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2020 recommendations for Ethnic-Oriental libraries and sampled-phrases collections?

KAF

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Hi!
I'm new here.

I've read a couple of recent threads about Chinese and Ethnic libraries, plus a couple from 2018.
I've found them inspiring, and decided to subscribe.

I'm a newbie and I'm starting a project about nomadic production of Ethnic EDM (see playlist in signature).
A backpack, a laptop, a USB mic, a Launchkey Mini.
And (I'm excited about this) Voice-to-Midi to use my voice as a midi controller.

So, basically I need ethnic instruments, percussions and voices from all around the world.
I have a low budget (I have actually no idea how I'm going to pay this).
Therefore I prefer wide collections of good quality and reasonable price.

And I would like:
1) a collection of fantastic sampled phrases.
I've no idea where to get them, and I've found no info about this in the other threads.
2) some good realistic sample libraries to compose my own phrases and melodies.
Although the other threads partially cover this topic, I wonder how do the offers compare as of 2020, with new or updated products.
Personally, given my low budget, what I've found is:
- EastWest Silk + StormDrum2+Pro (or SD3???)
- NI Discovery Series Collection
- UVI World Suite
- EthnoWorld (if I find it in offer)


Could you please recommend me some choices on both categories, which might fit my project?

Ah, I use Bitwig and I'm getting Kontakt. So, everything must be compatible with these two softwares (I still am a bit confused about compatibility).


I thank you in advance for your support!
 
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There are a lot of companies who produce "ethnic / oriental" samples, phrases and instruments.

You need to decide, if you just want to use ready-to-go phrases / samples, or if you want to write every single note by yourself.

Some products come to mind:

- Best Service NADA
- Strezov Sampling Jade Ethnic Orchester (will be released 28th April 2020)
- Rast Sound Libraries (https://rastsound.com) (You need the full version of the KONTAKT Sampler)

Almost every company who make virtual instruments have some products which go into this direction.
You can check some of the flutes of Embertone, some stuff made by String THeroy like "Indian Drums", Soniccouture and many more.

If you just start making music you can also search for "free ethnic vst instruments" on Google.
 
Hi Montisquirrel,

Thank you for your answer!

I personally want to do both...
Is there a reason why you say I need to decide?


Thank you for the suggestions.

Nada seems a bit too chill out for my project.

Strezov's Jade is amazing. I had read about it in the other thread.
But way out of my budget, specially considering that it's limited to a specific ethnic region.

There seems to be nice gems in the Rast collections indeed, thank you!
 
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Hi everybody!
I hope you're well and the quarantine is being gentle on you.

I wonder if you might be willing to share your knowledge on this topic.

Cheers
 
I think the best purchase for you is EthnoWorld 6 instruments. It has tremendously more phrases and loops than UVI World Suite, and IMHO the quality of the instruments is generally better than in UVI World Suite. Not in every case. I prefer some of the WS instruments and it has a lot of instruments not included in EW. But I think EthnoWorld 6 is the number one thing you should save up for. It lists for $259 but there has been a 40% off sale for the last few years at Best Service, which means the price is around $155. You should start looking on sites like this one, KVR, Facebook, etc for prices like this.

If you are using this for "Ethnic EDM," then perhaps your goal is to get a zillion unusual sounds and process them for use in your style of music. For this goal, EW could keep you busy for the rest of your life. I doubt that there are many people who have studied every preset in EW in great depth, with all the key switches and phrases. I've spent many hundreds of hours playing it, and have begun templates comparing the EW instruments to ones in all my other libraries, but I have barely scratched the surface.

So get EW6 instruments and you're good to go. If you can't get the $$ for it, but can get a deal on World Suite--that's an excellent second choice.

If you want to make a study of how to make an instrument sound as if it was played by a musician in its native land, that's a different story. But you actually can do a good job with many of the EW instruments, particularly if you lean on the phrases a bit.

If you are going to get into World virtual instruments over the rest of your life, you are going to spend a fortune. Many thousands to put your toe in, even if you always wait for sales. So I would advise anybody to start with EW and/or World Suite and figure out where they want to specialize.

There are many dozens of developers who do world instruments. Figure out what you want and then do the research. I would not start your going-broke process with anything specific like Jade Ethnic Orchestra or a Tarilonte library even if money was no object--which it obviously is. Wait. Figure out what you want, because world music is infinite in size. New stuff is coming out all the time. I would not have spent money on Silk if I knew JEO was coming. And wait for sales. There's no reason to pay list price.

