Asian liberary to end them all?

[Marcussen]

Hi.. im looking for a liberary with asian instruments... what would you suggest?

I already have RI, and while good, it dosent really solve my asian needs :)

[Waywyn]

there is another cool library, it's called: Heart of Asia

[Marcussen]

From spectrasonics right? Is it quality stuff? Is it available in GIGA?

[panzerD]

Apparently the audio version is just phrases and the full akai/roland and emu version which is almost four times the price is the complete library and has multisamples.

Is the full library really worth getting over the smaller cd audio version?

[Marcussen]

Any point in getting Ethno World 1 & 2 or would one of them (number 2 I guess) suffice?

[Marcussen]

Thing is i'm doing this music for a vietnam map... And what i really need is some lead instruments to play varrious melody lines... so far i'm using the irish flute from RI for christs sake :D

[RolandFawn]

are those asian sample still on the old Akai Japan website? my best world samples are free..

but Best of Bolder has some asian instruments...(I wouldn't but it for them, though)

[thesoundsmith]

Personally, I really like Best of Bolder - not for the instruments, which tend to be somewhat flat (depth, not pitch) and one-dimensional, coming from Akai roots. But the Garnular stuff is superb, and some nice unusual stuff is included - my favorite is the Yamaha piano played by guitar pick...

Ethnoworld 2 has lots of useable phrases as well as multisamples, there are also some English libraries that I found quite usable, and quite inexpensive (although again, limited velocity layers tend to make the samples a bit one-dimensional, some of them still are very usable. These are Exotic Instruments and Exotic Winds from Sounds-UK. I got them on eBay new for under $25 each including shipping, 2 CDs each - had to be converted, but well worth it, IMHO.

[Marcussen]

Ok... thanks

in regards to Ethno world... is ethno world 2 a bigger better version of the first, or an extention... making both liberaries important?

[Herman Witkam]

I just received Ethno World 2 yesterday, and it sounds really great. I have some of the original instruments here at home (Bendir, Kena, Sheng, Balafon, Log Drum, Morrocan Conga, Ocarina, Melodica) and their resemblance is very good. I like some of the samples even better than the instruments :-) I think EW2 can be considered a good succesor.

[Marcussen]

Right... and Ethno World 2 is the one to get, over Ethno World 1?

[dubaifox]

The Heart of Asia CD's are very good. Lot's of very well recorded sounds and alot of diversity.

I just finished a piece with it called "Postcards from Asia" if anybody is interested in listening to it. Feedback welcome.

http://www.hopkinsmusic.com/Postcards%20From%20Asia.mp3

Paul

[Robert Rivard]

"Ethno World 2" is fantastic and it's quite cheap for all the great instruments that you get!... The sound is very smooth, and I like the mapping of the drums/bells sounds... There's a lot of variations to choose from... I also own the Volume 1, and it's also very good and usefull... It doesn't sound synthetic at all, very natural...

[Herman Witkam]

Right... and Ethno World 2 is the one to get, over Ethno World 1?

I'd get 'em both ;-)

[boon]

Paul,

"Postcards from Asia" sounds great, lots of variation kept me interested from beginning to end.

The Heart of Asia sounds are really cool, crisp and clear without being sterile. Just one question, are all the sounds on this track from the HOA CD or did you use other libraries (if so, which?)

Boon

[dubaifox]

Paul,

"Postcards from Asia" sounds great, lots of variation kept me interested from beginning to end.

Thanks for listening Boon, and glad you liked it!

Maybe 50% of the sounds are "HOA." Any notable "Asian" sounds are, with the exception of the big gong, which is actually a rather cheezy gong I found in Reason 2.5, but it sat pretty well in the mix.

I just love the sounds of the tibetan bells and the hand cymbals and the flute phrase is really tasty too.

I am also using some percussion sounds from my Roland XV5080, a mallet pad from my Korg Triton and bass from Trilogy, some other Reason sounds, so it is a bit of a mixed bag, but definitely heavy on the "HOA".

Thanks again!

Paul