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Looking for premium ethnic sample libraries

The ones from version 5 and 6 are more accurate than the older ones (going back up to twenty years ago). The version of the library where the instruments appeared is listed in the manual and in the Info tab of each instrument.

Paolo

Agreed. v4 and prior is prob only really good for flourishes and colors. It's still nice to have it included though. The v5 and v6 instruments are prob more up to current sampling standards however.

Also don't forget, a lot of world instruments don't have a lot of dynamics in real life either. So don't let the fact that some instruments only have a couple of layers put you off.
 
Agreed. v4 and prior is prob only really good for flourishes and colors. It's still nice to have it included though. The v5 and v6 instruments are prob more up to current sampling standards however.

Also don't forget, a lot of world instruments don't have a lot of dynamics in real life either. So don't let the fact that some instruments only have a couple of layers put you off.
True but they can be played in many ways and can produce a huge number of different sounds - just like any live instrument. You really have to go deep to cover that... well, you can hardly cover it all. Maybe one day...
 
Likewise with World Suite. it is a combination of MOTU Ethno, UVI World Traditions, a lot of instruments from PrecisionSound, and a new user interface.

A lot of people consider the newest material, ported from PrecisionSound to be the best. @Mark Schmieder made a list of the new World Suite instruments, most (if not all) I assume came from PrecisionSound.
  1. African Udu
  2. Alpine Concert Zither
  3. Bolivian Panpipe -- without the faux extended range
  4. Bulgarian Tupans
  5. Carina Accordion
  6. Celtic Whistles
  7. Daf
  8. Finnish Concert Kantele
  9. Indian Harmonium
  10. Indian Santoor
  11. Indian Surmandal
  12. Kementze -- labeled in World Suite as Turkish Lyra; a rarely used pseudonym
  13. Kloo Mandolin
  14. Lute Harp
  15. Lyra -- labeled in World Suite as Middle Eastern Lyra, but it's a Greek Lyre
  16. Mbira bva Zimbabwe
  17. Meghan Celtic Harp
  18. Modolva Concert Cimbalom
  19. Nigerian Udu
  20. Nordic Low Whistle
  21. Nordic Psalmodikon
  22. Orfeo Accordion
  23. Persian Daf
  24. Persian Santur
  25. Peruvian Ocarina -- without the faux extended range
  26. Russian Balalaika
  27. Shepherd's Flute -- Israeli variant; Slovakian is also included
  28. Steel Tongue Drum -- similar to 8DIO's Propanium library
  29. Sun Drum -- another hand drum variant
  30. Ukrainian Bandura
  31. Weltmeister Accordion -- now labeled Eastern Accordion due to its market
These are the ones Mark felt missed something in the transition
  1. Dan Moi Vietnamese Jaw harps -- so far I do not see a way to choose the vowel/formant
  2. Naeshult Table Piano -- this seems to be a subset of the original, based on size and features
  3. Victorini Accordion -- same as the above, but I'm going to make one final pass to compare
 
UVI World Suite also includes UVI Spirit of Gongs, but that may already have been merged into the previous edition ("UVI World Traditions").
 
If you go on the PrecisionSound site and price out all their instruments, you can see what a bargain World Suite is.


It's true that PrecisionSound regularly has 50% off sales, but even so.

As there are often site-wide sales on UVI, you can regularly get it 30% off, and sometimes even less.

Of course, they are not exactly same, as you will notice if you have both. The PrecisionSound instruments are Kontakt and have a different user interface. Sometimes there are additional features on the PS one and sometimes there are improvements on the WS ones.

But World Suite loads into Falcon, and arguably offers a lot more sound design and sound tweaking options than Kontakt does.
 
Is "premium ethnic" a polite way of saying "Western European" specifically, or does it mean "from any rich country"? (Don't worry, I'm just kidding.)
At the same time, traditional Western instruments are very rarely considered ‘ethnic', and it is not so easy to find them. Only during the latest years something has appeared. I hope the (already financed) European museum of ethnic people will also include musical instruments.

In semi-popular culture, in recent times, "Les voix bulgares" were a first discovery of the 'dark side' of Western music (ok, Bulgaria is the East of the West...). I would say that the "Chansons des mers froides" by Hector Zazou was even more radical, in making traditional Western music appear as something archaic and remote, placing it on the same level of other world traditions.

Paolo
 
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At the same time, traditional Western instruments are very rarely considered ‘ethnic' and it is not so easy to find them

I do not have it, but if you limit yourself to the Alps of Austria, best service has Alpine Volksmusik:

https://www.bestservice.com/alpine_volksmusik.html

I believe it also includes yodeling. :grin:

If you feel depressed with all the corona news, counter that by listening to the audio demos of this library.
 
I do not have it, but if you limit yourself to the Alps of Austria, best service has Alpine Volksmusik:
Thank you! There is some Alpine instruments also in Ethno World. I don't remember if yodeling is also included there and/or in World Suite.

Paolo
 
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