For loops and one-shots, I would go to one of the many online services that offer downloads for a monthly fee. Splice, Sounds.com, Noiiz, etc. Some of them even offer a free trial. Join and download all the stuff you want in the World or Ethnic category.

I'm glad to see you're getting Kontakt. Get it during the summer Native Instruments half price sale. If you download a free Kontakt player library like ProjectSAM'S Free Orchestra, the upgrade should be $125. That will open the door to hundreds of excellent free instruments, including many world instruments. Strezov has a superb duduk and a Xiao. Evolution Series has a fine duduk. You can find a few more HERE.

Have fun!
 
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I can second the Strezov Sampling suggestion. Using the beta of JADE and it is super.
 
UVI World Suite is affordable and has both instruments that are highly playable and tons of loops and phrases that can be combined (every continent has its own sort of “loops mixer”). EW6 may have loads more samples and loops though. Price-wise they both seem excellent choices for your purposes with them. Just saying, check the UVI option as well as it may very well suit your purposes, since you expressed a goal to also be playing actual passages with sampled ethnic instruments. It is not as deeply sampled as let’s say Jade or libraries that zoom in on one or a small set of instruments, which is understandable - given both what it aims for and its price. I do quite like it though, as a good (and creative) bread-and-butter library. As usual the results you get out of it depend largely on playing skills and getting to know the instruments, their ranges, typical playing styles and phrasing etc.
 
I second Tiger the Frog's logic as well as doctoremmet's above.

As for Ethno World, I think they may still offer it in pieces, but it may just be two pieces: instruments (part one) and voices (part two). You could check the Best Service site to see if they break it down further into smaller instrument groups.

The Rast Sound stuff is very loop and EDM-oriented; I haven't had a chance to check whether it can be resold, but would hand it over for just a bit above any transfer fees, if so. I don't do that kind of music; I write in my head and strive as much as possible to avoid even an ounce of repetition. I make an exception for complex full-clave-section latin rhythms sometimes though.
 
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As usual the results you get out of it depend largely on playing skills and getting to know the instruments, their ranges, typical playing styles and phrasing etc.

Just to illustrate my own point... here’s what happens when a truly talented player tries out UVI World Suite.... Leveraging your investments in virtual instruments is all about getting to know their strengths and weaknesses and REALLY play them for hours... and then magical things typically will happen!

 
Just to illustrate my own point... here’s what happens when a truly talented player tries out UVI World Suite.... Leveraging your investments in virtual instruments is all about getting to know their strengths and weaknesses and REALLY play them for hours... and then magical things typically will happen!


But note that in the clip the musician plays an accordion, a guitar, a harp, and a cymbalum (in the dulcimer family). These are all instruments that are pretty familiar to western musicians, even if the ones we know are built and played a little differently.

But few of us have seen anybody play a sheng. Could you identify a Chinese hulusi over an Indian bansuri on sight? Or from hearing them? How are they different from a bawu?

Imagine trying to play a guitar or a piano or a violin if you'd never seen or heard one or never seen anybody play them?

For me, the key to getting the best out of any world instrument VI is to study the actual instrument--how they are played in different countries, how they are played, how they are built, etc. For me the best way comes from YouTube instructional and performance videos, and to go to live concerts. For me, the virtual instruments are a path to the study of the music is actually played around the world.

So for example, there is a video of the fleet-fingered Jordan Rudess playing World Suite at hyper-speed. And I take my hat off to Jordan Rudess--I could never play as well as he can. But, with some exceptions, this is pretty godawful from a world music point of view.

 
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But note that in the clip the musician plays an accordion, a guitar, a harp, and a cymbalum (in the dulcimer family). These are all instruments that are pretty familiar to western musicians, even if the ones we know are built and played a little differently.

But few of us have seen anybody play a sheng. Could you identify a Chinese hulusi over an Indian bansuri on sight? Or from hearing them? How are they different from a bawu?

Imagine trying to play a guitar or a piano or a violin if you'd never seen or heard one or never seen anybody play them?

For me, the key to getting the best out of any world instrument VI is to study the actual instrument--how they are played in different countries, how they are played, how they are built, etc. For me the best way comes from YouTube instructional and performance videos, and to go to live concerts. For me, the virtual instruments are a path to the study of the music is actually played around the world.

