuted Ceremonial Instruments from Mexico | Preset Demo
NAGUAL: Transmuted Ceremonial Instruments from Mexico | Preset Demo
NAGUAL | Demo: &#039Nagual Jam&#039 - Brian D Oliveira
NAGUAL | Demo: &#039Nagual Jam&#039 - Brian D Oliveira
NAGUAL: Transmuted Ceremonial Instruments from Mexico |  Teaser
NAGUAL: Transmuted Ceremonial Instruments from Mexico | Teaser
The Naming of Nagual
The Naming of Nagual

Listen to Nagual

The Story of Nagual

Nagual invites you into a sonic realm where Pre-Hispanic ceremonial instruments transform into playable polyphonic sound sculptures. Collaborating with our dear friend Ramiro Ramírez, we captured instruments whose purpose was shifting consciousness through ceremony, not just musical performance—then transmuted them into something built for intuitive expression.

Ramírez is one of Mexico’s most revered pre-Hispanic musicians, a master whose decades of ceremonial knowledge and research form a living bridge to these ancient traditions. His profound understanding—demonstrated through his session work on Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s Mesoamerican soundscapes, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s ceremonial sequences, and prolific collaborations with prolific artists such as Jean-Michel Jarre—enabled us to capture the authentic spirit of these sacred instruments. From flutter-tonguing on clay vessels to precise striking patterns on wooden drums, Ramiro’s mastery provided the foundation that MNDALA 2 transforms into responsive playable sound sculptures, honoring tradition while venturing into entirely new creative territories.

Panoram Studio’s live room in Mexico City provided the ideal environment—alive enough to resonate these unique sounds, yet controlled enough to enable extreme sound sculpting. We deployed our ultrasonic microphones in a newly developed array with multiple configurations that mix together seamlessly: mid-side close-miking, omnidirectional ambience capture, back-facing room microphones, and Eigenmike ambisonics for spatial representation blended into the final signals as sonic glue. Recording at 384 kHz/32-bit in Extended Resolution Audio format captured frequencies and resonances from these rare instruments beyond normal hearing, revealing hidden harmonic content that surprised us with how malleable the polyphonic transformations became. Sample Start Modulation ensures every note feels alive—no mechanical repetition, just expressive ceremonial character made infinitely variable.

Clay water flutes whose warbling tones shifted perception into trance states. Conch shell trumpets (Atekokolli) calling to ancestral forces from the four cardinal directions. Sacred Huehuetl and Teponaztli drums whose rhythmic intervals facilitated sonic shapeshifting between ordinary and non-ordinary reality. Haunting ocarinas connecting earthly and spiritual realms.

Within MNDALA 2, our vision was to honor these ceremonial sources while transmuting them into something musicians worldwide could access and create with. The result is a living sound sculpture that retains its ceremonial essence while venturing into sonic dimensions these physical instruments could never reach. With Nagual, you’re performing with responsive sonic entities that breathe, morph, and evolve under your hands—almost like a synthesizer, but one born entirely from ancient sources, transmuted through countless hours of sound design by our dedicated team into unique reactive presets.

While creating Nagual, our team drew inspiration from Carlos Castaneda’s concept of the Tonal and Nagual—the known world and the unknowable realm beyond. Nagual embodies both realities: authentic recordings captured with pristine fidelity meet polyphonic transformations, blended sources, and hidden frequencies revealed through our recording approach. Presets are designed as passages between dimensions: “First Attention” grounds you in ceremonial tradition, “Second Attention” begins the transformation, “The Void” dissolves boundaries, “Between Worlds” exists where ancient and future collapse into each other.

Nagual is perfect for creators seeking sounds that transcend ordinary boundaries: sound designers crafting otherworldly sequences, experimental musicians exploring consciousness shifts through performance, composers needing authentic yet transformable ceremonial voices, and sound healers channeling ancient frequencies. Ideal for ceremonial soundscapes, psychoacoustic experiences, experimental music, ritual atmospheres, cinematic underworld sequences, and sound healing work.

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What's Inside?