So for example, there is a video of the fleet-fingered Jordan Rudess playing World Suite at hyper-speed. And I take my hat off to Jordan Rudess--I could never play as well as he can. But, with some exceptions, this is pretty godawful from a world music point of view.


Very true of course! So for instruments that one doesn’t know, it is way harder to come up with a genuinely true sounding piece of music. What I tried to imply was merely that ANY VI is as good as the player can make it sound. What you’re pointing out is very valid as well and I couldn’t agree more with you with regard to the Rudess clip. I like it though! ;)
 
Very true of course! So for instruments that one doesn’t know, it is way harder to come up with a genuinely true sounding piece of music. What I tried to imply was merely that ANY VI is as good as the player can make it sound. What you’re pointing out is very valid as well and I couldn’t agree more with you with regard to the Rudess clip. I like it though! ;)
Yes! :)
I see a lot of snobbery on this forum and elsewhere about both World Suite and EW6. Like there could never be a single professional instrument in them because they each have so many instruments. That's just not true.
 
Hey guys, I was a bit sad for the lack of replies (I'm an emotional person) and now you brought the smile back :2thumbs:

I totally see the point in what you say and yes, I'm aware that it's not just about having realistic sounds but also playing them the right way.
That's one of the reasons why I also want sampled phrases.
As also one of the reasons why I want to use Voice-to-Midi. I instinctively sing in Arabic scales (or sort of...) but I'm not able to do that on the keyboard.

Btw, @Mark Schmieder , I can understand, I personally know a Greek composer who also never repeats the same passage in his music.
My musical tastes are not limited to EDM at all. That's actually a relatively new love.
And I'm not sure what you imagine that Ethnic EDM might be, but looking at the Rast offers I notice that they have mostly very short loops.
It's not bad at all and if you want to get rid of it I'll accept your offer.
But just for you to understand me better, that's not the main way I plan to implement ethnic sounds. Eventually percussions might see a greater use of shorter loops, but melody (instruments and voice) not that much.
I'm aware that in my playlist there are many songs which are a more straightforward EDM mostly using short loops, so I'll try to select a few songs, to give you a clear idea of what I'd like to achieve.
You'll notice that more than sampled phrases it seems like they have taken a long piece from a real ethnic song...

Which brings me to my next question: as far as you guys know, are there royalty free offers for such long passages?
Or is it all just sampled VST and short sampled phrases, and for longer passages people just take them from ethnic music and pay royalty?


About your suggestions, I'll have a look at the special offers. I definitely can't pay the full price.
Eventually if you see one of those going crazy cheap, and you spontaneously happen to think of me, drop me a line!
Or if you feel like selling me yours for a reasonable price because you now use only Tarilonte ;)

My curiosity is now about why NI Discovery Series and EW Silk + SD have not been mentioned.
I'd like to understand how they compare to UVI and EthnoWorld...



And here the examples, for Mark and everybody:

Be Svendsen "Hida"
ok that's playing dirty I know, the Hang is played specifically for this song (and it makes me regret having sold mine, it would fit so well with this project, also because it was in G Akebono, but I needed the money). Be is a reference... Very elegant EDM composer.

Valeron "Midas"
I don't know what instrument that is, but isn't it too long for a sampled phrase?

"Ozora" from Quatri.
I like Duduk. Well, who doesn't? I mean, I know young people who don't know who John Lennon is, so it's very possible that many people don't know "a cool wind is blowing", but we know. And I was just thinking "I'll make something with Mr Gasparyan's track", but I was too late, it happened last week: Be.Lanuit "A cool wind is blowing"

Bedouin "Flight of birds" : they have Middle East roots, so maybe they're playing that melody by themselves, and possibly with a real instrument, but if not, than what? It seems too long for a sample...

Geju "Niv" : it's a clever and elegant use of short samples.

Nicola Cruz "El Baile del Nahual" : that's for @TigerTheFrog who often complains that the South American sounds are not used much.

Nu "Man O To" is one of the most famous hits in this genre (I prefer the remix of Be Svendsen) and there you can definitely hear it's a song, not a sample, what he's using. I think I've heard that song in the wonderful Sufi movie Bab Aziz (if you didn't see it, do it).

Oliver Koletzki's Tankwa Town, I always have goosebumps at the half of the track when the voice gets so lyrically moving. I doubt we can find this level of beauty in sample collections but correct me if I'm wrong, in this case I'd like to be wrong...


Guys thank you so much :emoji_pray:
 
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Hi!
I'm new here.

I've read a couple of recent threads about Chinese and Ethnic libraries, plus a couple from 2018.
I've found them inspiring, and decided to subscribe.

I'm a newbie and I'm starting a project about nomadic production of Ethnic EDM (see playlist in signature).
A backpack, a laptop, a USB mic, a Launchkey Mini.
And (I'm excited about this) Voice-to-Midi to use my voice as a midi controller.

So, basically I need ethnic instruments, percussions and voices from all around the world.
I have a low budget (I have actually no idea how I'm going to pay this).
Therefore I prefer wide collections of good quality and reasonable price.

And I would like:
1) a collection of fantastic sampled phrases.
I've no idea where to get them, and I've found no info about this in the other threads.
2) some good realistic sample libraries to compose my own phrases and melodies.
Although the other threads partially cover this topic, I wonder how do the offers compare as of 2020, with new or updated products.
Personally, given my low budget, what I've found is:
- EastWest Silk + StormDrum2+Pro (or SD3???)
- NI Discovery Series Collection
- UVI World Suite
- EthnoWorld (if I find it in offer)


Could you please recommend me some choices on both categories, which might fit my project?

Ah, I use Bitwig and I'm getting Kontakt. So, everything must be compatible with these two softwares (I still am a bit confused about compatibility).


I thank you in advance for your support!
Hey man! Really cool project :) Where can I find information about voice-to-midi? Is it an app?
 
Hey guys, I was a bit sad for the lack of replies (I'm an emotional person) and now you brought the smile back :2thumbs:

I totally see the point in what you say and yes, I'm aware that it's not just about having realistic sounds but also playing them the right way.
That's one of the reasons why I also want sampled phrases.
As also one of the reasons why I want to use Voice-to-Midi. I instinctively sing in Arabic scales (or sort of...) but I'm not able to do that on the keyboard.

Btw, @Mark Schmieder , I can understand, I personally know a Greek composer who also never repeats the same passage in his music.
My musical tastes are not limited to EDM at all. That's actually a relatively new love.
And I'm not sure what you imagine that Ethnic EDM might be, but looking at the Rast offers I notice that they have mostly very short loops.
It's not bad at all and if you want to get rid of it I'll accept your offer.
But just for you to understand me better, that's not the main way I plan to implement ethnic sounds. Eventually percussions might see a greater use of shorter loops, but melody (instruments and voice) not that much.
I'm aware that in my playlist there are many songs which are a more straightforward EDM mostly using short loops, so I'll try to select a few songs, to give you a clear idea of what I'd like to achieve.
You'll notice that more than sampled phrases it seems like they have taken a long piece from a real ethnic song...

Which brings me to my next question: as far as you guys know, are there royalty free offers for such long passages?
Or is it all just sampled VST and short sampled phrases, and for longer passages people just take them from ethnic music and pay royalty?


About your suggestions, I'll have a look at the special offers. I definitely can't pay the full price.
Eventually if you see one of those going crazy cheap, and you spontaneously happen to think of me, drop me a line!
Or if you feel like selling me yours for a reasonable price because you now use only Tarilonte ;)

My curiosity is now about why NI Discovery Series and EW Silk + SD have not been mentioned.
I'd like to understand how they compare to UVI and EthnoWorld...



And here the examples, for Mark and everybody:

Be Svendsen "Hida"
ok that's playing dirty I know, the Hang is played specifically for this song (and it makes me regret having sold mine, it would fit so well with this project, also because it was in G Akebono, but I needed the money). Be is a reference... Very elegant EDM composer.

Valeron "Midas"
I don't know what instrument that is, but isn't it too long for a sampled phrase?

"Ozora" from Quatri.
I like Duduk. Well, who doesn't? I mean, I know young people who don't know who John Lennon is, so it's very possible that many people don't know "a cool wind is blowing", but we know. And I was just thinking "I'll make something with Mr Gasparyan's track", but I was too late, it happened last week: Be.Lanuit "A cool wind is blowing"

Bedouin "Flight of birds" : they have Middle East roots, so maybe they're playing that melody by themselves, and possibly with a real instrument, but if not, than what? It seems too long for a sample...

Geju "Niv" : it's a clever and elegant use of short samples.

Nicola Cruz "El Baile del Nahual" : that's for @TigerTheFrog who often complains that the South American sounds are not used much.

Nu "Man O To" is one of the most famous hits in this genre (I prefer the remix of Be Svendsen) and there you can definitely hear it's a song, not a sample, what he's using. I think I've heard that song in the wonderful Sufi movie Bab Aziz (if you didn't see it, do it).