Wind

  • Cocouilotl (Hit, Frullato, Frullato Short, Redoble, Short)
    A prehispanic clay dove whistle with sharp, breathy bird cries and fluttering “coco-coco” trills—used in shamanic and ceremonial rites to honor the cocotli dove, invoke nature spirits, and drive trance.
  • Flauta de Embolo
    Warbling, liquid bird song with pitch-shifting modulation as water moves internally, creating trance-inducing sounds for shamanic journeying
  • Flautas de Texcatlipoca
    A prehispanic clay flute voiced for a very high register, producing a bright, narrow-band tone with strong upper partials; it’s commonly played with short, high-pressure attacks and rapid trills for clear, piercing projection in ceremonies associated with Tezcatlipoca, used to signal presence and cue ritual actions.
  • Ocarina (Frullato, Frullato Short, Howl, Purepecha, Whisper)
    A prehispanic clay vessel flute (often animal-shaped) with a warm, hollow resonance that ranges from breathy “whisper” tones to wind-like sustained howls with audible upper harmonics, plus aggressive flutter-tongued frullato bursts—used in healing, meditation, and Purépecha ceremonial practice.
  • Silvato de Viento (Long, Fade in Scream, Flutter, Frullato, Redoble, Scream)
    An prehispanic Aztec “death whistle” engineered for a sustained, piercing scream-like timbre — used in sacrificial and underworld (Mictlan) rites to cue transitions, intensify trance, and blur boundaries between life and death.
  • Atekokolli (Giant-Long, Giant-Short, Big-Short, Mid-Short, Small-Short)
    An prehispanic conch-shell trumpet producing deep, resonant blasts—from bright, cutting small-shell calls to giant, sustained low rumbles with oceanic roar—used to announce ritual presence, and summon sacred energy from the four directions while honoring deities such as Tecciztecatl.

 

Percussion

  • Cantaro (Hit, Side)
    Resonant prehispanic clay vessel percussion: struck for a pitched, ceramic ring or hit on the side for a drier, higher attack—used as textured rhythmic support in shamanic and ceremonial settings.
  • Cuerno (Short)
    Bold, earthy horn blast from clay horn trumpet used in magical-religious ceremonies honoring agricultural cycles
  • Huehuetl (Grande Hit,  Grande Stick, Medio Hit, Medio Stick)
    A prehispanic Aztec wooden vertical drum producing deep, resonant low strikes by hand or sharp, transient-rich stick attacks—used in danza, warfare, and ritual contexts to drive steady pulse and support altered-state ceremonial work.
  • Tambor De Mar (Long, Mid, Short)
    Sustained or short rolling “wave” wash from a bead-filled sea drum, producing gentle cascading turbulence—used in prehispanic-style rain and water rites (sound healing contexts), invoking rain powers and underworld water symbolism.
  • Teponaztli (Antler High Hit, Mallet Low Hit, Antler Low Hit, Muted Reso Hit, Metal Low Hit, Metal Reso Hit, Open Hit,  Side Hit)
    A prehispanic sacred slit drum (wooden idiophone) with two tuned tongues, producing contrasting high, bright resonant hits and deeper hollow strikes (open or damped), plus side-body impacts for extra texture—played with mallets/antler-like beaters in ritual and warfare signaling, including controlled midnight ceremonial patterns.
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Animistic Performance Interface

Control a deep network of parameters with 3 real-time rendered animations

Technical Specifications

→ 44 sample maps featuring Pre-Hispanic wind and percussion instruments
→ All sample maps enabled with SSM™ (Sample Start Modulation)
→ 1.41 GB installed
→ Recorded at 384 kHz/32-bit in E.R.A. (Extended Resolution Audio) format

Engine

→ AAX, VST3, and AU plugin for Windows & Mac OS (10.14+) including full M1 Chip support
→ Seamless download, updates, and installation via MNDALA 2 → Simple copy protection—install once, uniquely encrypted to your system
→ Full Apple Silicon support
Minimum 16 GB RAM, i5 CPU or better, SSD recommended
→ Compatible with all popular DAW’s*

Installation

→ Seamless download, updates, and installation via MNDALA 2
→ Simple copy protection—install once, uniquely encrypted to your system

* Mixcraft 9 Pro is not supported

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