Oliver Koletzki's Tankwa Town, I always have goosebumps at the half of the track when the voice gets so lyrically moving. I doubt we can find this level of beauty in sample collections but correct me if I'm wrong, in this case I'd like to be wrong...


Guys thank you so much :emoji_pray:
Very interesting - especially those examples. Ethnic EDM as a genre really wasn’t that apparent to me.

Here’s an idea - which I saw someone mention recently in a Youtube tutorial somewhere. Look for specific vocals on Youtube, e.g. the person in the video explicitly searched for “blues acapella”. Find a video you like and sample the vocal and use it in your track. Then get back to the person involved and PM them through Youtube (or leave a comment and get in touch that way) in order to work out some arrangement pertaining to licensing or maybe they like the idea of their music being part of your project and let you use it for free. Pretty clever and could work for ethnic ensembles and soloists as well that put out some of their stuff on Youtube.

I will try and see if I can retrieve the actual video that mentioned this as a working concept. If I do, I’ll post it here.
 
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Hey man! Really cool project :) Where can I find information about voice-to-midi? Is it an app?

Yes it is a cool project!
Imagine:
1) nomadic music production (no studio, no house, just a backpack, laptop, headphones, USB mic, Launchkey Mini)
2) Ethnic EDM, so nice! Alone the name sounds so much better than Techno.
And together with nomadic life it opens doors for direct sampling of ethnic music in loco...
3) Bitwig: like the younger cooler brother of Ableton
4) Using my voice as the main MIDI controller!
5) documenting it, like YouTube channel (not yet, still lot to learn first), tutorials etc.

I'm actually looking for sponsors. So if you guys have connections at EW, Strezov, Tarilonte, Barsotti etc, maybe you can give a word for me.
Imagine videos about using their sounds, with Voice-to-Midi! I bet it could be beneficial for them ;)

Alternatively you can always sponsor me with your redundant sounds which you don't need anymore :thumbsup:


Now, Voice-to-Midi:

Imitone, one of the longest beta projects ever. But despite being still in beta, it's considered the most accurate. Even more than Melodyne.
Evan seems more of a scientist. Decoding the mysteries of voice. Maybe he should spend a time at some monastery in Tibet...

Dubler, somewhere between the craziness of Evan and the business oriented Melodyne.
With some options not supported by Imitone.
Much more expensive, also because you're forced to buy their own mic...

These are real time btw...

Then of course Melodyne is the most famous not real time. It is much more than audio to midi. But I know someone who told me that Imitone is much more precise at least for voice.

There is also the new Ovox of Waves. Not sure how good.

And I've heard about AnthemScore and maybe Scaler 2.

And many smaller things. Also in Max4Live.

Many DAWs have some form of audio-to-midi.
Apart for Bitwig, unfortunately.
I don't understand why.
They're so future oriented, with touchscreen support etc.

Imho, Voice-to-Midi is the future.
Skeuomorphism: being stuck in a form and therefore slowing down evolution.
All modern investigations are about change.
Neuroplasticity...
Well, we need also new ways of interacting with Instruments.
We have Seaboard, Arché Touche, some experimental midi controllers with lights and lasers, things which detect movements of the body...
But, still a long way.

"In the beginning was the Word".
The word.
Not the keyboard.
Voice is the primordial instrument.
I vote for Voice-to-Midi :2thumbs:
 
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I will try and see if I can retrieve the actual video that mentioned this as a working concept. If I do, I’ll post it here.


It was a video by Andrew Huang. The thing I explained (poorly) earlier starts from 2.14. Maybe something like that could lead to interesting collaborations for you? Just an idea. Since you plan to do things like a nomad you will likely run into local musicians anyway and may be able to record them - which totally beats using other peoples samples.
 
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I see a lot of snobbery on this forum and elsewhere about both World Suite and EW6. Like there could never be a single professional instrument in them because they each have so many instruments. That's just not true.
Yes, as if forever buying new and expensive “quote unquote” premium libraries is going to help create better music. I totally get that it’s a trap and a caveat we all fall for occasionally, but the best remedy is to just start composing and use the instruments at hand and get to know them.
 
@KAF There’s a deal for $9.99 over at Sonuscore. Playable instruments AND great arpeggiator fx. So just the thing for you, I gather



Act fast as it is only valid through tomorrow I think
 
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